@ www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com —- here we optimize our understanding of the gravamen of Christianity and bypass the obiter dicta that bogs down our pursuit of God. No new Christian data just, hopefully, better interpretations of them. Let us rethink everything.
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How do we get closer to the truth about God? (00762)
Are you privy to the gruesome experiment that took
place
in the laboratory of
the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)?
What hypothesis was tested in the fiery furnace of
the Crucifixion?
The hypothesis tested was
that the most Sacred Heart of God is filled to the brim
with
radical love for the children of Adam and Eve.
The hypothesis tested was
proven true when Jesus gave us his radically
asymmetric answer to the evils that we had
done to him
(00753)
(00268)
(00660)
(00687).
He forgave us.
He forgave his enemies even though we still had
his flesh in
our mouths and his blood on our hands.
Who does this? What does this tell us about our God?
Radical forgiveness
is a high fidelity proxy for the radical love
of God.
Is not a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
Isn't forgiveness one of the sweet fruits of love?
By virtue of the Crucifixion,
Jesus brought us closer to the truth about God -
very close
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4).
The Crucifixion unboxed the enigma of God.
The Crucifixion is the Rosetta Stone that translates
the mystery of God into terms that we can understand.
It illuminated the darkness of our understanding
of the nature of God in a glorious burst of
apocalyptic epiphany.
Hell illuminated heaven.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
We cannot get any closer to God here on earth than
by approaching him via the Crucifixion.
The Crucifixion
enables us to figure out this thing that we call God
for ourselves.
By bringing us closer to God, Jesus deepens our faith.
So, let the Crucifixion shape your
understanding of God.
The Crucifixion is the gravamen of
Christianity - superior to eveything else.
Everything else is obiter dicta.
To perfect our understanding of God, we study the
theology of the Crucifixion.
Note: A Mass is a facsimile of the Crucifixion
without the flesh and blood
(00744)
(00738).
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(00741)
[¶ 00762 Updated: 11_20_2024]
The Nativity of Forgiveness (00756)
Jesus had a child.
His name was forgiveness.
Forgiveness was Jesus' dearly beloved son
(Matthew 3:17).
Forgiveness reminded Jesus, and us, of God
(00394)
because forgiveness resembled God.
Jesus gave birth to forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25)
(00695)
(00699)
(00698).
Heaven was born in hell.
Hell was the foil that highlighted and
emphasized and intensified and
magnified and amplified and accentuated
and underlined the jewel of heaven
(00757)
(00734)
(00628)
(00603).
Jesus tansformed the Crucifixion from a singularity
of hell only into a duality of heaven and hell.
He filled the Cross of Christ with meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
by bringing bipolarity to it
(00648)
(00584)
(00576)
(00530)
(00557)
(00536)
(00532)
(00512).
The unveiling of heaven in hell was his
Magnum Opus.
The transformation of the Crucifixion from a
singularity into a duality is
the flagship of Christianity. Respect the
flagship! Rally 'round the bipolarity of the Cross
(00756)
(00506)!
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(00754)
[¶ 00756 Updated: 11_20_2024]
The radical love of God is not a luxury.
It is a necessity.
The revelation of the radical love of God
(00152)
is the knowledge
that saves us from destruction
(00151)
(00494).
We only acquire it, however, by serious
contemplation of the bipolarity of the
Crucifixion
(00648)
(00584)
(00576)
(00530)
(00557)
(00536)
(00532)
(00512).
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[¶ 00760 Updated: 11_19_2024]
The Genius of the Crucifixion (00743)
The Crucifixion was the framework that
Jesus designed and built, at an
exorbitant cost to himself, to host
the revelation of the radical love of God
(Mark 6:3).
It consisted of four (4) separate and distinct
components
(00741).
What were they? Can you articulate them? Do you
have the words? Hint: the formula that defines
the Crucifixion is Heaven + Hell = Revelation.
Hell began the revelation. Heaven completed it
(00323)
(00693).
(Note: the formula assumes that Jesus stepped
down and out of the invincible armor of divinity
and into our frail uniform of flesh and blood.
His defortification took place during
the Incarnation. On the brink of battle with
the monster of the Crucifixion, Jesus disarmed
(00365).
Only against a depleted
divinity does hell work. No depletion; no
spending of the coin of flesh and blood
(00691);
no
revelation. Spending authenticated the
genuineness of the revelation
(00452).
Hell verified
heaven
(00673).
Spending made
the revelation unimpeachable.)
The anatopic combination of heaven and hell is the
genius of the Crucifixion
(00603).
Heaven did not belong in hell
(00603).
Heaven was a stranger in the strange land of the
Crucifixion
(Exodus 2:22).
Yet, despite the unexpected novelty of the radical
combination
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
(Mark 10:9),
Jesus brought heaven into hell. He hung heaven from
the position of prominence on the flagpole of
Christianity. Rally 'round the bipolarity of the Cross
(00730)!
The wallop of the Crucifixion does not come from
the hell that his enemies hung from the Cross of
Christ.
The wallop of the Crucifixion does not come from
the heaven that Jesus hung from the Cross of
Christ.
The wallop of the Crucifixion comes from
the radical asymmetry of the anatopic combinanation
of heaven and hell.
The radical asymmetry
gobsmacks us.
It creates a powerful energy gradient that
gut punches anyone who comes in contact with it
(00325).
It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6)
(00673).
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[¶ 00743 Updated: 11_20_2024]
The Wheels of the Bus (00613)
Heaven and hell are the wheels of the bus of the
Crucifixion that conveys the revelation of
the radical love of God. They work together as a
team. Each member of the team is needed to convey
the revelation.
Take away either of the two
wheels and the bus crashes. It does not deliver
the revelation. The love note that our God had
sent us in the Incarnation does not get verified
(00572)
(00142)
(00452)
(00253).
Christianity fails. Christianity breaks down.
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(00612)
[¶ 00613 Updated: 08_15_2024]
Can you not hear the bugle of forgiveness?
(00081)
Forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:6-7)
is the bugle that Jesus blows
from the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity
in the
battlefield of the Crucifixion
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16)
to summon the children
of Adam and Eve to return home to their
God.
Forgiveness is the signal to retreat - to make
our escape to the land of our loving
God from the land of the loveless beasts who scavenge
for scraps in cutthroat competition against one
another in utter poverty at
and about the ruins of Eden.
Are you listening? Do you hear it
(Matthew 13:9)?
Hearken, now, unto his voice
(Proverbs 4:20-22)!
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Ingratitude is the only sin (00127)
The Union of the Two Jesus' (00457)
The Bugle of Forgiveness (00223)
Forgiveness and Repentance (00082)
The Battlefield of
the Crucifixion (00085)
The Escape (00086)
The Summons Home
(00087)
Scavenging for Scraps
(00088)
Paradise: the Land of Milk
and Honey
(00089)
(00443)
[¶ 00081 Updated: 06_07_2024]
Rescue (00211)
We want God to decorate the canvas of
his creation with the
beauty of love. God, however, wants us to do it
(00643)
(00719).
Why? Because in the process of
decorating the canvas of his creation with the
beauty of love,
we become godlike. We discover our superpower
(00182).
Beautification deifies us
(00001).
There is a misunderstanding.
Our understanding of rescue is different
than God's understanding of rescue.
God is not interested in making godlessness
a better, more hospitable place for godless people
to live.
God wants to transform godless people
into People of God.
We want God to rescue us. God
wants us to rescue ourselves.
To God, rescue does not mean taking away our
crosses. It means teaching us to pick them up
and carry them
(00212)
(00214)
(00216)
(00210)
(00213).
The process of learning how to
pick up and carry our crosses transforms us.
It dignifies us.
It deifies us.
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you,
and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke
is easy, and my burden is light"
(Matthew 11:28-30).
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(00619)
(00643)
(00761)
[¶ 00211 Updated: 11_19_2024]
The greater is the hellishness of the canvas of
God's creation that he presents to us to embellish
with the beauty of love, the higher is God's
confidence in our artistic talents. In other words,
regardless of the heaviness of the cross,
rest assured that God
has endowed us with sufficient strength
to pick it up and carry it. That is our superpower.
Our strength is equal to the challenge - always.
Jesus proved this on the Cross.
On the Cross, Jesus embellished the hostile
canvas of the Crucifixion with the vibrant beauty
of forgiveness. He gave us an example of the
artistry that is within our grasp.
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(00211)
[¶ 00761 Updated: 11_19_2024]
Seeking the kingdom of God
(00732)
"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees,
when the kingdom of God should come,
he answered them and said,
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!
for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you"
(Luke 17:20-21)
(Matthew 6:33).
Therefore, look inside yourself for God!
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you
(1 Corinthians 3:16)?
God is trying to embellish the canvas of your heart
with heaven as he did with the canvas of the
Crucifixion so you can embellish your circumstances.
Stand not in his way!
" But seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness; and all these things
shall be added unto you"
(Matthew 6:33)
(Luke 17:20-21).
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
God declared,
"... they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing"
(Psalm 34:10)
(Matthew 7:7-8).
The seed of God is in us.
Given an intelligent
and hardworking farmer,
it will thrive and grow
up into God, whose seed
it is; and accordingly its
fruits will be God-nature.
Pear seeds grow into
pear trees, nut seeds
into nut trees, and
God seeds into God.
(Meister Eckhart)
We are made in the image and likeness
of God
(Genesis 1:26)
(00394).
This is our potential
(00727)
(00729).
In the Crucifixion, Jesus showed us the potential
of creatures of flesh and blood by fufilling his.
He gave us an example of what creatures of flesh
and blood are capable of. He forgave us for the
evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
Forgiveness was his example.
Jesus paid an exorbitant price in the coin of his
flesh and blood to remind the children of Adam and
Eve of our potential
(00643)
(00615)
(00469).
Evils are the opportunities to fulfill our potential
that present themselves to us as we pass through
the Valley of Tears
(00211)
(Salve Regina).
May we hang from our crosses with the same
panache with which Jesus hung from his
Cross
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
(00706)
(00211)
(00627)
(00695).
Yes, like Jesus, we, too, can perfect our strength in
weakness
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
(Luke 21:1-4)
(Matthew 5:38-48).
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect
(Matthew 5:48).
How do frail creatures of flesh and blood perfect
their strength? By dipping into their limited
human resources to purchase a benefit for
or relieve a burden from our neighbors - by
defying our conservative instinct for
self-preservation - by embellishing hell with
heaven regardless of the cost
(00277)
(00638).
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[¶ 00732 Updated: 11_02_2024]
The Crucifixion is the school that Jesus established
upon the earth where the children of Adam and Eve
learn about the radical love of God. The birth of
forgiveness in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion is the
teacher
(00329)
(00756).
The starker was the contrast between the heaven
and hell of the Crucifixion, the better is
the education.
The goal of the Crucifixion was perfect incongruity
(00710)
(00720),
that is, strength made perfect in weakness
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
(Luke 21:1-4)
(Matthew 5:38-48).
Jesus reached the goal.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect
(Matthew 5:48).
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[¶ 00758 Updated: 11_17_2024]
Performance, not presence, is the salient
truth (00759)
The salient truth is not his presence in the fiery furnace
of the Crucifixion. The salient truth is his performabce
in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion, that is,
what he did there. What did Jesus do there?
In the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion, Jesus
gave birth to forgiveness.
The birth of forgiveness
in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion
wss the announcement of the
Good News of Great Joy.
The greater was the hostility, the more miraculous
was the birth!
Presence is a red herring that draws our focus away
from his performance.
Focusing on presence instead of performance
destroys the bipolarity of the Cross of Christ and,
thereby, empties it of its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
The performance, not the presence, of Jesus
in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion is
the flagship of Christianity. Respect the
flagship! Rally 'round the bipolarity of the Cross
(00756)
(00506)!
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[¶ 00759 Updated: 11_19_2024]
The synergy of the anatopic combination of heaven and
hell in the Crucifixion gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horses (00757)
(Acts 9:4-6)
(00673)
(00603).
Jesus combined heaven and hell in the Crucifixion
to form a single unit of apocalyptic revelation about
the radical love of God
(00603)
(00710).
Jesus transformed the Crucifixion from a singularity
of hell only into a duality of heaven and hell
(00751)
(00745)
(00483)
(00741)
(00612)
(00693).
Heaven and hell became the odd couple of epiphany
(00695).
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
Jesus exploited the rhetorical structure of
a foil and jewel to serve as the vehicle that
conveys the revelation about the radical love of God
(00734)
(00643)
(00745)
(00506).
Jesus hijacked the evils that we did to him
during the Crucifixion.
He co-opted them, bundled them together
into a foil, and, by forgiving us for
baptizing him in it, used the foil to showcase
the radical love of God
(00308).
In hell, Jesus unveiled heaven.
Hidden behind the curtain demurely stood radical
forgiveness - a proxy for the radical love
of God - waiting for the evils that we did to Jesus
to summon it into the fiery
furnace of the Crucifixion.
The fiery furnace of the Crucifixion was the foil.
The birth of forgiveness was the jewel.
God giving birth to forgiveness, that is,
God in action not God at rest, adorned the hostile
canvas of the Crucifixion with the vibrant beauty of
forgiveness.
The anatopic combination of heaven and hell is the
genius of the Crucifixion
(00603).
Heaven did not belong in hell
(00603).
Heaven was a stranger in the strange land of the
Crucifixion
(Exodus 2:22).
Yet, despite the unexpected novelty of the radical
combination
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
(Mark 10:9),
Jesus brought heaven into hell. He hung heaven from
the position of prominence on the flagpole of
Christianity. Rally 'round the bipolar Cross
(00756)
(00506)!
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[¶ 00757 Updated: 11_17_2024]
Jesus expressed the truth about the nature of God
in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion (00754)
Jesus did not merely tells us about God in words.
He showed us God in action on the battlefield in
harm's way
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16)
(00569).
Paradoxically, to show us God,
Jesus became one of us - an equal to us in our
humanity - a partner with us in our suffering.
Dressed like us in our frail uniform of flesh and blood,
Jesus joined us
in the scrum at the line of
scrimmage, cheek to jowl with us, toe to hoof against
his enemies.
In the line of fire of the Crucifixion,
Jesus gave us a glimpse of God. He gave us a
peek at divinity. The Crucifixion was a show not
a tell.
Jesus showed us God and, simultaneously, showed us
our potential.
In the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion, Jesus
showed us the nobility of flesh and blood.
What was it exactly that Jesus showed us?
He gave us an example. He embellished hell with
heaven. He adorned the hostile canvas of the
Crucifixion with the vibrant beauty of forgiveness,
the sweetest of the sweet fruits of love.
He revealed that creatures of flesh and blood
have a superpower by which they can transcend their
limitations
(00497)
(00182)
(00493)
(00685)
(00642)
(00211)
(00393)
(00492)
Like Jesus, they, too, can adorn the canvas
of God's creation with the beauty of love
(00719)
(00732)
(00384).
What truth about the nature of God
did the Word of God
(John 1:1)
(Matthew 4:4)
express in the gruesome experiment to which
we subjected him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Isaiah 48:10)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(00097)
(00329)
(00597)
(00470)?
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4)
(00626)
(00055)
(00396)
(00440)
(00507)
(00742)
(00287).
Hint: The truth that Jesus expressed in the hostile
venue of the Crucifixion is the Good News of Great
Joy
(00673).
The hostility of the venue packed the revelation
with its persuasive power
(00743).
Hell magnified heaven
(00710)
(00725)
(00734)
(00510)
(00395)
(00015).
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Jesus blessed us with many gifts that he drew
from his unlimited divine resources
(00505)
(00314)
(00216)
(00066).
He blessed us with only one gift, however, that
he drew from his limited human resources.
Jesus gave birth to his unique gift
in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion.
The fiery furnace of the Crucifixion was the
nativity of our salvation
(00723).
Moreover, Jesus built a monument to pinpoint for us
the exact location of the treasure
(00691).
The bipolar Cross of Christ
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
(00680)
marks the exact spot of the treasure
(Matthew 13:44).
An "X" marks the spot.
So, rally 'round the bipolar Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
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(00756)
[¶ 00754 Updated: 11_15_2024]
Forgiveness for thorns,
Heaven for Hell,
the Crucifixion casts
an enchanting spell (00751)
The hallmark of the Crucifixion is the
exchange of crowns. The asymmetry of the
exchange gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6)
(00673).
Humanity crowned divinity with a crown of
thorns; divinity crowned humanity with a crown
of forgiveness.
The double crownings took place during the
Crucifixion.
The Crucifixion was not a singularity
of hell only. The Crucifixion was a duality
of heaven and hell. Jesus made it so. Jesus embellished
the hostile canvas of the Crucifixion with the
vibrant beauty of forgiveness.
Heaven embellished hell.
The embellishment
was Jesus' Magnum Opus. What other artist does his
best work in such adverse circumstances
(00487)?
The two overlapping transactions of the Crucifixion -
the exchange of crowns -
were not equal.
They were unbalanced - asymmetrical.
They were skewed in humanity's favor.
We reaped the benefits of the Crucifixion;
Jesus paid the costs.
And the costs were exorbitant.
Jesus purchased the crowns of
forgiveness with the coin of
his flesh and blood.
The steeper was the cost
(00723),
the more certain we can be of our salvation.
Who purchases gifts for enemies when they have
your flesh in their mouths and your blood
on their hands?
Who treats his enemies so graciously besides
the God whose love for us is radical in the
extreme
(00730)
(00733)?
"Who are you, God? Identify yourself!
Friend or foe?"
The Crucifixion is the gift from Jesus that makes
us undestand, if we open and explore it,
that God is our friend not our foe
(00666).
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
The course taken through life by the children
who understand and seek God tends to be
different than the course of those who
do not.
Are you merely scratching the surface of
this thing called God? Delve deeper!
The hoard of knowledge about God that Jesus stashed on
earth can only be discovered by exploring the
four components of the Crucifixion
(00741).
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[¶ 00751 Updated: 11_12_2024]
God entrusts his creatures with the canvas of his
creation (00719)
God entrusts his creatures with the canvas of his
creation.
The embellishment of God's creation with the beauty
of love is the principal activity of heaven.
Through Jesus, God exported the activity to
earth. Jesus gave us an example of how this is done.
He embellished the hostile canvas
of the Crucifixion with the vibrant
beauty of forgiveness. He introduced
heaven to hell. The introduction was his Magnum Opus.
"...[F]ill the earth and
subdue it..."
(Genesis 1:28).
Fill it with what? Subdue it how? As Jesus
did during the Crucifixion, fill and subdue
the earth with the sweet
fruits of love. Fill every nook and cranny
of God's creation with love
(00493)!
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[¶ 00719 Updated: 11_14_2024]
In the Crucifixion, Jesus exported heaven to hell.
He surprised us
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Conventional
biblical wisdom created the expectation of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48),
that is, hell for hell.
Jesus, however, rejected conventional
biblical wisdom. He defied it.
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to
him. He included his enemies with the scope of
his love. Isn't the scope of his love radical?
Who but the God who loves us includes his enemies
within the scope of his love?
The Crucifixion enables us to rationally comment
on the scope of his love.
The Crucifixion is proof of scope.
What do you have to say about the scope of
God's love and what is your basis for saying so?
All Christian reasoning begins and ends
with the Crucifixion. The Crucifixion is
the anchor for the logic of Christianity.
The Crucifixion is the font of understanding
of our reality
because it is the source of the truth.
Without the Crucifixion, anti-god propaganda
(00664)
distorts our apprehension of reality.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4)
(00626)
(00055)
(00396)
(00440)
(00507)
(00742)
(00287).
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link:
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00753
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00745)
(00723)
(00687)
[¶ 00753 Updated: 11_13_2024]
Jesus is the Love Note that the God
who loves us sent us in the Incarnation (00094)
Jesus is the tangible, frank and unreserved expression
(John 1:1)
of God's love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
He is the Love Note that God sent us. Yes, that is
right. Our God sent us a Love Note.
The expression of love that erupted from Jesus,
the Word of God
(John 1:1),
by his answer to the evils that we had done to him
during the Crucifixion
is the treasure of Christianity. It is the
Good News of Great Joy.
God thought that
the best way to answer the question, 'Who is God?', and
to show us our potential, was to send us a Love Note
and to verify its genuineness
in a gruesome experiment.
The gruesome experiment unequivocally proved
the hypothesis
that God's love for us is genuine.
God's love for us survived the evils that we did
to him.
From the gruesome experiment, we discovered that
the dial that controls God's love for us is
in his hands not ours.
Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and
is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to the Son of God
could budge it.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Expression of the Truth (00095)
[¶ 00094 Updated: 11_14_2024]
The origin of Christianity (00268)
God blessed us with a Love Note and its
Verification -two gifts not one
'Who are you, God? Identify yourself. Friend or foe?'
God could have answered the question, 'Who is God?',
in many different ways.
He had a variety of options.
Yet, the answer that God settled upon was
not a threat, a warning or some other type of
ominous communication.
God thought that the best way to answer the question,
'Who is God?', was to send us a Love Note.
Jesus was the Love Note that God sent us.
Jesus, the Word of God
(John 1:1),
was the tangible expression of
the radical love of God -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
Wow! Christianity is the religion that began with
a Love Note - a Love Note from God to us.
What an auspicious origin!
We didn't deserve the Love Note.
Yet, our God sent it to us anyway.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
Moreover, God did not stop his gift giving
at the Love Note. The Love Note was not
the end of the story.
God also blessed us with a Verification of
the Love Note.
The verification is the cherry that God put on
top of the Love Note. It is the icing on the cake.
Jesus verified the genuineness of the
Love Note.
The Love Note was verified in
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion.
Are you privy to the gruesome experiment?
Instead of giving his enemies the punishment that they
justly deserved for taking from him
his flesh and blood,
Jesus blessed them with the priceless gift
of forgiveness.
His enemies did not deserve it, but Jesus gave the
gift of forgiveness to them anyway.
Jesus forgave his enemies
for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
He forgave his enemies even though we still had
his flesh in
our mouths and his blood on our hands.
Who does this? What does this tell us about our God?
God wrote the verification of the
Love Note in the indelible ink of radical
forgiveness.
Radical forgiveness reflected and confirmed God's
radical love for the children of Adam and Eve.
A Love Note and a Verification of its genuineness -
two great gifts not one - were provided by God
to us. By sending them to us,
God jump started the process
of our conversion.
He did not wait for our conversion to forgive us;
he forgave us to bring about our conversion.
Love begets love. Only love begets love.
So,
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
We love him because he loved us first.
Isn't God's explanation of himself surprising?
He defines himself by expressing his radical
love for us.
Our God is the God who loves us.
He explains himself much differently than we try
to explain him, no?
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Go to the Table of Contents
(Table of Contents)
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(00452)
[¶ 00268 Updated: 06_12_2024]
The Birth of Christianity
(00629)
Christianity was born in the fire of the Crucifixion
(00268).
It was born at the moment that Jesus published the
revelation about the
radical love of God from the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity by releasing its proxy,
radical forgiveness, into the fire of the Crucifixion.
Follow the path cast by the light of
radical forgiveness back home to its source
(00503).
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Radical forgiveness is the light that illuminates the
darkness that obscured the truth about the
radical love of God.
Radical forgiveness is the Holy Spirit tugging at our souls.
The curious follow the tug back to its source.
Along the way, the curious are exploring the mystery,
majesty and magnificence of God. In the process of
exploration, God transforms us. Unless we explore
the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God,
we cannot be transformed
(00133)
(00303).
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(Table of Contents)
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[¶ 00629 Updated: 08_21_2024]
Appreciating the Cost of Love (00505)
Loveless deification is an oxymoron
(Wikipedia).
The sweet fruits of love are not free.
They come at a cost
(00723).
Cost is a component of love.
The size of love is a function of its cost.
The cost paid either impresses us or does not.
The higher the cost, the greater is the impression.
It is easy for our God to bless us with the sweet
fruits of love
when he can pay for them
from his unlimited divine resources.
Generosity is easy when there is no cost
to the giving of a gift
(Luke 21:1-4)
.
A gift whose cost is drawn from our limited human
resources, however, is a horse of a different color.
Are we willing to be generous when the cost of the
gift comes out of our own pockets
(Luke 21:1-4)?
Jesus blessed us with many gifts that he drew
from his unlimited divine resources.
He blessed us with only one gift, however, that
he drew from his limited human resources
(00723).
Jesus paid for the gift of love
in the form of forgiveness
during the Crucifixion
from his own pockets
with the coin of
his flesh and blood.
He spent all he had.
He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never paid more for anything else.
This unique gift of love in the form of forgiveness
during the Crucifixion
was the gift of a glimpse of God.
It illuminated the darkness of our understanding
of the nature of God in a glorious burst of
apocalyptic epiphany.
Beware the deceivers who claim to love but refuse
to pay any of its cost. They are liars.
Absent a cost component, love is a sham - a charade.
Don't let the impostors - costless lovers - fool you.
True love is recognized by the cost paid. Only
the cost paid verifies true love.
Love without sacrifice is defective love - pseudo-love.
Love without sacrifice is the false illusion of love.
Only sacrificial love is real.
What is the difference between Jesus and the serpent?
With the coin of his flesh and blood,
Jesus paid an exorbitant cost to purchase for us
the gift of love in the form of forgiveness.
The serpent promised us a blessing - deification
(Genesis 3:5)
-
that he did not deliver
at no cost to himself. Always keep the litmus test
of cost handy. Always watch to see whether a promised
blessing is tethered or untethered to its cost.
Jesus did not merely tells us about God in words.
He showed us God in action. In the Crucifixion,
Jesus gave us a glimpse of God. He gave us a
peek at divinity.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
The Crucifixion is the source of our understanding
and, hence, our motivation to seek God.
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(00723)
[¶ 00505 Updated: 11_10_2024]
God's power made paradise for us. God's love for us,
however, is the ingredient that makes paradise sweet.
Power begets respect. But love begets love.
Only love begets love.
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[¶ 00752 Updated: 11_09_2024]
The Crucifixion is the richest source of the knowledge of God
(00747)
The leviathan of the Crucifixion vomited up
divinity in the form of forgiveness on the
seashore of humanity's awareness
(Jonah 2)
(Job 41).
Jesus hid the
Easter Egg
(Wikipedia)
in the fiery furnace of the
Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25)
(00695)
(00699)
(00698).
Jesus deposited the knowledge of God
(Hosea 4:6)
into his answer to the evils that we did to him during
the Crucifixion.
His answer became the reservoir that held the knowledge
of God.
His answer was the treasure chest.
The knowledge of God was the treasure.
Jesus deposited the treasure into the treasure chest
in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion.
The deposition of the treasure into the treasure chest
initiated the treasure hunt
(00602)
(00184).
Christianity is a treasure map for treasure
hunters engaged in a treasure hunt.
The Crucifixion marks the spot of the treasure.
An 'X' marks the spot
(00707)
(00184)
(00188)
(00630).
The treasure arises out the treasure chest as
meaning arises out of a word
(Matthew 4:4)
(John 1:1).
Educate yourself!
Open the treasure chest!
Discover the treasure!
Make yourself rich
(Matthew 13:44-46)
(00028)!
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
The pursuit of God is primary.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary.
Anything that interferes is suspect
(Matthew 6:33).
Therefore, more of the pursuit of God; not less.
Always. No exceptions.
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[¶ 00747 Updated: 11_08_2024]
A Failed Deli (00755)
Trying to build a deli around the concept of peddling
a glimpse of a sandwich fails.
A glimpse of a sandwich does not satisfied our
hunger, quench our thirst or fill our bellies
(00425).
Only the taste of
a sandwich succeeds
(00549)
(00681)
(00574)
(00531)
(00377)
(00500)
(00704)
(00036).
The consumption of Jesus' flesh and blood during
the Crucifixion and, its counterpart, the consumption
of Jesus' bread and wine at a Mass are the hell
that serves as the foil for the Good News of
Great Joy
(00754).
Hell magnified heaven
(00754).
No hell; no magnification.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9)
(00693).
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[¶ 00755 Updated: 11_14_2024]
Eucharistic Coronations (00750)
How do we return the King to the throne of the kingdom
of God?
"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees,
when the kingdom of God should come,
he answered them and said,
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!
for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you"
(Luke 17:20-21)
(Matthew 6:33)
(1 Corinthians 3:16).
The vehicle that delivers the king to his throne
is the most Holy Eucharist taken and given at Mass.
When we consume the most Holy Eucharist, the
presence of God shifts from its shell of bread
and wine to us.
In us, we prepare a place for
Jesus and Jesus prepares a place for us
(John 14:2-3)
(John 15:4-11).
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,
ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be
done unto you
(John 15:7)
(Psalm 34:10)
(Matthew 7:7-8).
(Matthew 6:33).
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
Note: We receive the most Holy Eucharist unworthily
(1 Corinthians 11:27-29)
(00509),
when we fail to understand that the most
Holy Eucharist taken and given at Mass is
the Crucifixion made portable
(00744)
(00737)
(00738)
- when we fail to grok that the most
Holy Eucharist taken and given at Mass is
a facsimile of the Crucifixion - without
the flesh and blood
(00737)
(00735)
(00704)
(00716)
(00531)
(00476)
(00706)
- when we participate in it without understanding
it.
The most Holy Eucharist taken and given at Mass is
the spitting image of the Crucifixion designed,
created and operating to deliver the same
message as the Crucifixion, that is, the
extraordinary revelation of the radical
love of God.
The message gut punches us.
It delivers a powerful wallop.
It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
The message is the Good News of Great Joy.
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(00732)
(00749)
[¶ 00750 Updated: 11_08_2024]
Divinity splashed down on earth in the fiery
furnace of the Crucifixion
(00748)
In the fiery furnace of the
Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25)
(00695)
(00699)
(00698),
divinity in its highest and purest concentration
coalesced on earth into a coherent form.
Divininity touched down in hostile
circumstances.
Divinity landed in hell
(00718).
Ooops? Did divinity miss the landing zone? Did
divinity touch down off target? Or did divinity
know what it was doing? Was the fiery furnace of the
Crucifixion a perfect place for a revelation -
an ideal spot for Jesus' performative exegesis
(00736)
about God
(John 15:13)
(00733)?
In a hell that consumed his flesh and blood,
divinity assumed the form of forgiveness.
Forgiveness is the apotheosis of God
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
Forgiveness is the proxy for the radical love
of God. It is the incandescent instrument that
illuminated the darkness of our understanding
of God
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
Note: Humanity splashed down on earth in the
Incarnation filled with the potential of divinity.
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(00718)
[¶ 00748 Updated: 11_06_2024]
What is the miracle of the Crucifixion? (00745)
We had made the Crucifixion a singularity
of hell only. Jesus transformed the
singularity into a duality of heaven and hell.
In answer to the evils that we had done to him during
the Crucifixion, Jesus did the unexpected. He
surprised us
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Conventional
biblical wisdom created the expectation of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, rejected conventional
biblical wisdom. He defied it.
His answer was radically unconventional
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Jesus substituted forgiveness for punishment.
Heaven diluted hell
(00024).
Heaven embellished hell.
Jesus adorned the dark and hostile canvas of the
Crucifixion with the vivid and vibrant beauty
of forgiveness.
The transformation was the miracle that
took place during the Crucifixion.
The transformation revealed the
radical love of God to us.
Jesus blessed us with many gifts that he drew
from his unlimited divine resources.
He blessed us with only one gift, however, that
he drew from his limited human resources
(00723).
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(00753)
[¶ 00745 Updated: 11_13_2024]
The infallibility of the Crucifixion
(00736)
The Crucifixion is Jesus' performative
exegesis of God - an exegesis
not in words but in deeds.
The Crucifixion is the model of the
radical love of God that Jesus, the carpenter
(Mark 6:3),
built in the fiery furnace by embellishing the dark and
hostile canvas of the Crucifixion with the vivid
and vibrant beauty of forgiveness.
If anything is infallible in Christianity, it is the
Crucifixion. The Crucifixion is the stronghold of
Christianity. Christians retreat to the
Crucifixion to take solace in the radical love of
God. The Crucifixion is the place where Christians
go to recharge their Christian batteries. In the
Crucifixion, Christians rest in the radical love
of God
(DILEXIT NOS).
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[¶ 00736 Updated: 10_26_2024]
Intimacy with the radical love of God makes our
haloes glow (00483)
Intimacy with the radical love of God makes our
haloes glow.
Jesus' answer to the evils that we
did to him during the Crucifixion is the treasure
chest of Christianity.
His answer holds the treasure.
On his answer our salvation depends.
Into the treasure
chest, Jesus deposited the theology
of the radical love of God in its highest and
purest concentration.
The evils that we did to Jesus during the
Crucifixion opened the treasure chest and
revealed the treasure.
What was his answer? Can you articulate it?
Do you have the words?
His answer enabled us to figure out this thing
called God for ourselves.
Do you understand and appreciate the Crucifixion?
"In God We Trust". why? Because we understand the
Crucifixion and we appreciate the revelation of the
radical love of God that it conveys to us.
He did not fight fire with fire
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Instead,
he brought heaven to hell.
He substituted forgiveness for punishment.
In the Crucifixion, We had made a singularity
of hell only. Jesus transformed the
singularity into a duality of heaven and hell.
The transformation was the miracle that
took place during the Crucifixion. It was
Jesus' Magnum Opus. The transformation was
the vehicle that Jesus used to reveal the
radical love of God to us.
The overwhelming
weight of the radical love of God
makes us bend our knees. It gobsmacks us.
The Good News of Great Joy
knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6)
(00673).
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[¶ 00483 Updated: 11_06_2024]
The Crucifixion is the Christian Atlas (00742)
The Crucifixion is the Christian Atlas
(Wikipedia)
on whose shoulders
rests the revelation of the radical love of God.
Jesus deposited the fullness of truth about
the radical love of God in the
hell and heaven of the Crucifixion.
Hell was the first stage of the revelation - its
beginning. Heaven was the second and
final stage of the revelation - the point and place
at which the revelation reached its completion
(00710)
(00628).
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4)
(00626)
(00055)
(00396)
(00440)
(00507).
Revelation
------------------------------
Hell + Heaven
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[¶ 00742 Updated: 11_03_2024]
The best articulation of the truth about God is found
in the Crucifixion
(00692)
The best articulation of the truth about God is found
in the Crucifixion.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4)
(00626)
(00055)
(00396)
(00440)
(00507).
Jesus stashed it there.
Are you privy to it? Can you articulate it? Do you
have the words?
“I have come to set the earth on fire
[with the truth about God]
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
The Crucifixion is the match that ignites the fire
whose light illuminates the darkness
of our understanding of God.
Strike the match! Strike it! Stike it now
and forever!
The light from the bonfire fills the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
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[¶ 00692 Updated: 09_20_2024]
Heaven escaped from the jaws of hell during the
Crucifixion. Are you
privy to the details? (00707)
Heaven in the form of forgiveness erupted from
Jesus as the jaws of hell chewed him up into
bits and pieces. The greater were the evils that
we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion,
the greater is our astonishment at the
eruption. Wow!
The Crucifixion conveyed from heaven to earth
an extraordinary
revelation about God
(00705)
(00316)
(00695).
Jesus
delivered the revelation at an exorbitant cost to
himself in the
fiery furnace of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25)
(00695)
(00699)
(00698),
Are you privy to the extraordinary
content of the revelation
and the extraordinary manner of its delivery?
Can you articulate them? Do you have the words?
If you do not, you do not understand Christianity
(00306).
The point of Christianity is its sizzle.
Without its sizzle, Christianity is a dud.
It is no big deal.
No sizzle; no Christianity.
Contrary to
the Coloring Book version of Christianity
(00184)
(00188)
(00630),
Christianity is
a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in
a treasure hunt
(00598)
(00449)
(00483)
(00199)
(00599)
(00600)
(00133).
Have you discovered the sizzle of Christianity?
Have you found the jackpot?
Have you located the pot of gold at the end of
the Christian rainbow
(00070)
(00301)?
Educate yourself!
Open the treasure chest!
Discover the treasure!
Make yourself rich
(Matthew 13:44-46)
(00747)
(00028)!
