Tuesday, May 5, 2025
James Finley reflects on the teachings of the twelfth-century mystic and monastic reformer Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most prolific commentators on the Song of Songs:
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) was the abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Clairvaux. He was so enamored of the Song of Songs that he wrote eighty-six sermons about it over the last twenty years of his life. He went line by line. He thought of it as the supreme text of all Scripture because of its nuptial theme—the ultimate union of incarnate love. It’s personal for me because I lived in a Cistercian monastery with Thomas Merton, where I was steeped in this union and love mysticism.
The Cistercians were founded as a reform of the Benedictine monasteries. They felt the need to get back to the heart of Benedict’s Rule, which is also the heart of the gospel. In the opening sentences of the Rule of Saint Benedict, he said, “Listen, my child, to the words of the master, and if today you hear his voice, harden not your heart.” The master is Christ, so we’ve got to listen to hear the voice of Jesus calling to us in our hearts.
Through his sermons on the Song of Songs, Bernard was trying to help us understand what it means to obey God on a deep level. Basically, to obey God is to interiorly accept that the infinite presence of God is an ongoing self-donating act that is presencing itself and giving its very presence away as the gift of our very presence. Love is the fullness of presence. Infinite love is giving itself to us as the gift and the miracle of the immediacy of our very presence in our nothingness without God. To see that and to accept it is to obey God. Bernard is trying to reestablish the radicality of this infinite love, which is infinitely in love with us in our brokenness. He used the Song of Songs to do that because it’s a song about being in love. It’s romantic, sexual, erotic, mystical, and marital love. [1]
Bernard of Clairvaux comments on the opening lines of the Song of Songs:
Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His mouth (1:1). Who speaks? The bride. Who is she? The soul thirsting for God…. If one is a servant he is in dread of his lord’s face. If one is a hireling he hopes for pay from his lord’s hand. If one is a disciple he gives ear to his teacher. If one is a son he honors his father. But the soul who begs a kiss, is in love. Among the gifts of nature this affection of love holds first place, especially when it makes haste to return to its Origin, which is God. Words cannot be found so sweet as to express the sweet affections of the Word and the soul for each other, except bride and Bridegroom. [2]
=========
| The All-Encompassing Ethic of Love. Skye Jethani |
 I recently read an interview where an influential pastor was asked why he and his congregation do not reflect the message and ethics of Jesus. Instead, they have become known for extreme political rhetoric that demonizes their cultural enemies, minorities, and even refugees. The pastor gave a two-word answer: “Under siege.”He believes conservative Christians in America are persecuted by a ruthless legion of militant secularists and threatened by an invasion of violent migrants. Under these perilous conditions, he explained, loving your enemies and turning the other cheek no longer makes sense. To follow the Sermon on the Mount would mean letting the forces of evil win and his country be destroyed. In other words, in his view, being “under siege” gives Christians permission to worship Jesus and not obey him.The stunning interview vividly illustrates a sentiment that’s not limited to Christian nationalists and culture warriors: nothing in the Sermon on the Mount makes people more uncomfortable than Jesus’ words against retaliation. His calls to not resist an evil person, to turn the other cheek, to walk the second mile, and to give more than what is demanded all seem like nonsense to those who feel threatened or who recognize the perils of our world. Anyone who actually lived what Jesus said, we are told, will never get ahead in the real world. For this reason, some, like the pastor in the interview, boldly dismiss Jesus’ words while still claiming to follow him as their Lord. Many more have simply tried to reinterpret Jesus’ teaching in light of practical realities; to make his counter-intuitive commands appear more conventional or, at least, less costly. Behind this is really a desire to justify ourselves. We desperately want to rationalize our hatred and anger. We want to retaliate and resist those who interfere with our desires. We want to believe our selfishness and devotion to self-preservation are not only acceptable but admirable Christian qualities. Jesus, however, leaves no room for such convolutions of his words. The ethic of love that dominates his kingdom is all-encompassing. Our call to self-sacrificial love must override and restrain our instinct for retaliation. Rather than reading these statements in the Sermon on the Mount as commands to be obeyed, twisted, or dismissed, we ought to see them as illustrations of what a life shaped by God’s kingdom looks like in practice. They are examples of what happens when we consider what is best for the other person rather than ourselves, even if that other person is our enemy. DAILY SCRIPTURE MATTHEW 5:38–42 1 PETER 2:18–25 WEEKLY PRAYER. John of the Cross (1542 – 1591) I no longer want just to hear about you, beloved Lord, through messengers. I no longer want to hear doctrines about you, nor to have my emotions stirred by people speaking of you. I yearn for your presence. These messengers simply frustrate and grieve me, because they remind me of how distant I am from you. They reopen wounds in my heart, and they seem to delay your coming to me. From this day onwards please send me no more messengers, no more doctrines, because they cannot satisfy my overwhelming desire for you. I want to give myself completely to you. And I want you to give yourself completely to me. The love which you show in glimpses, reveal to me fully. The love which you convey through messengers, speak it to me directly. I sometimes think you are mocking me by hiding yourself from me. Come to me with the priceless jewel of your love. Amen. |
Group Discussion — choose one:
- Where in your life are you tempted to “worship Jesus and not obey him”?
- What does it stir in you to hear that God is “infinitely in love with us in our brokenness”?
- Which messengers or doctrines are you ready to set down in your hunger for direct presence?
