On this date in 1859, abolitionist John Brown was hanged for murder, treason, and conspiring slave to revolt at Charles Town, Virginia. Mr. Brown’s raid on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry was to start a revolution to destroy the institution of slavery.
Mr. Brown grew up in a strict Calvinist family. John Calvin did address slavery in a principled manner using biblical texts to support his argument. In his heart, just like Mr. Brown, knew slavery was not rooted in the natural order of things, but rather a consequence of sin, the fall of humanity and the marred imago Dei.
Consider Calvin’s sermon on Ephesians 6:
“For each human being is a reasonable creature. And this derived from sin, as one evil triggers another, until things descend into utter confusion. But if we examine the rights which masters had, we shall conclude every time that this is something which is contrary to the whole order of nature. For we are all fashioned after the image of God, and it was thus altogether too exorbitant that a reasonable creature upon whom God has stamped his mark should be put to such insulting condition. But such are the fruits of the disobedience and sin of our first father Adam: it has resulted in all things being turned upside down.”
Our founder, Fr. Hoelle, SM, biography begins with this quote from Thomas Merton, “His one image is in us all and we discover Him by discovering the likeness of His Image in one another.” This Christmas season may we take time to see such beauty in each other and not toxicity.
Over the past 5 years being Executive Director, each time I make eye contact with someone the image of God is in that person. Fr. Hoelle, SM believed this should change how we see each and every person around us.
This means that we need to treat everyone with respect, dignity, and worth, but it goes much beyond that. It means if we look hard enough each person might just reveal a bit of the image of God to us. And that is worth finding. Merry Christmas.
