I am amazed
heard the howling and gnashing of teeth on both sides over University of Minnesota at Morris professor P.Z. Meyer’s quest to desecrate a eucharist. He finally got his hands on one (I didn’t read closely enough to see if it was a consecrated host or not, which to Catholics would be enormously important of course). What is just amazing to me is the method by which he decided to “desecrate” the wafer: he put a rusty nail through it. Seriously. A rusty nail! A man who wishes Jesus, or the fable of Jesus or however he thinks of Jesus, would just wither up and die, put a nail through the body of Christ. Because, you know, that just worked so well the first time! And to top it off, he began the post in which he announced his torture of the “cracker” as he’s calling it, with these words: “It is finished.” Hmm, seems I may have heard those words before:
Therefor when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “it is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. – John 19:30
A chill ran down my spine when I read that. I am in awe of how just as He did 2000 years ago, God can use corrupted human hearts and evil intentions to speak His truth. (Amazingly, if you read the post, Prof. Myers seems to be wholly unaware of the echoes of the crucifiction story which are embedded in his words and actions.)
I can’t get too worked up over Prof. Myers. God created him and God will deal with him in whatever way is best for Prof. Myers’ correction and redemption and God’s glory. Unless I am called directly to be involved, it’s really not my concern. However, I am just so touched and awed at the affirmation of God’s presence and power in the middle of a situation which to the human eye looks like the devil himself at work. All I could do when I saw the picture of the host driven through with a rusty nail and discarded was praise God. Which I’m pretty sure wasn’t what Prof. Myers had in mind! 🙂