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[¶ 00707 Updated: 11_05_2024]
The Jaws of the Crucifixion (00683)
We do not celebrate Jesus' presence in the
jaws of the Crucifixion. We celebrate
what Jesus did in the
jaws of the Crucifixion. While the jaws
of the Crucifixion were chewing Jesus
up into bits and pieces, Jesus forgave us for
the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
The celebration is
known as a Mass. The celebration is a Victory
Party not a presence party. Glorious victory emerged
from ignominious defeat as the dawn emerges from the
darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
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[¶ 00683 Updated: 09_12_2024]
Jesus rebuilt the infrastructure of our understanding
of God on the framework of the Crucifixion.
"Is he not the carpenter"
(Mark 6:3)?
The four (4) components of the Crucifixion perfected
our knowledge of God
(Hosea 4:6).
The awkward
(00712),
anatopic
(00603),
asymmetric
(00688)
answer that Jesus
gave to the evils that we did to him during the
Crucifixion is the foundation on which the edifice
of Christianity is built.
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[¶ 00714 Updated: 10_10_2024]
The Four Components of the Crucifixion (00741)
Hell + Heaven = Revelation. We made the Crucifixion
into a singularity of hell only. Jesus, however,
changed
the status quo. He transformed the Crucifixion into
a duality of heaven and hell.
He brought bipolarity to the Cross of Christ.
Bipolarity filled the Cross of Christ with
meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
The transformation of the Crucifixion from a
singularity into a duality that took place
when Jesus embellished hell with heaven
revealed the radical love of God.
The transformation produced the revelation.
The Crucifixion is Jesus' exegesis of God. Jesus made
it easy for us to follow his exegesis of
God by compartmentalizing the Crucifixion into four
(4) separate and distinct components
(00389):
1) the enfeeblement of divinity in the Incarnation
(00149)
(00227)
(00583)
(00142)
(00442)
(00706),
2) the hanging of hell from the flagpole of
Christianity
(00721).
3) the hanging of heaven from the flagpole
of Christianity
(00721),
and
4) the revelation of the radical love of God
(00679).
Understand each of the four (4) components of
the Crucifixion and you will have filled the Cross
of Christ with meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
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[¶ 00741 Updated: 11_20_2024]
The evils that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion
were the key that unlocked, opened and released the
revelation of the radical love of God from the treasure
chest into which Jesus had deposited it. The
revelation was the treasure - the jackpot of
Christianity. Jesus' asymmetric answer to the evils
that we had done to him was the treasure chest. Jesus
transported the treasure and treasure chest from heaven
to earth via the Crucifixion.
Jesus was the herald of the treasure.
"Man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God"
(Matthew 4:4)
(John 1:1).
The treasure chest was the word that proceeded from
the mouth of God. The treasure was its meaning.
Then from the cloud came a voice that said,
“This is my chosen Son; listen to him”
(Luke 9:35).
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[¶ 00746 Updated: 11_04_2024]
The greatest sin is to make
Christianity dull (00697)
Hear the factory drone!
Some clerics have reduced Christianity to
an industrial factory of
indoctrination that tries to mass produce
mindless wooden soldiers. It tries to churn out
cloned robots with CPUs that slavishly
follow the algorithms of supposed orthodoxy -
homogeneous, lobotomized, conforming, superficial,
spiritless and perfunctory. Their automatons are only
allowed to think for themselves if their thinking
is in strict conformity with an inscrutable and
procrustean straight jacket of rules, regulations, rituals,
red tape and rigmarole. They are not permitted to think
outside the box. They are forbidden to color
outside the lines
(00184).
Christianity, however, is not an inflexible
algorithm and
the children
of Adam and Eve are not docile, programmable machines.
We read, write and think for ourselves. We refuse to
surrender these sovereign God-given activities to
our self-annointed betters.
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(The Wrong Way of Doing Christianity)
[¶ 00697 Updated: 09_22_2024]
What was Jesus' answer to the evils that we did
to him in the Crucifixion?
(00734)
Foil + Jewel = Revelation. Leave out the foil or
leave out the jewel and the revelation does not
add up. Both foil and jewel are needed to make
the equation work
(00693).
Moreover, in the case of the
Crucifixion, the foil is hell and the jewel is
heaven. And the revelation is ...?
Jesus was
not
merely a listless presence in the fiery furnace of
the Crucifixion. He was present doing something there
with the brio of the Holy Spirit
(Acts 2:1-4)
(1 Kings 19:11-13).
He had a purpose and his purpose was not merely
to hang there and suffer. Suffering was a part of
the Crucifixion but not the only part.
Suffering conveyed only a part of the truth not
the fullness of truth.
The fullness of truth only became clear
when Jesus answered the suffering into which we
had baptized him
(00693).
Suffering was
but a prelude - the hell that introduced heaven.
Presence was necessary but secondary to performance.
What Jesus did in the fiery furnace of
the Crucifixion - his performance - was a beautiful,
multi-faceted, scintillating jewel that Jesus forged
from the raw material of his flesh and blood
as our hostility anatopically set heaven in the center
of the fiery foil of hell
(00603).
The jewel was
* his Magnum Opus.
* the Good News of Great Joy.
* his glorious victory.
* strength made pertect in
weakness
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
(00509)
(00706)
(00211)
(00627).
* God in his highest and purest
concentration.
* the verification of the Love
Note that he had sent us in the Incarnation.
*
a meal of bread and
wine that Jesus served
to his enemies who still had
his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands
(00687)
(00142)
(00370).
* a nullification of the evils that we did
to Jesus during the Crucifixion. It wiped the slate
clean.
* the foundation of Christianity.
The jewel shined in the fire. The scintillations
of the jewel are the cynosure of Christianity. They
captivate the children of Adam and Eve who gaze upon
its wonder
(Exodus 3:1-3)!
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Are you privy to what Jesus did in the fiery
furnace of the Crucifixion?
Can you articulate it? Hint: He answered
the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
Jesus' answer to the evils that we had done to him
during the Crucifixion was asymmetric to them - radically
asymmetric to them.
His answer nullified them.
It wiped the slate clean.
What was his answer?
Note #1:
A lack of specificity in your description
of his answer is the signal of a lack of
understanding.
Note #2:
The sacrifice of Jesus' flesh and blood
in the fiery furnace was only one component of
the Crucifixion. There are three more components for
a total of four.
The Crucifixion is Jesus' exegesis of God.
Jesus made it easy for us to follow his exegesis of
God in the Crucifixion by compartmentalizing
the Crucifixion into four (4) separate and distinct
components.
Are you
privy to all four components of
the Crucifixion? Can you articulate them?
Do you have the words
(00729)
(00389)?
The challenge here is for
you to understand the fullness of truth about
God as Jesus,
the Word of God
(John 1:1)
(Matthew 4:4),
explained him in the Crucifixion.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6.)
Jesus gave us the gift of the Crucifixion to supply
us with the knowledge that ends our destruction.
The Crucifixion is Jesus' explanation of God.
The knowledge of God that the Crucifixion transmits
to us is our salvation.
Note #3:
The Crucifixion is a well designed,
meticulously planned
structure that Jesus, the carpenter
(Mark 6:3),
built, at an exorbitant cost to himself, to showcase
the radical love of God
(DILEXIT NOS).
Jesus did not wing it.
He had a purpose and his purpose was revealed
in the Crucifixion.
Note #4:
The Crucifixion and the radical love of
God are inextricably intertwined
(DILEXIT NOS).
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
Note #5:
Do you need another clue? Jesus' answer to
the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion
brought heaven to hell. Heaven intruded into hell.
Jesus' answer transformed the Crucifixion from a
singularity of hell only into a duality of both
heaven and hell. By his answer, Jesus embellished the
dark and hostile canvas of the Crucifixion with the
vivid and vibrant beauty of heaven. What was his
answer?
Note #6:
Yes,
our God sent us a Love Note in the Incarnation.
The name of the Love Note was Jesus.
The Love Note was verified in the Crucifixion.
And the verification was Jesus' answer to
the evils that we did to him during the
Crucifixion. Again, what was his answer?
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(00268)
[¶ 00734 Updated: 10_31_2024]
Confidence in the Crucifixion
(00690)
The Crucifixion is the rock
(Matthew 7:24-27)
on which
the wise anchor their understanding of God
(00650)
(00270).
Christians are fortunate that the knowledge of God
is not diffuse - scattered some here, some there - but
is concentrated at and about the Crucifxion.
Divinity in its highest and purest concentration
coalesced into a coherent form during the
Crucifixion. During the Crucifixion,
divinity landed on earth. It touched down in hell.
The Crucifixion was a knowledge transmission and
acquistion device. It revealed God to us.
When we focus on the Crucifixion, we get a bird's
eye view of this thing that we call God.
In the Crucifixion, we make God's acquaintance
- we acquire the knowledge of God
that brings an end to our destruction
(Hosea 4:6).
The theology of the Crucifixion is the gravamen of
Christianity - superior to eveything else.
Everything else is obiter dicta.
To perfect our understanding of God, we study the
theology of the Crucifixion.
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[¶ 00690 Updated: 11_04_2024]
What is the capacity of your tank? (00389)
To understand the mystery of God
a tank with the capacity of four gallons is
required.
1)
One gallon of capacity is needed to hold the preparation
for the anatopic combination of heaven and hell.
Preparation consisted of the depetrification of
divinity in the Incarnation. Jesus disarmed.
Jesus doffed his invincible
armor of divinity, donned our frail uniform of
flesh and blood and, dressed like us,
he put
himself in harm's way in the scrum at the line of
scrimmage, cheek to jowl with us, toe to hoof against
his enemies. Jesus became one of us - an equal to us in our
humanity - a partner with us in our suffering.
Jesus defortified himself in order to make
participation in the Crucifixion possible. Weakness
was necessary so that forgiveness,
the perfection of strength could
emerge from it
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Jesus wanted to show us the
divine potential of creatures of flesh and blood.
He paid us a visit to give us an example. It was a
hard example indeed - an example
crafted at an exorbitant cost
to himself.
Like him, we can deify ourselves by embellishing the
canvas of our lives with love
(00706)
(00211)
(00627)
(00509).
2)
One gallon of capacity is needed to hold hell.
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm
on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
In short, we baptized Jesus in a gruesome
dunghill of evils,
The Crucifixion was Jesus' ignominious defeat.
Hell was the foil in which Jesus set the jewel of
heaven.
3)
One gallon of capacity is needed to hold Heaven.
Heaven is the Meal of bread and wine that Jesus
announced and prepared for us at the Last Supper
and served
to us on Good Friday during his Crucifixion. The
Meal is Jesus' glorious victory that emerged from
his baptism in evils. It is his radically
asymmetric answer
to the evils that we did to him. The meal is
the apotheosis of radical forgiveness.
Heaven is the jewel
that Jesus set in the foil of the Crucifixion.
4)
One gallon of capacity is needed to hold the revelaton
of the radical love of God that the juxtaposition
of heaven and hell revealed to us.
The first two gallons, hell and heaven,
ignominious defeat and glorious victory,
are
the vehicle that carried the revelation.
The revelation of the radical love of God
was the payload that Jesus
delivered to us at an exorbitant cost
to himself. Delivering
the payload cost Jesus his life.
Ignominious defeat and glorious victory are the odd
couple of epiphany. Their progeny is the apocalyptic
revelation about the radical love of God.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
Ignominious defeat is the foil in which Jesus set
the jewel of his glorious victory.
The foil highlighted and emphasized and intensified
and
magnified and amplified and accentuated and
underlined the jewel of glorious victory.
glorious victory erupted from
ignominious defeat as the dawn erupts from
the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
The combination of ignominious
defeat and glorious victory illuminated the darkness
of our understanding of God in a glorious burst
of apocalyptic epiphany.
At what conclusion do we arrive when we
reverse engineer the fact that Jesus forgave
us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)?
What does
his radically asymmetric answer to the
gauntlet of evils through which we dragged him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
tell us about
the mystery of God?
Is not a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
Isn't forgiveness one of the sweet fruits of love?
Can we not reverse engineer the process from
forgiveness back to a heart filled to the brim
with radical love for us?
So, pray tell, what is the capacity of your tank?
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[¶ 00389 Updated: 10_19_2024]
The Crucifixion is a
conversation between heaven and hell
(00693)
It is impossible to figure out the meaning of a conversation
by only hearing half of it.
The Crucifixion is a
conversation between heaven and hell. We supplied
the hell. Jesus supplied the heaven. In other words,
the Crucifixion is a duality not a singularity
(00678)
(00684)
(00688)
(00671)
(00659)
(00628)
(00652)
(00612).
Jesus made it so.
Viewing the Crucifixion as a duality, not as a
singularity, fills the Cross of Christ with
meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
(00628)
(00612)
(00617).
Viewing it as a singularity, empties it.
Viewing the Crucifixion as a singularity of hell
only stops short of reaching the fullness of truth
about God. To reach the fullness of truth
about God, we must proceed to the heaven that
Jesus hung from the Cross because, in truth, the
Cross of Christ is not a singularity of hell only
but a duality of heaven and hell.
Heaven followed hell as the day follows the night.
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[¶ 00693 Updated: 09_21_2024]
Singularity distorts our understanding of
God (00612)
Delivering the revelation about the radical love of
God was the purpose of the Crucifixion. The
revelation does not get delivered when the hell of
the Crucifixion is severed from the heaven - when
glorious victory does not arise from ignominius
defeat. Cut in twain, the revelation becomes
crippled beyond repair. Without the revelation,
the Crucifixion is emptied of its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Christianity fails when it treats the Crucixion as
a singularity and not as a duality - a hell
without heaven.
Viewing the Crucifixion as a singularity, that is,
as hell only, distorts our understanding of God.
Singularity gives us an incomplete picture of God -
an inaccurate depiction of God that misses the
Crucifixion's point.
Duality is the fullness of truth. We hung
hell to the Cross; Jesus hung heaven.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9)
(00568)
(00561)
(00557)
(00536)
(00532)
(00512)
(00511)
(00530).
When we fail to recognize the duality of the
Crucifixion - that is, the heaven that Jesus hung
from the Cross and the hell that we hung - we
empty the Crucifixion of its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Failing to recognize the duality of the
Crucifixion destroys the energy gradient between
heaven and hell and, thereby, saps the Crucifixion
of its sizzle.
It de-energizes the revelation of the radical love of
God that the combination of forgiveness and the
fire of the Crucifixion convey.
Emptying
the Cross of Christ of its meaning is a huge
obstacle in the way of the pursuit of God
(00538)
(00208).
Christianity, done right,
propagates the duality of the Crucifixion and the
revelation about the radical love of God that it
conveys
from the point and place of its
obscure origin in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
The duality of the Crucifixion and the revelation
of the radical love of God
do not propagate themselves.
They do not have their own legs.
They are not self-propelled.
Jesus, therefore, established a Church to
propagate them by means of the Mass
(00530)
(00400)
(00549).
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(00613)
-->
(00637)
[¶ 00612 Updated: 08_26_2024]
What is the location of the best theology? (00177)
Divinity coalesced into a coherent form
in the incarnation of Jesus.
Divinity concentrated itself and landed.
It touched down. Moreover, by the great and
wonderful works that Jesus accomplished in the
fire of the Crucifixion, divinity revealed itself.
God was made known to us in the fire of
the Crucifixion. The fire of
the Crucifixion perfected our knowledge of God.
Jesus poured more and better theology
(00546)
(00471)
(00454)
(00204)
(00547)
-
divinity at its highest and purest concentration
(00423)
- into
the gruesome experiment
(Isaiah 48:10)
that we cruelly
administered to him in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
than he poured into the heads of every
apologist, theologian, Doctor of the Church,
monk, abbot, mystic, priest, monsignor, bishop,
Cardinal, Patriarch, Pope, hermit and saint
who has ever lived or will ever live.
For the best theology, contemplate the
fire of the Crucifixion and the great and
wonderful prodigies that Jesus accomplished there.
Serious contemplation of the prodigies and the
hostile venue in which the prodigies arose
gobsmacks us.
It delivers a powerful wallop -
so powerful that
it knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Brace yourself for impact!
The theology of the gruesome experiment enables us
to figure out - to discover for ourselves
(00329)
(00276)
(00562)
(00563)
(00564)
-
this enigmatic thing
(00545)
that we call God
(00504)
Jesus waged and won the war against evils in
the fire of the Crucifixion. A Mass is a Victory
Party at which we celebrate the hero of the
Crucifixion and re-enact his victory
(00204).
Upon a meal of bread and wine - the tangible
and comestible
incarnation of the spirit of forgiveness,
its apotheosis - the
edifice of Christianity is built.
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(00153)
(00423)
[¶ 00177 Updated: 07_22_2024]
Presence alone without motion
produces a low quality interpretation of the most
Holy Eucharist. Presence with motion produces
a better interpretation
(00749)
The shifting of his presence from habitation
to habitation is what matters.
His stationary presence in a particular
habitation is inconsequential. Presence,
to be meaningful, shifts. Viewing stationary
presence as significant
is a futile and risible attempt
to cage the wind.
His still presence - a presence not coming from or
going anywhere - is a low quality interpretation
of the most Holy Eucharist. It empties
the most Holy Eucharist of its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
There is a better interpretation -
much better. We do not celebrate his mere presence
in the most Holy Eucharist.
Presence misses the point.
At Mass, his performance in the fiery furnace of
the Crucifixion is celebrated - what he did rather
than where he is. Presence is necessary but subsidiary
to performance.
Why is his still, static, stationary
presence a low quality interpretation?
The connection between presence and the shifting
contexts
to which it belongs has been severed. The severance
saps presence of its contextual meaning and impairs its
function. The contexts to which presence belongs
is the enfeeblement of divinity
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
(00149)
(00227)
(00583)
(00142)
(00442)
(00706),
In the context of the enfeeblement of
divinity, presence is the stepping stone
that helps explain the defortification of divinity.
Jesus stepped down from the level of our loving
God and out of his invincible armor of divinity
in the Incarnation.
His presence shifted into a lesser shell.
In the Incarnation, his presence shifted into our
frail uniform of flesh and blood.
Presence shifting set the stage for the
Crucifixion.
At Mass, his presence shifts into a frail shell
of bread and wine. This takes place during
the Consecration.
Enfeeblement is the point.
Do you get the point of his shifting presence?
Focusing on his static presence in the most Holy
Eucharist deleteriously obscures the shifting presence
and the reason behind the shift.
2 Corinthians 12:8-10
explains the reason for the shift.
The enfeeblement of divinity - a presence shifting
into a weaker shell - was necessary for sacrifice,
No enfeeblement; no sacrifice; no verification
of the genuiness of the Love Note that our God had
sent us in the Incarnation.
Performance in the fiery furnace of
the Crucifixion is what matters - not presence.
What Jesus did there is the point.
The leviathan of the Crucifixion vomited up
divinity in the form of forgiveness
onto the seashore of human reality
(Jonah 2)
(Job 41).
What was vomited up by the leviathan of the
Crucifixion revealed God to us.
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[¶ 00749 Updated: 11_07_2024]
the Crucifixion made portable (00744)
A minister of the most Holy Eucharist taken and given
at Mass is also a minister of the Crucifixion because
the most Holy Eucharist taken and given at Mass is a
facsimile of the Crucifixion - without the flesh and
blood. The most Holy Eucharist taken and given
at Mass is the Crucifixion made portable.
The ministers of the most Holy Eucharist taken and
given at Mass can carry
the Crucifixion with them from place to place
and from time to time. The Crucifixion is their
Vade Mecum.
A minister of the most Holy Eucharist taken and given
at Mass stands at the forfront of the wave that
propagates the radical love of God from the point and
place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history
and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve
here and now. If they are elsewhere, they are not
doing Christianity.
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[¶ 00744 Updated: 11_04_2024]
Stand-ins and Stars
(00737)
The most Holy Eucharist taken and given at Mass
is a facsimile of the Crucifixion - without the
flesh and blood. Jesus announced the substitutions
for his flesh and blood at the Last Supper.
Bread was designated as the stand-in for Jesus'
flesh and wine was designated as the stand-in for
Jesus' blood. Flesh and blood were the stars of the
Crucifixion. Bread and wine are the stand-ins for
them in the most Holy Eucharist taken and given
at Mass.
The role of hell that we hung to the
Cross of Christ during the Crucifixion is
played at Mass by the taking of the bread and
wine
(00716).
At Mass, we take from Jesus his bread
and wine as we took from him his flesh and
blood. We evict him from his shell of bread
and wine at Mass as we had evicted him
from his shell of flesh and blood. We consume
Jesus at Mass as we consumed him during the
Crucifixion.
The role of heaven that Jesus hung to the
Cross of Christ during the Crucifixion is
played at Mass by the giving of the bread and
wine
(00716).
At Mass, Jesus satisfies the humger of
his enemies with bread, quenches their thirst
with wine and fills their bellies with
the sweetest fruit of radical love, to wit,
forgiveness.
He gives his enemies a seat with him
at the family table and he sups with them,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort and joy of the family tent
(John 6:53).
Who does this
besides the God who loves us despite the evils
that we did to him?
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
(00730).
Why the substitutions? Logistics. The Crucifixion
took place in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space.
To remember it, it needed to be propagated
from the point and place of its
obscure origin,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
Jesus packaged the Crucifixion into
the taking and giving of the most Holy Eucharist
at Mass
to make the Crucifixion portable. His Church, the
ministers of the most Holy Eucharist, can carry
the Crucifixion with them from place to place
and from time to time. The Crucifixion is their
Vade Mecum.
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[¶ 00737 Updated: 10_25_2024]
Suitcase Nukes (00738)
Portability and Propagation
Jesus' Magnum Opus - his glorious victory -
took place in the backside
of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space.
Its origin was obscure, inconspicuous and
anonymous - an insignificant blip in the course
of history.
To have an impact on the evolution of the children
of Adam and Eve into children of God, Jesus's glorious
victory needed to be propagated from the point and
place of its obscure origin, across history and
geography, to the children of Adam and Eve
here and now.
The earth needed to be filled
with the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
To propagate Jesus's glorious
victory, God introduced the idea of the Victory Party.
Victory Parties would celebrate the
Masterpiece of Love that Jesus created on the canvas of
life in the midst of gruesome adversity.
Embellishing the canvas of life with love
in the midst of adversity was Jesus' magnum opus
- his greatest achievement.
[Rally 'round the Cross!]
The hero
of the glorious victory, Jesus, would be feted at
the Victory Parties for
spending the coin of his flesh and
blood to purchase for us the blessing of forgiveness.
However, an obstacle to propagation first needed to
be overcome. The gruesome maelstrom of adversity
in which we baptized Jesus is too gnarly to bring
to the Victory Parties.
So, God, needed to make the abstract concept of
forgiveness concrete in
a way that made the glorious victory portable without
sacrificing any of its meaning.
God did so at the
Last Supper. At the Last Supper, God made his flesh
and blood comestible.
Jesus satisfied the hunger of his enemies with bread,
quenched their thirst with wine and
filled their bellies with fellowship.
He invited his enemies to take a seat with him at
the family table and to dine with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort of the family tent.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
At the Victory Parties, Jesus serves the bread
and wine of forgiveness that was confected from
the flesh and blood of sacrifice to us, his unworthy
creatures
(Luke 7:1-10),
so we know that forgiveness defines
the nature of God.
Is not a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
Is there a better way to make
the abstract concept of forgiveness concrete than by
satisfying the hunger of his enemies - the executioners
who tortured and killed him - with bread and by
quenching
their thirst with wine? Who does this? Who includes
enemies in addition to family and
friends under the scope of one's love
(Matthew 5:38-50)?
The apocalyptic revelation that forgiveness
defines our God
is the greatest force on earth and in heaven.
It gives
Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma,
us, our joy,
and clerics, who exclusively devote themselves to it,
the power to change the world.
At the Last Supper, the greatest force on earth
and in heaven was packed into 'suitcases' for
the purpose of propagation. At Mass, it ignites
in an apocalyptic revelation about the nature of God.
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[¶ 00738 Updated: 10_28_2024]
The Betrayal of Christianity (00739)
It is a betrayal of Christianity to sever the
connections between
the Crucifixion and the most Holy Eucharist
taken and given at a Mass.
Jesus 'packaged' the Crucifixion into the taking and
the giving of the most Holy Eucharist at Mass to make
the Crucifixion portable. The ministers of
the most Holy Eucharist can carry the 'package' of
the Crucifixion with them from place to place and from
time to time. The 'package' is their Vade Mecum.
Many ministers of the most Holy Eucharist, however, have
forsaken their ministry. They have severed the
connection between the most Holy Eucharist taken and
given at Mass and the Crucifixion. They no longer
understand the connection and, thus, do not appreciate
its importance to our salvation. Instead of pursuing
the gravamen of Christianity, they pursue its obiter
dicta. They distort Christianity by emptying
the Cross of Christ of meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
They
have become Christian charlatans - mountbanks who claim
to be Christians but who, in truth, are not.
Unless and until they can show you their bloody wounds
that they have earned from embellishing hell with
heaven, treat them as counterfeits. Consider them
impostors.
Run from the frauds.
Run fast and run far.
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[¶ 00739 Updated: 10_29_2024]
It is impossible to understand the most Holy
Eucharist taken and given at Mass
without first understanding the four
components of the Crucifixion
(00735)
One misunderstanding leads to another
misunderstanding.
It is impossible to understand the most Holy Eucharist
taken and given at Mass
without first understanding the four
components of the Crucifixion. Why? Because
the most Holy Eucharist taken and given at Mass
is a facsimile of the Crucifixion ---
but without the flesh and blood.
The most Holy Eucharist taken and given at Mass
is a reflection - a mirror image -
of the hell that we
hung from the Cross of Christ during the
Crucifixion and the heaven that
Jesus hung.
The duality of the Cross - the double
hangings - fill the Cross with its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
It is is the rock
(Matthew 7:24-27)
on which
the wise anchor their understanding of God
(00690)
(00650)
(00270).
In short, the meaning of the most Holy Eucharist
at Mass is derivative. It derives its meaning from
the four components of the Crucifixion, not just
some of its meaning but all of it.
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(00716)
(00476)
[¶ 00735 Updated: 10_26_2024]
Nullification (00740)
Forgiveness was Jesus' answer to the evils that we did
to him in the Crucifixion. Forgiveness made them
null and void. Forgiveness was the eraser that Jesus
used to wipe the slate clean.
Via the Crucifixion, Jesus gave us a second chance.
The only open question
is what will we do with our clean slate. How will we
react to our do-over?
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[¶ 00740 Updated: 10_30_2024]
"Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready,
but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye
shall find, bid to the marriage.
So those servants went out into the highways,
and gathered together all as many as they found,
both bad and good:
and the wedding was furnished
with guests"
(Matthew 22: 8-10)
(Matthew 13:47).
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[¶ 00571 Updated: 07_27_2024]
Only in the Crucifixion did Jesus invest his
flesh and blood
(00723)
Is not the size of his investment a good indication
of the importance of the Crucifixion?
Jesus lived his life at many venues on the earth,
that is, in a variety of contexts.
The Crucifixion, however, was the only venue of
his life
where he spent the coin of his flesh and blood.
Nowhere else
in Jesus' life - not in the Sermon on the Mount, not
in the feeding of the five thousand,
not in the Resurrection - did Jesus make a similar,
consequential investment of his flesh and
blood. Only in the Crucifixion.
Is not the size of his investment a good indication
of the importance of the Crucifixion
(00717)?
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(00505)
[¶ 00723 Updated: 11_10_2024]
On the summit of the mountain of the Crucifixion,
after an arduous and costly climb,
Jesus reached the apex of
humanity's understanding of God
(00729)
Jesus exploited the mountain of the Crucifixion to
reveal the radical love of God. The mountain of
the Crucifixion consists of a base and a summit.
At the base of the mountain of the Crucifixion
was hell. At its summit was heaven. Jesus built
the identity of God by ascending the mountain of
the Crucifixion from hell to heaven
(1 Kings 19:11-13).
On his way to heaven, Jesus passed through hell.
It was an arduous and costly trip.
To get to the top of the mountain, Jesus spent the
coin of his flesh and blood. He spent all of
his limited human resources. He kept not a penny
in the bank in reserve for himself.
"Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13)
(00733).
On the summit of the mountain of the
Crucifixion, Jesus completed his Magnum Opus.
He announced the Good News of Great Joy
(00673).
How? By decorating the fiery furnace
of hell
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25)
(00695)
(00699)
(00698)
with the vivid and vibrant beauty of
forgiveness
(00660).
Jesus embellished hell with heaven.
Forgiveness is the proxy for heaven - the stand-in
for the radical love of God
(00297).
Forgiveness is the light that emerged from
the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Forgiveness transfigured the darkness of our
understanding of God on the summit of the
mountain of the Crucifixion
(Matt 17:1-8).
The summit of the mountain of the Crucifixion is
the venue of our enlightenment - the place of
our glorious epiphany - the locus of divine
transfiguration
(00729).
Forgiveness is God on earth
in his highest and purest concentration
(00506)
(00673)
(00698)
(00423).
The Crucifixion holds the truth about God
(00670)
(00708).
Jesus deposited the truth about God in the
Crucifixion.
The Crucifixion is the vessel of revelation.
It is the Rosetta Stone that translates God into
terms that we understand.
In the Crucifixion, Jesus reached the apex of
humanity's earthly understanding of God
(00572)
(1 Corinthians 2:9).
Humanity
cannot achieve a better understanding of God than
the understanding that Jesus revealed to us in
the Crucifixion.
At the base of humanity's understanding of God
is hell. At the apex is forgiveness. Jesus
passed through hell to get to heaven.
Furthermore, the truth about God
is the key that unlocks the
potential of creatures of flesh and blood
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4)
(00727).
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4)
(00626)
(00055)
(00396)
(00440)
(00507).
Discover the truth about God.
Discover your potential
(Luke 17:20-21)
(Matthew 6:33)
(00028).
Free yourself.
The limits on your potential are artificial -
self imposed
(00708).
Shake off the shackles
(Mark 5:3-4).
Contemplate the Crucifixion
(John 14:6).
Ravenously consume the details of the Crucifixion
as the Apostles ravenously consumed the Last Supper.
Regardless of the size of the corner of the world
in which you find yourself - be it big or small
(Luke 21:1-4)
(What is the “Little Way” of St. Thérèse of Lisieux? by
Philip Kosloski, in Aleteia published on 10/03/21
- updated on 06/12/24 ),
strive to fulfill your potential. Be godlike!
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(00727)
(00728)
(00726)
[¶ 00729 Updated: 10_23_2024]
The Crucifixion was the engine that Jesus designed,
built and operated to generate the truth about God
and to reveal the potential of creatures of flesh
and blood
(00726)
Contemplation of the Crucifixion entangles us in
the revelation of the radical love of God
(Matthew 11:28-30).
The truth about God arises from the Crucifixion.
And it unlocks our potential as creatures of
flesh and blood
(00727)
(00728).
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4)
(00626)
(00055)
(00396)
(00440)
(00507).
It arises from the anatopic combination of hell and
heaven
(00603)
that Jesus created from the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity.
We hung hell from
the flagpole of Christianity. Jesus hung heaven.
Jesus embellished the dark and hostile canvas of the
Crucifixion with the vibrant and vivid beauty of
forgiveness.
What truth does this reveal to us about our God? You
have the pieces of the puzzle of God
(00504).
Put the
pieces together for yourself!
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
The light arises from the Crucifixion and passes
through us who grok it
(Wikipedia)
to illuminate the world
(Matthew 5:14-16).
The Crucifixion is God's gift of the truth
(Hosea 4:6)
and his invitation to make ourselves free.
Let us liberate ourselves.
Let us contemplate the Crucifixion day and night
(Joshua 1:8).
The truth about God and the truth about
the potential of creatures of flesh
and blood are one and the same
(00727)
(00728).
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[¶ 00726 Updated: 10_18_2024]
The Potential of Creatures of Flesh and Blood (00727)
Why the Crucifixion? Why did our God consent to play
the starring role in the Crucifixion?
The children of Adam and Eve did not understand
the potential of creatures of flesh and blood.
We did not understand what we were capable of.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
The knowledge of God and the knowledge of our
potential are the same thing. Equality with God
can be achieved
(Matthew 10:24-25).
Deification is possible
(00728).
Jesus embedded himself in the Crucifixion to
cure our ignorance.
He participated in the Crucifixion to give us
an example of what creatures of flesh and blood
can achieve. By fulfilling his potential as a
creature of flesh and blood, Jesus showed us
our potential. Like Jesus, we, too, can embellish
the canvas of our lives with the beauty of love.
Like Jesus, we, too, can create our own Magnum
Opera
(00728).
The kingdom of God is reserved for those who
embellish the canvas of their lives with love
(00001)
(00493).
As Jesus did in the fiery furnace
of the Crucifixion,
Christians transform the singularities of their lives
into dualities by embellishing hell with heaven.
The truth about God arises from the Crucifixion.
And it unlocks our potential as creatures of
flesh and blood
(00726)
(00728).
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4)
(00626)
(00055)
(00396)
(00440)
(00507).
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[¶ 00727 Updated: 10_18_2024]
Jesus was Proof of Concept (00607)
Jesus was proof of concept. The concept is that we
can adorn the canvas of life with the beauty of
love no matter the circumstances, be they hostile
or hospitable. Jesus proved the concept from the
position of prominence on the flagpole of
Christianity. He adorned the dark and hostile
canvas of the
Crucifixion with the vivid and vibrant
beauty of forgiveness. He
humg from his Cross to teach us how to hang from
our crosses. By fulfilling his potential, Jesus
showed us the artistry of God and the divine
potential of flesh and blood. This is the new
calculus that Jesus brought from heaven to earth
(00608)
(00605)
(00447)
(00514).
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[¶ 00607 Updated: 10_18_2024]
The Crucifixion is the seed of the revelation
of the radical love of God (00730)
How did Jesus make the seed of salvation
(00728)?
Jesus embedded the revelation of the radical love
of God into the Crucifixion. Jesus planted the
seed of the Crucifixion into the toxic soil of
our stoney hearts to depetrify them
(Ezekiel 36:26)
(00709)
(00004).
He watered the seed with his blood and
fertilized it with his flesh. It blooms into
the revelation of the radical love of God.
The radical love of God initiates the process of
our conversion.
While we were unrepentant
(Matthew 22:10)
sinners
(Romans 5:8)
(Matthew 7:6),
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Why? Only love begets love.
And radical love begets love radically.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19)
(00684).
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[¶ 00730 Updated: 10_20_2024]
The sledgehammer of Christianity is the
radical love of God that Jesus revealed
to us in the Crucifixion (00721)
The radical love of God is the sledgehammer
(00271)
that
knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
It packs a powerful wallop.
A Christian is a child
of Adam and Eve who has been whacked over the head
and beaten about the body with the sledgehammer of the
radical love of God.
Hammer away with the sledgehammer then
exit the stage so the radical love of God
can do its work. Be mindful, however, of how you
deliver the Good News of Great Joy.
Let the process of understanding the revelation
of the radical love of God unfold organically.
Only subtle indoctrination captures us
(Matthew 10:16).
The iron fist
of the radical love of God comes in the velvet glove
of the Crucifixion. Introduce us to the Crucifixion then step away
so we can figure out
this thing called God for ourselves.
If you do not understand the parts of the Crucifixion,
you are not yet a Christian
(1 Corinthians 11:27-29)
and cannot wield
the sledgehammer of the radical love of God.
If you are not wielding the sledgehammer,
you are not doing Christianity.
The Crucifixion can be broken down into four (4)
separate and distinct components
(00729).
They are:
The Beginning of the Crucifixion - Preparation
for two hangings on the flagpole of Christianity -
The Weakening of Divinity - the Incarnation
The Crucifixion began in the Incarnation
where Jesus doffed
his invulnerable armor of divinity, donned our frail
uniform of flesh and blood and, dressed like us, put
himself in harm's way in the scrum at the line of
scrimmage, cheek to jowl with us, toe to hoof against
his enemies. Jesus became one of us - an equal to us in our
humanity - a partner with us in our suffering.
The Crucifixion began well before we hung hell from
the tree of Christianity. The roots of the Crucifixion
are buried in the Incarnation during which the
weakening of divinity took place
(00689).
In the Incarnation, on the brink of mortal combat
with the monster of the Crucifixion, Jesus did the
unthinkable.
He disarmed.
He defortified himself.
He divested himself
of the full panoply of omnipotent divinity.
Defortification on the brink of war is so contrary
to human logic that it boggles the mind.
What rational human general does this?
