Dear All of Us,
What should we make
of a father like this?
Clean as a whistle.
High minded,
works hard
to support his sons,
sets a high bar for them.
When a son misbehaves,
he takes him to the garage
and beats him.
What should we make
of a God like that,
one who requires
his son to suffer
and die for the
misbehaving of humanity?
Scripture seems
to say such of God -
Jesus is tortured and killed,
and thus pays off
humanity's
blood justice debt
to God the Father,
saves us all and
is raised from the dead.
Slaughter for salvation.
Is this "Abba"?
Is it true that
"God is love"?
We need to look
many agains
and much deeper.
Slaughter Dad
is neither singular
nor exceptional.
Scripture says
all sorts of things
in all sorts of ways
which call for
a deeper interpretation
to get at the core truth -
probing things such as their
linguistic, historical,
cultural context,
the limits and liabilities,
the persuasions and
personal experiences
of the writers.
Examples:
- creation in six days,
- God's violence in
many parts of
the Hebrew Scriptures,
- cutting off you right hand
if you sin with it
(how is it that there are
so many right handed people
in church on Sunday??).
Well, let's have a go at
a bit of a
deeper interpretation
of Jesus death
and resurrection.
On a practical,
political level
Jesus was getting
a larger and larger
following.
That was a concern
for the Roman authorities
at a time of zealots
and uprisings
opposing their occupation
of Palestine.
Jesus was healing many,
was critical of
the temple elite and their
shallow show religiosity,
was preaching
a beautiful and new
kingdom of God.
He was getting large crowds,
even right in the temple.
All this meant
state and religious leaders
might lose their jobs,
so Jesus had
to lose his life.
At a much deeper level
Jesus is Emmanual,
God With Us
right in the midst
of our human
mix, marvel and mess,
one of us,
one with us,
one for us.
Jesus lived
a holistic realness
that righted wrong.
Sin, evil of any
and every sort,
death itself,
are the absence
of the real, of life,
of good, of God.
Jesus responded to them
in the Love that is God,
suffered them,
poured himself out for them,
emptied himself,
to fill the void
of sin, evil, death,
righting them real.
He taught and lived
a life of such pure love
that it has the bounce
to rise from the dead.
Jesus invites us
into this wonder.
We are
"baptized into his
death and resurrection",
he with us,
we together
in him.
Jesus saved us
from a vacuous hell,
here and hereafter.
Richard Roher puts this all
so clearly and well:
Jesus is, in effect, saying,
"This is how evil is
transformed into good!
I am going to take
the worst thing and
turn it into the best thing,
so you will never be
victimized, destroyed
or helpless again!
I am giving YOU
the victory over all death!" (1)
Over the years I had
more than
a few fathers
in the congregation
who beat their sons
when they misbehaved.
So sadly sick,
evil compounding evil.
We don't have
an Abba at all like that.
He shares his Son.
His Son shares
God Goodness.
His Son Saves!
His Son loves the deadly
and death itself to life.
WOW!!!
******
LENTEN LOOK
We find a quiet,
private place.
We still down to
Soul Center
We stop thinking,
figuring, planning.
We gaze at the cross
******
Slowly
Specifically
We ask for an infusion of
GOD LOVE
to enliven
the dark dead corners
of our minds
of our feelings
of our behaviors
of our relationships
of our families
of our churches
of our nation
of our world community
We not only ask for
an infusion of
GOD LOVE
We open to it.
What does that look like?
What does that take?
Let's be honest and actual
about this.
******
(1) Things Hidden,
Scripture As Spirituality
Richard Rohr, 2008,
Franciscan Media, p.188
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Spring Welcome
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frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
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Love to all,
John Frank
******
