Responding When The Zone is Flooded

6 min. to read if you read all the footnotes, too.

An infamous political strategist, speaking of the plans of the current U.S. regime, said that the way they would overcome the resistance of their opposition and the limits of Constitutional boundaries was to “flood the zone”—essentially to overwhelm people with uncertainty, fear, and indecision. With new Executive Orders being issued almost daily, and the ensuing reactions, anger, and the many downstream consequences of all of this, it surely feels like we’re awash in a flood.

There are so many immediate needs. So many priorities. The flow of information seems like a mudslide—shockingly fast, devastating, and leaving everyone involved filthy. When there is so much happening and happening so fast, it’s hard to know what to do.

Do not be daunted.

I came across this gem of Rabbinic wisdom not long ago: “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”¹Shapiro, Wisdom of the Sages, 41. Paraphrase of Rabbi Rami Shapiro’s interpretive translation of Rabbi Tarfon’s work on the Pirke Avot 2:20.

As best as I can tell, these are the words of Rabbi Rami Shapiro in his book Wisdom of the Sages. This is his paraphrase of the ancient Jewish text Pirke Avot, along with his commentary. His compelling summary is, as you might discern, based on Micah 6:8. “He has told you, O mortal, what is good. What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?“²Micah 6:8, NRSVue. This compact yet remarkably comprehensive ethical guidance is over twenty-seven hundred years old. That’s approximately contemporary with the founding of the city of Rome. So, quite old. This is ancient insight into the expectations of God. OK, now hold that thought.

One of the most intriguing ancient Christian texts is the prologue of John’s gospel. You’ve heard the words that open this passage: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…”³John 1:1-18, NRSVue. These 18 verses, which read more like philosophy than scripture, identify Jesus with the Cosmos-creating God. Here, we find words stretching to name an ineffable mystery: in the phenomenon of Jesus, the Logos (or that-which-was-with-God-in-the-beginning) entered time, became embodied, and participated in human life.

These verses contain endless riches, but one crucial takeaway is this: What God did in and through Jesus is what God has always been doing. The only difference is that in Jesus, we get a front-row seat to this light-and-life power at work. Now, hold that thought, too.

OK. Now, we’ve got two thoughts on hold. How do they come together? What does this offer us when we face a confusing inundation like we see today? Try this on for size.

The Ethical Invitation Inherent in God’s Nature

Recall Micah 6:8. These words are a beautifully concise ethical statement and summary of what God desires in us. Wondering how to go about your life? You can’t do much better than this for guidance. But there’s more if we look deeper. The decisive quality of God is love.⁴1 John 4:16, NRSVue. Love is, however, a notoriously squishy word in English and modern culture. So, Micah’s ancient words offer a more tangible shape for love.

Love expresses itself in mercy and justice. Love is decidedly humble. This isn’t just guidance for our choices. This shows us something of the nature of God. God is asking us to be more Godlike, to set aside our natural tendencies that lead to callousness, injustice, and arrogance. God’s glory is expressed when we live out the kind of love that reflects God’s character. Mercy, Justice, and humility are glorious — even though this flies in the face of everything our culture assumes is glorious.

With this definition, the character of God is not confined to the high shelf of philosophical abstraction but brought down into the practical world we inhabit. We live in a world filled with injustice. We’re regularly faced with the choice of whether to act justly or not. Our world often lacks mercy and kindness. Each day, we decide whether to follow that trend. Ambition fuels our culture. Do we allow it to drive us?

Understood in this way, the character of God is also an invitation. If mercy, justice, and humility describe that which is ultimately the most real, then wouldn’t you want to align yourself with that? Wouldn’t it be cosmically irrational to live in any other way? Doesn’t it follow that all the gilded variations of world-endorsed pleasure, accumulation, and power are tin-foil traps of self-justifying delusion? If the Ground of All Being is mercy, justice, and humility, why would you choose the anti-Being forces of vengeance, injustice, and arrogance?

Here’s What We Can Do.

John’s prologue claims that in Jesus, the True Light shines on all people. This light is life. But that passage also notes that not everyone is prepared to receive or comprehend this. One consequence is that vengeance, injustice, and arrogance are still at work in the world (prowling like a lion). So, who will we be? Will we acknowledge the True Light shining on us and turn toward it to receive and reflect its glory? Will we do that even when things are overwhelming and confusing, when we aren’t sure of what the right next step is?

God’s nature is an ethical invitation. So too is the fractured, unjust, unmerciful world we find ourselves in. Rabbi Shapiro’s statement that I opened with offers us a critical moment of grace in the face of this dual invitation.

We aren’t responsible for fixing it all. (We aren’t able to!) So take a deep breath. Accept that the task is daunting and the darkness dark. But then, follow the Way. Do Justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly. Or, as I say so often, let the other-centered, co-suffering way of our Brother Jesus guide our steps.

• 1
  Shapiro, Wisdom of the Sages, 41. Paraphrase of Rabbi Rami Shapiro’s interpretive translation of Rabbi Tarfon’s work on the Pirke Avot 2:20.
• 2
  Micah 6:8, NRSVue.
• 3
  John 1:1-18, NRSVue.
• 4
  1 John 4:16, NRSVue.