God Speaking with His Teeth In
Delivered on Sunday 23 March 2008 in St George's Chapel
I begin with a story told by the well known Irish author, Miles na Gopaleen.
Let me record an odd little adventure which befell me recently. I went down the country to visit some old friends - by invitation, let me add. A pleasant married couple, well set up.
The husband, a most affable man, was fond of a good company and ... was most flahooluck, in the accepted sense. As midnight approached I made the usual dishonest remarks about getting into a hotel. Under no circumstances, of course - a room had been got ready for me in the house. So there had, but it was three in the morning before I got to it.
It was ten o'clock when I awoke. One does not take liberties late abed in other people's houses: that is another of the snags. Though very tired, I arose, performed a careful toilet and went downstairs. The lady of the house was in the dining room and greeted me brightly. Yes, it was a beautiful morning. What would I like for breakfast?
Sundry grunts and noises upstairs indicated that the host was astir. I heard him heavily pounding down the stairs just as his wife was handing me a glass of orange juice. He came into the room in a dressing gown.
Then it happened. Having given me what appeared to be a nod, he turned to his wife and said:
'Alla po anidee tie peat.'
Family double-talk, perhaps - but the thing disturbed me. I felt an intruder.
'I do not,' the wife said.
'Glauw acack ant soho mouse as assopa,' he said. 'Gowl a gurda.'
'You'd know yourslef if you kept your wits about you,' the wife said.
'Gumpa slourish haga peat, chacha peat,' he growled.
'Well, I suppose we'll have to,' she replied.
She had been sitting and stood up. A horrible fear clawed my heart. She was going to leave the room!
'Gushka goms,' he said.
And she did leave the room, giving me a strange smile. I was alone with this man!
'Choora gushka goms peat,' he said to me - amiably, I thought.
I nodded and smiled. I hastily averted this smile, fearing it was too ghastly, and quickly foostered out a packet of cigarettes. He took one. The lighting of a cigarette gave me a few more seconds in which to do fast thinking.
'Carda fying realis koo foind cha kaka peat,' he observed.
Salvation!
I heard the footsteps of the wife returning. She came into the room carrying his orange juice. He took the glass but did not drink. Instead he put his fingers in it and took out two rows of teeth which he deftly installed in his mouth.
'It really is a beautiful morning,' he said to me in perfect English. 'The very morning for a game of golf.' [1]
Since Palm Sunday we have been surrounded by symbolic actions - we had Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey; we had a Passover meal with bread and wine; we even had the shadows of such action in the drink of vinegar and the dividing up of the garments on Friday. All these symbols required interpretation - they take a bit of working out. They have important things to say but through them God seems to speak in muffled tones. Today, however, on this great feast of the resurrection, there is no place for, ifs, maybes or perhaps - for today God speaks with his teeth in.
I am not saying that the goings on of the first Easter were not mysterious. The exact nature of the Resurrection is clearly a mystery - why else would Mary have mistaken the risen Jesus for the gardener. The 'how' of the Resurrection remains outside our comprehension but the 'that' of the Resurrection is a fact, a joyful fact. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.
And that fact goes some way to answering the two questions we have had on our minds throughout the week. What do we expect of Jesus? And what on earth, is the kingdom of God? The fact of the Resurrection encourages us - to join the band of men and women of two thousand years of Christian devotion -to acknowledge that in Jesus of Nazareth we have a record of God. What do we expect of Jesus: we expect that when we reflect on his life, death and resurrection, we are reflecting on an account of God's dealing with his people.
And the kingdom of God? Essentially the kingdom of God is an invasion. It is God's world invading our world of violence and corruption and death. It is God's non-violent love redeeming our violent desire for control. Our world leads to corruption and ultimately to death; God's world lead to wholeness and ultimately to life. The invasion, however, is not final - it is becoming. It is what we called to work towards and it is what we are promised a share of in the life to come. That is why on that first Easter 'death lost its sting'.
And we - although we are often confounded by the world we are called to live in - must take courage from the fact of the Resurrection. We may well find ourselves deafened by a barrage of noise around us, but in the Resurrection, be confident, be assured, we hear God speaking with his teeth in.
[1] Miles Na Gopaleen, Further Cutting from Cruishkeen Lawn, pp. 34-35.
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