When I was in middle school I had this teacher named Mr. Levine (leh-veen). Mr. Levine was a retired Marine. To a seventh grader he was pretty intimidating; he obviously spent a good amount of time in the weight room, and he sounded like he had the type of voice that had been damaged from a lot of yelling while he was in the Corps. He had a big hairdo and a Magnum P.I. mustache. He even made it into a terrible Sylvester Stallone movie in some b-roll footage of an arm-wrestling tournament. He had a copy of the movie (“Over the Top”) in his desk that we were occasionally able to coax him into playing for us. (Who doesn’t love movies where a trucker gets to arm wrestle for custody of his son?) Mr. Levine taught me early American History in 8th grade and Civics in 9th grade.
Since I had him for two years, I got to know him pretty well, to the point where during one class project, I got paired with a dude and we did a skit where I acted as Mr. Levine, impersonating his mannerisms and saying some of the ridiculous things he was known for. The class was in stitches, my partner could barely get through his lines, and Mr. Levine took it pretty well when some lanky kid made fun of him to his face in front of the whole class. That was after I got to know him though. Before I had any interaction with Mr. Levine, I saw a different side of him.
Like a lot of middle schools, ours was filled with young teenagers whose brains were going through explosive growth spurts, and the medulla oblongata figured prominently in a lot of the dudes. As a result, there was a lot of aggression and rage leading to scuffles and even some downright fights with fists and legs flying.
On one occasion between classes, we were moving like cattle through the halls. I came around a corner and there were a couple of dudes wailing on each other in the middle of the hallway. I mean, they were going at it! While I would have loved to stop and watch, the crushing flow of humanity pushed me along, right past the spectacle. As I moved along, though, storming out of his classroom with wild eyes and flaring nostrils, stomped Mr. Levine. I guess somebody told him there was a wild fight in the hallway, and he was just the guy to break it up. As much as I wanted to see the fight, I would’ve loved even more to see what happened when Mr. Levine got his hands on those guys. Heaven help them. They probably didn’t even know what hit them. I can imagine him grabbing one by the scruff of the neck and picking the other one up by his belt and marching them right down to the office to start the paperwork for their suspension.
There were a number of sides to Mr. Levine that I got to know. In a classroom, he was engaging and funny, and he cared about his students. When he was a lunch monitor he moved all throughout the cafeteria making the rounds, he was quick with a joke but he didn’t tolerate any physical nonsense. When a fight broke out and he was nearby and able to lend a hand, you could see the barely-restrained wrath and zero hesitation to jump into the fray.
While I don’t want to make it seem like I think of Mr. Levine as a God-like force, it is kinda fun that he illustrates some of God’s numerous facets. God is described in scripture as being full of wrath, but also as being incredibly patient; he announces generous blessings and also demonstrates mercy to some Bible characters even as they come up with excuse after excuse not to follow the path He’s told them to follow. Jesus showed a divine level of kindness when his close followers insisted on doing dumb things or making outlandish claims. He also commiserated with grieving friends, looked past people’s arrogance and lying, and tolerated abuse from people who knew far less than He did but viewed themselves as superior.
You know, God has a lot of facets.
We often get stuck with one particular image of God the Father, God the Son, or even God the Holy Spirit. It’s important to remember not to put Him in a box, though. He’s got more depth and breadth than we can possibly comprehend. The next time you find yourself confining God’s character to one particular archetype, try to remember to open up that aperture a bit and allow yourself to accept that God doesn’t work according to your view of Him. You could find yourself dealing with any (or all) of the attributes listed above, or any number of others not named above.
Lord, You are indescribable and incomprehensible. Thank you for tolerating us in our weakness, our stubbornness, our short-sightedness, and all our other shortcomings. Thanks for the reminder of Your depth and breadth, and that You far exceed what our imaginations can envision when it comes to knowing You fully. Help us not get wrapped up in trying to understand You, but instead focus on trusting and relying on You. These things we ask in Your name, Amen.