“That’s gross!” my daughter trumpeted. What really counts as gross? Does cruelty count as gross? Does nuclear war count as gross? Does the crucifixion of Jesus count as gross? Do these topics warrant offering short prayers?
Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. (John 19:34) That’s gross!
Should a war between nuclear powers over the sovereignty of Ukraine turn into a conflagration, that would be gross.
That’s gross!
“That’s gross!” I heard my fourteen year old daughter, Kathy Kim, exclaim. It was the first day of her first mountain backpack. She had just asked the whereabouts of the bathroom. Someone had responded by telling her that there are no bathrooms in the wilderness. “But there are bathrooms everywhere,” she said. Once convinced there were no toilet facilities to be seen, Kathy Kim allowed a couple veteran hikers—other teenage girls—explain to her how it would be done: you go behind a tree, dig a little hole, and so forth. It was at this point, astounded by what she was hearing, that Kathy Kim uttered those words, “that’s gross!”
Having grown up in a suburban home with modern amenities such as flush toilets, Kathy Kim was here becoming conscious of her relationship to nature. Our bodily functions are natural. No longer hidden behind the locked doors of indoor bathrooms, what is perfectly natural appeared gross to this novice in nature.
Expelling human waste may appear gross, but it isn’t really. It’s a natural activity necessary to the healthy function of our bodies. Yet, there are things in this world which genuinely deserve to be called gross. I have in mind sin as in the cruel inflicting of pain, and even the threat of the cruel inflicting of pain. I have in mind sin as in the designs of terrorists, the suicide bombers who enter crowds to detonate an explosion that will send human limbs and blood flying in all directions. I have in mind the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross. That’s gross.
Crucifixion & Nuclear War : are they gross?
I also have in mind a major item on the mind of every public theologian, namely, the thousands of nuclear weapons poised and readied for firing. An air burst of a one-megaton bomb—the medium size of our present arsenal—will provide a shock wave and initial nuclear radiation which will kill all unprotected human beings in an area of six square miles. Its second destructive effect will be an electromagnetic pulse which will knock out electrical equipment for hundreds of miles. Then as the fusion and fission reactions produce the great fireball, the third destructive effect will be a thermal pulse of intense heat and a blinding light that will last about ten seconds. This will cause second degree burns and blindness in an area of two hundred eighty square miles. As the fireball expands, it will produce a blast wave in all directions marking the fourth destructive impact by flattening buildings within a radius of four and half miles. The fifth destructive effect will be the radioactive fallout from the mushroom shaped cloud that will descend as nuclear rain which, if carried by certain weather systems, may contaminate continents. Hence, our entire globe is in jeopardy. Now, that’s gross! (Art: “Nuclear Crucifixion,” Alex Gray, 1980)
Synonyms for the word ‘gross’ include: shameful, outrageous, heinous, grievous. The human race has an uncanny capacity for conceiving of cruelties which deserve such description. [“Nuclear Crucifixion” by Alex Gray 1960]
Then they spat in his face and struck him; and some slapped him, saying, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who is it that struck you?” (Matthew 26:67-68)
That’s gross!
They kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” (Luke 23:21).
That’s gross!
Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him (John 19:17-18a).
That’s gross!
One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out ( John 19:34).
That’s gross!
Yet, God has a way with gross things. The blood of Jesus becomes the water of baptism, and both have a way of cleansing us from what is gross in our world.
SHORT PRAYER
God of grace, you suffer as do we from cruelty in our world; so we thank you for your patience and love which transform what is gross into saving power. Amen.
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Ted Peters is a Lutheran pastor and emeritus seminary professor. He is author of Short Prayers and The Cosmic Self. His one volume systematic theology is now in its 3rd edition, God—The World’s Future (Fortress 2015). He has undertaken a thorough examination of the sin-and-grace dialectic in two works, Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society (Eerdmans 1994) and Sin Boldly! (Fortress 2015). Watch for his forthcoming, The Voice of Public Christian Theology (ATF 2022). See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com.
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