Marrying a Robot

Choosing the supernatural and saving our souls

Hebrews 2:5-12 

It was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. Instead, someone has testified somewhere: What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor, subjecting all things under his feet. In "subjecting" all things to him, he left nothing not "subject to him." Yet at present we do not see "all things subject to him," but we do see Jesus "crowned with glory and honor" because he suffered death, he who "for a little while" was made "lower than the angels," that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

          We live in a culture that makes it very hard to believe in the supernatural, in God, in angels, in miracles, even in heaven. We are dazzled by our scientific and technological progress, and we become blind to the Bible. We boldly build skyscrapers in Dubai that pierce the clouds and cast shadows over the ancient Tower of Babel. We feel religion is only for superstitious little old ladies who go to daily Mass, fingering their magical rosary beads. Or church is to make unruly children behave better by idle threats of an imaginary hell or the rich reward of a mythical heaven. On rare and almost embarrassing moments we feel maybe there is a God, like when Clemson beats Alabama in the National Championship Football game. Clemson’s coach, Dabo Swinney excited exclaimed after their upset victory last night: “It’s indescribable. You can’t make this stuff up, only God can do this.” But this morning, we have returned to our technological, materialistic, scientific senses, and have put all that God-talk safely behind us, excusing it as emotional exuberance.

          Over and against this view stands the sense and sagacity of Sacred Scripture. Today’s readings invite us to see how angels are involved and interact with us, especially with Jesus, the Son of God. He is the model of Christian behavior. Hebrews teaches that God has catapulted man above the ranks of angels, and thereby given us audacious authority over them. We can command angels, if you can believe it. And Jesus - our model - gives proof of this by expelling a fallen angel, an evil spirit, who was tormenting a poor man. How is this possible for us?  Well, because we are Jesus’ little brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of God, we can do the same thing. A friend asked me recently, “Is all that exorcism business really true?” I answered, “It’s absolutely true, if you can believe it.” But believing is not so easy for us, and the Bible seems little more than fairy tales to enchant children and to comfort little old ladies.

          But let me tell you the real risk of rejecting religion, and expelling everything eternal. By getting rid of religion, we don’t kill God, we kill ourselves. There’s a popular meme that quotes the German philosopher Fredrick Nietzsche, who famously said, “God is dead” (Thus Spoke Zarathustra). And underneath is a quotation from God, saying, “Nietzsche is dead.” That’s meant to be clever and catchy, but it’s a lot more than that. When we get rid of God, the angels, and heaven (everything supernatural), all that makes us aspire to be greater than ourselves, then we sort of fall back down to earth, and become like the animals and other material things. I read an article last week that by 2050 human beings will be able to marry robots, especially with the rise of AI (artificial intelligence). Does that surprise you? I bet it doesn’t. The article said: “Experts predict human beings will do more than shake hands with robots” (Quartz, December 24, 2016). That’s a euphemism. When God does not define who man is (like he does in the Bible), then we will define ourselves, and we will do it with the material, technological, scientific world around us. When you marry a robot, you did not make the robot like you, you made yourself like the robot.

          Today, instead of being like a robot (and marrying one), try to be more like the angels, and even command them. Every day at noon, church bells ring to announce a time of prayer called “The Angelus,” where we remember what the angel Gabriel announced to Mary. But the angel did not tell Mary what to do; he was at her beck and call.  Be like the little old ladies fingering their magical rosaries, asking for the intercession of Mary, the Queen of Angels. Say the “Guardian Angel Prayer” before you go to bed, and dare to command the angels to watch over you at night. They will obey you. You basically have a choice to make: you can believe in the supernatural, or you can believe only in the natural. But beware: whatever you believe in, that is what you will become. If God is dead, Nietzsche is dead. Don’t kill yourself.  I bet those little old ladies would never marry a robot.

          Praised be Jesus Christ!