Jesus did not come and live out a life of 100% ease in which a question of His Fathers goodness would never have been a possibility. No, on the cross, and in life, He immersed Himself into the ocean of human experience, and even descended into its murkiest depths in order to fully suffer as one of us, so that He could, transcending His own omniscience, fully sympathize with us. As Simone Weil wrote: “Unless one has placed oneself on the side of the oppressed, to feel with them, one cannot understand.” The life of the incarnate Jesus was not one of perpetual celebration and victory. Yes, He was, no doubt, conscious of His Fathers love and goodness, but He was also a man of sufferings, and familiar with pain. Were the life of Jesus marked by political power and always being on top of the proverbial food chain, His life would only lend credence to the idea that God is on the side of the strong and the oppressors, but His familial relationship with weakness, suffering and oppression shows He is on the side of the weak, suffering and oppressed, and therefore able to help them. As Jurgen Moltmann writes: The idols of power and of success do not help a person. Only a suffering God can help. Truly, if our God would have waltzed about like a T.V. preacher or a member of the royal family, we would all be without hope, but He suffered, and swam to the darkest depths of human suffering. He knows what it is to be us, and is therefore able to help, not just the power brokers and dictators of the world, but those suffering beneath the weight of whatever it is life may have handed them. We serve the God of the weak and the broken! We serve a King whose regality is revealed, not in the rights He holds over the people, but in the rights He gives away to serve and walk among them. The gods of the nations are kings and queens who rule through strength, ours is the God who rules through weakness.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 20:53:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015