Replica No, Pattern Yes
My Dear People,
A phrase in a Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial yesterday caught my eye, "a replica of her id."
Here's the context: "The other day state Senator Janet Howell dismissed an opinion by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli as irrelevant. Like far too many liberals--and conservatives, for that matter--she seems to think the Constitution is a replica of her id, authorizing whatever she happens to like and forbidding whatever she doesn't."
Senator Howell aside, there is truth in the larger observation, regarding how we think of the Constitution: we easily project our own mind, our own values, our own selves in such a way that we, in effect, rewrite the Constitution in our own image.
And so we do as well with the Gospel. More to the point: And so we do with Jesus.
When we think of Jesus, is he rather like us? Is he, to borrow the phrase, a replica of our id, authorizing whatever we happen to believe in and forbidding whatever we do not believe in?
It has been pointed out, for instance, how uncanny it is that the Jesus talked about by middle class Americans seems so, well, middle class and American. (Was that a venti latte you ordered, Jesus?) The same could be said of someone doing community organizing in Chicago. (Have you ever held up pictures of Saul Alinsky and Jesus side by side? It's amazing.)
No, Jesus is no replica of anyone's id. He is himself. And he is, if anything, not a replica, but a pattern.
Our pattern:
He became like us. That we might become like him.
Your brother in Christ,
Wallace+
