In Symposium, the best part of the story is lost, because people went to sleep before the party was ended. Socrates kept teaching, but the other folk had not paced themselves and so they missed the best part of the discussion and the fun.
Let’s not do that.
We are nearly at the End of Christmas. Christmas is coming to an end . . . though that just means Epiphany is around the corner. The party continues, but just about a different topic.
God came (Christmas) and then He has revealed (Epiphany). But before putting Christmas in the past, let’s enjoy the last two days totally. What of Eleven?
Let’s begin with this fact: Twelve were chosen, but Eleven made it. Jesus started with Twelve disciples, but one chose badly. This is frightening and comforting: frightening, because it means no teacher is so good that we cannot mess up his message, and comforting because even a perfect teacher lost one!
Eleven is the number for those who make it and a reminder that not everyone does. This is an odd thing to consider at a party until one realizes that so many people refuse joy. They are too serious, too staid, too into themselves for jollification.
The very existence of this post, the notion that we are still celebrating Christmas on the eleventh day, annoys such Scrooges. This is sad, but the caution is not about “them,” but about us.
It is the disciple of Jesus that turns out to be Judas, not some “outsider” that did not understand. Judas was not some secular Roman who had made a reasoning error. He knew the truth and chose to reject what was right for money.
Christians are (on the whole) in greater danger of great evil than secularists. We should love everyone, even our enemies. We should think, experience, reason, and pray. Falling short of full humanity has less excuse for us than for those who have missed the mark. When we do, we have less excuse. In fact, like Peter we can be sorry, make amends, and go forward.
Or we can miss the Eleven through our narcissism . . . .like Judas.
Yet saying that Christianity is true is easy to misunderstand. Let’s be plain: if you think Christianity is true, that does not mean everyone else it totally wrong. The message of the Eleven is that nothing is so good that it cannot produce Judas. Nothing is so bad that it cannot make a saint.
There is no human story that is totally false. We are not that good at being bad! We echo God, even when we do not intend to do so. Doubt this? Read the secular portion of Patheos for a few months and eliminate every post that deals with Christianity. You will find almost nothing left.
Secularism in America is Christian while trying to purge the “woo” and Jesus. Instead, they are (as far as I can tell) the second most Jesus obsessed group of Americans. This is a great good and their very criticisms are helpful, clarifying, and contain some truth.
Don’t merely reject. See what is good, true, and beautiful there. Love the ideas that can be loved and only then be critical.
At the end of Symposium, Socrates was making the case that we need comedy and tragedy to be whole. That is true. We live with so much tragedy, even though our lives also contain joy.
The fool denies the reality of tragedy: the missing one that leaves us with Eleven. The damned misses the reality of joy, the reality that most made it, even Peter who failed so badly.
Happy Elevens! May I always be in that number when the Saints go marching in . . .
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