WALKING ON A TIGHTROPE

You are on a rooftop, looking across empty air 1,350 feet above the ground. Your foot dangles over the ledge and touches a steel cable just centimeters wide. As you shift your body forward, hands gripped tight around a balancing pole, you find yourself suspended over a gut-wrenching void. Now what?

Acrōphōbics would surely hope to wake from this nightmare in a cold sweat. But for seasoned tightrope walkers, the dizzying feat can be accomplished if you understand the physics of the human body. “Posture is the absolute most important thing,” says a tightrope instructor. The key to balancing on a tightrope is to lower the body’s center of gravity toward the wire. Just as it's harder to topple a stout vase than a tall slim one, a human is less likely to fall if the bulk of their mass is closer to the ground, or in the case of walking on a tightrope, closer to the wire.

Amateurs often try to accomplish this shift by leaning forward. This does lower their overall mass, but it also interferes with your sense of location in space. Then, it's hello pavement.[1]

Hosea tells the people of the Northern Kingdom, straight up, they have lost their sense of location in space. They have made an amateur mistake and leaned forward seceding not only from Judah, but also from God. They’ve set up their own kingdom, created their own gods, and codified laws of their own making. Thus Hosea tells them, they are destined to fall.

Now, experienced tightrope walkers, will instead stand up straight and lower their hips by bending their knees. This brings a person's center of gravity closer to the wire while allowing them to keep their bearings.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus is undeterred by the rejection of the Pharisees. Standing up straight and keeping his bearings, he continues his Gospel tour, despite the murmurings, working miracles that verify both the origin of his message and the compassion he feels for people. From the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 7:27) through today’s reading, Matthew has been highlighting Jesus’ power and compassion: power over illnesses, storms, and evil spirits, and compassion for outcast lepers, sinners, and demoniacs.[2] Compassionate love is Jesus’ lower center of gravity. He will not be toppled.

God is a decisive judge bringing a just sentence against sinners; Jesus is a sympathetic healer whose heart is moved by divine mercy. It’s a narrow line God walks with us, a narrow line the Church must also travel. The Christian life is a tightrope, a balance of justice and mercy. How’s our posture for the walk?

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[1] Smithsonian Magazine. “What Happens to Your Body When You Walk on a Tightrope?” by Katie Nodjimbadem, 10/13/2015.

[2] Weekday HomilyHelps.  Homily Suggestion by Norman Langenbrunner.