Even a military novice would reject a strategy of
disarmament. Only an insane combattant would rig
himself for defeat, right?
Why? Why the weakening of divinity?
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Weakening was the condition precedent to perfecting
his strength
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
He
reinvented himself as a frail human being so we could
water the earth with his blood and fertilize it
with his flesh.
The Middle of the Crucifixion - the first hanging -
We make the Crucifixion a singularity by hanging
hell to the flagpole of Christianity - the Question
The middle of the Crucifixion is the fiery furnace
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25)
(00695)
(00699)
(00698).
In a hellhole filled to the brim with evils, we
baptized Jesus.
We tortured and killed Jesus, We
made him suffer and die. We
impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm
on a sharp hook where he hung until death
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
With lash, thorns, nails and Cross, we interrogated
Jesus
(00481).
"Who are you? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?"
The End of the Crucifixion - the second hanging -
Jesus transforms the Crucifixion from a singularity
into a duality by hanging heaven
to the flagpole of Christianity - the Answer
The Crucifixion came to its conclusion in Jesus'
radically asymmetric answer to the evils that
we did to him. In his answer, Jesus
introduced heaven in the form of
forgiveness into hell. The introduction of heaven
into hell is the paradox of salvation - the perfect
incongruity - the apotheosis of asymmetry -
the odd couple of apocalyptic epiphany. Jesus
embellished the dark and hostile canvas of the
Crucifixion with the vivid and vibrant beauty of
forgiveness. In the fiery furnace of the
Crucifixion, Jesus announced the Good News of
Great Joy. The announcement completed his Magnum
Opus.
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7)
(Luke 23:34).
The Revelation that arises from the Crucifixion -
the Apocalyptic Epiphany of the Crucifixion -
the Good News of Great Joy
The Crucifixion is the vehicle that Jesus created
to carry the revelation of the radical love of
God to the children of Adam and Eve.
The revelation of the radical love of
God is the sweet fruit of the Crucifixion, a treat
that Jesus bought for the children of Adam and Eve
at an exorbitant cost to himself. Jesus spared no
expense to bring the revelation to us. He was all in.
He bet the farm.
"Taste and see"
(Psalm 34:8)
the sweetness of paradise!
To be precise, the sledgehammer of Christianity
is the radical love of God that Jesus
revealed to us in the Crucifixion.
God's radical love for us is the most powerful
force in heaven and on earth.
The radical love of God gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to it,
the power to change the world.
Christianity, done right, confronts us with
the radical love of God.
Christianity, done right, makes us squirm under
the weight of the radical love of God.
The radical love of God challenges us to come
to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves to it.
Always remember: we are disobedient not irrational.
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[¶ 00721 Updated: 10_18_2024]
The birth of Jesus' Magnum Opus took place
during the Crucifixion (00660)
The stage was the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion.
The cue that signalled
radical forgiveness to take the stage was the
evils that we did to Jesus. Upon cue, heaven entered
hell. The anatopic relocation of heaven into hell
is the gavamen of Christianity - superior to
everything else
(00603).
The birth of Jesus' Magnum Opus
(00306)
took place
during the Crucifixion
(00340).
Hidden behind a dark cloud of misinformation
that confused our understanding of God
(Hosea 4:6),
demurely stood radical
forgiveness - a proxy for the radical love
of God - waiting for the evils that we did to
Jesus to summon it into the fiery
furnace of the Crucifixion
(00656)
(1 Kings 19:11-13).
Upon cue, radical forgiveness entered the fiery
furnace -
heaven entered hell
(00603)
- and Jesus' Magnum
Opus was born
(00629).
Jesus' Magnum Opus revealed the truth about the radical
love of God
(00152).
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4)
(00626)
(00055)
(00396)
(00440)
(00507).
Our God suffered, died and forgave the very enemies
who made him suffer and die
(00645).
He included them within the scope of forgiveness.
They deserved exclusion not inclusion. By baptising
Jesus in a foul cesspool of evils, they made
themselves inelegible for forgiveness.
Yet, Jesus disregarded their ineligibility.
He included them within the scope of forgiveness
despite their utter unworthiness.
He did not wait for their conversion to forgive them.
He forgave them to bring about their conversion.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Can love get any more radical than a love that
answers the hostility of enemies with
prodigal hospitality
(Matthew 5:38-48)?
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(00656)
[¶ 00660 Updated: 09_05_2024]
The Fire of the Crucifixion is the fulcrum
of Christianity on which the lever of
forgiveness moved the World (00525)
"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which
to place it, and I shall move the world"
Archimedes.
We broke Jesus' most Sacred heart when we ignited the
fire of the Crucifixion and fueled it with the
flammable kindling of his flesh and blood.
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled
him to the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
With forgiveness, Jesus glued the pieces back together
again.
He did what all the king's horses and all
the king's men could not do. He put Humpty-Dumpty
back together again
(Wikipedia)
(00294)
(00293)
(00559)
(00560).
The fire of the Crucifixion is the fulcrum
of Christianity on which
Jesus and his followers move the world with
the lever
of forgiveness. The lever of forgiveness is the
apotheosis of the radical love of God for the children of
Adam and Eve.
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
And we have done much to him - many, many shamefull
things. The evils that we did to Jesus during the
Crucifixion can be summarized like this:
We ignited the fire of the Crucifixion and fueled it
with the flammable kindling of his flesh and blood.
The greater were the evils that we did to him, the
more astonishing is his forgiveness.
Forgiveness gobsmacks us.
It delivers a powerful wallop -
so powerful that
it knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
We squirm under the overwhelming weight of the
radical love of God
(00508)
(00316).
The shock of forgiveness jump starts the process
of our conversion. It pivots us, points and pushes us
in the direction of the radical love of God.
Forgiveness is the trigger
of repentance.
Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise
and flee the sourness of godlessness.
It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise.
It is crazy to do otherwise.
We are disobedient not irrational.
The discovery
of the radical love of God energizes our pursuit
of him.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
God declared,
"... they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing"
(Psalm 34:10)
(Matthew 7:7-8).
The venue where Jesus released the fireworks of
the revelation about the radical love of God
was the fire of the Crucifixion.
We brought hell to the party.
Jesus brought heaven.
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[¶ 00525 Updated: 10_18_2024]
Jesus diluted the toxicity
of the foil of the Crucifixion with
the sweet syrup of forgiveness
in the same way
that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of
a cup of bad coffee.
Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil.
The toxicity of the Crucifixion was the foil that
magnified the sweetness of the forgiveness.
The greater was the toxicity of the Crucifixion,
the sweeter is the forgiveness.
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[¶ 00024 Updated: 10_17_2024]
Beware the Saboteurs who Dilute the Radical Love
of God with the Obiter Dicta of Christianity (00509)
The radical love of God is the gravamen of
Christianity - superior to everything else.
Everything else is obiter dicta. Beware the
saboteurs of Christianity who dilute the radical
love of God with obiter dicta
(00152).
Beware when
"Thy silver is become dross,
thy wine mixed with water"
(Isaiah 1:22).
Note: One type of saboteur of Christianity views
the most Holy Eucharist as a presence party
instead of as a victory party. There is more
to the most Holy Eucharist than his mere presence -
much more. With the most Holy Eucharist, we re-enact
his victory. His victory is not his presence.
Jesus won his victory in the fire of the Crucifixion
when we forgave us for the evils that we did
to him.
(00606)
(00558)
(00556)
(00516)
(00517)
(00552)
(00515)
(00500)
(00035)
(00377)
(00060)
(00370).
We receive the most Holy Eucharist unworthily
(1 Corinthians 11:27-29)
when we participate in the celebration without making
an effort to understand the victory that we are
celebrating at Mass. We are not celebrating his
defeat. We are celebrating his glorious victory
that emerged from ignominious defeat. Forgiveness
emerged in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion.
Forgiveness is strength made perfect in weakness
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
(00706)
(00211)
(00627).
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[¶ 00509 Updated: 08_17_2024a]
The Church made a strategic mistake.
In trying to maintain and
promote the self-interest of its clergy,
the Church stunted the growth of
the children of Adam and Eve
keeping them children dependent on the clergy instead
of making independent Christian adults capable of
carrying out the pursuit of God on their own.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
The pursuit of God is primary.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary.
Anything that interferes is suspect.
Therefore, more of the pursuit of God; not less.
Always. No exceptions.
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[¶ 00731 Updated: 10_20_2024]
Hell and heaven are the heartbeat of the Crucifixion
(00725)
The heartbeat of the Crucifixion consists of two beats,
hell and heaven. Hell and heaven are its
core components. They do the heavy lifting in
Christianity.
When we hung hell to the flagpole
of Christianity, we created an evil singularity -
a hellhole filled to the brim with evils
in which we baptized Jesus.
Jesus transformed the singularity of the Crucifixion
into a duality by hanging heaven to the flagpole
of Christianity. Jesus hung heaven by forgiving us
for the evils that we did to him. Jesus
introduced heaven into hell.
Hell magnified heaven. The radical asymmetry between
hell and heaven made heaven stand out as a jewel
stands out from its foil.
The anatopic combination of hell and heaven
conveyed the revelation of the radical love of
God.
Heaven was the light in the darkness.
It illuminated the darkness of our understanding of
the radical love of God
in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
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[¶ 00725 Updated: 10_18_2024]
Sabotaging the power of Christianity
(00724)
We dilute the power of Christianity when we abandon
the Crucifixion - when we push the Crucifixion to
the periphery - when we kick the Crucifixion
out of the position of prominence in the
showcase of Christianity and demote it to
the margins. Beware when
"Thy silver is become dross,
thy wine mixed with water"
(Isaiah 1:22).
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[¶ 00724 Updated: 10_17_2024]
Evangelization starts at the Source of Christianity,
that is, at the Crucifixion (00704)
The point and place at which evangelization begins is
the Crucifixion
(00402)
(00039)
(00670)
(00669)
(00598).
The Crucifixion is the Source
of the river of Christianity
(Revelation 22:1-5).
Start at the Source
before you divert our contemplation
downstream and along its distributaries
(Wikipedia).
Start
at the gravamen. Don't get bogged down in the obiter
dicta.
The Crucifixion is the mechanism that Jesus created to
deliver the revelation of the radical love of God
from heaven to the children of Adam and Eve here
on earth.
At its core, are two components, heaven and hell.
They form the beating heart of the Crucifixion.
We hung hell from the Cross of
Christ
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
(00693).
Jesus hung heaven.
Heaven did not belong in hell
(00603).
Heaven was a stranger in the strange land of the
Crucifixion
(Exodus 2:22).
Heaven's arrival in hell was utterly anatopic
(00603).
Yet, Jesus adorned the dark and hostile
canvas of the Crucifixion
with the vibrant and vivid beauty of forgiveness.
The radical incongruity of the conjugation of
heaven and hell packs
the revelation of the radical love of God
with a powerfully persuasive wallop.
Incongruity energizes the revelation and radical
incongruity energizes it radically
(00325).
When we hung hell from the Cross, we created
an evil singularity - a toxic pit of evils in which
we baptized Jesus.
When Jesus hung heaven from the Cross, Jesus
transformed the Crucifixion from a
singularity into a duality
(00693)
(00678)
(00628).
Heaven diluted the toxicity of hell.
Heaven put a smile on the face of hell.
The transformation of the Crucifixion from a
singularity into a duality is the glorious victory
that emerged from ignominious defeat.
The transformation was Jesus' Magnum Opus.
What other artist does his best work under such
adverse conditions?
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
(Matthew 4:4)
narrates the story of our salvation, not with words, but
by his journey from the beginning of the
Crucifixion to its end.
Therefore, always start at the Source
(00329)
(00597).
At the Source is the radical love of God that Jesus
revealed to us in the Crucifixion.
The Crucifixion is the beating heart of
Christianity. A Christian cleric who distances
himself from the Crucifixion is heading to failure.
There is no such thing as a Christian cleric
without the Crucifixion.
A Christian cleric wraps himself in
the Crucifixion.
The Crucifixion cannot be
detached from Christianity. Without the Crucifixion,
Christianity is dead. it is a body without a heart.
Note: How are the Crucifixion and a Mass
connected? A Mass is a facsimile of the Crucifixion
without the flesh and blood. Jesus substituted
bread and wine for flesh and blood. He announced
the substitution at the Last Supper. Jesus is
present for both the Crucifixion and a Mass. The
only difference is that the defortified shell that
he occupies has changed. In both the Crucifixion
and at Mass, Jesus made himself weak
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
(00597)
(00656)
by doffing his invincible armor of divinity.
In the Crucifixion, Jesus donned
our defortified shell of flesh and blood while, at
Mass, Jesus donned a defortified shell of bread and
wine.
One sacrifice of flesh and blood is enough!
Jesus baited the trap of salvation with the cheese
of weakness. And we did not resist the bait.
Like wild animals, we pounced on our weakened God.
Humanity attacked enfeebled divinity.
We devoured Jesus while he occupied his defortified
shells at both the Crucifixion and at a Mass.
We consumed him.
The story of salvation, however, did not end here.
Jesus answered the evils that we
did to him. His answer surprises us.
Conventional
biblical wisdom created the expectation of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, rejected conventional
biblical wisdom. He defied it.
His answer was unconventional
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
At the Crucifixion and at Mass,
his answer was radically asymmetric.
The radical asymmetry of his answer is a reflection
of the radical love of God. It is the Good News
of Great Joy.
Parts of the Crucifixion / Mass:
1) Incarnation
a/k/a defortification a/k/a Consecration
2) Our consumption of the shell of our weakened,
defortified God
3) Radically asymmetric answer to the evils that
we did to him during our consumption of him
4) revelation of the radical love of God a/k/a
Good News of Great Joy.
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[¶ 00704 Updated: 10_17_2024]
Jesus built a Model of the Radical
Love of God Here on Earth (00506)
The quantum mechanical notion of
spooky action at a distance applies to the
model of the radical love of God that Jesus built.
Forgiveness on earth
is entangled with the radical love of God in
heaven and vice versa.
By forgiving us for the atrocities that we did to him
during the Crucifixion, Jesus showed us how to
flip the radical love of God from his domain in
heaven to our domain on earth.
We fueled the fire of the Crucifixion with his
flesh and blood.
Jesus doused the fire of the Crucifixion
with the water of forgiveness
(John 7:37-38).
We hung hell from the Cross; Jesus hung heaven.
The bipolarity of the two hangings gives the model
of the radical love of God its powerful kinetic
energy. Its powerful kinetic energy
gobsmacks us
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
It gut punches us. It delivers a powerful wallop.
It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
What was the mission that God gave to Jesus?
The blueprint for a
model of the radical love of God
was conceived, designed and drafted in heaven.
God gave Jesus the
mission of turning the blueprint into reality -
of building the model here on earth.
The model, however, would not be conventional.
It would not be drab. It would not be pedestrian.
A divine twist would be added to jazz up the model and,
consequently, it would sizzle.
It would be packed with pizzazz.
It would convey the very vitality and charisma of God
himself.
The divine twist to the model was that it would be
a living, breathing, walking, talking,
functioning model of the radical love of God -
something having peerless verisimilitude to
God
(John 14:9)
- something much
more authentic than a static, dead, cardboard cutout,
low fidelity representation of God.
Jesus' model
would give the children of Adam and Eve
a taste of the veiled reality of
the radical love of God.
"Taste and see"
(Psalm 34:8)
the sweetness of paradise!
Was Jesus capable of such an extraordinary
creation? Could he do it? Could he bring God
from heaven to earth?
Of course he could!
"Is he not the carpenter"
(Mark 6:3)?
Jesus completed his mission when he forgave us
for the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion.
Foregivenss put the last piece of the puzzle of the
radical love of God into place
(00504).
We fueled the fire of the Crucifixion with his
flesh and blood.
Jesus doused the fire of the Crucifixion
with the water of forgiveness
(John 7:37-38).
We brought the ugliness.
Jesus brought the beauty.
In building a functioning model of the radical love
of God, Jesus exploited
the ugliness of the evils that we did to him during
the Crucifixion. They became the foil that
highlighted and emphasized and intensified and
magnified and amplified and accentuated and
underlined and energized the beauty of forgiveness
that he hung from
the Cross. The energy gradient between the hell that
we hung from the Cross and the heaven that Jesus hung
from the Cross powers the model of the radical love
of God that Jesus built here on earth.
The bipolarity of humanity's and divinity's
contributions to the model's construction
gives the revelation its sizzle.
In short,
Jesus decorated the black and white canvas of the
Crucifixion with the vivid color of forgiveness.
It was his Magnum Opus.
Forgiveness is a perfect reflection of
the radical love of God here on earth.
It is God on earth in the
highest and purest concentration.
Forgiveness is the incarnation of the radical love
of God.
(1 John 4:7-8).
When we encounter forgiveness, we meet the best
approximation of God - his image and likeness
(Genesis 1:26)
-
face-to-face.
When we love, we establish a connection between
heaven and earth through which God meets us
and we meet God. When we love, we open a door
between heaven and earth through which we step
up into heaven and God steps down into earth.
When we stop loving, we sever the connection
between heaven and earth - we shut the door.
Christianity fails when its professionals allow
its nitty gritty to dilute its pizzazz. Are you
privy to the pizzazz of Christiany? We contributed
to the pizzazz of Christiany by fueling the fire
of the Crucifixion with the flesh and blood of
Jesus. Jesus contributed
to the pizzazz of Christiany by dousing the fire
of the Crucifixion with the water of forgiveness.
The combination of the two events revealed
the radical love of God to us.
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(00504)
[¶ 00506 Updated: 06_27_2024c]
The Carpenter built the paradox of Salvation
- the perfect
incongruity - the apotheosis of asymmetry -
that carried the
revelation of the radical love of God
when he introduced heaven into hell (00720)
The breakthrough of radical forgiveness into
the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25)
(00695)
(00699)
(00698)
is
the evidence that strongly
suggests that the love of God is limitless.
Heaven did not belong in hell
(00603).
Heaven was a stranger in the strange land of the
Crucifixion
(Exodus 2:22).
The relocation of heaven into hell was utterly anatopic
(00603).
We discovered from the unexpected relocation of heaven
into hell that the dial that controls God's love
for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is
set to the highest degree and locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to Jesus could budge it.
Jesus constructed a paradox of heaven and hell.
As Jesus built his paradox, he wants us to build
paradoxes of our own. He wants us to inject heaven
into hell. Paradox building is the essence of
Christianity - its nucleus. Christians are the
children of Adam and Eve who build paradoxes.
"Is he not the carpenter"
(Mark 6:3)?
Like him, we are meant to be carpenters.
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[¶ 00720 Updated: 10_16_2024]
The Perfect Incongruity (00710)
Hell and heaven are the perfect incongruity.
They are the odd couple of epiphany.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
Hell magnified heaven
(00680)
(00356)
(00015)
(00663).
The perfect incongruity
delivers a powerful wallop -
so powerful that
it knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
The radical asymmetry between heaven and hell -
the perfect incongruity -
was the high explosive that packed
the revelation of the radical love of God
with a powerful persuasive punch
(00516)
(00669)
(00509)
(00634).
It energized the revelation. It gave
the revelation oomph.
Take the hell away from the revelation of the
radical love of God and the cynosure goes dark
(00680).
The extraordinary becomes ordinary -
blasé - uninteresting.
Behold the perfect incongruity and brace yourself
for impact! Incoming!
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[¶ 00710 Updated: 10_02_2024]
Jesus put himself in harm's way to detonate
the bomb of revelation about the radical love
of God in the fire
of the Crucifixion (00569)
Jesus transported from heaven a bomb
of revelation
(Hosea 4:6)
(00363)
to wage and win the war against
evils here on earth
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16).
Jesus put himself in harm's way,
cheek to jowl with us,
toe to hoof against his enemies,
in the scrum
at the line of scrimmage.
In the fire of the
Crucifixion, Jesus detonated the bomb.
He set it off.
The explosion was bigger than the Big Bang
and larger than CERN's Large Hadron Collider.
The revelation that the bomb
released was carried by
sharp fragments of sweet forgivenes.
The fragments of forgiveness slew the monster
of the Crucifixion.
Forgiveness killed the monster dead. The
bomb that Jesus wielded
on the battlefield of the Crucifixion won
Jesus his glorious victory by revealing to us
the radical love of our God. We discover
from serious contemplation of the mortal
combat between Jesus and
the monster of the Crucifixion that
his most Sacred Heart is filled to the brim
with radical love for us
(00394).
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[¶ 00569 Updated: 07_27_2024]
The Good News of Great Joy (00673)
In the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion, the
Good News of Great Joy was announced.
What, exactly, was the
Good News of Great Joy that was announced
In the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion? Jesus announced forgiveness
(Acts 13:38).
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to
him during the Crucifixion
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
in the Incarnation, the Son of God
doffed his invulnerable armor of
divinity, donned our frail
uniform of flesh and blood and, dressed like us,
put himself in
harm's way smack dab in the middle of hell
(00149)
(00572)
(00521).
Jesus joined us in the scrum at the line of
scrimmage in the fire of the Crucifixion,
cheek to jowl with us,
toe to hoof against his enemies,
to make the announcement of
the Good News of Great Joy.
He made the trip not merely to be there but to do
something there. Performance, not mere presence, was
the reason for his visit to hell.
Forgiveness was the gift from heaven that Jesus
brought to hell
(00404).
It was a proxy for the radical love of God.
Forgiveness was the personification of God himself
- divinity in its highest and purest concentration
(00423).
In forgiveness, divinity coalesced into a coherent
form. Divinity landed on earth. It touched down in
hell.
The announcement of the Good News of Great Joy was
a major announcement - a blockbuster! Its
importance was highlighted and emphasized and
intensified and
magnified and amplified and accentuated and
underlined by the exalted
status of the announcer
(Luke 20:13)
and the absurd venue where the announcement was
made. The venue was absurd because the cost of
admission to it was exorbitant; yet, we
made the announcer pay
the full price of admission in the coin of flesh
and blood.
No discount was given
(Matthew 3:13-15).
We did not give him a break
(00400).
He emptied
his treasury. He spent all of his limited human
resources. He kept not a penny of them
in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never
spent more for anything else!
Who was the genius who picked such a gruesome
venue for the announcement? Come on, confess?
What a perfect foil in which the Good News of Great
Joy was set! The choice of venue was exquisite -
ingenius!
The juxtaposition of heaven and hell did
the job!
The greater were the evils that we did to him,
the more astonishing is the Good News of Great
Joy.
The announcement was an earthquake that disturbed
the status quo of our understanding of God and the
reality in which we lived.
The announcement rewrote our understanding -
reconfigured it.
It shifted the paradigm of life on earth by opening
our eyes to
the greater reality in which our lives are embedded.
The announcement showed us that the apparent
boundaries of our existence are artificial - fictitious.
We live in an illusion
(00319).
The illusion is the smoke and mirrors anti-god propaganda
of the serpent.
The theology of the Crucifixion
(00671)
(00659),
however,
shattered the illusion
(00664).
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4)
(00626)
(00055)
(00396)
(00440)
(00507).
The announcement of the Good News of Great Joy
was more psychedelic - more mind-altering -
more mystical
(Wikipedia) -
than magic mushrooms
(Wikipedia).
The announcement gobsmacked us.
The Good News of Great Joy
knocked us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Still does.
God did not delegate the job of delivering the
Good News of Great Joy to his subordinates.
He did not send a flunky.
God dispatched an equal to God, his dearly
beloved Son.
Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do?
I will send my beloved son: it may be they
will reverence him when they see him
(Luke 20:13).
The Son of God did the job of
delivery himself. And, to boot, the cost of
delivery was exorbitant.
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[¶ 00673 Updated: 09_09_2024]
The Love Story (00718)
If an aspect of Christianity is not a part of the love story
that Jesus told to us in the Crucifixion, it
is obiter dicta - inferior to the gravamen of
Christianity.
The Crucifixion is the absurd love story in which the
hero expresses his undying love for the murderous
villians who
had taken from him his flesh and blood.
The absurdity of the love story is that Jesus included
his enemies within the scope of his love.
Anyone else would have summarily excluded them
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Jesus tells the love story not by narrating
it in words but by performing it.
He acted the love story out.
Not only is Jesus
the star of the show, he is also its producer. He paid
the exorbitant cost to produce the love story out of his own
pocket in the coin of his flesh and blood. He paid
all of his limited human resources. He kept not a penny
of them in the bank in reserve for himself. Nowhere else
in Jesus' life - not in the Sermon on the Mount, not
in the feeding of the five thousand,
not in the Resurrection - did Jesus make a similar,
consequential investment of his flesh and
blood. Only in the Crucifixion.
The means by which Jesus expressed his radical
love for the children of Adam and Eve
was by forgiveness.
Forgiveness was the proxy for the radical love
of God that the Word of God
(John 1:1)
(Matthew 4:4)
used as the means of its expression.
He forgave us for the evils that we did to him in
the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion.
By forgiveness,
Jesus hand-delivered heaven to hell.
In so doing, He transformed the Crucifixion from a
singularity into a duality.
Heaven and hell became the odd couple of epiphany
(00695).
Jesus combined heaven and hell to form a single unit
of apocalyptic revelation about the radical love of
God.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
The transformation - the awkward, asymmetric, and
anatopic combination of heaven and hell
(00603)
- was the glorious victory
that emerged from ignominious defeat as the dawn emerges
from the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
In the love story,
Jesus founded an outpost of heaven upon the earth
by sinking its roots into a foundation of forgiveness.
The foundation of forgiveness is the rock
(Matthew 7:24-27)
on which
the wise anchor their understanding of God.
God sent us a Love Note in the Incarnation and
verified
its genuineness in the Crucifixion
(00572)
(00452)
(00268)
(00554)
(00251)
(00152)
(00084)
(00046)
(00587)
(00094)
(00474)
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[¶ 00718 Updated: 10_13_2024]
Jesus was a pioneer (00717)
Jesus sunk the roots of the outpost of heaven
that he established on the earth into a foundation
of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the conclusion
to the
story about the radical love of God that Jesus told
us in the Crucifixion. The story begins with his
defortification in the Incarnation. A Mass is a
retelling of the story from beginning to end.
This is the sum and substance of Christianity.
This is its gravamen - superior to everything else.
Everything else is obiter dicta.
God dispatched Jesus to establish an outpost of heaven
upon the earth. The natives, however, were hostile.
They were restlesss
(Augustine of Hippo)
and resisted their God's attempt to upgrade their
existence
(Luke 4:12).
They tried to thwart God's plan of
colonization
(Matthew 21:37-39).
They tortured and killed Jesus.
They made him suffer and die.
They impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm
on a sharp hook where he hung until death
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
Jesus answered the evils that we had done to him.
However, he did not answer the evils that we did to him
in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own
medicine. He did not exact from us a pound of flesh
as we had exacted from him
(Shylock)
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24).
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
He forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
By substituting forgiveness for punishment, Jesus
had established heaven in hell.
Jesus sunk the roots of heaven's outpost into a
foundation of forgiveness
(Matthew 13:31-32).
Jesus recruited a Church to replicate
the outpost of heaven that he established on
the earth and propagate it
from the point and place
of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history
and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve
here and now.
A Christian is an outpost of heaven on the earth
bringing heaven to hell. If we claim to be
a Christian but do not bring heaven to hell, our
claim is bogus. Christian thinking is worthless
unless it is translated into Christian action.
The only Christian action that has value is the
embellishment of God's creation with beauty
(Matthew 3:7-8)
(Matthew 10:42).
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[¶ 00717 Updated: 10_12_2024]
Jesus decorated the tree of the Cross with
the tinsel of forgiveness.
God gave us the canvas of his creation to decorate it
with beauty.
Jesus gave us an example of how this is done - even
in the worst of circumstances.
The venue of the example that Jesus gave us was
the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25)
(00695)
(00699)
(00698),
At an exorbitant cost to himself,
Jesus embellished hell with heaven.
It was his Magnum Opus. By adorning
the dark and hostile canvas of the Crucifixion with
the vivid and vibrant beauty of forgiveness, Jesus
transformed the Crucifixion from a singularity into
a duality
(00693).
Heaven and hell became the odd couple of epiphany
(00695).
Jesus combined heaven and hell to form a single unit
of apocalyptic revelation about the radical love of
God.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
The transformation - the awkward, anatopic
combination of heaven and hell
(00603)
- was the glorious victory
that emerged from ignominious defeat as the dawn emerges
from the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
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(Transforming the Crucifixion from a Singularity into a Duality)
[¶ 00712 Updated: 10_09_2024]
On judgment day, God will point to his Son's Magnum
Opus and say, "Look at the beauty that my Son added
to my creation when you crucified him."
After pointing to his Son's embellishment,
our God will ask us,
"What beauty did you add
to the canvas of my
creation?"
What artwork will you point to?
How will you answer him
(00493)?
Embellishing the canvas of God's creation with
beauty is the activity that takes place in
heaven. Through Jesus, God exported it
from heaven to the earth
(00310).
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(00643)
[¶ 00713 Updated: 10_09_2024]
Embracing, rather than Avoiding and
Evading, our Crosses (00711)
A Christian decorates God's creation with the
beautify of heaven. He is an artist. He does
something; he does not merely think about something.
There are many ways to embellish hell with heaven.
Jesus, the Son of God himself, gave us an example
of how this is done during the Crucifixion.
During the Crucifixion, we hung hell to the Cross.
Jesus hung heaven. Jesus adorned the dark and hostile
canvas of the Crucifixion with the vivid
and vibrant beauty of forgiveness. On the Cross,
Jesus created his Magnum Opus.
Forgiveness is strength made perfect in weakness
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
(00706)
(00211)
(00627).
In the Incarnation, on the brink of mortal combat
with the monster of the Crucifixion, Jesus did the
unthinkable.
He disarmed.
He defortified himself.
He divested himself
of the full panoply of omnipotent divinity.
Defortification on the brink of war is so contrary
to human logic that it boggles the mind
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
What rational human general does this?
Even a military novice would reject a strategy of
disarmament. Only an insane combattant would rig
himself for defeat, right?
Yet, Jesus doffed
his invincible armor of divinity
and donned
our frail uniform of flesh and blood.
Dressed like us in his divinity depleted state,
Jesus put himself in harm's way.
He entered
the scrum at the line of scrimmage
in the war against evils
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16),
cheek to jowl with us,
toe to hoof against his enemies.
He made himself weak so we could make ourselves
strong
(00211).
How do we make ourselves strong?
How do we pack on the muscle?
By following him.
We are weak so our crosses challenge us.
They exploit our weakness.
Their sharp teeth confront us as we pass through life
(00664).
How ought we to deal with them?
One option is to try to escape from them.
The other option is to embrace them, pick them up
and
joyfully carry them across the finish line into
the land of milk and honey
(00211)
(00522)
(00218)
(00661).
Which option, according to God,
is the better option?
God dispatched
Jesus from heaven to earth to deliver
his recommendation.
Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from
our crosses
(00643).
He led by example
(00643)
(00210).
He demonstrated to us how to deal with our
crosses by dealing with his.
Jesus wants us to embrace our crosses as he did his
in order to perfect our strength
(00211).
By the substitution of forgiveness for punishment
in answer to the evils that we did to him during
the Crucifixion, Jesus embellished hell with heaven.
This was Jesus' Magnum Opus.
In creating his Magnum Opus, Jesus revealed our
superpower.
We do not need unlimited divine resources to perform
miracles of beautification. By drawing
upon our limited human resources, we, too, like Jesus,
can pay the cost of creating vivid and vibrant beauty
on the canvas of life.
We bring heaven to hell when we give food to the
hungry, drink to the thirsty, companionship to
the stranger, clothes to the naked, care for
the ill and make visits to prisoners
(Matthew 25:33-40)
(00323).
In these and other ways, we adorn hell with
heaven. Beautification is how we
embrace, pick up and carry our crosses.
We cannot do this by running
away from them. We cannot perfect our strength by
fleeing from our crosses. Therefore, do not shrink
from
the challenge of a cross.
Engage, confront, beautify! Bring heaven
to hell
(00211)!
God gave us his creation to decorate it with
beauty. His creation is our canvas.
It is a blank slate.
God dispatched his Son from heaven to earth
to give us an example of how to do it.
He did the demonstration during the Crucifixion
at an
exorbitant cost to himself.
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(00211)
(00627)
[¶ 00711 Updated: 10_08_2024]
Jesus rejected conventional biblical wisdom
(00712)
The conventional biblical wisdom was
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
One would think that conventional biblical wisdom
would shape his answer to the evils that we did to him
during the Crucifixion
(Matthew 5:17).
The smart money would have bet on punishment for
the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
Given the conventional biblical wisdom, it was the
safe, orthodox bet.
Jesus, however, rejected conventional
biblical wisdom. He defied it.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Jesus did not answer the evils that we did to him
in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own
medicine. He did not take from us the coin of our
flesh and blood as we had taken from him.
Instead of punishment, Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to
him during the Crucifixion
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
When Jesus substituted forgiveness for punishment,
the smart money - the orthodox - lost their safe bet.
The substitution shifted the paradigm. It
reorganized the infrastructure of understanding.
It revolutionized
our understanding of God and our place in God's
creation.
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[¶ 00712 Updated: 10_08_2024]
Jesus upended conventional biblical wisdom whose
truth is uncritically taken for granted
(00733)
It was said in the Bible:
"Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13).
Prima facie, this sounds right.
However, it is not quite accurate.
It is merely a restatement of
the conventional wisdom.
Jesus, however, upended the conventional wisdom
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
He turned conventional wisdom on its head
(Luke 6:27-36).
Despite what is said in the Bible, there is a
greater love.
Whoops! The Bible got it wrong.
Jesus showed us a love that was more radical -
more extreme - more profligate -
than a love that only encompasses
family and friends.
Jesus included his enemies within
the sope of his love.
Jesus forgave his enemies for the evils that we
did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Now, that's radical love!
That is love without limits
(Matthew 5:38-48)!
The greater were the evils that his enemies did to
Jesus, the greater is our amazement at the
intransigence of his love for them. His love for
his enemies did not fade as they tortured him
and did not die when they killed him. His love
for his enemies survived the evils that they did
to him. The evils that his enemies did to him
did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns
for them
in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity
by even the slightest degree. Our God continued to
love us nonetheless, Wow! What love!
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(00469)
(00403)
[¶ 00733 Updated: 10_22_2024]
God gave us his creation to decorate it with beauty
and his Son, in a demonstration done at an
exorbitant cost to himself,
gave us an example of how to do it
(00643)
Jesus decorated the dark and hostile canvas of
the Crucifixion with the vibrant and vivid color of
forgiveness. He embellished hell with heaven.
It was the Magnum Opus of the God
who disarmed, suffered, died and forgave.
God gave us his creation to decorate it with
beauty.
His creation is our canvas.
It is a blank slate.
God dispatched his Son from heaven to earth
to give us an example of how to do it.
He did the demonstration during the Crucifixion
at an
exorbitant cost to himself.
Therefore, at all times and in every circumstance,
ask yourself,
'How can I embellish
the world?'.
Adding tinsel to the tree
is the path of a Christian.
Shall we not get to work?
The hotter burns the hell, the more glorious
shines the beauty! Jesus set the jewel of
forgiveness in and against the evils that we did
to him in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion.
The hybrid, bipartite amalgamation of heaven and
hell that Jesus created during the Crucifixion is
the Master Jeweler's Magnum Opus. Behold its
brilliance! Bend a knee to the nonpareil artistry
of the God who disarmed, suffered, died and forgave!
When we are instructed to "fill the earth and
subdue it"
(Genesis 1:28),
God is instructing us to decorate the canvas of
his creation
with the beauty of love. Only the beauty
of love fills and subdues the earth.
Nothing else does.
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[¶ 00643 Updated: 10_08_2024]
The currency of love (00310)
The economy of paradise is based on the currency of love.
With ordinary currency, the more we spend,
the poorer we get. It is a paradox, but,
by spending the currency of love, we grow rich.
The more we spend, the richer we get.
The most Holy Trinity dispatched the Son of God
from heaven to earth to introduce us to the currency
of love and to establish the economy of paradise
here and now upon the earth.
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[¶ 00310 Updated: 06_10_2024]
Our Salvation depends on the Beauty of our Artwork
(00493)
Life is a beauty contest
(00535)
(00323).
