Historical Setting: Jarrow, 794 C.E.
The baker and I set out to call upon the neighbor in baker’s complaint but apparently, this neighbor is the monastery. And the baker suffers a dreadful fear of God. Worse yet, he can’t distinguish between God and men of the cloth. He walks behind me with his head bowed.
In this temporary assignment, this is my first venture into this kind of justice. It can’t be that complicated. But the baker has an apparent warped perception of holy wrath and fears God’s judgment.
“Haven’t you heard of the wrath of God, Eleazor?”
“God made us, and holds no more hatred for humankind than you have hate for the bread you bake. We’ll just talk to the purchaser of supplies and get you a fair settlement. And I always thought this monastery was self-sustaining, raising and grinding their own wheat to make their own bread.”
“I know well where I deliver the bread. It is always received into the depths of God’s own chambers so well-guarded by monks with swords.”
I know this monastery has gardens and a grain field. It would make no sense for them to call on the village baker to supply bread. But his notion of “monks with swords” hints the clue.
I say, “I’ve been staying here and as a guest and of course God is here as in all places, but I never thought of God hidden away in guarded chambers.”
We reach the abbot’s door. If Ousbert had been on good terms with him the abbot would have assigned a monk to this temporary task as ealdorman. We are invited to wait for the abbot in the side room — the monk’s chapel.
Ousbert thinks this abbot is unreasonable because he expects soldiers to behave as monks. But that is Ousbert’s issue. Here and now, I expect this baker can’t distinguish between monks with beards and swords and actual brothers. Mostly the baker is terrified, awestruck and intimidated by any holy authority as he fears the omnipotence of God.
“This is not like asking justice from the king.” he says, “When a king turns fickle, he can put an innocent man in the castle dungeon for the rest of his life but the king’s prisoner could always hope for salvation. Here, there is no hope at all if God is the fickle master?”
“God is not a fickle master. I can assure you, in all my years I’ve never known God to be a fickle master, but of course, I haven’t met the abbot.”
(Continues Tuesday April 7)
Lazarus Ink 