"He took the cup again, gave thanks, and gave it to them. They all drank. Jesus said, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."
- Mark 14:23, 24, New Testament Combined Version
"He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible with you, please remove this cup. Yet not from my will, but from yours. ""
- Mark 14:36, New Testament Combined Version
In the Christian imagery, the cup of blessing is the cup of redemption by the blood of Christ, and there is also the cup of bitterness, which is the cup of the bitterness of Christ's death. As Job said, don’t we receive blessings from God, but also suffer from God? If the Son of God experienced the cup of faith like this, how much less the mortals in the play?
For Laney, the cup is full. Everything is spiritual, religious, and related to God, and one must give God all that he has, complete love, devotion, and sacrifice. At the end of the show, Laney did it, he fell again for his faith under the Pope, and probably never woke up.
For John, the glass is half full. Fanatical love leads to chaos and pain, moderate love to peace and comfort. To love, but God wants us to love in moderation. He tried to love a little more, but couldn't bear it. By the end of the play, John is no longer the bishop of Rome, or even a clergyman, but still in love, including the woman he admires, but not so strongly - he no longer has to bear the burden of infallibility, There is no excitement of cheating.
For Foyello, not a drop was in the glass. Engaged in the priesthood, just to serve others, to arrange for others, to see others at ease, a big housekeeper. The money bank is clean and full, there are no scandals in the newspapers, and the Italian government is obedient, so he has no trouble. As for God, he is Giralmo, he is human. At the end of the play, Fyello becomes the new pope. In the Holy See, he was like a duck to water, his conscience was satisfied, and he confidently pursued a policy of organization first and God aside.
Many people say that Chinese people have no experience of faith, but this is not the case. In the past 150 years of our country's history, haven't three such figures emerged?
Lenny is the grandfather. Taejo spent his entire life being that extremely romantic and extremely angry young poet. He can't stand his colleagues bowing to the big brother for a few money, and he can't stand the discrimination against the common people by the superiors who only talk about meeting the planned targets. Not only does he have to overthrow all rigid structures, he also has to completely renovate the culture of this nation for thousands of years - in order to achieve this, the old culture must be completely smashed. When he stood on the tower in a green military uniform and raised his arms to give a million responses, wasn't it the young Pope who wore a triple crown and embraced him with feathered chariots? In the end, he once again fell into this extremely pure faith frenzy and never got up again.
John is Kashen. Kayshen, like John, had a traumatic childhood. As a foreigner who lost his father and was discriminated against, he spent his entire life balancing and forbearing the tension between harmony and struggle. He longs to believe in a traditional and virtuous society in which everyone is polite, but he also knows that strong enemies are around, and he must strive to stand in the forest of nations in the world. He tried to love a little more, but he couldn't take it. When it finally ended on Xiaodao, his brows were already stretched out. Although he would scold Ni Chou Hu Xian in his diary, he would spend more time entertaining his grandson, scrambled eggs and fried rice with his wife, and went to the Kaige Hall for worship. , admire the beauty of Sun Moon Lake.
And Feiello was the one who had the greatest influence on Taizu and Kaishen, Wen Zhenggong. For him, Zibuyu was a stunner. When the world is in great chaos, the most important thing is to bring peace to the world and create peace for all generations. Suppress rebellion and bandits, rest with the people, and be a very personable minister. But all his life he will regard himself as a servant, and he will never go beyond the norm. He is only mortal, and God is also mortal. God is the Son of Heaven, and the people are happy and full for life, and they are free from death in bad years.
But looking at the two dramas and history, as a Christian for 23 years, my biggest thought is, where is the cup? Where is the realm of belief and the transcendence in it? For Laney, the cup may be theological, but it is also familial, and he seeks to fill the absence of a physical parent with the love of the Father and the Mother. For John, the cup may be familial, but it is also theological, and he attempts to use his own guilt for his biological brother to inspire mercy from his brothers in Christ. For Feiello, the cup may be life, and he may just hope that everyone can live in peace in the operation of the secular world.
According to my observation, many people's belief in God is also to meet the above-mentioned psychological, spiritual, and sociological needs. In fact, many people's problems may be satisfied by high-quality psychological, psychiatric and sociological therapy and engineering, or may not require theology? Again, as Jung said, religion is the most powerful psychoanalysis, and as the originator of a certain doctrine said, religion is the most powerful social engineering. But saying this, I always feel that I deny the blessing and bitterness of faith. The transcendence of faith determines that the true body of God always has a part that transcends human beings. God has transcendent and absolute sovereignty over the world, man, and the spiritual world. It is true that man's beliefs and theology reflect the image of God. But the image of God to man does not necessarily reflect the essence and true image of God. If the needs of faith can be fully satisfied by spirituality and sociology, like the cup of blessing, then God's identity will be annihilated in the image of God. The direct consequence is that once people fall into a crisis in their philosophical analysis of God, they will also fall into a crisis in their belief in God’s ontology, like a bitter cup.
But a more mature faith would separate the realm of faith from the person of God. There will be doubts about my beliefs, but it does not affect the goodness of my God. Even because I often question my own rationality and admit that my rationality is limited, a crisis in philosophy will not lead to a crisis in belief. Man is not God, and man cannot be God. If the Son of God, as a perfect man, can accept the cup of bitterness given by God with humility, how much more will I be a limited and often sinful person against God? In the end, though I don't know, I choose to believe that, like Lenny, John, and Fyello, in the most fundamental sense, I don't know if their beloved Son, woman, or believer responded with love Their love because they are not in these people's hearts. They, like me, have no idea what specific God's intentions are for the suffering in their lives and those of their loved ones. But they, like me, can believe in the existence of this love and the good will of God in this suffering - because the cup is in God's hands, he can take it, and he can take it away.
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