Jesus set the standard of
beauty. Jesus created the beauty of forgiveness in the
hostile desert of the Crucifixion. His creation
was his Magnum Opus. What other artist works so
successfully in such adverse conditions? Our
superpower is the ability to duplicate his artistry.
"In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on
our earthly possessions and human success,
but rather on how much we have loved"
(John of the Cross)
(Luke 7:47).
God put us on the earth to decorate the
canvas of life with the sweet fruits of
love.
The sweet fruits of love are the seeds of the kingdom
of God.
We plant them; God cultivates them.
Our purpose is the beautification
of life with love.
On the day of judgment, God will ask to see our
artwork. We will be judged by the contents of our
portfolio
(00247).
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(00492)
(00487)
(00495)
(00323)
[¶ 00493 Updatd: 07_05_2024]
The most Holy Eucharist is a chameleon
(00716)
The most Holy Eucharist is a facsimile of
the Crucifixion - without the flesh and blood.
The parts of the most Holy Eucharist have
a corresponding counterpart in the Crucifixion.
Most importantly, the most Holy Eucharist is a
chameleon.
The nature of the most Holy Eucharist changes
according to the perspective of the observer.
As we observe his enemies approach the altar,
we see a sacrifice. We approach to take from
him the frail shell that Jesus occupies. In
the Crucifixion, the shell was flesh and blood
and in the the most Holy Eucharist, the shell
is bread and wine.
As we observe his enemies leave the altar,
we see a banquet. Jesus did not give his
enemies exactly what they came for. He
satisfied their hunger with bread, quenched
their thirst with wine and filled their bellies
with forgiveness.
He gave his enemies a seat with him
at the family table and they supped with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort and joy of the family tent
(John 6:53).
Who does this
besides the God who loves us despite the evils
that we did to him?
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[¶ 00716 Updated: 10_10_2024]
Forgiveness gushes from the most Sacred Heart
of Jesus as water gushes from a fire hydrant
(00715)
The flow of forgiveness from the most Sacred Heart
of Jesus is never shut off. It neither rises
nor falls according to our merits and our
demerits. It flows unrestrained. It gushes.
"… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts,
And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven
for you, and pour down upon you
blessing without measure!"
(Malachi 3:10).
-----> More to come <------
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[¶ 00715 Updated: 10_09_2024]
Presence is not the gist (00531)
I have never heard a Christian professional try to relate
the most Holy Eucharist to Jesus' glorious victory
and his ignominious defeat. Not once. There is an
appalling lack of thinking things through.
They reach the presence of God in the most Holy
Eucharist and stop there. They go no further.
They come up short of the point of the most Holy
Eucharist.
They fail to reach its goal.
Presence becomes an inescapable ideological
cul-de-sac - a dead end.
Presence traps them in Plato's cave
(Platonic Cave).
The presence of God in the most Holy
Eucharist is not enough.
Osmosis does not work
(00377)
(00060).
Close proximity to the real presence of God
in the most Holy Eucharist does not
transfer the knowledge of the radical love of
God to us.
Osmosis does not work.
Osmotic theology is a crock.
The passage of
the real presence of God from his shell of
flesh and blood during the Crucifixion to
shells of bread and wine during a Mass
is incidental to
the ignominious defeat and glorious victory
that Jesus experienced during the Crucifixion.
Presence is not the gist.
Victory and defeat - the awkward, anatopic
combination of heaven and hell
(00603)
- are the gist.
Presence is mute. It does not communicate the story
of the glorious victory that emerged from ignominious
defeat during the Crucifixion. Presence seals the mouth
of the Word of God
(John 1:1)
(Matthew 4:4).
Presence shuts Jesus up.
The gist is that the most Holy Eucharist is a
facsimile of the Crucifixion - without the flesh
and flood. Many Christian professionals, however,
have not yet figured this out
(Matthew 15:14)
(00241).
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(00530)
[¶ 00531 Updated: 10_09_2024]
Symbolism (00476)
Is the most Holy Eucharist a symbol?
No. The most Holy Eucharist is not a symbol for God.
Jesus himself, the hero of the Crucifixion,
does, indeed, occupy the bread and wine of the
most Holy Eucharist. He relocated himself there
after we took from him his integument of flesh
and blood. However, Yes, the most Holy
Eucharist is, in another way, a symbol.
It is a symbol for the Crucifixion. In the
most Holy Eucharist, God created a facsimile of
the Crucifixion - without the flesh and blood. One
fleshy and bloody sacrifice is enough.
More than one would be superfluous. A facsimile was
needed to propagate the Crucifixion from the point
and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history
and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve
here and now.
The most Holy Eucharist is not a symbol of God. It is
God. It is the residences that Jesus occupies after
the Crucifixion had evicted him from his shell of
flesh and blood.
So, when the Catholic headline writers
orthodoxically proclaim
that the most Holy Eucharist is not a symbol, they
are, without doubt, right - - - in part.
The most Holy Eucharist, however, is,
in another sense, a symbol - the most important
symbol in Christianty. It is the symbol of
forgiveness.
He forgave us for the atrocities that we did to him
during the Crucifixion
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
Forgiveness is the knowledge of the nature of God
that Jesus presented to the children of Adam and Eve
from the position of prominence on the flagpole of
Christianity in the highest and purest concentration.
Forgiveness epitomizes the nature of God.
Flesh, blood, bread and wine are the symbols
- the vehicles - that carry the
apocalyptic revelation of the radical love of
God that Jesus revealed to us in his answer
to the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion.
Flesh, blood, bread and wine are
the vocabulary of Jesus' revelation.
Do you understand and appreciate the symbolism
of the most Holy Eucharist?
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(See, 00035)
(00458)
(00463)
(00450)
(00371)
(00425)
(00377)
(00060)
(00451)
(00427)
(00433)
(00478)
(00443)
[¶ 00476 Updated: 10_09_2024]
God translated the Magnum Opus that Jesus created
in the gruesome adversity of the Crucifixion
into a meal for the
purpose of propagation
God faced a problem in logistics.
By forgiving his
enemies for the evils that they did to him,
Jesus created his Masterpiece of Love
on the canvas of life
in the gruesome adversity of the Crucifixion.
This was God's son's greatest achievement -
the pinnacle of divine art -
his magnum opus - and our salvation.
God wanted to propagate his Son's magnum opus
from the point and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history
and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve
here and now.
Jesus' magnum opus itself, however, was too unwieldy
for propagation.
Propagation was a logistical
nightmare.
So, how?
How do we give Jesus' magnum opus wheels and wings?
How do we free it from
its captivity in the prison of time and space?
Can we translate it into
a worthy, high fidelity metaphor that makes it mobile
yet conserves the meaning of
the divine pantomine that took place
in the crucible of the Crucifixion?
God could have gone in many different directions.
He had a variety of options.
Yet, the metaphor that God settled upon was
to prepare and serve his enemies a meal.
From the flesh and blood of sacrifice,
Jesus prepared a meal at which he served his enemies
the bread and wine of forgiveness.
Is there
a better way to translate Jesus' magnum opus than
by translating it into a meal for his enemies?
Serving his enemies a meal of bread and wine makes
the abstract concept of forgiveness concrete
(Psalm 23:4-6).
It becomes tangible - comestible.
As bread and wine, we can touch forgiveness,
drink it and eat it.
It is no longer abstract.
His enemies vilely took from Jesus his flesh
and blood. Jesus, however, did not give them
what they took.
Between the taking and the giving,
Jesus made a substitution.
At the Last Supper, Jesus announced the substitution
of bread and wine for flesh and blood.
During his battle with the monster of the Crucifixion,
Jesus did what he had announced he would do.
In his radically asymmetric answer to the evils
that his enemies did to him,
Jesus surprised them - and us who witness what
Jesus did -
by treating them to prodigal hospitality.
We were unworthy of any blessing from the God who loves
us after the evils that we did to him; yet; he treated
us with prodigal hospitality nonetheless.
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
By sacrificing his flesh and blood, Jesus
satisfied the
hunger of his enemies with bread,
quenched their thirst with wine
and filled their bellies with fellowship.
He invited his enemies to take a seat with him
at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort of the family tent
(John 6:53).
Who does this
besides the God who loves us despite the evils
that we did to him?
The translation of Jesus' magnum opus into a
meal is high-fidelity. It is an apt facsimile of it.
It captures it perfectly. Nothing is lost
in the translation.
The flower of heaven grows from the seed of
forgiveness that Jesus planted in the toxic
soil of hell (00728)
To bring the Crucifixion to its conclusion
and, thereby, perfect the revelation of the
radical love of God, Jesus planted
the seed of forgiveness in hell. This
initiated the revolution in our understanding of
our God and our place in his world.
The Crucifixion began when our omnipotent God, on
the brink of mortal combat with the monster of
the Crucifixion, did the unthinkable
in the Incarnation, and defortified himself. He made
himself weak so his strength could be made perfect
in weakness.
The Crucifixion ended with the substitution of
forgiveness for punishment as Jesus' answer to the
evils that we did to him during
the Crucifixion. Forgiveness was the perfection
of his strength.
Heaven anatopically manifested itself in hell
with the substitution of forgiveness for
punishment.
Heaven did not belong in hell.
Heaven was a stranger in the strange land of the
Crucifixion.
Bringing heaven to hell was Jesus' Magnum Opus.
In creating his Magnum Opus, Jesus showed us our
superpower as well. We, too, can bring heaven to
hell.
The soil of hell is toxic.
It is a sterile matrix
- utterly barren -
hostile in the extreme.
We watered it with his blood.
We fertilized it with his flesh.
After we had prepared the toxic soil of hell
with his flesh and his blood,
Jesus planted the seed of forgiveness into
it.
When the flower of heaven germinated, sprouted
and grew from the seed of forgiveness,
we beheld a miracle
(00028).
The greater were the evils that we did to Jesus
during the Crucifixion,
the more glorious is the miracle.
The Crucifixion is many things. It is a multifaceted
jewel - a gift that God has given us
at an exorbitant cost to himself.
The Crucifixion is the seed that Jesus plants in us
to grow the flowers of heaven
(Luke 17:20-21).
It is the agent of depetrification. It depetrifies
our stoney hearts and feshifies them
(Ezekiel 36:26)
(00004).
The Crucifixion is the venue where strength
was made perfect in weakness
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
(00706)
(00597)
(00656).
The Crucifixion is the incontrovertible verication
of the genuineness of the Love Note that our God
had sent to us in the Incarnation
(00268)
(00452).
Only love begets love. And radical love begets
love radically.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19)
(00684).
The seed of God is in us.
Given an intelligent
and hardworking farmer,
it will thrive and grow
up into God, whose seed
it is; and accordingly its
fruits will be God-nature.
Pear seeds grow into
pear trees, nut seeds
into nut trees, and
God seeds into God.
(Meister Eckhart)
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[¶ 00728 Updated: 10_19_2024]
Are you a Christian?
(00685)
Go for the little wins!
Try not to strike out.
Make contact with the ball!
Keep your batting average up.
Play pepper! Hit singles! Rarely in life are
we required to swing for the fences as Jesus did
during the Crucifixion.
Let us embellish hell with heaven in little ways but
consistently. Practice! Practice! Practice!
Are you a Christian?
What is the definition of a Christian
(00633)?
A Christian is a child of Adam and Eve who
embellishes hell with heaven as Jesus did
during the Crucifixion.
Jesus decorated the bleak, black and white canvas
of the Crucifixion with the vibrant beauty of
forgiveness. We can too. That is our superpower
(00642)
(00211).
Don't just claim to be a Christian.
Show as your portfolio of artwork
(00643)
(00493)
(00147).
Start small
(What is the “Little Way” of St. Thérèse of Lisieux? by
Philip Kosloski, in Aleteia published on 10/03/21
- updated on 06/12/24 ).
Gradually work your way up to bigger
works of art as a weightlifter works his
way up the ladder to heavier and heavier
weights
(00493)!
In the end
(00493),
the goal is to duplicate the
Magnum Opus that
Jesus created in the fire of the
Crucifixion
(00568).
Introspection. Examination of Conscience. What
do we bring to our circumstances? Heaven
(Mark 4:20?)
Hell?
Nothing
(Revelation 3:16?)
(00323)
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(00411)
[¶ 00685 Updated: 10_04_2024]
The Womb (00708)
Are we living in a simulation?
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him,
How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter
the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
(John 3:3-4).
The exit from the womb and the entrance
into eternal life are one and the same
(The transitus of St. Francis).
Insiders call the exit from the womb death.
Outsiders call it birth.
Through it, we are born again
(John 3:3)
(Luke 15:32).
It is all just a matter of perspective.
When we look from the inside out, we see one thing.
When we look from the outside in, we see a horse of
quite a different color
(Platonic Cave).
The exit from the womb and the entrance
into eternal life is narrow
(Matthew 4:17)
(00532).
To squeeze through (think childbirth),
we need to dump our baggage.
We need to travel light.
"And Jesus called a little child unto him,
and set him in the midst of them,
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be
converted, and become as little children, ye shall
not enter into the kingdom of heaven"
(Matthew 18:2-3)
Unless we shrink, we will not fit through
the exit.
Jesus came from the outside of the womb to the
inside, to teach
us the best way to navigate our way through it
(John 3:12-13).
“The people which sat in darkness
saw great light; and to them which sat
in the region and shadow of death
light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Unfortunately, some prefer the darkness of the womb
rather than the light outside the womb
(John 3:19-21).
By their preference, they have condemned themselves
(John 3:18).
Yes, indeed, we live in a simulation.
But, Jesus is our escape hatch.
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth,
and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,
but by me"
(John 14:6).
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4)
(00626)
(00055)
(00396)
(00440)
(00507).
Follow the trail that Jesus blazed across the
womb, through the exit and into eternal life
(00618)
(00537)
(00131).
There is more to reality than the reality of the
womb - much more
(Platonic Cave).
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him"
(1 Corinthians 2:9).
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[¶ 00708 Updated: 10_03_2024]
To save us, God enfeebled himself (00706)
God did not stuff his real presence, his shell of
flesh and blood and his shell of bread and wine
into a single casing to make a Holy baloney.
The most Holy Eucharist is not a turducken.
It is not a Russian Matryoshka nesting doll.
To
make a facsimile of the Crucifixion, i.e., a Mass,
Jesus relocates his real presence from his shell of
flesh and blood into shells of bread and wine.
The sacrifice in the facsimile of the Crucifixion
is now bloodless and fleshless but still conveys
the same revelation as the Crucifixion conveyed
in the same way.
The relocation of God's real presence from its
shell of flesh and blood to shells of bread
and wine preserves
both the extraordinary content of the revelation
and the flamboyant manner of its conveyance.
The most Holy Eucharist is the new Jerusalem
- the city of God -
waiting for Babylon to pounce on it and devour it
so Jesus could
demonstrate strength made perfect in weakness.
By making the issue presence versus absence,
the Church has subverted the real issue, that is,
what did Jesus
do during the Crucifixion, what didn't Jesus do and why. The Church has shot
itself in the foot. Its understanding of the Crucifixion
is muddled. Its muddlement infects its understanding
of the Mass - that a Mass is a facsimile of the
Crucifixion without the flesh and blood.
Figure out
what Jesus did during the Crucifixion,
what he didn't do and why and the issue
of presence versus absence figures itself out on its
own. The presence of divinity
is necessary for the enfeeblement of divinity.
Jesus baited the trap of salvation with the cheese of
weakness
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
(00597)
(00656).
Flesh and blood - bread and wine - are divinity
enfeebled - the bait for the trap.
Enfeeblement does not take place unless divinity
doffs its invincible armor and dons an enfeebled
shell. No enfeebled shell, humanity's attack on
divinity fails, there is nothing to forgive and
the revelation of the radical love of God does
not get released. The Crucifixion fails. Our
salvation depended on the success of the Crucifixion.
The success of the Crucifixion is the Good News of
Great Joy.
The convolution of the real presence of God
embedded in a frail shell of flesh and blood
embedded in a frail shell of bread and wine
is redundant and unnecessary. One frail shell
is enough; two together are superfluous.
God did not pay us a visit to create
Russian Matryoshka nesting dolls
(00385).
The most Holy Eucharist is not a turducken.
Tha most Holy Eucharist is a frail temple for
the real presence of God here on earth. It
is the new Jerusalem on which Babylon is ready
to pounce.
Enfeeblement
was the point of the frail shells, the point
of the Crucifixion and the point of a Mass. A
homunculous of flesh and blood embedded
in a a shell of bread and wine is simply
wierd. Our God is not wierd. All that is
needed is the real presence of God in each of the
shells.
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[¶ 00706 Updated: 09_30_2024]
The purpose of Christianity is to update our understanding
of God (00705)
The purpose of Christianity is to illuminate the darkness
of our understanding of God
(00316).
God lamented:
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
The knowledge that Jesus brought from heaven
to earth puts an end to our destruction.
Jesus filled the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
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[¶ 00705 Updated: 09_27_2024]
In answer to the evils that we did to Jesus in the fiery
furnace of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25)
(00695)
(00699)
(00698),
Jesus revealed the
truth about God to us.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4)
(00626)
(00055)
(00396)
(00440)
(00507).
The vehicle that transported the revelation to
us was forgiveness. Jesus adorned the hell that
we had hung from the Cross with the vivid beauty of
forgiveness. Jesus brought heaven to hell.
Heaven embellished hell.
The manner in which Jesus revealed the
truth about God to us was his Magnum Opus.
Jesus revealed the
truth about God to us at an exorbitant cost to
himself.
Jesus paid the cost of the revelation with the coin
of his flesh and blood. He invested all of his limited
resources. He kept not a penny in the bank in
reserve for himself
(John 15:13).
It was a flamoyant demonstration of
divinity.
What other artist does his best work in such adverse
conditions?
Jesus introduced us to the God who
disarmed, suffered, died and forgave.
“I have come to set the earth on fire
[with the truth about God]
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
By his radically asymmetric answer to the evils that
we did to Jesus in the fiery
furnace of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25)
(00695)
(00699)
(00698),
Jesus filled the earth with the knowledge of
the radical love of God
as water covers the seas
(Hosea 4:6).
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
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[¶ 00703 Updated: 09_27_2024]
Christianity, done right, points us to the evidence
then lets us figure out
this thing called God for ourselves (00698)
When Christianity tries to figure out this thing
called God for us - when it tries to substitute its
conclusions for our conclusions by fiat, it fails
miserably. Figuring out this thing called God
is one of the things that we must do for
ourselves
(00301)
(00503).
Christianity was established to facilitate the
experience of a close encounter with God in the
Crucifixion. In the Crucifixion, Jesus showed
weak creatures how strength is made perfect
in weakness by doing so himself - by
himself demonstrating the perfection of strength
in weakness
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
(00597)
(00656).
He became weak so that we may become strong.
A close encounter with the God
in the Crucifixion is the catalyst of our
conversion. Have you met him? Have you met
the God who disarmed, suffered, died and forgave?
Forgiveness is the treasure of Christianity that Jesus
forged in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25)
(00695)
(00699).
Don't tell us what you found; show us where to
look for God.
Don't direct the verdict. Restrain yourself to
presenting the evidence. Let the jury review the
evidence and come to its own conclusion.
Do not interfere with the exercise of our God-given power
of rationality.
The Crucifixion is the best evidence of God.
So, point us to the gruesome experiment that we administered
to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25)
and tell us
that there we will discover the nature of God -
there and only there. Then, get out of the way and let
us experience for ourselves a close encounter with
God in the Crucifixion
(Daniel 3:8-25).
Cleric, if you are not pointing to the Crucifixion and
inviting the children of Adam and Eve to contemplate it,
you are not doing Christianity. Christianity is not an
appeal to our obedience but an appeal to our rationality
(00597).
Pope Pius X got Christianity wrong. His
assessment of it was profoundly incorrect
(00657)
(00343)!
The hallmark of a Christian education is specific.
It is not diffuse.
It is concentrated in the Crucifixion.
In the Crucifixion, God is found in the highest and
purest concentration.
Jesus in the Crucifixion has an alpha and an
omega - a beginning and an end.
The Crucifixion begins with the
Incarnation and ends with the revelation
of the radical love of God.
Jesus narrates the story of our salvation by
his journey from the beginning of the
Crucifixtion to its end.
Let's tighten up the ship, batten down the hatches
and focus on the gravamen of Christianity.
Everything else is obiter dicta. Let us not get
distracted. Let us not travel on the tributaries
of Christianity and wander away from its main
course. We dilute the power of Christianity when
we abandon the Crucifixion - when we push the
Crucifixion to the periphery - when we kick
the Crucifixion out of the position of prominence
in the showcase of Christianity and demote it
to the margins.
Point the children
of Adam and Eve to the Crucifixion, invite them
to contemplate its meaning, then get out of the
way so God can go to work. The revelation of the
radical love of God rests on the shoulders of
the Crucifixion.
In the Crucifixion, Jesus showed us, weak
creatures, how to perfect our strength in
weakness
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
(00597)
(00656).
He hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang
from our crosses
(00411).
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[¶ 00698 Updated: 09_26_2024]
The Pursuit of God (00696)
Our God built an escape route from godlessness to
paradise, defined it with holy places, made a
map of them, established a Church, entrusted
the map to the Church and gave the leadership
of the Church a mission. The mission that
Jesus entrusted to leadership is to facilitate
our escape - not to frustrate it, not to filter
it and not to foul it up
(00620).
God is the treasure who is waiting for us to find him.
He is the jackpot whom we can hit.
The radical love of God is the pot of gold
at the end of the rainbow.
The pursuit of the radical love of God is primary.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary.
Anything that interferes is suspect.
So, be not tepid or perfunctory in your pursuit of
him.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall
find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For
every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh
findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened
(Matthew 7:7-8).
An official religion is valuable to the extent that
it promotes the pursuit of God. An official religion
that promotes itself instead of the pursuit of God is
corrupt - rotten to its core. Better to be
unaffiliated with an official religion but pursuing
God than not pursuing God at all.
Each of us is the pilot of
our own soul
(00301)
(00564)
(00147).
As we pursue God, we make our own findings
about him - we draw our own conclusions.
We who read, write and think for ourselves reserve
to ourselves the sovereignty of the thinking process.
We refuse to surrender our intellectual independence
to others.
A religion that respects the sovereignty of
our thinking process understands that religion, done
right, shows us where to look for God. It does not
tell us what to think about him.
It is about exploration not
indoctrination or formation.
Christianity is, at its core,
a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in
a treasure hunt
(00598)
(00449)
(00483)
(00199)
(00599)
(00600)
(00133).
Christianity is an official religion that has discovered
over its more than two thousand years of existence
that the knowledge of God
is not diffuse - scattered some here, some there -
but is concentrated at and about the Crucifixion
(00695)
(00690)
(00654)
(00675)
(00402)
(00382)
(00352).
Where to look
(00597)
(00565)?
Look at the Crucifixion to discover
the God who, for us, disarmed, suffered, died and
forgave. In the Crucifixion, the revelation of the
radical love of God was released. Are you privy to it?
Come and see. At the Crucifixion, let us
explore for ourselves the mystery, majesty and
magnificence of God.
The job of a cleric is to hand out shovels to
the children of Adam and Eve, escort them to
the place where Jesus buried the treasure of
Christianity, that is, the Crucifixion,
and exhort them to dig, dig, dig.
Nothing more; nothing less. Clerics
are the ushers who show us to
our seats so Jesus can put on a show. Jesus is
the star of the show. The venue of the show
is the Crucifixion.
The Christian religion goes off the rails
when the ushers think that they are the stars of
the show or they take the treasure hunt to a venue
other than the Crucifixion.
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(The Pusuit of God)
(Christianity is ...)
[¶ 00696 Updated: 09_24_2024]
Forgiveness is divinity in its highest and purest
concentration
(00695)
The incongruity between heaven and hell
that Jesus created during the Crucifixion
was perfect. Its perfection made it
flamboyant.
The creation of the incongruity between heaven
and hell during the Crucifixion
was Jesus' Magnum Opus. What other
artist does his best work in such adversity?
The radical asymmetry between heaven and hell
was the high explosive that packed
the revelation of the radical love of God
with a powerful persuasive punch.
Hell magnified heaven
(00680)
(00356)
(00015)
(00663).
The perfect incongruity
delivers a powerful wallop -
so powerful that
it knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Behold the perfect incongruity and brace yourself
for impact! Incoming!
Forgiveness is divinity in its highest and purest
concentration.
Forgiveness coalesced into a coherent
form in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25).
Forgivenes is the face of God
(00446).
During the Crucifixion,
divinity landed on earth. It touched down in hell.
Hell is a place where heaven did not belong
(00603).
Heaven was a stranger in the strange land of the
Crucifixion
(Exodus 2:22).
Heaven's arrival in hell was utterly anatopic
(00603).
Glorious victory, however, arose out of ignominious
defeat
precisely because Jesus brought heaven to hell
- because
Jesus adorned the black and white canvas
of the Crucifixion with the vivid beauty
of forgiveness.
Heaven in hell - the perfect incongruity -
was the glorious victory
(00630)
(00355).
Hell magnified heaven
(00680)
(00356)
(00015)
(00663).
“The people which sat in darkness
saw great light; and to them which sat
in the region and shadow of death
light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Hell imbued flamboyance into
heaven's demonstration of the radical
love of God during the Crucifixion
(00680).
The absurd venue of Jesus' Magnum Opus
(00684)
(00682)
(00308)
(00656)
(00671)
(00659)
(00660)
(00651)
(00271)
captures
the attention of the children of Adam and Eve
(00308)
(00316).
We take notice.
It fascinates us.
Take the hell away from the revelation of the
radical love of God and the cynosure goes dark
(00680).
The extraordinary becomes ordinary -
blasé - uninteresting.
The radical asymmetry between heaven and hell
was the high explosive that packed
the revelation of the radical love of God
with a powerful persuasive punch
(00516)
(00669)
(00509)
(00634).
It energized the revelation. It gave
the revelation oomph.
Heaven and hell are the odd couple of epiphany.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
When we hang from our crosses
as Jesus hung from his Cross, pray that we hang
with the same panache as Jesus did
(00603)
(00605)
(00644)
(00684)
(00493)
(00642)!
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior"
(Magnificat).
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[¶ 00695 Updated: 09_23_2024]
The conundrum of the Crucifixion (00699)
The conundrum of the Crucifixion is how, exactly,
did Jesus make his strength perfect in weakness.
The almighty had made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
As we figure this out, we fill the Cross of Christ with
meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
(00628)
(00612)
(00617).
The incentive to figuring out the conundrum of the
Crucifixion is that it holds the answer to the
question, 'Who is God?'. Jesus deposited the answer in
the middle of the conundrum. The answer is the treasure
of Christianity. Therefore, let us grab our shovels,
make our way to the Crucifixion and dig up the treasure
for ourselves. Let us make ourselves rich!
The beginning of the Crucifixion was the Incarnation.
The end of the Crucifixion was the revelation of the
radical love of God. Jesus tells the story of our salvation
by proceeding from beginng to end. To make strength
perfect in weakness, there first must be weakness.
So Jesus disarmed. In the Incarnation, Jesus defortified
himself. He doffed his invincible armor of divinity
and donned our frail unimorm of flesh and blood.
He made himself vulnerable. He became one of us -
an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in
our suffering. Weakness was the bait for the trap.
Like wild animals, we pounced on our weakened God.
We devoured Jesus while he occupied a shell of
flesh and blood. We consumed him. Jesus answered the
evils that we did to him. Conventional biblical wisdom
informed our expectation of his answer.
Conventional biblical wisdom suggested
punishment, that is,
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, rejected conventional biblical wisdom.
Instead of applying conventional biblical wisdom,
Jesus forgave us.
He did not fight fire with fire.
Jesus substituted forgiveness for
punishment
(00498)
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
His answer to the evils that
we did to him during the Crucifixion
was radically asymmetric. Radical asymmetry
perfected his strength in weakness.
Forgiveness is strength made perfect in weakness
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Forgiveness is the face of God that emerged from the
fiery furnace of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25).
We hung hell to the Cross of Christ
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Jesus hung heaven. Jesus embellished the
black and white canvas of the Crucifixion
with the vivid beauty of forgiveness. What
other artist creates his Magnum Opus in such
adverse conditions? Our God is the God who
disarmed, suffered, died and forgave.
The revelation of the radical love of God
rests on the shoulders of the Crucifixion.
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[¶ 00699 Updated: 09_25_2024]
Why is Jesus the Alpha and the Omega? (00700)
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end,
the first and the last
(Revelation 22:13)
Why? Why is Jesus the Alpha and the Omega?
The beginning of the Crucifixion was the Incarnation.
The end of the Crucifixion was the revelation of the
radical love of God. The story of salvation unfolds
in an orderly fashion from beginng to end
(00699).
Jesus is the teller of the story.
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
(Matthew 4:4)
expressed the story of salvation, not in words,
but in what was done as he proceeded from
beginning to end. In the story of salvation, we
discover that our God is the God who disarmed,
suffered, died and forgave. All of this was done
for us. This is the knowledge of God that Jesus
released in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25)
to put an end to our destruction
(Hosea 4:6)
(00151)
(00494).
Forgiveness is strength made perfect in weakness
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Forgiveness is the face of God that emerged from the
fiery furnace of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Daniel 3:8-25).
The light from the face of God
(Numbers 6:25)
illuminates the
darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious
burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
We hung hell to the Cross of Christ
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Jesus hung heaven. Jesus embellished the
black and white canvas of the Crucifixion
with the vivid beauty of forgiveness. What
other artist creates his Magnum Opus in such
adverse conditions?
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[¶ 00700 Updated: 09_25_2024]
Blissful Union with God (00701)
We achieve blissful union with God by the conjugation
of forgiveness and repentance
(00686)
(00702)
(00041).
"Blessed are they who wash their robes so as to
have the right to the tree of life and enter
the city through its gates. Outside are the dogs,
the sorcerers, the unchaste, the murderers,
the idol-worshipers, and all who love and practice
deceit"
(Revelation 22:14-15)
(Matthew 22: 11-13)
(Matthew 22:10)
(00485).
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[¶ 00701 Updated: 09_25_2024]
In the fire of the Crucifixion, Jesus revealed
the kingdom of God (00615)
The fire of the Crucifixion is the place where
Jesus gave birth to our Salvation. Our Salvation
is the revelation of the radical love of God.
The knowledge of God that Jesus released to us
in the fire of the Crucifixion puts an end
to our destruction
(Hosea 4:6)
(00151)
(00494).
In the fire of the Crucifixion, Jesus revealed
the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God was
within him
(Luke 17:20-21).
He revealed it when he adorned the canvas of the
Crucifixion with the beauty of forgiveness, that is,
when he introduced heaven into hell. May we hang
from our crosses with the same panache as Jesus hung
from his
(00605)!
Our God is everywhere and everywhen. His victory,
however, is not.
His victory is only found in
the fire of the Crucifiction and at Mass where
we celebrate Jesus, the hero of the Crucifixion,
and re-enact his Victory. Note: It was a costly
victory - exorbitantly costly. Jesus paid for
his victory with the coin of his flesh and blood.
He paid all of his limited human resources. He
kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for
himself. He won his victory by embellishing
the canvas of the Crucifixion with the beauty
of forgiveness. With heaven, Jesus adorned hell.
The greater was his payment, the more
astonishing is the miracle of forgiveness.
The hotter burned the fire of hell, the
sweeter is the heaven with which Jesus infused
it
(00603)
(00156)
(00358)!
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(Table of Contents)
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[¶ 00615 Updated: 08_17_2024]
The presence of God is everywhere; his victory,
however, is not (00516).
The presence of God is commonplace.
The presence of God is everywhere
including in the most Holy Eucharist.
Jesus's Masterpiece of Love that he created on
the canvas of the Crucifixion
in the midst of adversity
(00487)
(00495),
however,
is unique.
It is not everywhere.
Since its origin on the battlefield of the Crucifixion,
Jesus' glorious victory is only really present
in the most Holy Eucharist.
Why do we go to Mass when we can worship God,
whose presence is everywhere, anywhere?
We go to Mass to put ourselves in intimate contact
with the Masterpiece of Love that Jesus created on
the canvas of the Crucifixion in the midst of adversity.
The greater was the adversity, the more glorious is
the Masterpiece.
The closer we get to the Masterpiece, the better
we can comtemplate it, the easier it is grapple
with the truth of it and the surer we are to come
to grips with it and reconcile ourselves to it.
God established a Church to
propagate the Masterpiece of Love that Jesus
created on
the canvas of the Crucifixion
in the midst of adversity
from the point and place of its
obscure origin in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
The means of propagation is the Mass.
His Church thrives when it propagates
the Masterpiece of Love that Jesus
created on
the canvas of the Crucifixion
in the midst of adversity. It flails when it promotes
obiter dicta. The success of his Church is
inextricably tied to the Masterpiece of Love
that Jesus created on the canvas of the Crucifixion
in the midst of adversity
(00669).
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(00487)
(00513)
(00515)
[¶ 00516 Updated: 07_03_2024a]
A Mass is a copy of the Incarnation and Crucifixion ---
without the flesh and blood
(00694)
Jesus made a copy of the Incarnation and Crucifixion.
He made them portable so they can be passed from the
point and place of their
obscure origin in the backside of
the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history and
geography, to the children of Adam and Eve
here and now. We call the copy a Mass.
The original Incarnation and Crucifixion
and a Mass have the same elements albeit slightly
tweaked.
Divestiture a/k/a Doffing a/k/a Defortification
1) Both the original and the copies have
a doffing - a divestiture. Jesus disarms.
He defortifies himself.
He humbles himself.
He makes himself weak.
In both, Jesus doffs his invincible and invulnerable
armor of divinity.
The almighty had made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Originally, the doffing took place during
the Incarnation. In the copies, the doffing
takes place during the Consecration.
Donning a/k/a Investiture
2) They both have a donning - an investiture.
Jesus relocated himself to a specific shell - he put
himself into a new residence - he occupied a new
container.
In the Incarnation, Jesus donned our frail armor of
flesh and blood. He became one of us - an equal to
us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering.
Here is the tweak. Jesus announced his relocation
at the Last Supper
(00376)
(00374).
In the Consecration at Mass, Jesus
dons fragile shells of bread and wine.
Like the Incarnation,
Jesus takes up residency in a new abode
(00427).
The Real Presence, in a weakened state,
enters the scrum at
the line of scrimmage, cheek to jowl with us,
toe to hoof against the enemy
3) Jesus, the radical love of God
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45)
became really present in the shell of flesh and
blood originally in the Incarnation and subsequently
in the shells of bread and wine in the Consecration
at Mass. In fact, Jesus took on an additional
characteristic in the Consecration
at Mass. He became comestible
(00425).
Forcible Eviction from his Habitation - the
Crucifixion begins - We bring hell
to Jesus
4) After the setup is complete, the
Crucifixion begins. We do evils to evict Jesus from
his shells
(00382).
Originally, in the Crucifixion, we
torture and kill him. In the copy at Mass, we consume
his shell of bread and wine. In both the original
and the copy, we bring hell to the Crucifixion
Jesus' asymmetric answer to his Forcible Eviction
from his Habitation - the
Crucifixion ends - Jesus releases heaven
into hell
5) In both the original and the copy,
Jesus answers the evils that we did to him. Jesus
brings heaven to hell. In the original, Jesus forgives
us our trespasses. In the copy, Jesus feeds his enemies
a meal of bread and wine. He satisfies the hunger of
his enemies with bread, slakes their thirst with wine
and fills their bellies with forgiveness.
Summary
In summary, in the original, the revelation
of the radical love of God was conveyed bt the taking
of flesh and blood and the giving of forgivenes. In the
copy, the revelation
of the radical love of God is conveyed by the taking
and giving of food. The substitution of bread and wine
for flesh and blood makes the sacrifice of the Mass
bloodless.
When you peremptorily say that 'Jesus is really
present here' or 'Jesus is really
present there', you are not saying much.
There is more to say - much more.
Only
when our evils rip off the cover of the black
box in which God is hidden
(Isaiah 45:15)
(Psalm 91:1)
and the light from
its revolving gears becomes visible is the
darkness of our understanding of God illuminated.
The revelation of the radical love of God is
conveyed by a dynamic collection of moving parts
not by
a static peremptory assertion.
Jesus' performance in hell, not his presence in hell,
reveals God to us
(00556)
(00679)
(00472).
