There’s a natural tension built into life and religion. In the east they call it Yin and Yang. There is male and female. We have natural tensions in our society as well. The left and the right. The jock and the nerd. The capitalist and the communist. Is it all just the same but a different expression? I mean that it comes from us, these different things, but they come from us as we see the world from different vantage points. We see the world differently at different times of our life and those expressions of difference can come from the same person. As we grow older we become wiser and with wisdom we see that frailty is our condition and because of this we become merciful. These expressions of our duality come from want. It comes from want as in we want to live, we want power, we want security, we want safety. St. Paul describes this tension as we might think of a fight and there are two sides wrestling one another as in the spirit that wrestles with the flesh. On the one side is love and mercy and on the other side is law and order. We see this tension personified in Martha and Mary. Mary is weeping at the feet of Jesus while Martha is doing all the work.
Good read!