UNCOMFORTABLE WITH GOD

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I ended last week's post with a promise to drop the other shoe this week by reminding us of the visionGod that Jesus came to reveal to us. Any Christian with even a nodding acquaintance with the Gospel message knows Jesus' revelation of what God is like. Think of the parable of the Prodigal Son for instance, or his compassion for the woman taken in adultery.  Think of his telling us that just as the heavenly Father allows the rain to fall on the fields of good farmers as well as evil ones, so likewise we should set  no boundaries on our love (Matt. 5:48). Jesus keeps telling us in so many ways what his Father is like. The ultimate revelation of God's nature is, of course Christ's giving himself up to death, taking on the worst elements of human existence, confronting them, undergoing them and then overcoming them by his resurrection. The paschal mystery is not about justice -- it couldn't be. We don't "deserve" redemption and we surely do not "earn it." Too bad, because those are terms we are comfortable with. 

Our problem is that we're not comfortable with a God who does not play by our set of rules. We can understand a "God of Justice" who inflicts painful punishment on anyone who crosses him. We know how to work with (work around?) such a person: Just keep your head low, do your work, and don't make waves. That's how you make it to heaven. Same tactics as we need to keep from getting in trouble with a hostile employer. 

So, when Jesus comes along and tells us, "No, my Heavenly Father is not like that at all" we don't know what to do. For example, our loving Father isn't bound by the easily understood rules of retribution and justice that are so basic to our jurisprudence. God ultimately forgives anyone who asks for forgiveness. That blows people's minds; it doesn't seem right. (Remember the older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son?) We're so reluctant to accept the God of total acceptance that many of us cling to the familiar image of God, the one Jesus came to replace with the true picture, a God who is love, who cannot not love us, who is as tender and affectionate toward us as we are toward our own children. 

We know how in a dysfunctional family, chaos and cruelty become the usual way of life, to the point that chaos becomes "normal" and isn't questioned any more. I think our older view of God is a bit like that: For example,we don't even question the idea that God would put someone in a blazing furnace for all eternity, or that God is bound by the laws of human justice (think of those statues of "justice" holding up the scales that need to be balanced). Or how about this one: Too bad about all those stillborn babies that died before anyone could baptize them -- the rules say that God cannot reunite those children with their mothers in heaven. Oh well, that's just the way it is, right?

The bible is written by human beings who are products of their culture and who express themselves in

the concepts and images of their own day. So we're not surprised to find the inspired authors expressing themselves in ways that are unfamiliar or even repugnant to us, such as telling us how God demanded that the Israelite soldiers destroy every woman, child and living thing in some conquered city. That's why it's important to remember that despite all the twists and turns, the story line of God's dealings with humans as revealed little by little in the bible leads us in one basic direction: The ultimate fulfilment of God's love for us. From the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation the sacred writings are pointing us to the culmination of the story of God's infinite love for all of us and all of creation. 

It's all about love; that is, it's mostly mysterious and beyond the easy reach of our cause-and-effect reasoning.  

Let us pray that we'll be open to the grace that will help us to hold fast to the God of Jesus Christ despite the fact that we can't understand everything about this God who is pure love.