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[¶ 00694 Updated: 09_21_2024]
Jesus' Greatest Investment
(00691)
What is the only place where Jesus spent the
coin of his flesh and blood? Into what did Jesus
make his greatest investment? Did he spend the
coin of his flesh and blood in delivering the
sermon on the mount? No. Did he spend the coin of
his flesh and blood to walk on water? No.
Did he spend the coin to feed the five thousand?
No. In only one unique, sui generis place did
Jesus spend the coin of his flesh and blood.
On the battlefield of the Crucifixion, Jesus spent
all of his limited human resources. He kept not
a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
Never has Jesus spent more for anything else!
Jesus made the exorbitant payment to purchase the
gift of forgiveness for the enemies who,
moments ago, had tortured and killed him
- who had made him suffer and die.
It is easy to give gifts when we can pay for them
from our unlimited divine resources. We can afford
to be generous when there is no cost to the
giving of a gift (Luke 21:1-4).
A GIFT DRAWN FROM OUR LIMITED HUMAN RESOURCES,
HOWEVER, IS A HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR.
The monster of the Crucifixion tried to kill
God's love for us. It tried to poke a hole in
Jesus’ most Sacred Heart to drain it of
God’s prodigious love for us. It failed.
Its failure was utter, abject and total.
From the scabbard of his prodigious love for us,
Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness
to slay the monster of the Crucifixion.
Forgiveness killed the monster dead
(Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35 (Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45). Jesus clung to his love for us,
held tight and refused to let go. His most
Sacred Heart stayed filled to the brim with love
for us. The monster of the Crucifixion tried to
reduce Jesus from the level of our loving God
to the level of the loveless beasts who scavenge
for scraps in cutthroat competition with the
other loveless beasts among the ruins of Eden.
Jesus, however, refused the demotion. He declined
to descend into catastrophe. The love of God
survived the evil that we did to him.
God's love for us emerged from the violent
clash with the monster unscathed - undiminished
- without the slightest scratch. The evil that
we did to Jesus did not extinguish the bonfire
of love that burns for us in his most Sacred
Heart or reduce its intensity by even the
slightest degree. The dial that controls his
love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover,
it is set to the highest degree and is locked
in place. Not even the evil that we did to him
could budge it. Wow! Moreover, to pinpoint the
location of his greatest investment, Jesus
erected a landmark. The Cross of Christ
(1 Corinthians 1:17) is the landmark that marks
the location of his greatest investment.
Rally ‘round the bipolar Cross
(00656)
(00584)
(00512)!
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[¶ 00691 Updated: 09_18_2024]
What, if anything, emerged from the fiery furnace
of the Crucifixion?
(00684)
We ignited and fueled the fire of the
Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
with Jesus' flesh and blood
(00693).
This started the wheels of the revelation turning.
This, however, did not take us to
the desination of the revelation.
Once the evils that we did to Jesus were done,
control over the revelation shifted from our hands
into Jesus' hands. The first
round of the revelation belonged to humanity.
The second and final round -
the last word of the Word of God
(John 1:1)
(Matthew 4:4)
- belonged to Jesus.
It was now Jesus' turn to answer the evils
that we had done to him.
In the second and final round of the revelation,
Jesus gave us a surprising gift - an unexpected
blessing.
Conventional biblical wisdom suggested
punishment, that is,
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, rejected conventional biblical wisdom.
Instead of applying conventional biblical wisdom,
Jesus forgave us.
He did not fight fire with fire.
Jesus substituted forgiveness for
punishment
(00498)
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
His answer to the evils that
we did to him during the Crucifixion
was radically asymmetric. Radical
asymmetry was the proxy that Jesus used
to make the abstract concept of the
radical love of God tangible and concrete
(00475).
Forgiveness was the personification of God himself
- divinity in its highest and purest concentration
(00423).
In forgiveness, divinity coalesced into a coherent
form. Divinity landed on earth. It touched down in
hell.
When Jesus embellished hell with heaven
by decorating hell with the beauty of forgiveness
(00672),
he brought the revelation to its
conclusiion.
Forgivenes marked the end of Jesus'
flamboyant demonstration of
the radical love of God
(00679).
The Good News of Great Joy was forgiveness.
Forgiveness is the herald who triumphantly
emerged from the fiery
furnace of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
to announce the revelation
of the radical love of God
(Isaiah 52:7-10).
By the infusion of heaven into hell, Jesus
transformed the Crucifixion from a singularity
into a duality
(00678)
(00671)
(00659)
(00628)
(00271)
(00452)
(00612)
(00147).
Heaven passed through and emerged from hell
(00672).
The soil of hell is toxic to love. Ordinarily,
the flower of love does not grow in the toxic soil of
hell.
It is a sterile matrix - utterly barren -
hostile in the extreme. So when love
in the form of forgiveness germinated, sprouted
and grew, we beheld a miracle.
The greater were the evils that we did to Jesus
during the Crucifixion,
the more glorious is the miracle.
Forgiveness is the foundation of the Christian faith
(00547).
The edifice of Christianity is built on
the foundation of forgiveness.
Forgiveness evokes repentance
(00393).
Jesus did not wait for us to repent to forgive
us. He forgave us to bring about our repentance
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
He took the first step of forgiveness in the hope
that we would take the second step of repentance.
The radical love of God initiated the process of
our conversion.
While we were unrepentant
(Matthew 22:10)
sinners
(Romans 5:8)
(Matthew 7:6),
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Why? Only love begets love.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
The kingdom of God is reserved for those who
embellish the canvas of their lives with love
(00001)
(00493).
As Jesus did in the fiery furnace
of the Crucifixion, Christians embellish hell
with heaven.
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(00081)
(00679)
(00452)
[¶ 00684 Updated: 09_18_2024]
Only the gift of vulnerability makes the
perfection of love possible
(00689)
God endowed us with a frail uniform of flesh and
blood - the gift of vulnerability - to put us in postion
to perfect our love. A strong man cannot perfect
love. Only a weak man can.
Invulnerability is an obstacle in the way to the
perfection of love.
The almighty had made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
The only strength respected by God is love perfected.
In the Incarnation, the Son of God made himself weak.
He humbled himself. He disarmed. He defortified himself.
He doffed the invulnerable armor of divinity, donned
our frail uniform of flesh and blood, and, dressed
like us, he entered the scrum at the line of
scrimmage, cheek to jowl with us, toe to hoof against
the enemy. He became one of us - an equal to us in our
humanity - a partner with us in our suffering.
His purpose? His purpose was to hang from his Cross
to teach us how to hang from our crosses. He
sacrificed
his frail uniform of flesh and blood to show us
how to perfect our love through forgiveness. In weakness,
Jesus demonstrated our potential for perfect love.
Like Jesus, in our weakened state, we, too, can bring
heaven to hell. This is the superpower of creatures
of flesh and blood. Jesus demonstrated our superpower
during the Crucifixion.
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(00211)
(00627)
[¶ 00689 Updated: 09_17_2024]
Scope
(00687)
Jesus forgave his enemies even though we still had
his flesh in our mouths and his blood on our hands
(00142)
(00370).
Jesus included his enemies within the scope of his love
so we would recognize and appreciate
the radicalness of his love
(00558)
(00103)
for the children
of Adam and Eve
(Matthew 22: 8-10)
(Matthew 13:47).
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[¶ 00687 Updated: 09_16_2024]
Size
(00421)
Jesus is the highest concentration of the radical
love of God. He is dense with it. He is packed
to the gills with it. He is filled to the brim with
it. In him, the radical love of God is unalloyed.
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's radical love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
Can we prove it? Take a look at its size.
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to pay
for our salvation
out of his own
pockets with the coin of his flesh and blood.
Jesus spared no expense.
He spent all of his limited human resources. He kept
not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never spent more for anything else.
"Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13).
The more of the coin of his flesh and blood that
Jesus spent, the greater is our astonishment at the
radical profligacy of his love for the children
of Adam and Eve.
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[¶ 00421 Updated: 05_01_2024]
Intransigence (00248)
The dial that controls God's love for us is in his hands
not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree
and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we
did to the Son of God in the laboratory
of the Crucifixion while he was human, tender,
vulnerable and our guest upon the earth
could budge it. His radical love for us did not
fade as we tortured him and did not die
when we killed him. Steadfast is the radical
love of God. Wow!
The gruesome ordeal that we put Jesus through
during the Crucifixion
did not extinguish the bonfire of love that
burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or
reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree.
It did not stop Jesus from continuing to love us
nonetheless.
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(1) Index: The Dial (00222)
[¶ 00248 Updated: 09_16_2024]
The gist of Christianity is not the combination of
Jesus' death and Resurrection but the
combination of the evils that we did to him
during the Crucifixion and his asymmetric
answer to them - the combination of death and
forgiveness
(00688)
Forgiveness was the first gift that Jesus gave
us to answer the evils that we did to him during
the Crucifixion
(00404).
There were two gifts.
Resurrection was the second
gift.
It has been said that Jesus redeemed us by his death and
resurrection. This formulation of our redemption is
not quite right. It is important but our redemption
is a byproduct of another combination. The gist of
Christianity is Jesus' radically asymmetric answer to
the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
His radically asymmetric answer is the proxy for
the radical love of God. Jesus revealed the radical
love of God to us by his radically asymmetric answer to
the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
Resurrection only revealed to us his power. His power
made paradise for us. However, the radical
love of God is the ingredient that makes paradise
sweet.
Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise
and flee the sourness of godlessness.
It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise.
It is crazy to do otherwise.
We are disobedient not irrational.
Resurrection is beyond our power. The power
of resurrection belongs to God. The power of
forgiveness, one of the sweet fruits
of love, however, is a power shared by both humanity
and divinity. It is a superpower
(00001)
(00182).
Jesus hung from
his Cross to show us how to hang from our crosses.
He did not hang to show us a divine power. He hung to
show us our potential. Like Jesus, we, too, can bring
hell to heaven.
We, too, can transform our crucifixions from a
singularity into a duality
(00659)
(00628),
We, too, can embellish the canvas
of our crucifixions as Jesus embellished the
canvas of his Crucifixion
(00001)
(00492)
(00394)
(00411)
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[¶ 00688 Updated: 09_16_2024]
Since Eden, we have dug a pit of sin in our
relationship with our God - a dark and nasty abyss.
To span the pit, Jesus erected the bridge of
forgiveness
(John 14:6).
Paradise is found not at
the bottom of the pit but at the far side of the
bridge. Our job is to stop digging the pit and
to start crossing the bridge.
We can cross the bridge of forgiveness by means
of the vehicle of repentance
(Matthew 22: 11-13).
All aboard!
In the Fire of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20),
Jesus forged
the key of forgiveness.
He used the key to
open the gate to the kingdom of God
(Matthew 7:13-14)
(00502).
Repentance is the vehicle that takes us through the
gate, across the threshold and into the kingdom
of God.
"...
Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
(Matthew 4:17)
(00501)
(00126).
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[¶ 00686 Updated: 09_15_2024]
The transmission of the Knowledge of God
(00679)
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
Presence did not transmit the knowledge
of God
(00308)
(00060).
Presence was silent - mute.
Presence had no mouth with which to speak
(Matthew 4:4).
Jesus, however, was not voiceless
in his dire predicament.
He was active not passive,
not merely being but doing
(00637).
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to put on
a flamboyant demonstration of the radical
love of God. The demonstration took place in
the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion -
heaven performed in hell.
Performance transmitted the knowledge of God.
Jesus took the stage in
the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion.
His purpose was not merely to put his presence
on display as a Tchotchke is
displayed on a shelf in a cabinet.
His purpose on stage was to perform -
to sing and dance.
While on stage in the fiery furnace of the
Crucifixion, Jesus superimposed a layer of doing
over and above the underlying layer of his
being.
It is the doing, singing and dancing that transmitted
the knowledge of God
(00035).
In short, the source of the transmission of
the knowledge of God was the layer of doing not
the layer of being.
What did Jesus do on the layer of doing
(00287)?
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him
during the Crucifixion.
Forgiveness informed our understanding of God.
Forgiveness enriched it.
Forgiveness upgraded it.
Forgiveness perfected it.
"Man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God"
(Matthew 4:4).
Forgiveness is the word uttered by the Word of God
(John 1:1)
from the stage in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion.
With forgiveness, heaven embellished hell.
Forgiveness was the herald who emerged from
the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion to announce
the presence of God.
Forgiveness was the seal that was forged in
the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion at an
exorbitant cost to Jesus and affixed
to the Love Note that God had delivered to us in
the Incarnation to verify its genuineness.
The payment of the exorbitant cost of
verification authenticated the reality of the
radical love of God.
Let
us hang our faith on herald and seal!
Forgiveness is the foundation of the Christian
faith. The edifice of Christianity is built
on the foundation of forgiveness.
“I have come to set the earth on fire
[with the knowledge of God]
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
Jesus was not merely there in
the fiery furnace of the Crucixion.
While he was there, he did something. He
embellished the Crucifixion with forgiveness.
Heaven embellished hell. We brought the fire
to the Crucifixion. Jesus brought the water.
The water of forgiveness neutralized the fire
of hell.
The most Holy Eucharist is, like light, both
particle and wave. The Church's undue emphasis
on presence in the most Holy Eucharist is an
irrational overreaction to the Protestant's denial
of presence. To perfect our understanding of
the most Holy Eucharist, we must restore the
balance between presence and performance.
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(The Most Holy Eucharist inside the context
of a Mass)
(The Juxtaposition of Heaven and Hell)
(The Transmission of the Knowledge
of God)
[¶ 00679 Updated: 09_15_2024]
The Script of Salvation
(00575)
Disarm
(00149).
Suffer and die
(00382).
Forgive them
(00572).
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[¶ 00575 Updated: 07_29_2024]
The Pattern of Salvation is the heartbeat of
christianity (00682)
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
Christians are fortunate that the knowledge of God
is not diffuse - scattered some here, some there - but
is concentrted at and about the Crucifxion. Let us
think through the path of Salvation from its
beginning,
through its middle, to its end to develop and
perfect a coherent understanding of
this thing that we call God. Let us meet
the God who disarmed, suffered, died and forgave.
The life of Jesus unfolded into the pattern of
Salvation. The pattern of Salvation repeats itself
from its obscure origin
in the backside of
the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history and
geography, to the children of Adam and Eve
here and now at each and every Mass.
The pattern of Salvation is the heartbeat of
Christianity. It beats in a regular rhythym.
Can you feel its beat?
Furthermore, there is correspondence - a
one-to-one correspondence between the pattern of
Salvation that presented itself in Jesus' life and
the pattern of Salvation that presents itself at
each and every Mass. The pattern of Salvation
has a beginning, middle and end. It forms a perfect
pattern. When we follow the pattern with Jesus from
beginning, through its middle, to its end, we are
seeking first the kingdom of God
(Matthew 6:33).
The pattern of Salvation begins with the Incarnation
(00583)
(00149),
In the Incarnation, Jesus defortified himself. He
disarmed. He doffed the invulnerable carapace of
divinity, donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood,
and, dressed like us, he entered the scrum at the line
of scrimmage, cheek to jowl with us, toe to hoof
against his enemies. The Son of God became one of us -
an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in
our suffering. At Mass, defortification repeats itself
during the Consecration.
This time, the Son of God doffs his invulnerable carapace of
divinity and dons a shell of bread and wine.
In the middle of the pattern of Salvation is the
duality of the Crucifixion, the juxtaposition of
heaven and hell. It is Jesus' Magnum Opus. Jesus
brought forgiveness
(00572)
to the fiery furnace of
the Crucifixion
(00382).
He embellished hell with heaven.
We evict the radical love of God from his shell,
either of flesh and blood during his life or of
bread and wine at Mass to release him.
The Pattern of Salvation does not end here. It
does not stop. After
his release, Jesus does something. He performs a
miracle. He shows us strength made perfect in
weakness
(00521).
Released,
Jesus blesses us with the gift of forgiveness during
his life or with a meal of bread and wine during
Mass.
At Mass, we take from Jesus his flesh and blood
when we consume the most Holy Eucharist. Jesus,
however, does not give us exactly what we take.
He serves us a meal of bread and wine. He had
announced his relocation from a shell of flesh and
blood to a shell of bread and wine at the Last
Supper
(00376).
The pattern of Salvation ends with the
revelation of the radical love of God.
The revelation of the radical love of God
is the Good News of Great Joy.
In the Pattern of Salvation, Jesus deposited the knowledge of
God. There, Jesus buried the treasure of
Christianity. The Pattern of Salvation
conveys from heaven the revelation
of the radical love of God to the children
of Adam and Eve here on earth.
It is the epicenter of
Christianity. Upon it, the edifice of
Christianity is built.
Eviction
(00382),
via the Crucifixion in life and via
Consumption of the most Holy Eucharist at Mass,
dispossessed Jesus of his shell of flesh and
blood. Released
from his shell of flesh and
blood, Jesus did something in answer to
his evictions. He forgave us. He served us a
meal of bread and wine. His answers were
radically asymmetric to the evils that we
did to him during the evictions.
The radical asymmetry powers
the revelation of the radical love of God.
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(The Most Holy Eucharist inside the context
of a Mass)
(The Transmission of the Knowledge
of God)
[¶ 00682 Updated: 09_13_2024]
Without hell, would anyone take notice of heaven?
(00680)
Without hell, would anyone take notice of heaven?
Imagine if Jesus would have taken the easy way. Imagine
if Jesus had not disarmed in the Incarnation
(00149)
- had
not suffered and died in the Crucifixion
(00382)
- had not
embellished hell with heaven by hanging forgiveness
from the bipolar Cross
(00572),
where would the children
of Adam and Eve be? Such was the world between the
fall of Adam and Eve and the advent of Jesus.
Did our receipt of the Good News of Great Joy that
Jesus delivered to us during the Crucifixion
make a difference?
How so? In what way
(00025)
(00063)?
Imagine if Jesus had delivered the revelation
of the radical love of God in a different venue -
in a venue outside of hell. Would anyone take notice?
Magnification. Hell magnified heaven.
Hell - the fiery furnace of the
Crucifixion - the venue where Jesus
delivered the Good News
of Great Joy - magnified the power
of the revelation of the radical love of God
by its radical asymmetry with
heaven. Radical asymmetry was the engine that packed
the revelation with a powerful persuasive
punch. It energized the revelation. It gave
the revelation oomph.
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(The Juxtaposition of Heaven and Hell)
[¶ 00680 Updated: 09_12_2024]
The renaissance in our understanding of God
(00678)
Jesus brought about a renaissance in our understanding
of God. He did so by virtue of his radically asymmetric
answer to the evils that we did to him during the
Crucifixion.
By transforming the Crucifixion from a singularity
into a duality
(00659)
(00628),
Jesus supplied us with the
definitive answer to the question, 'Who is God?'.
The transformation was accomplished when Jesus
brought heaven into hell
(00603).
Heaven did not belong in hell. It was out of place -
utterly anatopic. Heaven in hell was a chicken in
a fox house.
In hell, heaven was a stranger in a strange land
(Exodus 2:22).
Yet, Jesus brought heaven into hell anyway.
He decorated hell with heaven.
He embellished it.
He did it.
He is not waiting to do it.
Doing it is not conditional on anything.
The transformation was done.
His radically asymmetric answer
illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in
a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness
saw great light; and to them which sat
in the region and shadow of death
light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Jesus did not bring a conditional into hell.
What he brought was not wishy-washy - vapid -
a mirage - a pseudo gift.
He brought an unconditional, completed reality
there. Into hell, Jesus brought forgiveness -
heaven unabashedly trespassed into hell
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
In fact, heaven was delighted to be caught in hell
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
because hell magnified the revelation of the
radical love of God
(00509)
that Jesus released there
through the proxy of forgiveness
(00325).
Magnification enhanced the impact of the
revelation.
Jesus gladly paid the exorbitant
price for an enhanced impact.
By virtue of asymmetry, hell upgraded the power
of heaven, thereby, making the revelation
of the radical love of God irresistable.
What a God is our God!
Jesus did not drive stock. He upgraded the engine
of the vehicle that delivered the revelation
of the radical love of God to us with the asymmetry
of heaven and hell. The asymmetry
of heaven and hell turned the delivery vehicle
into a hotrod. It supercharged the revelation.
Imagine if Jesus had delivered the revelation
of the radical love of God in a different venue -
in a venue outside of hell. Would anyone take notice?
Hell, the venue of delivery, magnified the power
of the revelation by its radical asymmetry with
heaven.
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[¶ 00678 Updated: 09_10_2024]
Sacrifice, suffering and forgiveness worked together
in the same enterprise.
But, sacrifice and suffering worked for
forgiveness. Forgiveness did not work for them
(00308)
Forgiveness, suffering and sacrifice were not equal
partners in the enterprise entrusted to Jesus
of revealing the radical
love of God to the children of Adam and Eve
(00316)
Jesus did his most important work during his Crucifixion
in the hell of the evils that we did to him.
Hell was an absurd venue for the production
of his best work, yet Jesus created his Magnum Opus
there.
Yes, he suffered.
Yes, he sacrificed his flesh and blood.
But he also did something else.
What else exactly did Jesus do?
He forgave his enemies while they
still had his flesh in their mouths and his
blood on their hands.
While we were unrepentant
(Matthew 22:10)
sinners
(Romans 5:8)
(Matthew 7:6),
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Why? Only love begets love.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
A life without love is salt without flavor
(Matthew 5:13).
Love is audacious.
Jesus was audacious.
The audacity of his radical love gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
He did not wait for our conversion to love us; he loved
us to bring about our conversion.
He took the first step of forgiveness in the hope
that we would take the second step of repentance.
The radical love of God initiated the process of
our conversion.
It is the agent that has caused the conversion of
humanity to go viral.
Those who have not adequately contemplated
the relationships
that connect suffering, sacrifice and forgiveness
together into a coherent whole
exaggerate the role that suffering and sacrifice
play
in the formula of salvation. They overweigh
suffering and sacrifice and underweigh
forgiveness.
They develop a morbid obsession with suffering and
sacrifice together with a pathological disdain
and dismissal of forgiveness.
The fail to understand how salvation works.
In the ghoulish ambience of the
Crucifixion, forgiveness was the
counterpoint that Jesus set against the foil
of suffering and sacrifice.
Suffering and sacrifice were the venue for the
performance not the performance; forgiveness was the
performance.
Suffering and sacrifice were the servants
of forgiveness. Forgiveness was their master.
Forgiveness was the boss.
Suffering and sacrifice were
were his assistants.
They worked for forgiveness. Forgiveness did not
work for them.
They bent their
knees and saluted the banner of
forgiveness that flew from the position
of prominence on the flagpole of
Christianity.
Like a pointer, they pointed, shouting, 'Look!'
'Look!', to show
the children of Adam and Eve where
to focus their attention.
'Behold the bush that burns but is not
consumed'
(Exodus 3:1-3)!
They highlighted the glory of forgiveness
and illuminated its beauty.
In combination with forgiveness, they
unboxed the enigma of God to expose the radical
love that his most Sacred Heart holds for the
children of Adam and Eve.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00308 Updated: 03_05_2024]
Discover the treasure; Make yourself rich (00656)
Surely, a Church with more than two thousand years
of experience knows that the radical love of God
is the treasure
(00598)
that Jesus buried in the gruesome experiment
conducted in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Isaiah 48:10)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(00097)
(00329)
(00597)
(00470).
Right?
Grab your shovel, follow Jesus
to the bipolar Cross
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7),
dig up the duality of the Crucifixion
for yourself
(00404)
(00110),
and make
yourself rich
(00110)
(00579)
(00580)
(00313)
(00097)
(00581).
Hell was the atelier in which Jesus completed
his Magnum Opus. What other artist does his best
work in such dreadful conditions?
Jesus decorated hell with the astonishing beauty of
radical forgiveness. His forgiveness was radical
because he included his enemies within its scope even
though they deserved exclusion not inclusion
(Matthew 5:45).
In so doing, Jesus embellished hell with heaven.
Heaven did not belong in hell but Jesus brought it
there anyway. Heaven was his gift to his enemies -
unconditional, no strings attached
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
(00540).
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[¶ 00656 Updated: 09_05_2024]
The Theology of the Crucifixion is the gravamen of
Christianity - superior to everything
else (00671)
Jesus himself released the theology of the Crucifixion
into our reality when he anatopically relocated
heaven into hell
(00603)
- when he transformed the Crucifixion from
a singularity into a duality
(00659)
(00452)
- when he answered asymmetrically
the evils that we did to him
during the Crucifixion
(00183)
- when he decorated the black and white canvas
of the Crucifixion with the beautiful and
vivid color of forgiveness
(00643)
- when forgiveness,
in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion,
verified the genuineness of the
Love Note that God had sent us in the Incarnation
(00659)
(00452).
The theology of the Crucifixion is the gravamen of
Christianity - superior to everything
else. Compared to the theology of the
Crucifixion, everything else is obiter dicta.
The theology of the Crucifixion is the
dynamo of Christianity.
It is the agent that does the heavy lifting in
Christianity
(00630).
It is Christianity's best recruitment and retention
tool.
The theology of the Crucifixion was not mute.
It had a mouth.
It spoke to us.
"Man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God"
(Matthew 4:4).
Jesus, the Word of God
(John 1:1),
spoke to us from the fiery furnace of the
Crucifixion. From the fiery furnace of the
Crucifixion, Jesus announced the Good News
of Great Joy.
The announcement was his Magnum Opus.
He announced the radical love of God
by the anatopic juxtaposition of heaven
and hell
(00603).
(00659)
(00452).
Heaven did not belong in hell. It was out of
place. Yet, Jesus brought heaven to hell
anyway
(00643).
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
When we explore the theology of the Crucifixion and
discover for ourselves its revelation of
the radical love of God, we are gobsmacked.
The theology of the Crucifixion
knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
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[¶ 00671 Updated: 09_08_2024]
By pushing the theology of the Crucifixion
to the periphery of Christianity,
we have decapitated the head from the body of Christ
(00494)
Too many who claim to be Christian are detached from
Jesus' radically asymmetric answer to the evils
that we did to him during the Crucifixion. Hence,
they are not struggling to come to grips with
the radical love of God.
What did we do with our God? Where did we put him?
We have pushed our theology to the obscure periphery
of Christianity and tried to replace it with morality.
What a mistake!
The head of the body of Christ
(1 Corinthians 12:12-27)
is Jesus' asymmetric answer to the atrocities that we
did to him during the Crucifixion. By virtue of
the answer, Jesus introduced us to our God. We
made our God's acquaintance
(00373).
By pushing the theology of the Crucifixion
to the obscure
periphery of Christianity,
we have decapitated the head
from the body of Christ.
Our conversation about God is the medium
that transmits the knowledge of God to us.
Without it
(00151),
the knowledge of God
stays an enigma to us locked
away in a mysterious black box.
He remains a stranger to us.
“And a stranger will they
not follow, but will flee from him: for they know
not the voice of strangers”
(John 10:5).
Therefore, more theology, less morality. More
revelation, less regulation. More prophet, less king.
Always. No exceptions.
Can we devote 50% of the conversation to God? Is
50% too much to ask?
Morality does not confront us with the radical
love of God. Morality does not challenge us
to come grips with the radical love of God.
Morality is not theology.
Only a close encounter with the radical love
of God makes a Christian.
In America, the real problem is not a lack of
morality. It is a lack of theology, in particular,
a lack of a theology of the Crucifixion.
The Cross of Christ has been emptied of meaning.
Nature abhors a vacuum so into the void various
woke ideologies have rushed. The head of the body
of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27) is Jesus'
asymmetric answer to the atrocities that we did to
him during the Crucifixion. By virtue of the answer,
Jesus introduced us to our God. We made our God's
acquaintance. Our God is no longer a stranger to us -
theoretically (John 10:5) (Hosea 4:6). However,
by pushing the theology of the Crucifixion to the
obscure periphery of Christianity, we have
decapitated the head from the body of Christ.
In a decapitated Christianity, we have ceased to
struggle with the radical love of God - to come
to grips with it - to reconcile us with it. We are
no longer challenged by the God who disarmed,
suffered, died and forgave. Once again, our God has
become a stranger to us. "And a stranger will they
not follow, but will flee from him: for they know
not the voice of strangers" (John 10:5)
(Hosea 4:6).
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(00151)
(00477)
(00537)
[¶ 00494 Updated: 09_13_2024]
Decapitating the Head from the Body of Christ (00472)
Leadership's failed attempt to do headless
Christianity.
A decapitated Christianity is a dead Christianity.
The leadership of Christianity has stopped promoting
the theology of the radical love of God.
They devote none of their resources to it.
The theology of the radical love of God has
become the unwanted orphan of Christianity pushed
to the side and into the shadows. Leadership has
demoted it to the farthest inaccesible recess of
the periphery of Christianity.
Yet,
the theology of the radical love of God is the
operating system of Christianity.
It is the foundation upon
which the edifice of Christianity is built.
All Christian applications
derive themselves from it.
A Christian application detached from the
Christian operating system tends to go rogue.
It does not have the appropriate
Christian guardrails to guide it and keep
it on track.
Leadership is trying
to run the Christian applications
without having a stable,
functioning and well-understood
operating system in place.
Leadership has yet to realize that
headless Christianity does not work.
A decapitated Christianity is a dead Christianity.
The head is needed for the other parts of the body of
Christ to function
(1 Corinthians 12:12-27).
Without its operating system, Christianity
does not function. It crashes.
Without its operating system, leadership
bricks Christianity.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
Can we ground our Christianity
in the theology of the radical love of God?
The assumption of the Christian enterprise is that,
if the sweetness of paradise
becomes known, the children of Adam and Eve will
pursue it.
Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise
and flee the sourness of godlessness.
It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise.
It is crazy to do otherwise.
We are disobedient not irrational.
God's power made paradise for us.
God's love for us, however,
is the ingredient that makes paradise sweet. Power
begets respect. But love begets love - only love
begets love.
God's radical love for us,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope,
and forever in duration
is the honey that draws the bees back home
to their hive.
God's radical love for us is the reason that
the birds fly home to their nest.
God's radical love for us is the inescapable,
centripetal force
that pulls us back to paradise.
The theology of the radical love of God
and this theology alone is the
understanding whose gravity pulls us into
an ever tightening orbit
around God.
Headless Christianity does not work. It
is a failure.
Can we devote 50% of the conversation to God?
Is 50% too much to ask?
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The Conversation about God is Dead! (00151)
The Failure of Christian Theology (00465)
The war against evils cannot be won without
capturing, taking control of, and holding
the high ground of Christianity (00312)
Crayon Christianity (00188)
(00177)
(00153)
[¶ 00472 Updated: 06_21_2024]
The Conversation about God is Dead! (00151)
Are you guilty of killing God? Are you involved in
his death? Have you put God on the shelf?
Without a conversation
about him, God is as good as dead. If we are not
engaging in the conversation about God, we are
complicit in his death!
What have we done to God?
Where have we put him?
God is not dead. Indeed, God is very much alive.
However, the conversation about God is dead.
Killing the conversation about God is tantamount
to killing God.
The enemies of the Church know this.
The Church does not.
Allowing the conversation about God to go silent
poses an existential threat to Christianity.
Let us remember God's lament and warning.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
Because the conversation about God is dead,
our God has become a stranger to us
(John 10:5)
(Psalm 69:8)
(Exodus 2:22)
(Isaiah 45:15)
(Psalm 91:1).
“And a stranger will they
not follow, but will flee from him: for they know
not the voice of strangers”
(John 10:5).
Let us, therefore, do what we can to reanimate
the conversation about God. Let us bring
the conversation about God back from the
dead
(John 3:3)
(Luke 15:32).
When the light from Jesus' radically asymmetric
answer to the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion illuminates the darkness of
our understanding of God, we are born again
(John 3:3)
(Luke 15:32).
By prioritizing
regulation over revelation,
morality over theology,
politics over religion,
progress over direction,
applications over operating system,
obiter dicta over gravamen,
nitty-gritty over the pizzazz of Christianity,
the Church has killed the conversation about
the nature of God.
It is guilty of its own tragic self-destruction.
Can we devote 50% of the conversation to God?
Is 50% too much to ask?
"Come now, and let us reason together,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 1:18).
Let us discuss, debate and discover the
nature of this thing called God. Let us scrutinize
the evidence. And the best evidence is found in the
scrum at the line of scrimmage on the battlefield
of the Crucifixion where Jesus fed his enemies
a meal of bread and wine even though they
had taken his flesh in their mouths and
had stained their
hands with his blood.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
The Cross was bipolar. Both hell and
heaven hung from it.
We hung the hell. Jesus hung the heaven.
The energy gradient between
heaven and hell powers the Cross's revelation of the
radical love of God. It gives the revelation
its sizzle.
The hell that we hung is the foil that highlights and
emphasizes and intensifies and magnifies and
amplifies and accentuates and underlines
the heaven that Jesus hung. The heaven that
Jesus hung is the payload of the scrum at
the line of scrimmage in Jesus' war against
evils that took place on the battlefield of
the Crucifixion.
Without
an understanding of the bipolarity of the Cross, we
empty the Cross of its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
(See, 00355)
(00361)
(00156)
(00010)
(00001).
Christians rally 'round the Cross. They coalesce
there.
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Decapitating the Head from the Body of Christ (00472)
(00537)
The Failure of Christian Theology (00465)
[¶ 00151 Updated: 06_21_2024]
The Failure of Christian Theology (00465)
What revelations were released by
the union between suffering and forgiveness that
Jesus forged together in the gruesome experiment
(Isaiah 48:10)
that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)?
The union is the foundation upon which
the edifice of Christianity is built. Can you
say something about it? Anything?
The public discussion of Christian theology is
non-existent. There is no commitment to the
discussion of this thing that we call God in the
public square. We delight in talking about
Christian applications, but with regard to
Christianity itself, that is, the Christian operating
system, we are silent. Hence, the significance
of the union between suffering and forgiveness that
Jesus forged together in the gruesome experiment
(Isaiah 48:10)
that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
is not understood even by our Christian clerics.
The union is the foundation upon which the edifice
of Christianity is built. Yet, it is poorly
understood.
We do not understand what the union tells us about
this thing we call God.
We do not understand what the union
tells us about our potential as human beings.
The light of the union has yet to illuminate the
darkness of our understanding of God and our
understanding of ourselves. By our silence, we are
depriving ourselves of the blessings of Christianity.
So, therefore,
More of the radical love of God; not less.
More theology; less morality.
More revelation; less regulation.
Always. No exceptions.
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The Conversation about God is Dead! (00151)
Decapitating the Head from the Body of Christ (00472)
[¶ 00465 Updated: 05_31_2024]
The Crucifixion revealed the revelation of
the radical love of God - the truth
that makes us free (00659)
The Crucifixion was not a singularity.
We hung hell from the Cross; Jesus hung heaven.
The Crucifixion was a duality. Two hangings took
place not one.
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm
on a sharp hook where he hung until death
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
Jesus, however, turned the tables on the
gruesome baptism that we gave him.
He transformed ignominious defeat into glorious
victory. How? He co-opted them. He co-opted
the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
He made them serve his
purpose of revealing the radical love of God.
He bundled the evils together
into a foil, and, by forgiving us for
baptizing him in it
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45),
he completed the
revelation
(00308)
(00656)
(00452).
The evils that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion
began the revelation. They did not complete it.
Forgiveness is the fullness of truth that
completed the revelation
(00660).
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4)
(00626)
(00055)
(00396)
(00440)
(00507).
Hidden behind the veil
(Isaiah 45:15)
demurely stood radical
forgiveness - a proxy for the radical love
of God - waiting for the evils that we did to Jesus
to summon it into the fiery
furnace of the Crucifixion.
On cue,
the veil of the temple was rent in
twain from top to bottom
(Matthew 27:50-54)
and heaven stepped
out from behind it
(Isaiah 45:15)
into the fiery
furnace of the Crucifixion.
In hell, Jesus unveiled heaven.
In hell, Jesus distributed the blessed gift of
forgiveness
(00404)
to the enemies who
had chewed his flesh with their teeth and whose
hands were stained with his blood
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
(00348)
(00393)
(00290).
Jesus decorated the black and white canvas
of the Crucifixion with
the vivid color and beauty of forgiveness.
Heaven embellished hell.
This is his Magnum Opus.
This is the vehicle that conveyed the revelation of
the radical love of God.
In the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion,
Jesus released the Good News
of Great Joy into the world.
