A few weeks ago, I started this commentary on a day when the U.S. Senate and House played toxic political games with the lives of people trying to cross the southern borders of our country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My disgust with these political games is aimed mostly at the Republicans who keep bending to Donald Trump\u2019s cruel manipulation of people\u2019s lives for his own possible political benefit. Add to that the recent power-play of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to build a National Guard base at Eagle Pass that ratchets up his immigration fight with President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These cynical political moves got me thinking about Jesus the border-walker. And that reminded me of a powerful insight from poet Robert Bly years ago: \u201cOn the borders is where one finds truth; at either side of the borders there may be certainties or doctrines, but not truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think the U.S. southern border reflects Bly\u2019s insight. I also think Jesus is somehow walking that truth-border with migrants \u2013 and also with those who seek a truth greater than political manipulation allows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To me, the border is a metaphorical fine line between love-fueled anger and fear-fueled rage. Jesus\u2019 border walk upholds the truth of God\u2019s despair at how we treat one another. It also upholds God\u2019s compassionate hope we can dispense with our control-driven addiction to being \u201cright\u201d and focus on loving people in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople in need\u201d includes those standing far enough away from the truth-border that their rage and fear rule their lives. Their needs are real, even if those needs blind them to any sense of the \u201cgreater good\u201d in our society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Picture with me groups of people shouting political fear and rage from some distance \u2013 like Gov. Abbott and his supporters, like congressional leaders who reject a bipartisan border bill even if it does what they wanted. Their rage and fear prevent them from accepting the possible because\u2026 well, I\u2019m not always sure why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But our truth-border picture also includes people who are angry with a healthy, compassionate anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Samuel Wells reminded me that rage and anger don\u2019t have to be the same thing. Wells is vicar of St. Martins-in-the-Fields Anglican Church in London. He wrote about rage and anger in the December 2023 issue of Christian Century. His context was the horror of war in Israel\/Palestine. But his insights fit uncomfortably well on the southern border of our country too:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen Jesus says, \u2018I come not to bring peace, but a sword\u2019 (Matt. 10:34), I understand that to mean, Don\u2019t seek a sentimental peace, but one with sharp edges\u2026 Maybe peace is more like the sword that divides rage from anger. Rage inflames and inflates; anger can pinpoint a problem and isolate it, with the precision of a sword.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnger can be a constructive emotion, stirring us from distraction or self-absorption to an acute awareness of wrongdoing\u2026 But rage demands we\u2026 lose sight of the original wrong done in our rampaging quest for destruction and vengeance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rage stalks the border from a distance. Where fuller truth and reality can\u2019t touch it deeply. Where it refuses to see Jesus walking and living with those victimized by that rage. Where a distasteful political expediency overwhelms a deeper desire to \u201cdo the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wells concludes: \u201cHealthy anger is\u2026 almost a prerequisite for true peace \u2013 a peace that doesn\u2019t pretend fury will simply burn out, nor presumes enmity can be ignored or suppressed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The truth of the border is deeper and more redemptive than rage will ever touch. Anger is an essential, healthy part of that truth when it is fueled by unconditional love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s something rage can never duplicate!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Rev. Paul Graves<\/strong> is a retired elder member of the Pacific Northwest Conference of The United Methodist Church.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In his latest blog post, Rev. Paul Graves shares what he imagines Jesus would think about the perpetual conflict over the U.S.-Mexico border. Graves finds helpful a distinction between anger and rage which drives people toward opposite ‘solutions’ to the problem, writing, “To me, the border is a metaphorical fine line between love-fueled anger and fear-fueled rage.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":23689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,74],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-conversation","8":"category-opinioneditorial"},"yoast_head":"\n