Judgment, Repentance, Atonement…and coming out from behind the desk

Rabbi Eli Scheller, writer on the torah and all things Jewish, recalls a Jewish parable about Rosh Hashanah. He tells a story of being summoned into his boss’s office for a reprimand because he had not completed a project. He recites the memory of fear and anxiety leading up to his meeting. He likens it to an event as a child when he was called into the principal’s office for a similar event…not completing a homework assignment. In both instances he faced his fears but felt overwhelmed with feelings of regret for the disappointment he caused. He relates how both his boss and the principal were individuals who held power and both sat at desks when he entered their offices. He notes how there are two sides to every desk. In both these instances, he seemed to live on the weaker side of these desks.

He steeled himself for the possibility of punishment in each case, but as an adult feared the loss of his job. As his boss greeted him when he walked into the room he asked him to sit in the chair opposite his side of the desk. Then he did something very odd…he stood and walked around the desk and sat in a chair beside him. This seemed a strange response to his personal failings as an employee. It caused no small amount of confusion in his encounter. His boss explained to him that he moved his seat because he wanted him to know that they were on the same team…that he believed in his talents and abilities, otherwise he would not have been hired in the first place. His employer said it was part of his duties to ensure that all employees were successful…that he invested his interests into their success.

For practicing Jews, the High Holy Day, Rosh Hashanah (or Day of Judgment), is like that student standing before the principal or the employee standing before the employer. But God, a being of tremendous grace and mercy, gets up and moves from the seat of judgment to the other side of the desk, to the seat of mercy…to stand next to us. We know when we’ve messed up. We know when we’ve fallen short of who we are called to be…and God knows as well. For the Jewish faith, Rosh Hashanah is a time to remember that God is with us. Just as his employer helped him map out a plan to get his project back on track, God sets in place an access to grace and forgiveness.

We, as Christians, have this understanding through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus is ‘God with us,’ but I think we sometimes miss what that really entails. God got up from the seat of power behind the desk and walked over to our side…as a child, as a teacher and healer, as a radical reformer and as a savior. We know grace through Him.

The Jewish custom for celebrating Rosh Hashanah is to participate in worship services where they repeat the 13 Attributes of Mercy that were given to Moses. The 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) are to be days of examination…where one reflects on the life they are living and challenges themselves to become better humans. These 10 days are days for repentance.

With all this knowledge about these Jewish holy days, it makes me wonder what this means for us, as Christians. I see a world troubled and divided by so many issues. A police officer is murdered and the public issues an outcry about the injustices, but make reference to “thugs” and “gangsters” and the “#blacklivesmatter” movement. Kim Davis is arrested and receives death threats on a regular basis while proponents of marriage equality stand outside with signs and face harassment and violence from those on the other side of ‘the desk.’ Syrian refugees pour across the sea on dangerous voyages, risking their lives in hopes of a better opportunity upon reaching the shores of foreign lands. They are welcomed into over-crowded refugee camps, closed borders, limited resources or medical aide and criticized for being filthy, disease-ridden beggars.

To be recipients of grace, we have to come out from behind our ‘desks’ too. To recognize God in our lives, we have to seek to live as if God actually resides within us….this means moving over to another side and being willing to live in relationship to ‘other.’ It is possible to mourn unnecessary deaths whether it is a police officer seeking to do his duty or an unarmed black man…whether he was involved in something shady or not. Loss of young lives will always be sorrowful and should be mourned. Humanity will always disagree on issues, but people are not issues. To vilify the other and speak of hatred and violence in the name of faith does not reflect a love and grace revealed to us through Christ. And welcoming the stranger by recognizing how easily it could be us in those same situations is a tenant of all major religions…as well as many smaller ones.

When we reside on ‘the side’ of the desk that is weakness, we are grateful that God is willing to come around to the other side. But sometimes we reside on the side of ‘the desk’ that has power, which means we have the responsibility to move around to ‘the side’ of weakness and try to see the other side as God sees it…and sees us…through eyes of grace and mercy and forgiveness and love.

Shalom,
Tracy