(00603)
(00656)
(00300)
The takeaway of the unveiling - the
insight about God that the unveiling gives us -
is the revelation of the radical love of God.
The revelation of the radical love of God is
the Good News of Great Joy that Jesus
released into the world. God
sent us a Love Note in the Incarnation and verified
it in the Crucifixion
(00572)
(00452)
(00268)
(00554)
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(00084)
(00046)
(00587)
(00094)
(00474)
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(00656)
[¶ 00659 Updated: 09_06_2024]
The duality of the Crucifixion fills the Cross of
Christ with meaning (00628)
Contemplate what is meant when it is said: The
duality of the Crucifixion fills the Cross of Christ
with meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
(00612)
(00617).
Focus on it.
Meditate upon it
day and night
(Joshua 1:8).
Why is it said that the Crucifixion was a duality not a
singularity
(00612)
(00617)?
Understand this truth to upgrade your understanding
of the entity that we call God
(00154).
The
duality of the Crucifixion
was the bipartite vehicle - engine
and caboose - that Jesus used to convey
the revelation of the radical love of God.
The two parts of the vehicle that
conveyed the revelation are the odd couple
of apocalyptic epiphany.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
We brought hell to the Crucifixion. Jesus
brought heaven. Our contribution to the
Crucifixion was the foil of evils in which we
baptized Jesus. Jesus' contribution was the
jewel of forgiveness that he set in and
against the foil. The anatopic relocation of
heaven to hell gobsmacks us
(00603).
It knocks us off
our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Who does this? Who but our loving God has the
strength to carry heaven into hell
(00632)?
Jesus had the audacity to take the war against
evils
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16)
to the enemy - literally
(00063).
Therefore, let us hang from our crosses with the
same panache as Jesus hung from his.
Like Jesus, let us mix things up!
Like Jesus, let us take heaven to hell!
Note: Be careful when wielding the terminology
of salvation. Preserve the distinctions. Be precise
with your language.
Revelation = the radical love of God. Vehicle that
conveyed the revelation = the duality of the Crucifixion.
The duality of the Crucifixion was not the revelation.
The duality of the Crucifixion was the bipartite vehicle -
the combination of heaven and hell - that conveyed the revelation.
The duality of the Crucifixion was the 'word' of
the Word of God
(John 1:1).
The revelation of the radical love of God was the
'meaning' of the 'word'.
Jesus transformed the
Crucifixion from a singularity into a duality by
bringing heaven to hell.
The transformation is our gurantee of salvation
(00584)
(00452).
It was the verification of the Love Note that
our God had sent us in the Incarnation
(00149)
(00142)
(00521)
(00177).
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[¶ 00628 Updated: 08_24_2024]
The Duality of the Crucifixion is the Sculptor who
shapes our understanding of God (00654)
The duality of the Crucifixion is the Sculptor who
shapes our understanding of God. The heaven and
hell of the Crucifixion define it.
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm
on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
In short, we baptized Jesus in a gruesome
dunghill of evils
(Matthew 3:13-15)
(Matthew 20:22)
(00603).
In our evil baptism,
Jesus experienced ignominious defeat.
We knocked Jesus down for the count but he got up
before he was counted out. The Word of God
(John 1:1)
had the last word.
He co-opted the evils that we did
to him during the Crucifixion. He transformed
them into a foil that showcased his
glorious victory.
What did glorious victory look like
(00655)
(00364)
(00647)?
He forgave us for the
evils that we did to him during the
Crucifixion.
We brought hell to the Crucifixion. Jesus brought
heaven. Jesus embellished hell with heaven.
Jesus decorated God's creation with the beauty of
forgiveness
(00643)
(00493).
This was Jesus' Magnum Opus.
What other artist does his best work in such adverse
conditions?
The Crucifixion
transcends religions as divinity transcends humanity
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
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(00645)
(00652)
(00653)
(00651)
(00654)
[¶ 00654 Updated: 09_02_2024]
A dilly of a model of God (00651)
Rational creatures in the ambience of their understanding
build for themselves a model to approximate their God.
The goal of religion is to build a first class,
high fidelity model that best approximates God.
The duality of the Crucifixion supplies us with the
blueprint for a highly accurate model of God -
a dilly of a model.
When we fail to take the duality of the Crucifixion
into account, however, we get the model wrong.
A first class, high fidelity model
that best approximates God requires that both
the hell that we brought to the Crucifixion and
the heaven that Jesus brought be taken into account.
Jesus decorated the black and white canvas of the
Crucifixion with the vivid color of forgiveness.
He embellished hell with heaven. Doing so was his
Magnum Opus.
Leaving either hell or heaven out of the Crucifixion
distorts our model of God.
Omission of the duality makes God unrecognizable.
It paints the wrong picture of God. It corrupts
our theology.
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(00645)
(00652)
(00653)
(00651)
[¶ 00651 Updated: 09_01_2024]
The punch of Jesus' Revelation about the radical love
of God
derives its power from
the energy Gradient between heaven and hell
(00325)
How do we pack the most power into the punch of
Jesus' revelation about the radical love
of God?
The hell of the evils into which we baptized
Jesus during his Crucifixion and his forgiveness of
us for baptising him in hell
were asymmetric - radically asymmetric.
The radical asymmetry is precisely what packs power
into the punch of his revelation about the radical love
of God.
The energy gradient between
hell and heaven gives the relevation its
extraordinary energy.
Its extraordinary energy gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
Jesus plugged into the potential difference
between heaven and hell to power the revelation
about the radical love
of God that he released in the fire of
the Crucifixion.
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(00532)
(00530)
(00512)
(00544)
(00528)
(00511)
(00506)
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[¶ 00325 Updated: 07_14_2024]
Only Eucharistic Adoration in the context of
a Mass preserves the Moving Parts -
the Making, Giving and Taking - whose
dynamics convey the Good News of Great
Joy (00681)
The Crucifixion released the radical love of God from
his shell of flesh and blood.
Consumption of the most Holy Eucharist at Mass
releases the radical love of God from
his shell of bread and wine.
The symmetry of our salvation is preserved in the
Mass. This is a moving part that is present at Mass.
Eucharistic Adoration outside the context of a Mass
does not present this moving part to the children of
Adam and Eve
(00549)
(00674).
Outside the context of a Mass, there is no consumption
(000376)
and, hence, no correspondence to the Crucifixion.
Eucharistic Adoration outside the context of a Mass
is missing something - it is bereft of moving
parts - there is no making, giving or taking, that
is, no Incarnation, no Crucifixion and no
Revelation. At Mass, Incarnation, Crucifixion and
Revelation are present.
That being
said, there are lot of worse things that we can
do in lieu of Eucharistic Adoration outside
the context of a Mass
(00549)
(00674).
Note: Being that Jesus announced at the Last
Supper that the most Holy Eucharist is both
bread and wine and flesh and blood
(000376),
consumption
not only captures and expresses the hellish aspect
of the Crucifixion but also captures and expresses
the heavenly aspect of the Crucifixion
(000019)
(000047)
We came for his flesh and blood; we left with his bread
and wine.
The most Holy Eucharist is about 'I am who does'
not merely about 'I am who am'
(Exodus 3:14) - about what God did
in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion not
where God is.
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(The Most Holy Eucharist inside the context
of a Mass)
(Eucharistic Adoration outside the context
of a Mass)
[¶ 00681 Updated: 09_12_2024]
Like light, the most Holy Eucharist in the context
of a Mass is a particle and a wave (00369)
Like light, is the most Holy Eucharist in the context
of a Mass a particle, a wave or both? The answer is
both.
The most Holy Eucharist in the context of a Mass
is both presence and performance. Indeed,
it is a container that holds Jesus. However, it
also portrays the performance of Jesus - what
Jesus did during the Crucifixion.
The most Holy Eucharist in the context of a Mass is
dynamic not merely static. Jesus does something with
the most Holy Eucharist in the context of a Mass.
His being there is secondary to what he does there.
Presence is incidental to performance. Unfortunately,
the Church emphasizes Jesus' presence and says nothing
about his performance. The Church prefers the static to
the dynamic. In the Church's mind, the static eclipses
the dynamic. All that is important is that the fish
occupies the fish bowl not what the fish does while
it occupies the fish bowl. It is only about the display.
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(The Most Holy Eucharist)
[¶ 00369 Updated: 09_11_2024]
How does Jesus anatopically relocate heaven into hell
at Mass? (00672)
At Mass, his enemies approach the altar to take
from Jesus his flesh and blood. They leave the
altar with a meal of bread and wine. Jesus satisfies
the hunger of his enemies with bread; he quenches
their thirst with wine; and he fills their bellies
with forgiveness. He answers their hostility with
hospitality.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Jesus made the abstract concept of forgiveness tangible,
concrete and comestible
(00425).
Is there
a better, more persuasive way to express forgiveness
than by serving your enemies a meal
(00558)?
The Mass and the Crucifixion are mirror images.
They both have two components, heaven and hell. In
both, Jesus anatopically relocates heaven into hell
(00603).
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(The Most Holy Eucharist)
(00674)
(00047)
[¶ 00672 Updated: 09_11_2024]
The venue of the revelation of the radical love of
God that is the treasure
of Christianity
(00546)
What is the venue at which Jesus made his greatest
investment?
The venue of the revelation of the radical love of
God that is the treasure
of Christianity is the gauntlet of evils through
which we pushed Jesus while cruelly conducting
a gruesome experiment on him in the laboratory
of the Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
At this venue, Jesus made his greatest
investment. Here, he spent the coin of his
flesh and blood. Here, he spent them prodigally.
He emptied the treasury of all of his limited
human resources.
In only one unique, sui generis place did Jesus
spend the coin of his flesh and blood. One.
Jesus did not spend the coin of his flesh and blood
to give the sermon on the Mount.
He did not spend the coin of his flesh and blood
to walk on water.
He did not spend the coin of his flesh and blood
to feed the five thousand. There is only one
venue at which Jesus tapped into and drew from his
limited human resources.
Does not this suggest the importance of the
venue and the superiority of the revelation
that Jesus released there?
Moreover, to pinpoint the location of his greatest
investment, Jesus erected a landmark.
The Cross of Christ is the
landmark that marks the location of his greatest
investment
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
The evils that we did to Jesus affixed the revelation
of the radical love of God to the position of
prominence on the flagpole of Christianity.
Let us salute the flag and rally ‘round the
bipolar Cross!
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00177)
[¶ 00546 Updated: 09_10_2024]
The Theology of the Crucifixion is the
Hammer of Christianity
(00271)
The theology of the Crucifixion is the hammer of
Christianity. The Crucifixion was a duality
not a singularity. Jesus made it so.
It was a dual hanging.
We hung hell to the Cross. Jesus hung heaven. The
double hangings revealed to us the radical love
of God.
Don't pull your punches. Don't go easy on the children
of Adam and Eve. Make them squirm under the overwhelming
weight of the radical love of God
(Matthew 11:28-30).
If you are not
doing so, you are not doing Christianity - you
are practicing some feeble, lightweight
version of Christianity
(00508)
(00323)
(00039)
(00316)
(00289)
(00236)
(00199)
(00133)
(00586)
(00587)
(00588)
(00589)
(00343).
The hammer of heaven and hell was not hung from the
position of
prominence on the flagpole of Christianity
for mere display. It is not a trinket to exhibit
on a shelf
in your curio cabinet.
It is the power of Christianity.
It is the tool that God gave us
to bludgeon the nails.
With it, we
confront the children of Adam
and Eve with the radical love of God. We
challenge them to come to grips with it -
to reconcile themselves to it.
The hammer is the agent that does the
work in Christianity. It does the heavy lifting.
Don't bury it with the other tools in your toolbox.
Use the tool that God gave us.
Get to work!
Bludgeon the nails!
What is sin?
Sin is anything at odds with the
radical love of God that Jesus revealed to us
in the duality of the Crucifixion.
Sin occurs when we fail to embellish the canvas
of life with the beauty of love or when we
degrade it with evils.
Sin comes
in big and little varieties. War is a big sin.
Abortion is a failure to embellish the life
of a baby with the beauty of love - when we degrade
the canvas of a baby's life with destruction and
death.
God calls
us to become beauticians of love
(00323).
He hung from his Cross to show us how to hang
from our crosses. From the position of
prominence on the flagpole of Christianity, Jesus
showed us our potential by fulfilling his.
Like Jesus, God endowed us with the coin of flesh
and blood. He did not honor the angels with
such a precious endowment. Only to humanity did
God give the coin of flesh and blood to spend.
Like Jesus, we, too, can invest
our endowment in beautifying the canvas of life.
We, too, can dig deep into our pockets to
embellish the canvas of life with love!
Exercise your superpower
(00182)!
Start small
(What is the “Little Way” of St. Thérèse of Lisieux? by
Philip Kosloski, in Aleteia published on 10/03/21
- updated on 06/12/24 ).
Gradually work your way up to bigger
works of art as a weightlifter works his
way up the ladder to heavier and heavier
weights
(00493)!
In the end
(00493),
the goal is to duplicate the
Magnum Opus that
Jesus created in the fire of the
Crucifixion
(00568).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00271 Updated: 08_01_2024]
Cracking Open the Egg of Epiphany (00319)
Evils immured the important details about God behind
a shell of pernicious illusions
(John 8:44).
"Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself,
O God of Israel, the Saviour"
(Isaiah 45:15)
(Psalm 91:1).
God became a one-dimensional, enigmatic, cardboard
cut-out.
After Adam and Eve, their children gradually stopped
giving God a role in their lives and deprecated
his importance. They rejected the notion that they
existed in a symbiotic relationship with their God.
We came to disregard God. Out of sight; out of mind.
But God waited. God waited for the right moment -
the fullness of time.
At the right moment, God exploited evils to undo
the damage that they had done to humanity's
understanding of their God and their reality
(00673).
Evils pushed and Jesus
pulled the nature of God out of the shell of
pernicious illusion. Together they extracted
the important details of God from the enigmatic
black box.
Jesus shattered the shell of pernicious illusion
with a revelation
of God as a blow of a sledgehammer shatters a pane
of glass.
“And ye shall know the truth [about the radical
love of God], and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32).
Evils and Jesus cracked
it open. Our understanding of the nature of God
escaped through the cracks in the shell. Our
understanding of the nature of God hatched.
Jesus answered the evils that we did to him.
His answer was radically asymmetric. He forgave us.
His answer revealed the radical love of God to us.
His answer is the Good News of Great Joy.
His radically asymmetric answer to the evils that
we did to him during the Crucifixion
cracked open the enigmatic
black box in which God was hiding
(Isaiah 45:15).
and spilled the knowledge of God
all over the Valley of Tears
for people to see.
By his answer, Jesus filled the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
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(00673)
[¶ 00319 Updated: 09_10_2024]
Unscrambling the egg (00294)
The catastrophe of Adam and Eve at Eden scrambled our
understanding of God.
Jesus unscrambled it.
He put Humpty Dumpty back together
again
(Wikipedia)
- a project that all the king's horses and all the
king's men couldn't do.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00525)
[¶ 00294 Updated: 07_20_2024]
Radical forgiveness completed the
Revelation of the Radical love of God
that started when Jesus entered
the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion (00452)
The Verification of the Love Note that
God had sent us in the Incarnation
(00149)
(00572)
(00268)
(00554)
(00251)
(00152)
(00084)
(00046)
(00587)
(00094)
(00474)
(00572)
(00268)
(00554)
(00251)
(00152)
(00084)
(00046)
(00587)
(00094)
(00474)
(00521)
(00452)
took place in two stages during the Crucifixion:
1) first stage: suffering
and death, 2) second stage: forgiveness.
The genuineness of the Love
Note that God had sent to us in the
Incarnation was verified in two stages during
the Crucifixion. The Crucifixion, therefore, was
a duality not a singularity on account of the
two factor verification.
The fire of the Crucifixion was the first
stage of the verification. We started the fire
by the evils that we did to Jesus during the
Crucifixion. This was the beginning of the
verification. It was not the end. There was more
to come.
The radical forgiveness that erupted
in the fire of the Crucifixion
completed the Verification.
When the verification was completed, we became privy
to the revelation of the radical love of
God. We had discovered that our God was the God who
suffered, died and forgave.
The fire of the Crucifixion that we ignited
and fueled with the flammable kindling of
his flesh and blood and his forgiveness of
our incendiary treatment of him
are the two stages of
a single unit of verification.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
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[¶ 00452 Updated: 09_06_2024]
How do Christians Maximize their
Return on Investment? (00676)
How do Christians maximize their
Return on Investment (ROI)?
What earns the greater return on investment?
1) an investment of resources into the
gravamen of Christianity
(00671)
(00673)
(00659)
(00452)
(00630)?
or
2) an investment of resources into the
obiter dicta of Christianity?
What did Jesus think? Jesus invested all of his
limited human resources into the gravamen of
Christianty. It was his greatest investment
(00546)
(00547)
(00677)
(00669).
(00630)
Isn't the size of his investment in the Crucificion
a very good indicator of its importance within
the Christian scheme of things, that is, within
the framework of Christianity
(00509)
(00648)
(00515)?
Ought we
not do the same?
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(Table of Contents)
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(00402)
(00598)
(00312)
[¶ 00676 Updated: 09_08_2024]
What does the heavy lifting in Christianity?
(00630)
The theology of the Crucifixion is the gravamen
of Christianity - superior to everything else.
Compared to the theology of the Crucifixion,
everything else is obiter dicta. The theology of
the Crucifixion does the heavy lifting in
Christianity. It packs the most powerful
Christian punch. It delivers a mighty wallop.
The theology of the Crucifixion is Christianity's
best recruitment and retention tool.
Christian resources are spread thin - a little here,
a little there - across the full spectrum of
subordinate Christian feaures.
This weakens Christianity and shortchanges
the gravamen of Christianity.
The gravamen of Christianity does not propagate itself.
It does not have its own legs.
It is not self-propelled.
The scattershot approach of Christian leadership
in allocating resources a little here and a
lttle there causes havoc to the logistics of
propagating the gravamen of Christianity.
The gravamen of Christianity is left without
sufficient resources to relocate it from the point and
place of its obscure origin in the backside of
the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history and
geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
Scattershot Christianity is a failure - as big a
failure as is Coloring Book Christianity
(00184).
Christianity needs to stop squandering its resources
on the obiter dicta of Christianity.
We need to refill the Cross of Christ with its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Christian resources need to be concentrated and
redeployed to the job of propagating the gravamen
of Christianity in order to achieve a more powerful,
more consequential impact on the children of Adam and
Eve.
Concentration and redeployment, however, is stymied
on account of an underlying problem.
Christians no longer understand and appreciate
the gravamen of Christianity. They just don't know
what it is. So to begin the process of Christian
rejuvenation so concentration and redeployment of
resources can commence, let us put our finger on the
gravamen of Christianity.
Jesus, the carpenter
(Mark 6:3),
built the revelation of the
radical love of God in the fiery framework of the
Crucifixion from two components, heaven and hell.
We hung hell from the Cross. Jesus hung heaven.
He transformed the Crucifixion from a singularity into
a duality by answering the evils that we did to him
with forgiveness. Introducing heaven to hell was
Jesus' Magnum Opus.
Preach his Magnum Opus then get out of the way so
God can go to work.
A successful Christianity is content to tee
the ball up so God can swing the club.
The revelation of the radical love of God
that Jesus released in the fiery furnace of
the Crucifixion is the agent that does
the work in Christianity.
It does the heavy lifting
(00271)
(00503).
Scattershot Christianity is a failure - as big a
failure as is Coloring Book Christianity
(00184).
We need to concentrate Christian resources
on the theology of the Crucifixion like a laser
beam. Diffuse lighting is effete.
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[¶ 00630 Updated: 09_07_2024]
Heroic Love (00675)
Jesus' love for us was heroic
(Matthew 5:38-48).
He loved us not just when it was
easy to do so. He loved us when it was hard to
do so.
He loved us when the cost of love was exorbitant.
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a
sharp hook
where he hung until death. In this context, Jesus
brought forth
"[o]ut of the good treasure of [his] heart"
one of the sweet fruits of love, to wit,
forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
Evils tend to beget evils.
The soil of adversity is toxic to love.
Love does not grow in a toxic soil of evils.
It is a sterile matrix - utterly barren -
hostile in the extreme. So when love
in the form of forgiveness germinated, sprouted
and grew, we beheld a miracle.
Its flourishing was completely unexpected.
The greater were the evils that we did to Jesus,
the more glorious is the miracle. Jesus' answer
to the evils that we did to him is asymmetric -
radically asymmetric to the evils that we did to him
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Heroic love tells us that
the dial that controls God's love for us
is in his hands not ours.
Moreover, it is set to the highest degree
and is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to the Son of God
could budge it.
The heroism of God once again defeated
the serpent's attempt to poke a hole
in the most Sacred Heart of our loving God
to drain it of his love for us.
God's love for us is irreducible.
It is inelastic.
It neither bends nor breaks.
It is intransigent.
It has no end.
There is nothing that we can do to extinguish
the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most
Sacred Heart or to reduce its intensity by even
the slightest degree. God's love for us is heroic
(Matthew 5:38-48).
Heroic love is a love without limits.
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[¶ 00675 Updated: 09_08_2024]
An indictment of Christian leadership
(00669)
Jesus himself released the theology of the Crucifixion
into our reality when he anatopically relocated
heaven into hell
(00603)
- when he transformed the Crucifixion from
a singularity into a duality
(00659)
(00452).
The job of Christianity is to propagate the
theology of the Crucifixion. Leadership is not
doing its job. In fact, leadership does not
even understand the theology of the Crucifixion
that Jesus entrusted to them. Clueless is
the word that comes to mind. Progress is not
being made because leadership has fallen into
a ditch and has taken the rank and file with them
(Matthew 15:14)
(00516).
It is a mistake of the worst kind for Christianity
to throw resources at the subordinate features
of Christianity until the gravamen of Christianity
is solidified and our understanding of the God
who disarmed, suffered, died and forgave
is perfected
(00312).
Perfect our understanding of the God
who disarmed, suffered, died and forgave before
proceeding to anything else
(00452)
(00659)
(00645).
Otherwise, we are liable to worship the
wrong God - an impostor
(00652).
In Christianity, there is a right way to proceed
and a wrong way to proceed. There is a point and
place of beginning
(00067)
(00051)
(00670)
(00312)
(00163)
(00598).
The point and
place of beginning for Christianity is the
theology of the Crucifixion that Jesus himself
released when he anatopically relocated heaven into
hell
(00603)
- when he transformed the Crucifixion from
a singularity into a duality
(00659)
(00452).
Christianity is shrinking
(00517)
because its leadership
has stopped propagating the gravamen of
Christianity
(00452)
(00659)
(00150)
(00236).
Their malpractice is not resulting
in a smaller, purer Church but in a shrivelled
Church with a shrivelled understanding of this
thing called God. They have emptied
the Crucifixion of its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
The subordinate features of Christianity do not
gain any traction unless and until the Cross of
Christ is filled with meaning.
Beware the
saboteurs of Christianity who dilute the radical
love of God with obiter dicta
(00152).
Beware when
"Thy silver is become dross,
thy wine mixed with water"
(Isaiah 1:22).
Whoever claims that an application of
Christianity is its preeminent priority
signals that they do not understand the
gravamen of Christianity. No application
of Christianity is superior to the gravamen
of Christianity. Nothing.
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(The Wrong Way of Doing Christianity)
[¶ 00669 Updated: 09_23_2024]
Evils were co-opted to cue the entry of heaven into
hell (00663)
Jesus co-opted the evils that we did to him
during the Crucifixion, bundled them together
into a foil, and, by forgiving us for
baptizing him in it, exploited the foil to showcase
the radical love of God
(00308).
In hell, Jesus unveiled heaven.
Hidden behind the curtain demurely stood radical
forgiveness - a proxy for the radical love
of God - waiting for the evils that we did to Jesus
to summon it into the fiery
furnace of the Crucifixion.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
The radical love of God is the understanding that
drives us to seek him. We are disobedient not
irrational.
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[¶ 00663 Updated: 09_05_2024]
The location of the treasure of Christianity is not
a mystery (00565)
The location of the treasure of Christianity is not
a mystery.
Our God gave us a clue that unambiguously
points to the precise whereabouts of the treasure.
A clear indicator from God made the location of
the Christian treasure well known.
The bipolar Cross of Christ
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
is the monument that Jesus built to pinpoint for us
the exact location of the treasure.
The bipolar Cross of Christ marks the spot
of the treasure
(Matthew 13:44).
An "X" marks the spot.
So, rally 'round the bipolar Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Gird up thy loins.
Put on thy boots.
Grab thy shovel.
Hasten to the battlefield
where Jesus and the monster of
the Crucifixion waged mortal combat against each other
- where Jesus
slew the monster with the sharp sword of sweet
forgiveness - where forgiveness killed
the monster dead.
There, the treasure of Christianity
is buried.
Dig up the treasure
for yourself. Upgrade your understanding
of God. Make yourself rich!
P.S. The monument is not the only clue
(00276).
The treasure of Christianity is found at the spot
where Jesus invested all of his limited human
resources. In the fire of the Crucifixion,
Jesus spent all of the coin of his flesh and
blood. He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve
for himself.
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[¶ 00565 Updated: 07_22_2024]
Are they Christians?
(00411)
Our answer to the evils done to us and to our
neighbors reveals the 'size'
of our Christianity.
Are they Christians? Are their answers to the evils
done to them and to their neighbors the same or
different than Jesus'? It is a simple test. Imitating
Jesus' answers, however, is difficult. The
difficulty is proportional to the adversity. The greater
is the adversity, the harder it is for their
answers to resemble Jesus'.
Who said being a
Christian is easy?
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[¶ 00411 Updated: 04_28_2024]
Stewing like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine (00627)
God lets us stew in the evils of the Valley
of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine
(00623)
(00621).
Why?
Having put our fingers into the flames, we have
learned for ourselves that the fire is hot.
The prodigal son will never return to the pig sty
(Luke 15:11-32).
Neither will we.
When the gift of paradise is given to us - and its
delivery is ineluctable - we will not fumble the
ball as did Lucifer, the gaggle of angels who follow
Lucifer, Eve and Adam.
God inserted a delay between the gift of life
and the gift of paradise because a taste of
godlessness makes us appreciate paradise.
Moreover,
paradise is not a prison,
God is not our warden and
we are not his prisoners.
God understands that
a cage is still a cage no matter
how gilded. Our brief experience in godlessness
(00623)
dramtically decreases the chances that we
would wander off once we have received
the gift of paradise.
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(00622)
(00625)
(00626)
(00110)
[¶ 00627 Updated: 08_19_2024]
The Best Expression of the Radical Love of God
(00003)
Is there a better, more persuasive way for
the Word of God
(John 1:1)
to express the radical love of God than by forgiving
us for the evils that we did to him during the
Crucifixion
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)?
Can the radical love of God be expressed any better
than this?
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[¶ 00003 Updated: 06_25_2024]
Is God's methodology our Methodology?
(00667)
In the Incarnation
(00149)
(00575)
(00365)
(00668),
God sent us a Love Note
not a stultifying codex of rules,
regulations, red tape and rigmarole.
Jesus was the Love Note - the
Love Note from God to us.
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to express
(00003),
in the most tangible, least abstract fashion,
God's radical love for us.
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
God knew that we did not deserve the Love Note.
Yet, our God sent it to us anyway.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
A natural principle of cause and effect governs
our world: only love begets love
(00508).
The world
ignores it but God does not.
So God loved us first.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
God's war against evil is unconventional
(00363)
(00364)
(00668).
His methodology is to confront the children of
Adam and Eve with the radical love of God.
He challenges us to come to grips with it.
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[¶ 00667 Updated: 09_05_2024]
Neutralizing the serpent's virulent anti-god propaganda
(00664)
The evils through which we pass as we make our escape
through the Valley of Tears from godlessness
to God
(00208)
convey to us virulent anti-God propaganda.
The evils that Jesus passed through in the fire
of the Crucifixion reveal the revelation of
the radical love of God. We are the jury
(00665).
It is
up to us to pick either the propaganda or the
revelation. What evidence is more persuasive?
The serpent marches the children of Adam and Eve
through a gauntlet of crosses in the Valley of Tears.
The sharp teeth of our crosses
chew us up into bits and pieces. Their tongues
are as sharp as their teeth. Our crosses are
virulent anti-god propaganda that the serpent uses to
alienate us from our God - to undermine our faith in
the existence and benevolonce of God. Evils
sabotage faith. Evils are powerful forces that shape our
faith - if we let them.
Jesus commandeered a Cross, the instrument of our woes,
and repurposed it
to neutralize the anti-god propaganda.
Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him
is the sledgehammer that shatters the serpent's
anti-god propaganda as the blow of a hammer shatters
a pane of glass. Evils exist. Their teeth and tongue
are sharp. Yet, God exists and God loves us. Both are
true.
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[¶ 00664 Updated: 09_05_2024]
Our God is not neutral (00666)
Our God is not neutral.
He has taken a side.
He is a partisan of the children of Adam and Eve.
He is our friend not our enemy.
Moreover, our God is a hands-on God.
He did not absent himself from the fray.
He got involved on our behalf for our benefit.
Our God engaged in mortal combat with the monster
of the Crucifixion
(00363).
From the scabbard of his love for us,
Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness.
With it, he slayed the monster
(Isaiah 27:1)
(Revelation 19:11-21).
Forgiveness killed the monster of the Crucifixion
dead
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
Our God is not an aloof spectator
coddled in the safety of the sidelines
from where he
lobs wordy homilies at us
as a priest does from the safety of an ambo.
Jesus became one of us -
an equal to us in our humanity -
a partner with us in our suffering.
He is an active philanthropist
not an indifferent misanthrope.
God plans to deliver the gift of paradise to us
just as he delivered the gift of paradise
to Adam and Eve.
God will not be less generous with us
than he was with them.
Adam and Eve were the first beneficiaries of
God’s love for us. They were not the last.
God’s philanthropy did not end with Adam and Eve;
God’s philanthropy began with them.
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[¶ 00666 Updated: 09_05_2024]
Did God embed any clues into our reality
to help us figure out
this thing called God for ourselves?
(00276)
Not all clues are equal. Some clues are bigger,
better and richer in revelation than other clues.
Did God embed any clues into our reality to help us
figure out for ourselves this thing called
God?
Yes, he did.
And God left the biggest clue in the care and
custody of Christianity.
The biggest clue is the duality of the Crucifixion.
We hung hell from the Cross. Jesus hung heaven.
He embellished hell with heaven.
Jesus decorated the black and white canvas of
the Crucifixion with the vivid color of
forgiveness.
Hell is the dark cloud of aggresive hostility
that confuses our understanding of God
(Hosea 4:6).
Radical
forgiveness - a proxy for the radical love
of God - demurely stood outside of hell
waiting for the evils that we did to
Jesus to summon it into the fiery
furnace of the Crucifixion
(00656)
(1 Kings 19:11-13).
Upon cue, radical forgiveness entered the fiery
furnace -
heaven entered hell
(00603)
- and Jesus' Magnum Opus was born
(00629).
Jesus' Magnum Opus revealed the truth about the radical
love of God
(00152).
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4)
(00626)
(00055)
(00396)
(00440)
(00507).
We discovered from his Magnum Opus that our God
was the God who suffered, died and forgave.
Jesus illuminated the darkness of hell with
the light of forgiveness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Our God let us put his dearly beloved Son to the
test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
in a gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to him in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
The test and its result help us to figure out
for ourselves this thing called God.
They are rich in revelation - far richer than any
other clue that our God left us.
From them, we can extrapolate to a high fidelity
understanding of the radical love of God.
The knowledge that the test and its result
released into the world
upgraded our understanding of God.
"To this end was I born, and for this cause
came I into the world, that I should bear
witness unto the truth [about the radical
love of God]"
(John 18:37).
The radical love of God is the testimony of Jesus.
Our God loves us
with all his heart,
and with all his soul,
and with all his mind,
and with all his strength.
He loves us as he loves himself
(Mark 12:30-31).
There is no double standard, one for humanity and
a different one for divinity. God is not a hypocrite.
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(00537)
(00565)
[¶ 00276 Updated: 09_04_2024]
TURNING THE SPARK INTO A CONFLAGRATION (00661)
Jesus lit the spark that illuminates the darkness
of our understanding of God.
“I have come to set the earth on fire
[with the understanding of God]
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
However, the spark was initially released into
the boondocks of time and space in the backside of
the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
to a limited audience.
The spark does not propagate itself. It does not have
its own legs. It is not self-propelled.
“The light of the world”
(Matthew 5: 14 - 16)
needs to be propagated from the point and place of
its obscure origin, across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now
(Matthew 24:14).
Who will pick up
“the light of the world”
(Matthew 5: 14 - 16) and carry it to the top of
the hill
(Isaiah 6:8)?
Who will take the spark that Jesus
kindled and turn it into a conflagration?
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(00211)
[¶ 00661 Updated: 09_04_2024]
To achieve ignition, Jesus rubbed two sticks
together - one stick was heaven, the other, hell
(00288)
One Stick = heaven, that is, forgiveness that the
radical love of God encapsulated in a shell of
flesh and blood released into hell
The other stick = hell, that is, the evils that we
did to Jesus that stripped him of his shell
of flesh and blood
Ignition =
the answer to the question, 'Who is God?',
that is,
the revelation of the radical love of God.
Jesus pitched his tent with us in the ruins
of Eden
to ignite the light of forgiveness
in the darkness of evils.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
To achieve ignition, Jesus rubbed two sticks
together.
The friction between the evils
that we did to Jesus and the radical love of God
encapsulated in a shell of
flesh and blood
ignited the blaze.
“I have come to set the earth on fire [with the radical
love of God],
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
Ignition illuminated the darkness of our
understanding of God in a glorious burst of
apocalyptic epiphany.
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[¶ 00288 Updated: 03_17_2024]
The Christian God suffered, died and forgave (00645)
Our understanding of God is irreparably corrupted when
our description of him omits the truth that he
forgave us for the atrocities that we did to him
during the Crucifixion.
Our God suffered, died
and forgave. Is your understanding of God
corrupt? Is it low fidelity, incomplete?
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)?
We empty the Crucifixion of its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
when we subtract forgiveness from our model of God.
Forgiveness is the soupçon of heaven - but a wee taste
(1 Corinthians 2:9) -
that Jesus
brought
to the hell of the bipolar Cross.
So, get the theology right and every other aspect of
Christianity falls in line. Get the theology wrong
and every other aspect falls apart.
The Christian God suffered, died and forgave.
What follows is his introduction.
We deserved punishment, not forgiveness, for our evil
baptism of him
(00557).
Yet, he forgave us despite our utter
unworthiness.
He included us within the scope of his love when
our aggressive hostility toward him made exclusion
his high probability option
(1 John 4:19).
He was audacious
(00041).
He did not wait for our conversion to forgive us.
He forgave us to bring about our conversion.
No god in history can hold a candle to the Christian
God who suffered, died and forgave!
He demonstrated his superiority in a very real,
powerful and dramatic way.
From the position of prominence on
the flagpole of Christianity, he forgave
us for the evils that we did to him
during the Crucifixion.
Rally 'round the bipolar Cross
(00512)!
Rally 'round the
fusion of heaven and hell
(00606)!
We brought hell to
the Crucifixion. Jesus brought heaven.
Jesus embellished the black and white canvas
of the Crucifixion with the vivid color of
forgiveness
(00643).
Jesus set the jewel of forgiveness in and against
the foil of evils that we did to him
in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion.
In short, Jesus decorated God's creation with the
beauty of forgiveness.
Let us follow the glorious path cast by the
light of radical forgiveness back home to its source
(00503).
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
'Tis better and more effective to be prophets
of the revelation of the radical love of God
than kings trying to regulate our behavior. Can we
devote at least 50% of our time to being prophets?
Is 50% too much to ask
(00311)?
Let us give the prophets a chance
(00402)
(00494)
(00151)
(00131)
(00542)
(00543)
(00544)!
More theology, less morality. More
revelation, less regulation. More prophet, less king.
Always. No exceptions.
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(00651)
[¶ 00645 Updated: 09_03_2024]
Worshipping the Wrong God (00652)
The god who suffered and died is different than
the Christian God who suffered, died and forgave -
much different.
If you are worshiping the god who suffered and died
and not the Christian God who suffered, died and
forgave, you are worshipping a false God, an
impostor
(00406)
(00612)
(00636)
(00504)
(00287)
(00360)
(00009)
(00053)
(00646)
(00647).
When we leave out the forgiveness from the
suffering and dying, we turn the Crucifixion into
a singularity - into a hell only abomination - and,
thereby, distort the phenotype of God.
The Crucifixion was a duality.
It was the odd couple of epiphany.
It was the marriage of heaven and hell.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
Jesus co-opted the dark foil of evils in which we
baptized him and exploited it to showcase
the radical love of God.
Let the duality of the Crucifixion
illuminate the darkness of your understanding
of God. Only by recognizing the duality of the Crucifixion
do we stop ourselves from worshipping a false god -
an impostor.
Let's get the theology right!
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(00645)
(00653)
(00651)
(00652)
[¶ 00652 Updated: 09_01_2024]
Jesus' astonishing anatopic relocation of heaven
into hell
during the Crucifixion (00603)
Jesus made his unholy baptism
(Matthew 3:13-15)
(Matthew 20:22)
in the fire of the
Crucifixion holy by bringing heaven into hell.
Heaven sanctified hell.
He brought the radical love of God into the
fire of the Crucixion by bringing its proxy,
radical forgiveness, there.
Hell is a place where heaven does not belong.
Heaven was a stranger in the strange land of the
Crucifixion
(Exodus 2:22).
Heaven in hell was an astonishing anatopism
(Wikipedia).
The hotter burned the fire of the Crucifixion,
the greater is our astonishment at the
anatopism.
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(00628)
[¶ 00603 Updated: 08_20_2024]
What was the beautiful gift that Jesus brought to
the Crucifixion?
(00404)
Jesus brought a gift from heaven to hell. The gift
was a proxy for God. He gave it to his enemies at
an exorbitant cost to himself. This was done
to reintroduce God to us
(00635)
(00151)
(00440).
Jesus did not come to the Cross empty handed.
He brought a gift with him. What was the
gift? The gift that Jesus brought to the
Cross was the gift of radical
forgiveness. He forgave his enemies for the
evils that they did to him during the Crucifixion.
He included his enemies within the scope of his
love.
Conventional biblical wisdom suggested a different
answer to the evils that we did to him.
It suggested that he answer them in kind - that
he give them a taste of their own medicine.
Perhaps,
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48),
Paradocically, Jesus, the God who inspired the
conventional biblical wisdom in the first place,
rejected it and forgave his enemies who
had chewed his flesh with their teeth and whose
hands were stained with his blood
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
(00348)
(00393)
(00290).
The cynosure of Christianity is the beautiful gift
of radical forgiveness that Jesus brought
to the Cross.
Jesus embellished the canvas
of the Crucifixion with the beauty of forgiveness.
He adorned hell with heaven.
Wow!
What a gift!
How do we build a Christian from scratch?
Jesus used a gift to introduce God to us.
Therefore, to introduce the children of
Adam and Eve to God, introduce the gift to them.
The gift of radical
forgiveness is the gift that builds
a Christian from scratch - nothing else does.
Christians are the children of Adam and Eve who
have become fascinated by the gift.
We express our gratitude
for the gift by repentance.
Repentance is how we say thank you for the
gift.
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[¶ 00404 Updated: 09_03_2024]
We baptized Jesus in hell. Jesus, in turn,
embellished hell with heaven in the form of
forgiveness, a sweet fruit of the
radical love of God (00641)
The duality of the Crucifixion
is the apotheosis of irony and
the quintessence of Christianity.
Hell and heaven, the two components of the
Crucifixion,
are the odd couple of epiphany
(00287).
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
In the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19),
Jesus synthesized
heaven and hell to build the hybrid, bipartite
vehicle that conveys
the revelation of the radical love of God to the
children of Adam and Eve
(00612)
(00628)
(00606)
(00605)
(00455).
He announced the
prototype of the vehicle on Holy Thursday at
the Last Supper. The vehicle was built on
Good Friday in the fiery furnace of the
Crucifixion. Jesus paid the cost to build the vehicle
out of his own pockets
(Luke 20:13).
It cost Jesus
dearly. He paid the exorbitant cost of its
construction in the coin of his flesh and blood.
He spared no expense. He cut no corners. He
spent all of his limited human resources. He
kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never spent more on anything else.
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[¶ 00641 Updated: 08_28_2024]
Can we duplicate the radical love of
God as Jesus did when he fused heaven
and hell together during the Crucifixion?
(00644)
Adding a panache of beauty to
embellish the evils in which we are baptized
as we pass through the Valley of Tears
is the measure of success in life.
Our salvation depends on the beauty of the artwork
that we create during the course of our lives
(00493).
We are born to be beauticians
(00323).
The beautification of creation is our calling
and God's challenge to us.
Jesus confroned the children of
Adam and Eve with the radical love of God.
He challenges us to come to grips with it
- to reconcile ourselves to it - to duplicate
it.
We can create beauty in little hells and big hells -
even in our small, obscure corner of life - but we
must always engage in the creative process - the
beautification of the world.
Jesus embellished the
hell in which we baptized him by diluting it with
the sweet syrup of forgiveness, a fruit of the
radical love of God
(00277).
The hotter burned
the hell, the sweeter the forgiveness tastes.
Therefore, let us hang from our crosses with the
same panache as Jesus hung from his.
Like Jesus, let us mix things up!
Like Jesus, let us take heaven to hell
(00412).
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[¶ 00644 Updated: 08_28_2024]
Jesus' Magnum Opus
(00306)
Jesus is the artist/martyr who created beauty
in horrible circumstances, that is,
during his Crucifixion
in the hell of the evils that we did to him.
The purpose of his creation was to unbox the
enigma of God for us. His creation holds the
answer to the question, 'Who is God?'.
Are you privy to Jesus' Magnum Opus? Can you articulate
it? Do you have the words? If you cannot, you do not
yet understand Christianity. You are not there yet.
Jesus' Magnum Opus is the Masterpiece of Love
that he created by applying the brush of
forgiveness to the canvas of life in the foil
of the evils that we did to him.
His creation holds the
answer to the question, 'Who is God?'
Love can take many forms - manifest itself in
many ways. Its fruits convey its beauty. The
sweet fruit of God's love for us was forgiveness.
He embellished the canvas of life with love in the
form of forgiveness.
Jesus was many things,
but, above all else, he was
a beautician of love.
With love as his medium, Jesus made beauty.
Furthermore, Jesus was not just an ordinary artist.
He was a heroic artist - a martyr. His heroism
arose from the grisly circumstances in which his
artwork was done.
Jesus made beauty with love even in the
hell of the evils that we did to him during
his Crucifixion.
Hell was an absurd venue for the production
of his artwork, yet Jesus did his best work there.
Jesus paid the cost of creating his Magnum Opus
out of his own pocket. He paid in
the coin of his flesh and blood. He emptied
his treasury. He spent all of his limited human
resources. He kept not a penny of them
in the bank in reserve for himself.
Isn't the size of his
payment a good proxy for the size of his love for us
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24)?
His Magnum Opus revealed to us the radical love
of God. It unboxed the enigma of God to disclose
the Good News of Great Joy within, to wit, a heart
filled to the brim with love for us.
Our God loves us
with all his heart,
and with all his soul,
and with all his mind,
and with all his strength.
He loves us as he loves himself
(Mark 12:30-31).
There is no double standard, one for humanity and
a different one for divinity. God is not a hypocrite.
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[¶ 00306 Updated: 06_08_2024]
God in the Background
(00636)
"Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself,
O God of Israel, the Saviour"
(Isaiah 45:15)
(Psalm 91:1).
Our God is a background God. He typically
does his work
off camera, behind the scenes. He wants us
rational creatures to figure out this thing
that we call God for ourselves using the clues
that he has left us. He wants us to conduct our
own independent investigations
(00184).
For better or worse, each of us is the pilot of
our own soul
(00301)
(00564)
(00147).
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[¶ 00636 Updated: 08_22_2024]
Each of us is the pilot of our own soul (00301)
All Christianity is, in a sense, freelance
Each of us is the pilot of our own soul.
We cannot subcontract the job to another.
We cannot delegate it.
No one else can do it for us not even our Church.
It cannot be done vicariously.
Seeking God is a unique, idiosyncratic,
personal experience.
There is no substitute for going through it. Why?
In the process of seeking God, God transforms us.
Unless we do it ourselves, we cannot be transformed.
"As opposed to what happens in the technical or
financial fields, where today's advances can be added
to those of the past, no similar accumulation is
possible in the area of people's formation and moral
growth, because the person's freedom is ever new.
As a result, each person and each generation must
make his own decision anew, alone. Not even the
greatest values of the past can be simply inherited;
they must be claimed by us and renewed through
an often anguishing personal option"
Pope Benedict 2008 LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO THE FAITHFUL OF THE DIOCESE AND CITY OF ROME
ON THE URGENT TASK OF EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE
(Website).
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[¶ 00301 Updated: 06_13_2024]
Have you ever tried to validate the hypothesis that
God's love for us is radical?
(00097)
Have you ever tried to validate the hypothesis that
God's love for us is radical by testing it
against the gruesome
experiment that we administered to Jesus in the
laboratory of the Crucifixion?
"Let us test him with insult and torture, that
we may find out how gentle he is and make trial of
his forbearance"
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
Use your brain! Figure it out for yourself!
Come to your own conclusions!
We who read, write and think for ourselves reserve
to ourselves the sovereignty of the thinking process.
We refuse to surrender our intellectual independence
to others.
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(1) Index: Validating the Radical Love of
God (00098)
(2) Index: Respecting the Sovereignty of
the Thinking Process (00099)
(3) Index: Putting Jesus to the test (00100)
(4) Index: The Gruesome Experiment (00101)
(5) Index: The Laboratory of the Crucifixion
(00102)
[¶ 00097 Updated: 09_02_2024]
Probably the worst summary of Christianity ever given
was given by
Pope Pius X who arrogantly pontificated
"...the one duty of the multitude is to allow
themselves to be led, and, like a docile flock,
to follow the Pastors"
(1906 “Vehementer Nos“)
(00184).
It demonstrated supreme and utter disrespect for
anyone who can read, write and think for themselves.
It was the grossest error of clericalism and
a brazen affront to our rationality.
We who read, write and think for ourselves
jealously reserve to ourselves the sovereignty of the
thinking process. Our God endowed us with the power
to think for ourselves and encouraged us to do so so
we adamantly refuse to surrender our
intellectual independence to others.
Show us where to look. Don't tell us what you
found. Then get out of the way so we can explore
this thing called God for ourselves
(00597).
You are
the ushers who show us to our seats. Jesus is
the star of the show. And the venue of his show -
the stage of his bravura performance - is the
duality of the Crucifixion. Opening night was
more than two thousand years ago. The show is
replayed whenever a Mass is said.
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[¶ 00657 Updated: 09_02_2024]
co-equals in the pursuit of God (00658)
Clergy and the children of Adam and Eve are
co-equals in the pursuit of God
(1 Corinthians 12).
Clericalism is the thinking that the role of
the clergy
in the pursuit of God is superior to
the role of the laity
(Matthew 23:11-15).
The roles are different not superior or inferior.
Either we are in this thing together or we are not.
Either we pursue God together or we do not.
Either we worship our God together or we don't.
Either it is all for one and one for all or
it is every man for himself.
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[¶ 00658 Updated: 09_02_2024]
Jesus opened a school where the knowledge of God
is taught
(00329)
The legacy that Jesus left behind was a mnemonic -
a thinking aid - a cognitive assistant -
to help us figure out this thing
called God for ourselves.
The purpose of the Church is to distribute
the thinking aid from the point
and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and
geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and
now
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
- not to govern us as a king but to continue
our education about God as a teacher.
Good teachers do not form us by rote memorization but
by inspiring us to
to figure out this thing called God for ourselves.
The appeal of a good teacher is to our faculty of
rationality not to our faculty of obedience. Our
faculty of obedience is broken and has been
broken since the age of Adam and Eve.
Hence, evangelization, done right, is a rational
endeavor. We are disobedient not irrational.
Jesus opened a school
(00343)
(00327)
where the knowledge of God
is taught. Its core curriculum is
his demonstration of forgiveness that was the result
of
the gruesome experiment that we
cruelly administered to him in the
laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19).
The core curriculum is the foundation of a Christian
education.
It enables the children of Adam and
Eve to figure out for themselves this thing called God.
It is a public school not a private, religious or
parochial school. Jesus open sourced its core
curriculum.
Jesus hung the core curriculum of his school
from the position of prominence on the
flagpole of Christianity in the middle
of the public square.
Rally 'round the bipolar Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
Jesus gave no Church a monopoly over it.
He gave no Church exclusive ownership of it.
It is independent of religion.
It transcends their artificial boundaries.
The gruesome experiment
belongs to all of the
children of
Adam and Eve - not just some
- not to just some religious elites.
It belongs to anyone and all who can read, write and
think for themselves.
Keeping the gruesome experiment out of private hands
and in the public domain safeguards it
from distortion.
Are you privy to its core curriculum?
Can you articulate its significance?
For example, what does its core curriculum
tell us about the radical love of God?
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00177)
[¶ 00329 Updated: 08_04_2024]
Christianity done right is about exploration not
indoctrination (00597)
Don't tell us what you found.
Show us where to look.
Christianity, when done right, is about exploration
not indoctrination.
Christianity, when done right, confronts us with
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion.
Christianity, when done right,
challenges us to come to grips with it.
Therefore, don't tell us what you found.
Show us where to look.
Point us to the gruesome experiment and tell us
that here we will discover the nature of God - only
here.
We want to figure out this thing called God for
ourselves. We don't want you to figure God
out for us. We want to come to our
own conclusions.
We want to experience the joy of the discovery
of the radical love of God for ourselves.
Surely, a Church with more than two thousand years
of experience knows that the radical love of God
is the treasure buried in the gruesome experiment.
Right?
The difference between reading about safari and going
on safari is, as Mark Twain said, as large as the
difference between a lightning bug and lightning.
Christians do not just read about safari.
Christians go on safari.
The Church is the tour guide.
The Church takes the children of Adam and Eve
on expeditions
to the holy places that define the escape route
from godlessness to paradise during which
we explore for ourselves
the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God.
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[¶ 00597 Updated: 08_04_2024]
In the fiery furnance of the Crucifixion,
Jesus created God's self-portrait. He
wrote God's autobiography (00653)
Coming Soon! Stay tuned!
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(00645)
(00652)
(00651)
(00653)
[¶ 00653 Updated: 09_01_2024]
The pillow of the Crucifixion (00650)
Let us lay our heads on the pillow of the Crucifixion
to sleep the sleep of the angels.
Certainly, the Crucifixion was no pillow for
the Son of God. But it is a pillow for us.
Many false, inaccurate and conflicting pictures of
the nature of God circulate through the minds of the
children of Adam and Eve. The multiplicity of pictures
creates confusion. “This is God” some say as they
point to their favorite picture of God. Others point
to a different picture and say, “No, this is God.”
The controversy goes on ad infinitum.
Because of the confusion about the nature of God,
the most Holy Trinity desired to set the record
straight once and forever. At the Crucifixion,
they cleared the air. The Crucifixion was disclosure.
It was apocalyptic. The Crucifixion was publication.
At the Crucifixion, God published their nature to us
(and our potential - we have the potential to
become godlike).
A veil separated the Holy of Holies from the
children of Adam and Eve. At the Crucifixion,
“[t]he veil of the temple was rent in twain
from the top to the bottom” God stepped out from
behind the veil to reveal the glorious splendor
of divinity itself. “Behold the nature of God”
were the words the angels sang at the Crucifixion
as God was
showing us His nature.
The Crucifixion was a self portrait of the nature of
God. The most Holy Trinity painted it for us
in their own hand. Because it is a self-portrait done
by God themselves, it is reliable.
In the ten commandments, God did not want us to make
images of Him because such images would not be as
accurate as the image that God themselves would make
for us during the Crucifixion. They would be lesser
representations of God. Reject all lesser
representations of God as counterfeits. Cling to the
self portrait that the brush of truth painted for us
on the canvas of the Crucifixion in the pigments of
heaven and hell, that is,
pain, suffering, death and forgiveness.
Let it become your touchstone. Do not let yourself
be deceived by those who tout a different picture of
God. Measure everything against the self portrait.
Reconcile everything against the self portrait.
The Crucifixion is the truth that will set you free.
Both He and His love for us survived the boiling
cauldron of pain and suffering into which we baptized
Him. His survival is the proof that He put in our
hands to convince us that God is omnipotent.
The survival of His love for us, however, is the proof
that He put into our hands of something much more
significant than omnipotence. The survival of His
love for us is the proof that He put into our hands
that the nature of God is indestructible love for us.
We committed the sin of sins against the Son of God.
We tortured and killed Him while He was human. alive,
tender, vulnerable and our guest. Yet, He continued
to love us nonetheless. As we impaled Him on the
Cross, He clung to His love for us, held tight and
did not let go. He clung to His love for us with
the iron grip that a drowning man clings to a
life preserver in the middle of a raging storm.
Whenever we become confused about the nature of God -
whenever we become disoriented - whenever we get lost,
we must always return to the Crucifixion
to get our thinking about God straight.
The Crucifixion is the rock on which to build
all of your thinking about the nature of God.
Rest your head on the pillow of the Crucifixion
to sleep the sleep of the angels.
The angels know God and, thanks to the Crucifixion,
we do too.
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[¶ 00650 Updated: 09_01_2024]
The Crucifixion is the treasure chest that holds
the revelation of the radical love of God.
Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters
engaged in a treasure hunt.
Our God built an escape
route from godlessness to paradise,
defined it with holy places,
made a map of them, established a Church,
entrusted the map to the Church and
gave the leadership of the Church a mission.
The mission that Jesus entrusted to leadership
is to facilitate our escape -
not to frustrate it, not to filter it and not to
foul it up
(00620).
P.S. The Mass presents the treasure chest to the
children of Adam and Eve. The sacrifice of flesh and
blood is the key that opened the treasure chest.
The meal of bread and wine is the treasure that Jesus
serves to his enemies - bread to satsfy their hunger,
wine to quench their thirst and forgiveness to fill
their bellies
(00637).
At Mass, Jesus entertains
his enemies at the family table,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort
and joy of the family tent.
Who does this
(00469)?
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(00565)
(00598)
(00602)(00483)
(00620)
(00177)
(00184)
[¶ 00649 Updated: 08_31_2024]
How do we rejuvenate Christianity? (00648)
Rejuvenation will happen when we start handing
out the treasure of Christianity like candy
on Halloween.
The problem is that we have misplaced
the treasure.
We have removed the revelation of the radical
love of God
from the treasure chest and substituted junk
for it.
We have substituted obiter dicta for the
gravamen of Christianity
(00624)
(00509).
Christianity is currently handing
out everything but the treasure.
The nitty-gritty of Christianity has diluted
its pizzazz
(00520).
"Thy silver is become dross,
thy wine mixed with water"
(Isaiah 1:22).
How do we rejuvenate Christianity
(00402)
(00538)?
The Cross of Christ is empty of meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
(00628)
(00612)
(00617).
The only way to
rejuvenate Christianity is to refill it.
The rise and fall of Christianity depends on the
meaningfulness of the Crucifixion. Its bipolarity is
Christianity's best recruitment and retention tool.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
The meaning of the Cross of Christ is the understanding
that drives us to seek God. Yet, instead of propagating
the meaning of the Cross of
Christ, red herrings have seduced Christianity onto
sidetracks and down dead ends. The pursuit of God
has ground to a halt
(00517)
because the children of Adam
and Eve are not being made aware of the revelation of
the radical love of God that Jesus
released by fusing heaven and hell
in the fiery furnace of the Crucifixion
(00537).
We baptized
Jesus in hell. Jesus, in answer, embellished hell
with heaven by releasing radical forgiveness into it.
In this way, the phenotype of God was made known
to us. God was revealed to us. We learned that the
Christian God is the God who suffered, died and
forgave
(00645).
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(00303)
[¶ 00648 Updated: 08_31_2024]
How do we unite our suffering with Jesus'
suffering? (00642)
There is no glory in suffering. Experiencing hell
is not glorious. Suffering, however, can
become glorious
(Colossians 1:24).
It becomes glorious when we
bring heaven to it. Bringing heaven to hell is
the only way to unite our suffering with his
suffering
(00406).
Bringing heaven to hell is our superpower.
Jesus demonstrated our superpower
to us from the Cross
(00182)
(00271)
(00001)
(00323)
(00492).
Embellishing hell with
heaven using our limited human resources is
the only miracle that matters
(00001)
(00493)
(00638)
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[¶ 00642 Updated: 08_28_2024]
The Mass is advanced, alien technology that
captures, preserves, and propagates
the duality of the Crucifixion
(00637)
Jesus, the carpenter
(Mark 6:3),
built the revelation of the
radical love of God in the fiery framework of
the Crucifixion using two components,
heaven and hell
(00287).
The Crucifixion was a duality not a
singularity
(00612).
It was the synthesis of heaven and hell.
The Mass captures, preserves, and
propagates the duality of the Crucifixion
from the point and place of its
obscure origin in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
It is the duality of the Crucifixion that
conveys the revelation of the radical love of
God
(00287).
To understand how the technology of the Mass
works, we must first understand that the
Crucifixion was a duality not a singularity
(00612).
Jesus did not merely hang passively from the Cross
while we tortured and killed him
in the fiery framework of the Crucifixion.
Jesus was not inert in his dire predicament.
He was active not passive, not merely
being but doing. In the fiery framework of
the Crucifixion, Jesus
was more than merely present - much more.
He did something - something marvelous.
He took affirmative action. He performed.
He embellished hell with heaven.
Duality refers to the two components of the
Crucifixion, heaven and hell. Jesus transformed
the Crucifixion from a singularity into a
duality by embellishing hell with heaven.
We brought hell to the Crucifixion.
Jesus brought heaven.
Forgiveness is the blessing of heaven that Jesus
brought to hell.
He forgave us for the evils that we did to him.
He forgave his enemies even though they were undeserving
of forgiveness. He loved them first.
Love begets love. Only love begets love.
So,
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
We love him because he loved us first
(00393).
The duality of the Crucifixion is the foundation
of the Mass. The Mass is a high fidelity echo of
the duality of the Crucifixion - a high fidelity
reflection.
The anatopic relocation of heaven into hell is
Jesus' Magnum Opus
(00603).
It is the apotheosis of irony and
the quintessence of Christianity
(00287).
Note: A Mass is a Victory party at which we celebrate
the hero of the Crucifixion and re-enact
Jesus' success at embellishing hell with
heaven. He forgave us for the evils that we did
to him during the Crucifixion.
At Mass, we approach the altar as enemies to take
from Jesus his flesh and blood. Jesus disagrees.
You are mistaken.
Don't be foolish.
You are not my enemies.
Let me disabuse you of such an odd notion.
You are my friends - now and forever.
Jesus verifies his friendship when he
satisfies the hunger of his enemies
with bread,
quenches their thirst with wine and
fills their bellies with forgiveness
(00371)
(00423).
The meal of bread and wine is the
verification of friendship - the verification
of the new covenant
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7)
(00434).
The meal of bread and wine is his invitation to us
to pursue and deepen our friendship with him
(00290)
(00348)
(00041).
The pursuit of friendship with God is
primary. Nothing else matters.
Everything else is
secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect
(00538)
(00070)
(00131).
At Mass,
Jesus' Magnum Opus of embellishing hell
with heaven is repeated.
He entertains
his enemies at the family table,
out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort
and joy of the family tent.
Who does this
(00469)?
Hell cannot get any more embellished with heaven
than this
(00628)
(00615)
(00606)
(00591)
(00574)
(00177)
(00561)
(00552)
(00558)
(00556)
(00549)
(00529)
(00516)
(00036)
(00523)
(00515)
(00517)
(00513)
(00155)
(00531)
(00499)
(00479)
(00478)
(00473)
(00460)
(00435)
(00431)
(00500)
(00425)!
Jesus was not merely present in the fire of the
Crucifixion. He was not just there.
He did something - something marvelous. He
took affirmative action.
He embellished hell with heaven.
The bread, wine, flesh and blood of the most
Holy Eucharist are the vocabulary of
the Word of God
(John 1:1).
It is how the Word of God expresses himself -
how he communicates with us here on earth
(00264)
(00539)
(00476)
(00451)
(00396)
(00275)
(00276).
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[¶ 00637 Updated: 08_28_2024]
If it is conceded that Jesus did something
while hanging from the Cross in the fiery
framework of the Crucifixion in addition to merely
being present there taking it on the chin
(00637)
[He built the revelation of the radical love
of God by synthesizing heaven and hell],
then it must be
conceded that he is also doing something
at Mass during the most Holy Eucharist because
the Crucifixion and the Mass are the same
thing - the difference being that the
Crucifixion was bloody and the Mass is
bloodless. Jesus does not suffer and die
again at Mass. Once was enough. In the fiery
framework of the Crucifixion,
Jesus built the revelation about the radical love
of God from the synthesis of heaven and hell.
At Mass, he does the same. We fall into
a pit of errors when we disconnect the Crucifixion
and the Mass
(00552)
(00536)
(00463)
(00490)
(00055)
(00385)
(00308)
(00612).
Both are Jesus' glorious victories that
arose from ignominious defeat, heaven emerging from
hell as the dawn emerges from the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Radical forgiveness is the light that illuminates the
darkness that obscured the truth about the
radical love of God.
Jesus' real presence is not the emerging light.
The radical forgiveness that Jesus released in
the fiery framework of the Crucifixion
is the emerging light.
The light cast by radical forgiveness illuminates
the path that takes us to Jesus and the kingdom of God.
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[¶ 00640 Updated: 08_27_2024]
Who is a Christian? (00633)
A Christian brings heaven to hell.
Who is a Christian? A Christian brings heaven to hell
(00001).
Plain and simple.
If you are not bringing heaven to hell, you are not
doing Christianity.
Jesus brought the water of forgiveness to the
fire of the Crucifixion.
Heaven diluted hell. Heaven mitigated it.
The hotter did the fire of
the Crucifixion burn,
the greater was the cost that
Jesus paid out of his own pocket from
his limited human resources
and the more astonishing is the
forgiveness.
Jesus was the meek and lowly
lamb who, anatopically
(00628),
lied down with the lion
(Matthew 11:29).
Jesus is the little child that leads them
(Isaiah 11:6).
The little child led by example.
Jesus did not merely tell us how to hang from
our crosses as a priest does from the
safety of an ambo; he showed us.
He himself demonstrated it in deeds. He
did not merely describe it in words.
Jesus put himself in harm's way,
cheek to jowl with us,
toe to hoof against his enemies,
in the scrum
at the line of scrimmage in the fire of the
Crucifixion.
He donned the jet pack of love and flew to show us
that we, too, can fly.
What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was!
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(00394)
[¶ 00633 Updated: 08_22_2024]
The Devil's Swirl
(00635)
A swirl of misinformation obscured the truth about
the radical love of God. Jesus was dispatched
from heaven to earth to bring a clarification
(00316)
(00151).
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
The clarification was given to end our destruction.
“I have come to set the earth on fire [with the
knowledge of the radical love of God],
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
How did Jesus give us the clarification?
Did he tell us about the radical love of God?
Or did he himself give us a demonstration of it?
God done not just God said?
He gave us the clarification by creating, with
his own two hands,
the duality of the Crucifixion
(00584)
(00568).
He brought heaven
to hell
(00628).
Jesus, the carpenter
(Mark 6:3),
built the revelation of the
radical love
of God in the fiery framework of the Crucifixion
(00630)
(00572).
The construction project was his Magnum Opus.
It filled the Cross of Christ with meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Rally 'round the bipolar Cross!
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[¶ 00635 Updated: 08_22_2024]
Beware the stolen halo and the frauds who
wear it (00639)
Only by adding a panache of beauty to
embellish a sacrifice do we make a
claim to a halo legitimate. Jesus embellished the
hell in which we baptized him by diluting it with
the sweet syrup of forgiveness. The hotter burned
the hell, the sweeter the forgiveness tastes.
Beware the stolen halo and the frauds who
wear it!
The validity of a claim that a person is a proxy
for God or a successor to the apostles
can be tested. Don't be naive! Ordination
does not make the man
(Luke 3:8)!
Ordination is no guarantee against a
stolen halo
(e.g. Capuchin).
We do not have to take their word for
for it. Put the
claimants to the halo of divine superiority to
the proof!
The credibility of such a claim
rises or falls according to the bloody wounds
that it cost the claimant to embellish hell
with heaven.
The greater the cost, the greater is
the credibility of the claim.
No cost; no credibility.
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(00314)
(00582)
(00505)
(00277)
(00066)
[¶ 00639 Updated: 08_28_2024]
The persuasive wallop is in the doing not the saying
(00634)
In your homilies and sermons, do you preach
that, like Jesus, our job is to embellish hell
with heaven? Beside speaking about it,
can your congregations and
parishoners see you doing it as we saw Jesus
doing it in the fire of the Crucifixion?
In the course of your
lives, do you yourselves embellish hell with
heaven. In fact, doing it is more persuasive than
speaking about it - much more persuasive. Doing
heaven while burning in hell packs a powerful
persuasive wallop
(00271).
Talking about it out of the fray
from the safety of an ambo is bereft of persuasion.
Jesus understood how persuasion works. That is why
he set the jewel of forgiveness in the foil of
the Crucifixion. The exorbitant cost of doing heaven
in hell flabbergasts us.
It knocks us off
our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Beware the stolen halo
(00314)!
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(00573)
[¶ 00634 Updated: 08_21_2024]
The mechanism of salvation
(00631)
Forgiveness is the lock. Repentance is the key.
Use the key to open the lock to the kingdom
of God. The mechanism of salvation couldn't be
easier.
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[¶ 00631 Updated: 08_21_2024]
Interrogation (00481)
'Who are you, God? Identify yourself!
Friend or foe?'
With lash, thorns, nails and cross, we interrogated
Jesus. We gave him the third degree. We put him
to the test
(Wisdom 2: 19).
The question that we put to Jesus by the evils that we did
to him and Jesus' radically
asymmetric answer to it fills the Cross of Christ
with its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Together they are the odd couple of apocalyptic
epiphany.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
To understand the nature of God, we must situate our
imagination in the Interrogation and contemplate our
question, his answer and their revelation.
Like pack animals, the odd couple carried an
apocalyptic revelation about the nature of God
upon their shoulders.
Question (Q) + Answer (A) = Revelation (R).
What does the odd couple of apocalyptic
epiphany (Q+A) tell us about the nature of God (R)?
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[¶ 00481 Updated: 06_08_2024]
Mitigating our dire predicament (00618)
An army of ferocious monsters of every size, shape and
kind ominously prowls the jungle in which we live
that has grown up among the ruins of Eden
(Revelation 22:14-15).
They pursue
us with foul purpose. They want to chew us up and
spit us out in bits and pieces.
The last and worst of the monsters is death
(1 Corinthians 15:26).
How shall we deal with the monsters?
What is the best way to make our escape
through a fallen world filled with evils?
Shall we blaze our own trail through the jungle
or follow the trail that Jesus blazed for us
(John 14:6)?
To mitigate our dire predicament, God dispatched
his dearly beloved Son, Jesus,
from heaven to earth to show
us the best way to wage and win the war against
the monsters
(John 14:6).
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[¶ 00618 Updated: 08_18_2024]
The High Art of Dilution (00358)
Jesus is the artist who perfected the high art
of dilution
(Matthew 5:48).
He embellished the canvas of hell by
pouring the sweet syrup of forgiveness into the
toxic foil of the evils that we did to him.
The sweet syrup of forgiveness diluted the toxicity
of the evils that we did to him in the same way that
sugar cubes dilute the
bitterness of a cup of bad coffee.
Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evils.
Jesus hung from his Cross in order to teach us how to
hang from our crosses. His methodology was not
to eliminate evils. His methodology was to dilute
them. God wants us to perfect for ourselves the
high art of dilution. He wants us to rise to our
potential. He wants us to ascend to the sublime level
of our loving God
(Matthew 5:43-48).
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect"
(Matthew 5:48)
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[¶ 00358 Updated: 04_02_2024]
The battering ram that Jesus used against the gates
of hell (00004)
Jesus tapped into the energy gradient between heaven
and hell to power the punch of the revelation that
he released in the fire of the Crucifixion. In the
fire of the Crucifixion, Jesus released the
revelation of the radical love of God. He
set the jewel of forgiveness in the foil of the
evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
In this way, Jesus brought heaven to hell.
The revelation about the radical love of God that
Jesus released in the fire of the Crucifixion
is the battering ram that Jesus uses to knock down
the gates of hell
(Matthew 16:18)
that protect stony hearts
(Ezekiel 36:26)
from the process of depetrification.
The revelation is the agent of fleshification.
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[¶ 00004 Updated: 08_18_2024]
Jesus was the warrior who brought an unconventional
weapon to the battlefield of the Crucifixion
in the war against evils (00363)
How did Jesus deal with the monster of the
Crucifixion?
Jesus was the warrior who brought an unconventional
weapon
(Isaiah 55:8)
to the battlefield of the Crucifixion
in the war against evils
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16).
From the scabbard of his love for us,
Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness.
With it, he slayed the monster
(Isaiah 27:1)
(Revelation 19:11-21).
Forgiveness killed the monster of the Crucifixion
dead
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
On the battlefield of the Crucifixion,
we unleashed a monster of evils
against Jesus. In answer, Jesus did not
release the gruesome three-headed
monster of
revenge, retaliation and retribution
from the dungeon of his broken heart against
his enemies. Instead,
he released the sweet angel of forgiveness.
The sweet angel of forgiveness
poured into the Valley of Tears
through his bloody wounds
to dilute its toxicity in the same way that
sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of
a cup of bad coffee.
Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil.
The bipolar battle between monster and angel
resulted in a bifurcated outcome, that is, in
both ignominious defeat and glorious victory -
in the taking of his flesh and blood and in the
serving of a meal of bread and wine to the
enemies who brought about his ignominious
defeat on a Cross. We brought hell to the
Crucifixion; Jesus brought heaven. In the
Crucifixion, we broke Jesus' most Sacred Heart
with the evils that we did to him.
With forgiveness, Jesus glued the pieces back
together again. Forgiveness is the glue
that fixed Jesus' broken heart.
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[¶ 00363 Updated: 07_20_2024]
The revelation of the radical love of God
was delivered to the children of Adam and
Eve by the fusion of the elemental
energies of heaven and hell in the fire of
the Crucifixion (00606)
In the fire of the Crucifixion, Jesus fused
the elemental energies of heaven and hell into a
single unit of apocalyptic revelation about the radical
love of God. The most consequential aspect of our
Creator's visit to his creatures took place in
the fire of the Crucifixion. As monuments to
the
significance of the fusion of heaven and hell,
the Cross of Christ was
erected and Holy Masses are said.
We empty the Crucifixion of its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
when we fail to recognize the duality of the
Crucifixion or fail to appreciate its
relevance to our salvation.
A Mass is a victory party not a presence party.
At a Mass we celebrate the hero of the Crucifixion
with the hero of the Crucifixion by re-enacting
the duality of the Crucifixion. At Mass, Jesus
once again brings about the intersection of heaven
and hell to showcase the power of its revelation.
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[¶ 00606 Updated: 08_14_2024]
Jesus engineered the release of transformative
energy from the fusion of heaven and hell during
the Crucifixion (00605)
The energy that Jesus released from the fusion
of heaven and hell on the Cross gobsmacks us.
The wallop
from the release of energy is so powerful that
it knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
If you plan to seriously contemplate
the duality of the Crucifixion
(00355),
brace yourself for impact!
From the position of prominence on the flagpole of
Christianity, Jesus harnessed together a tandem of
antagonistic energies - the energy of heaven and the
energy of hell - into a single unit that powers the
revelation of the radical love of God. We hung hell
from the Cross. Jesus hung heaven. Jesus adorned the
canvas of the Crucifixion with the beauty of
forgiveness. The Crucifixion was not a singularity.
It was a duality. The Cross was bipolar. Both heaven
and hell were hung from it. The double hangings exploded
the status quo and introduced a new calculus into
the world. The new calculus upended the
traditional method of measuring success in
life. It recalibrated our reality. It makes
us rethink our existence. Jesus ripped up
the old scorecard and replaced it with a
new way of keeping score
(00447)
(00608)
(00514)
(00493)
(00323).
What exactly is the new calculus that Jesus introduced
into the world by engineering the fusion of heaven
and hell on the Cross? What does the new calculus
tell us about our God and about humanity's
potential?
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[¶ 00605 Updated: 08_10_2024]
Forgiveness is the rabbit that Jesus pulled
out of his hat in the fire
of the Crucifixion (00570)
Forgiveness is the rabbit that Jesus pulled
out of his hat in the fire
of the Crucifixion
(Daniel 3:16-28).
It was a neat trick. Totally unexpected
(00477).
Astonishing. Its epiphany gives us
a sudden flash of
understanding about
the benign nature of God.
The wallop of the insight is so powerful that
it knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
If you plan to seriously contemplate
the duality of the Crucifixion
(00355),
brace yourself for impact!
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[¶ 00570 Updated: 08_27_2024]
Two keys, not one, are needed to access the meaning
of the Cross of Christ (00614)
Two keys, not one, are needed to access the
meaning of the Cross of Christ
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
We cannot put
meaning into the Cross of Christ or take meaning
out without both of the keys. One of the keys is
heaven and the other key is hell. From the position
of prminence on the Cross of Christ, Jesus embellished
hell with heaven. He adorned the canvas of the
Crucifixion with the beauty of forgiveness. Hence,
hell and heaven are the two keys. Only with both keys
can we access and understand the radical love of God.
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[¶ 00614 Updated: 08_16_2024]
Christianity's Best Recruitment and Retention
Tool (00496)
Jesus' answer to the Crucifixion was a cliffhanger.
Would it be punishment or forgiveness
(Matthew 21:37-40)?
Punishment is what we deserved for taking from
him his flesh and blood.
Because
conventional biblical wisdom created
the expectation of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48),
the smart money bet on punishment.
Thankfully for us, our God willingly defied
the conventional biblical wisdom
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
and forgave us.
He did not give us the punishment that we deserved.
He did not answer the evils that we did to him
in kind.
He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did not take from us the coin of our flesh and
blood as we took from him.
The smart money lost their bet.
The heroic revelation of the radical love of God
that Jesus dramatically revealed to
us in his radically
asymmetric answer to the atrocities that we did to
him during the Crucifixion is Christianity's best
recruitment and retention tool. The breathtaking
revelation is the bait that
catches fish hook, line and sinker. It is the bait
that Jesus used. Why fish with any other bait?
Jesus' radically asymmetric answer to the atrocities
that we did to him during the Crucifixion was
the vehicle that he used to convey the radical love
of God in its highest and purest concentration to
the children of Adam and Eve. Are you privy
to it? He served his enemies a meal of bread and
wine while they were still chewing his flesh
in their mouths and his blood was still staining
their hands
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
He satisfied their hunger with bread.
He quenched their thirst with wine.
In so doing, he filled their bellies
with the sweetest of the sweet fruits of
love, namely, with forgiveness
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
Is not a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
When we reverse engineer forgiveness,
are we not taken back to a heart filled
to the brim with love?
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(00419)
(00502)
(00444)
[¶ 00496 Updated: 06_21_2024]
MITIGATION NOT AGGRAVATION (00621)
Our God neither created our dire predicament
nor has done anything to aggravate it.
In fact, he has taken multiple measures
to mitigate it
(00623).
“This then is the message which we have heard of him,
and declare unto you, that God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all"
(1 John 1:5).
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[¶ 00621 Updated: 08_18_2024]
Facilitating our escape on the Christian escape Route -
not frustrating it, not filtering it and not
fouling it up (00620)
To mitigate our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears
where we scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition
with the other loveless beasts among the ruins of Eden,
God built an escape route
(Isaiah 35:8).
Our God built an escape
route from godlessness to paradise,
defined it with holy places,
made a map of them, established a Church,
entrusted the map to the Church and
gave the leadership of the Church a mission.
The mission that Jesus entrusted to leadership
is to facilitate our escape -
not to frustrate it, not to filter it and not to
foul it up.
Leadership does not fulfill its mission
by trying to turn sinners into saints.
Leadership
fulfills its mission by trying to turn settlers
into pilgrims.
Participation in the escape is the
mission of leadership.
Transforming sinners into
saints is God's job. God does his job as we are
making our escape. The escape goes off the rails
when leadership exceeds its mandate and tries
to do God's job. God reserved the job of transforming
sinners into saints to himself.
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[¶ 00620 Updated: 08_18_2024]
Do not demean the radical love of God! (00624)
To say that Jesus loves us demeans his love for us.
It debases it. It makes the extraordinary ordinary -
the humongous, tiny. It makes the Love Note that
our God sent us in the Incarnation a
banal, trite message.
No. Jesus does not just love us. He loves us
even though we tortured and killed him. Wow!
That's love!
Jesus made a statement by spending
all of the coin of his flesh and blood.
He did a cannonball and made a flamboyant splash!
He spent all of his
limited human resources.
He kept not a penny
in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never spent more for anything else
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24).
The greater was his payment,
the greater is our astonishment at
the extraordinary size of his love for us
(Matthew 10:31).
By spending all of the coin of his flesh and blood to
purchase for us the blessing of forgiveness, Jesus
gave us a declaration of his love for us not in
words but in deeds - God done not God said.
By spending all of the coin of his flesh and blood,
Jesus gave us an incontrovertible verification of
his love for us.
If his love for us were counterfeit, it would
have faded as we tortured him and died when we killed
him. But it did not. His love for us
survived the evils that we did to him.
Its intransigence authenticated it.
Survival is the verification.
We discovered from his profligate spending that
the dial that controls God's love for us is in
his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the
highest degree and is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to the Son of God
could budge it.
The verification of the Love Note is the gravamen of
Christianity - superior to everything else.
Everything else is obiter dicta -
beside the point.
Can you not read the writing on the wall
(Daniel 5:6-8)?
Such love of our Creator for his creatures
gobsmacks us.
It kicks like a mule.
It takes our breath away.
It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Who can weather the intensity of the love of God when
it is focused on us?
His love for us is the most powerful force in heaven
and on earth.
The love of God gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to it,
the power to change the world.
Christianity, done right, confronts us with
the love of God.
Christianity, done right, makes us squirm under
the weight of the love of God.
The love of God challenges us to come
to grips with it - to
reconcile ourselves to it.
We are disobedient not irrational.
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[¶ 00624 Updated: 08_18_2024]
We want God to mitigate our dire predicament in the
Valley of Tears. God, however, wants us to do the
mitigating. There is a difference of opinions.
God's prevails.
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(00211)
[¶ 00619 Updated: 08_19_2024]
OUR BAPTISM IN THE DUNGHILL OF EVILs IS THE CURE
FOR ORIGINAL SIN - IT IS THE MEDICINE (00622)
PLAN B - Yes, our God has a backup plan!
Lucifer, the gaggle of angels who follow Lucifer,
Eve and Adam fumbled the gift of paradise that God
had given them upon their creation. They let the
gift of paradise slip through their fingers.
They dropped the prize. Ooops! Butterfingers was
the problem.
Is there a solution to the problem?
Or are we doomed to repeat the original sin of
our parents?
God gave them the gift of life and the gift of paradise
simultaneously. Between them, he inserted no delay.
For the children of Adam and Eve, God inserted a
delay between the gift of life and the gift of
paradise. A delay was the solution.
During the delay, we stew in the evils of the Valley
of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine.
Our baptism in the dunghill of evils is harsh but
effective medicine. It puts iron in our grip.
When the gift of paradise is delivered to us, and its
delivery is ineluctable, we will keep it.
We will not let it slip through our fingers.
We will not fumble the ball. Having put our fingers
into the flames, we have learned for ourselves
that the fire is hot.
The prodigal son will never return to the pig sty
(Luke 15:11-32).
Neither will we.
We are disobedient not irrational.
Note: God respects our free wills. When God delivers
to us the gift of paradise, God wants us to keep it.
He wants us to keep it without having to turn
paradise into a prison, himself into our warden and
us into prisoners. A cage is still a cage no matter
how gilded. God wants children who love him and
want to live their lives with him not obedient pets.
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[¶ 00622 Updated: 08_18_2024]
Plan 'B' (00625)
Why does our loving, omnipotent God allow
evil to exist in the world?
The delivery of the gift of paradise is delayed
not denied.
During the interregnum between the gift of life
and the gift of paradise,
our baptism in the dunghill of evils takes place.
Our baptism in the dunghill of evils
is the glue that binds us
to the gift of paradise.
It puts iron in our grip.
When the gift of paradise is delivered to us -
and its delivery is ineluctable - we will keep it.
We will not fumble the ball as Lucifer did, as the
gaggle of angels who followed Lucifer did, as Adam
did and as Eve did.
Our baptism in the dunghill of evils is
harsh but effective medicine. So, despite its harshness
and because of its effectiveness, God prescribes it.
Having put our fingers into the flames,
we have discovered for ourselves that the fire is hot.
Once burned; twice shy.
The greater are the evils of the dunghill, the lower
is the risk that we will opt out of paradise.
We are disobedient not irrational.
The prodigal son is never going back
to the pig sty
(Luke 15:11-32).
Neither are we.
Our time served in the pig sty opens our eyes
to the value of the gift of paradise.
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[¶ 00625 Updated: 08_18_2024]
The Current of Salvation (00626)
“Who will have all men to be saved,
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
(1 Timothy 2:4).
To save all men and to bring them to the knowledge
of the truth, our God unleashed two inexorable
forces to drive the current of salvation.
The current of salvation sweeps us off our feet and
carries us to our salvation.
Few swim against the tide.
For the sake of our salvation, our God uses both
belt and suspenders.
The first inexorable force is the radigal love of God.
A bonfire of love burns for us in the most Sacred Heart
of Jesus. Furthermore, the dial that controls it
is in his hands not ours.
Not even the evils that we did to him could
extinguish it or reduce its intensity by even
the slightest degree. The dial is set to the
highest degree and is locked in place.
God dares us to put our fingers
into the flames of the love of God
to discover for ourselves that
the fire is hot.
“I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
The second inexorable force are the evils that
chew us up into bits and pieces as we pass
through the Valley of Tears.
We stew in the evils of the Valley of Tears
like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine.
Our baptism in a dunghill of evils - the sour
truth - is harsh but effective medicine.
It puts iron in our grip.
When the gift of paradise is delivered to us,
and its delivery is ineluctable, we will keep it.
We will not let it slip through our fingers.
We will not fumble the ball as Lucifer did,
as the gaggle of angels who followed Lucifer did,
as Adam did and as Eve did.
Having put our fingers into the flames of evils,
we have learned for ourselves that the fire is hot.
The prodigal son will never return to
the pig sty (Luke 15:11-32).
Neither will we.
We are disobedient not irrational.
Both the belt and suspenders save us and
bring us to the knowledge of the truth.
Note: In case you failed to notice, the second
inexorable force is the solution to the problem
of evil. It explains why a loving God allows evils
to exist. Evils are harsh but effective medicine.
Furthermore, our God is not a malicious misanthrope
but a benevolent philanthropist. Is the second
inexorable force needed, if we submit ourselves
to the first? Doesn't it become superflous?
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[¶ 00626 Updated: 08_18_2024]
The Keys to the kingdom of God (00616)
"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven"
(Matthew 16:19)
In the Cross of Christ is the kingdom of God
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
The kingdom of God is the treasure of Christianity.
Two keys are needed to lock and unlock the treasure
chest to reveal the treasure - the keys that bind
and loose. One of the keys is heaven; the other
key is hell. Jesus entrusted the two keys to
Peter. They are a responsibility not a power.
The keys work in two ways. Peter can use
them to open or to close the Cross of Christ - to
empty it of meaning or to fill it and propagate
it from the point and place of its
obscure origin in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
Peter is the guardian of the meaning of the Cross
of Christ. He is its steward. Into his care, Jesus
entrusted the combination of heaven and hell that Jesus
fused together in the fire of the Crucifixion to
reveal the kingdom of God to us. In the kingdom
of the God who loves us radically, all strive to
embellish the canvas of life with love.
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[¶ 00616 Updated: 08_16_2024]
Suffering is only redemptive if heaven is added
to hell (00617)
When the Crucifixion is viewed as a singularity, that
is, as hell only, instead of as a duality, that is, as
both heaven and hell, we reach the wrong conclusion
about suffering. To explain and justify the suffering
and death of Jesus in the fire of the Crucifixion,
subscribers to singularity conclude that his suffering
and, hence, all suffering, is redemptive. Crucifixion
dualists, however, disagree. They disagree because
they view the Crucifixion differently than the
subscribers to singularity. To Crucifixion dualists,
Jesus adorned the canvas of the Crucifixion with the
beauty of forgiveness. Jesus brought heaven into hell.
To Crucifixion dualists, the hell of the Crucifixion
was merely a foil for heaven. Jesus set the jewel of
forgiveness - the sweetest of the sweet fruits of
love - in the foil of hell because the energy gradient
between the foil and its payload supplies the power to
the revelation of the radical love of God. Jesus
exploited hell to power the revelation. That is all.
The hell of the Crucifixion was not, in and of itself,
redemptive. Suffering for suffering sake is an evil
monstrosity. Jesus did not suffer for suffering's sake.
Jesus added the panache of forgiveness to his
suffering. He added heaven to hell. Suffering becomes
redemptive only when we attach heaven to it - only
when we embellish the canvas of suffering with the
beauty of heaven as Jesus did. Then and only then does
suffering become redemptive.
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(00406)
[¶ 00617 Updated: 08_19_2024]
Forgiveness is the Signature of God (00486)
Let us hang from our crosses with the same panache
as Jesus hung from his. On the Cross, Jesus embellished
hell with heaven. He adorned the canvas of the
Crucifixion with the beauty of forgiveness.
Forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:6-7)
is the signature of God. It is the sweetest of
the sweet fruits of love. Jesus revealed the
radical love of God to us in his asymmetric answer
to the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion.
Jesus embellished the canvas of
the Crucifixion with God's signature.
The embellishment was his Magnum Opus.
Our job is to forge his signature on the canvases of
our lives.
Plagiarism is our passport into the kingdom of
God. Our job is to duplicate the artistry of
Jesus. The embellishment that Jesus did in his hell,
let us do the same in our hells.
Let us hang from our crosses with the same panache
as Jesus hung from his.
Love does not grow in the toxic soil of
the Crucifixion.
It is a sterile matrix - utterly barren -
hostile in the extreme. So when love in the form of
forgiveness germinated, sprouted and bloomed,
we beheld a miracle. It was completely unexpected -
an utter surprise.
The greater were the evils that we did to Jesus,
the more glorious is the miracle.
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[¶ 00486 Updated: 08_16_2024]
The Poetry of Salvation
(00406)
The point of the Cross was not the suffering.
The point of the Cross was the radical forgiveness
that followed the suffering - the heaven not the
hell. Suffering is the
foil. The payload is radical forgiveness.
Radical suffering + radical forgiveness =
the radical love of God.
The
purpose of a foil is to highlight and emphasize
and intensify and magnify and amplify and accentuate
and underline its payload. A foil serves its payload
not vice versa. Our thinking becomes flawed when
we confuse the master and the servant. Jesus suffering
was the foil. Jesus forgiving is the payload.
The point of the Cross was not the suffering.
The point of the Cross was the radical forgiveness
that followed the suffering.
Jesus forgave us while we still had his flesh in our
mouths and his blood on our hands
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Many who claim
to be Christians get the point of the Cross
wrong. Their understanding of the Message of God
that Jesus conveyed from heaven to earth
at an exorbitant cost to himself
is deeply flawed.
Their thinking stops at the suffering and goes no
further.
They stop short of the finish line. They
do not complete the race
(Hebrews 12:1-3)
(2 Timothy 4:7).
They are trapped in the foil and do not reach
the payload.
A correct understanding of Christianity requires
that we escape the foil and reach the payload.
Suffering is the ignominious defeat from which
the glorious victory emerged as the dawn
arises from the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Suffering is the mother that gave birth
to radical forgiveness.
Pay attention to the
progeny of the suffering - the child as well as the
mother.
Let the mellifluous flow of
the poetry of salvation
from suffering to radical forgiveness
sink in.
It enables us to figure out this thing called
God for ourselves. It optimizes our understanding
of God.
The poetry of salvation
is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
There is no poetry as powerful as the poetry
of salvation. The poetry
of salvation reveals to us the intoxicating
influence of the radical love of God.
The radical love of God gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to propagating it,
the power to change the world.
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(00530)
[¶ 00406 Updated: 08_15_2024]
Have you discovered the pot of gold at the end
of the Christian rainbow? (00598)
If you do not know where the treasure of Christianity
is buried
(00601)
(00565),
the odds are slim to none that you will
accidentally stumble
upon it on your own.
Its origin was obscure - off the beaten path.
Its location was
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space
at the
intersection of heaven and hell. Have you ever
been there? Have you been to the place where heaven
met hell?
If your religious leaders do not know where the
treasure of Christianity
is buried, it is foolish to expect them
to show it to you. But, ask them!
Put them on the spot!
Challenge them for a specic answer!
What is the treasure of Christianity and
where can we find it
(00177)
(00536)?
Have you discovered the sizzle of Christianity?
Have you found the jackpot?
Have you located the pot of gold at the end of
the Christian rainbow
(00070)
(00301)?
The point of Christianity is its sizzle.
Without its sizzle, Christianity is a dud.
It is no big deal.
No sizzle; no Christianity.
Contrary to
the Coloring Book version of Christianity
(00184),
Christianity is, at its core,
a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in
a treasure hunt
(00449)
(00483)
(00199)
(00599)
(00600)
(00133).
But, don't worry. If you have not yet
found the treasure, I know exactly where it is
(00565)
(00546).
I won't tell you what I found but I will show
you where Jesus told me to look. I think
it is important that you dig it up for yourself
(00597).
Jesus pinpointed its precise location for us
by marking it with a monument - the bipolar
Cross of Christ
(00565).
Come, rally 'round the bipolar Cross to
satisfy your curiosity
(00578)
(00228)
(00067)
(00585)
about this enigmatic entity that we
call God. Grab your shovel, follow Jesus
to the bipolar Cross,
dig up the treasure for yourself, and make
yourself rich
(00110)
(00579)
(00580)
(00313)
(00097)
(00581).
Start your investigation at
the duality of the Crucifixion
(00327).
The duality of the Crucifixion is the point and place
of beginning
(00402)
(00373)
(00067)
(00138)
(00051)
(00579)
(00592)
(00544)
(00593)
(00594)
(00595)
(00581)
(00596).
Start exploring the mystery,
majesty and magnifence of God there
(00449)
(00149)
(00582).
In the duality of the Crucifixion
the treasure is buried
(00572)!
In the duality of the Crucifixion,
you will discover
the intersection of heaven and hell
(00568).
The intersection of heaven and hell is the
unique place where two lynchings
took place. We hung hell to the Cross
and Jesus hung heaven
(00327).
The intersection
of heaven and hell is the
epicenter of Christianity.
It is where the status quo exploded.
On the treasure map, an 'X' marks the spot
of the treasure
(00133)
(00067)
(00392).
The radical love of God is the magic that turns
settlers into pilgrims and
sinners into saints
(00544)
(00609)
(00303)
(00037)
(00446).
The radical love of God gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to propagating it,
the power to change the world.
Embrace the magic!
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[¶ 00598 Updated: 08_11_2024]
| Treasure Map | Christianity |
| Treasure Hunters | The children of Adam and Eve |
| Treasure Hunt | The pursuit of the treasure of Christianity (00218) |
| Treasure Bearer | Jesus, the carpenter, who built and filled the treasure chest during the Crucifixion. (00400) |
| Treasure Chest | Jesus' radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion a/k/a the duality of the Crucifixion where we hung hell from the Cross and Jesus hung heaven. |
| Treasure | The radical love of God that we discover when we open the treasure chest. Jesus made radical forgiveness the proxy for the radical love of God. Jesus made and filled the treasure chest. Our contribution to the making of the treasure chest was hell. Jesus' contribution was heaven. The making of the treasure chest was the intersection of heaven and hell. At the intersection of heaven and hell, the treasure chest was made. We open it. Our salvation depends on us opening it. |
| The treasure chest was forged in the fire of the Crucifixion that we had ignited and fueled with the flammable kindling of Jesus' flesh and blood. Jesus deposited the angel of forgiveness into the treasure chest. The deposit transformed his flamming coffin into a treasure chest. The angel of forgiveness was the sharp sword that slew the monster of the Crucifixion. Forgiveness killed the monster dead (00363). | |
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00602 For more, click on the link[s] below (00451) (00396) [¶ 00602 Updated: 08_08_2024] |
|
Fight or Flight? (00603)
The options were to flee the danger of the
Crucifixion or to fight it.
Jesus chose to fight it. However, he did not fight
hell with hell. He fought hell with heaven.
His methodology was radically asymmetric - bipolar
in the extreme.
The Crucifixion was a duality not a singularity.
It was not just hell.
It was the combination of heaven and hell.
Heaven and hell were the odd couple of epiphany.
The energy gradient between heaven and hell
powered the revelation of the
radical love of God.
The energy gradient made the revelation sizzle
(00325)
(00544).
Jesus is the head of the spear who leads the
invasion of heaven into hell.
Heaven is the battering ram that knocks down
the gates of hell
(Matthew 16:18)
that protect stony hearts
(Ezekiel 36:26)
from the process of depetrification.
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[¶ 00604 Updated: 08_07_2024]
The Miracle of Forgiveness erupted from
the fire of the Crucifixion (00573)
The Miracle of Forgiveness erupted out of
the fire of the Crucifixion as the dawn arises
from the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Love does not grow in the fire of the Crucifixion.
Hell is a sterile matrix - utterly barren -
hostile in the extreme. So when love in the form of
forgiveness germinated, sprouted and blossomed,
we beheld a miracle
(00217).
It was completely unexpected -
an utter surprise. Jesus had embellished hell
with heaven.
He added the beauty of forgiveness to
the fiery canvas of the Crucifixion.
What other artist works so
successfully under such adverse conditions?
The hotter burned the fire,
the more astonishing is the miracle of
forgiveness.
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
And, in the fire of the Crucifixion, we
did much to him - many, many shamefull
things.
We ignited the fire of the Crucifixion and fueled it
with the flammable kindling of his flesh and blood.
Yet, Jesus loved us first despite our wretchedness
(1 John 4:19).
He did not wait for our conversion to forgive us.
He forgave us to bring about our conversion.
He was audacious
(00041).
The atrocities that we did to him did not
deter him from performing the miracle of
forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
They did not slow him down.
They did not make him change his plan
(00575).
He had no second thoughts.
There was no hesitation.
He had no regrets.
He forgave his enemies even though we still had
his flesh in
our mouths and his blood on our hands
(00142)
(00370).
He included
his enemies within the scope of his love
so we would recognize and appreciate
the radicalness of his love
(00558)
(00103)
for the children
of Adam and Eve
(Matthew 22: 8-10)
(Matthew 13:47).
Intransigent is the radical love of God.
The dial that
controls God's love for us is in his hands
not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree
and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we
did to him
could budge it.
“Be firm in your resolutions. Stay in the boat the
Lord has placed you in, and when the storm comes,
you will not perish. It may seem to you that
Jesus is sleeping, but it only seems that way.”
— Padre Pio, letter to an unknown addressee,
December 27, 1917
Jesus exploited the heat from the fire of the
Crucifixion to detonate the bombshell of revelation
about the radical love of God. He let us
baptize his flesh and blood in the fire of
the Crucifixion because doing the miracle
of forgiveness in an evil baptism is much more
persuasive than telling us about his love
for us out of the scrum from the safety of
the sidelines. Jesus was a player in the
war against evils
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16)
not merely an aloof
spectator. Jesus put himself in harm's way,
cheek to jowl with us,
toe to hoof against his enemies,
in the scrum
at the line of scrimmage.
Jesus' love for us was heroic
(Matthew 5:38-48).
He loved us not just when it was
easy to do so. He loved us when it was hard to
do so. He loved us when the cost of love was
exorbitant
(00505)
(00468)
(00277)
(00066).
The exorbitant cost for the delivery of the message of
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
is the guarantee that the message is not counterfeit.
Counterfeiters are unwilling to reach into their
own pockets to pay with the coin of their flesh
and blood. What profit is there for them in that?
There was no profit in the Crucifixion for
Jesus either. Only cost. Yet, he participated in
the endeavor despite the lack of profit
for himself and despite the exorbitant
cost. His motive was altruistic -
service over self. He participated in
the endeavor solely to benefit the children of
Adam and Eve. The benefit was the knowledge
of God
(Hosea 4:6).
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[¶ 00573 Updated: 08_05_2024]
The Song of the Crucifixion (00590)
A duet between hell and heaven was sung during
the Crucifixion. The duet revealed our God to us.
Have you heard its song? Jesus composed the
song of the Crucifixion for us to sing. Do
you know the words? Can you sing along?
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[¶ 00590 Updated: 08_02_2024]
Jesus broke the mold for kingship
(00343)
God dispatched Jesus from heaven to earth not
to form a government to rule us
but to open a school to teach us
(00329)
(00327).
Jesus is not a tyrant but a teacher.
His appeal is not to our faculty of obedience but
to our faculty of rationality - to our self-interest.
Indeed, Jesus is our king
(Matthew 21:5).
However, Jesus did not come to rule us as a
typical king rules us
(Matthew 20:25-28)
(John 18:37).
Jesus is not the typical king and
his kingdom is not the typical kingdom.
Jesus broke the mold for kingship.
He is the king who loves us.
In place of a constabulary to enforce
the Christian rules of the road,
the means by which Jesus governs us is love -
radical love.
When we become privy to the revelation that
Jesus released into the world in the gruesome
experiment that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion and, thereby,
discover the radicalness of the love of God,
Christians become self-regulating.
In the kingdom of the king who loves us
even though we tortured and killed him,
the citizens govern themselves.
We desire to please him.
We trip all over ourselves in our eagerness
to please him
(John 18:36).
The multitude rejects the leadership's claim of a
hotline between it and God and looks upon claims of
governmental legitimacy by virtue of the
"divine right of kings" as an anachronism meant
to frighten the multitude into submission.
These religious fictions no longer work.
They no longer instill docility into the multitude
(1906 “Vehementer Nos“).
The threat that, if we do not obey, God will get us,
in modern times, is a toothless threat, risible
to the multitude.
To succeed in the modern world of a literate and
skeptical multitude who have access to a variety
of sources of information,
leadership must learn to do
what it has disdained to do, that is,
compete in the marketplace of ideas.
Its ideas are being challenged - their legitimacy
cast into doubt. The question yet unanswered is,
without a culture of dialogue and discussion,
can the Church successfully compete in the
marketplace of ideas?
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00343 Updated: 08_04_2024]
After Jesus won his glorious victory in the battle
of the Crucifixion, did he retire? (00591)
Jesus waged and won the war against evils in
the fire of the Crucifixion
(00548)
(00558)
(00537).
After his victory,
did Jesus retire - did he stop working? No.
"... and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the
end of the world. Amen"
(Matthew 28:20)
(00316).
What is Jesus doing post victory?
He continues the mission that his Father
entrusted to him. He propagates
the knowledge of the radical love of God
from the point and place of its
obscure origin in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
How? He re-enacts his glorious victory and the
ignominious defeat from which it erupted during
a Mass at which Jesus, the hero of the Crucifixion
is celebrated
(00574).
A Mass is the primary vehicle
that conveys the knowledge of the radical love
of God and preserves it from generation to
generation
(00558).
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[¶ 00591 Updated: 08_03_2024]
How do we access the love of God?
(00028)
" But seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness; and all these things
shall be added unto you"
(Matthew 6:33)
(Luke 17:20-21).
How do we access the love of God
(Matthew 2:1-2)?
How do we tap
into the treasure chest that holds it
(Matthew 13:44-46)?
The Only way to access the love of God
is to love.
Yes. When we love, we experience for ourselves the
love of God
(1 John 4:7-8).
"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees,
when the kingdom of God should come,
he answered them and said,
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!
for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you"
(Luke 17:20-21)
(Matthew 6:33).
Love is the kingdom of God.
Upon our creation, God
implants embryonic love into us - the seed of divinity.
[Because we carry the seed of divinity in us from our
creation, we are worthy of respect from greatest
to least and from beginning to end.]
The seed of God is in us.
Given an intelligent
and hardworking farmer,
it will thrive and grow
up into God, whose seed
it is; and accordingly its
fruits will be God-nature.
Pear seeds grow into
pear trees, nut seeds
into nut trees, and
God seeds into God.
(Meister Eckhart)
When we love, we cultivate the embryonic
seed of divinity causing it grow and flourish.
By loving, we find God's love
(1 John 4: 7-12).
God's love abides in our love
(John 15:4)
(ON CONTEMPLATING GOD, William of Saint Thierry,
Preface #2).
By loving, we gain access to the love of
God here and now.
When we love, we meet God -
we ascend to the sublime level of our loving God
from the squalid level of the loveless
beasts who scavenge for scraps
in cutthroat competition with one another
in the rubble of the ruins of Eden!
When we love,
we establish a connection between heaven and earth
through which God meets us and we meet God.
When we love, we open a door between heaven and earth
through which we step up into heaven and God steps
down into earth.
When we stop loving, we sever the
connection between heaven and earth -
we shut the door.
Jesus showed us the way.
Jesus gave us the directions to our destination.
To find the kingdom of God, the map points within us.
Jesus is the map
(John 14:6).
We know how to get there.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Jesus' Magnum Opus
(2) Discovering the Love of God by loving
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00028 Updated: 08_03_2024]
How do we find joy? (00063)
When we love, we are communicating with
God. Jesus' miracle of forgiveness
in the fire of the Crucifixion was his
communication with his Father. Jesus
hung from his Cross to teach us how to
communicate with God. Love is the only
form of prayer.
How do we find joy?
We find joy by participating in the
creativity of Jesus - by doing what Jesus did
ourselves. The artist, Jesus, created
a Masterpiece of Love on the canvas of life in the
midst of adversity - in the gruesome adversity
of the Crucifixion.
Embellishing the canvas of life with love
in the midst of adversity was Jesus' magnum opus
- his greatest achievement.
To find joy, go, and do likewise.
Embellishing the canvas of life with love
is how a Christian plays offense -
how a Christian becomes the aggressor.
It is how we take the war against evils to the
enemy
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16).
Let us hang from our crosses as Jesus hung from his
(Matthew 5:38-48).
Jesus did not merely tell us how to hang from
our crosses; he showed us how.
He showed us our potential.
Jesus led by example.
He donned the jet pack of love and flew to show us
that we, too, can fly.
What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was!
We, too, can show our brothers and sisters
how to fly
(Colossians 1:24)!
When we hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung,
hold tight and refuse to let go of love.
To love is in our self-interest.
Love is our defense against evils.
Incoming! Shields up!
The gauntlet of life has many sharp edges.
Love is the grease that lubricates the sharp edges of
the gauntlet of life and makes our passage
through less unpleasant. Love mitigates our
dire predicament passing through the Valley of Tears
(Salve Regina).
Jesus is the unfathomable reservoir that
holds love without limits.
The love of God, however, does not propagate itself.
It does not have its own legs.
It is not self-propelled.
To get the love of God
from the point and place of
its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history
and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve
here and now, an acqueduct is needed.
Jesus established his Church to serve as the
acqueduct of the radical love of God.
Jesus is offering the children of Adam and Eve
a job building, maintaining and
operating the acqueduct.
In this work, we find joy.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00063:12_28_2023]
Jesus hung from his Cross to show us how to hang from
our crosses (00025)
Let us hang from our crosses as Jesus hung from his
(Matthew 5:38-48).
Jesus did not merely tell us how to hang from
our crosses; he showed us how.
He showed us our potential.
Jesus led by example.
He donned the jet pack of love and flew to show us
that we, too, can fly.
What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was!
We, too, can show our brothers and sisters
how to fly
(Colossians 1:24)!
When we hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung,
hold tight and refuse to let go of love.
To love is in our self-interest.
Love is our defense against evils.
Incoming! Shields up!
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Jesus' Magnum Opus
[¶ 00025 Updated: 09_12_2024]
(00001)
Jesus created a
Masterpiece of love on the canvas of life in the
gruesome adversity of the Crucifixion.
He was a heroic artist of love. Evils did not deter
him from making his art.
Embellishing the canvas of life with love
in the midst of adversity was Jesus' magnum opus
- his greatest achievement.
The Son of God fulfilled his potential as a human
being and,
thereby, showed us that we could too.
He showed us our capability.
We, too, can
create Masterpieces of Love on the canvas of life
(Colossians 1:24).
Like him, we, too, can become heroic artists of love!
Such is our destiny. It is why God created us.
He calls us to be heroes of love.
For this purpose, God made us
in his image and likeness
(Genesis 1:26).
He endowed us with the capacity
to love
(Luke 17:20-21).
Our hearts are vessels that can be filled
to the brim with love.
Love is our superpower.
The greater is the love that we hold in our hearts,
the greater is our resemblance to God.
A saint is a child of Adam and Eve who bears
an uncanny resemblance to God.
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another“
(John 13:35)
(Matthew 22:36-40)
(1 John 4: 7-12).
Deification is the process of increasing our
resemblance to God.
Only love makes us holy.
Only love deifies us.
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(00633)
(00394)
(1) The Treasure Hunt
(2)To love is in our self-interest
[¶ 00001 Updated: 08_21_2024]
The Radical Love of God is the bait that Jesus used
to fish for the children of Adam and Eve (00227)
The radical love of God catches fish hook, line and
sinker. Why fish with any other bait?
The love of God is radical in all of its dimensions.
In size, it is prodigious. In scope, it is inclusive,
and in durability, intransigent.
Radicalness is the sweetner.
It raises the love of God
to a higher, more sublime level of sweetness.
Jesus cast the sweet bait into the hostile
desert of godlessness to fish for the children of
Adam and Eve. When you fish for the children of Adam
and Eve, bait your hook as Jesus baited his.
Bait your hook with the radical love of God.
The radical love of God catches fish hook, line and
sinker. Why fish with any other bait?
"As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw two brothers, Simon who is called
Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net
into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them, “Come after me, and I will
make you fishers of men”
(Matthew 4:18-19).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Bait (00228)
(2) Index: The Pursuit of the Radical Love
of God (00132)
(3) Index: The Radical Love of God
(00167)
(4) Index: The Dimensions of the Love of God
(00234)
(5) Index: The Size of the Love of God
(00230)
(6) Index: The Scope of the Love of God
(00231)
(7) Index: The Durability of the Love of God
(00232)
(8) Index: The Sweetness of God
(00233)
(9) Index: Fishing for the Children of Adam and Eve
(00235)
[¶ 00227 Updated: 02_08_2024b]
The Suffering and Dying God of the Christians (00583)
The paradoxical oxymoron of a suffering and dying God,
conceived in the Incarnation, was born in the fire of
the Crucifixion
(00521).
The almighty had made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
In weakness - with only his limited human resources -
Jesus entered the fire of the Crucifixion.
Jesus' strength was not his magical divine
powers. Jesus' strength was his love.
Forgiveness perfected his strength.
Forgivenes is perfect love - love
under circumstances where love ought not
exist.
God's power made paradise for us.
God's love for us, however,
is the ingredient that makes paradise sweet. Power
begets respect. But love begets love - only love
begets love.
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[¶ 00583 Updated: 07_31_2024]
Singularity versus Duality (00584)
If the Crucifixion was a singularity and not a duality -
if the Cross was monopolar and not bipolar -
if we only hung hell to the Cross and Jesus did not
hang heaven - if there was only punishment for
the evils that we had done to Jesus and no
forgiveness, then humanity is doomed.
The evidence, however, points to the duality of the
Crucifixion, the bipolarity of the Cross,
the double hanging of hell and heaven to the
Cross, and forgiveness not punishment.
The evidence points to our salvation. Fear not!
Jesus saved us!
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[¶ 00584 Updated: 08_01_2024]
Like Moses, let us turn aside to see the great sight
(00578)
Listen to the sizzle of Christianity as the bush
burns but is not consumed.
We burned the bush but the conflagration did not
consume his love for us. His love for us survived
the conflagration.
Jesus is the burning bush.
The gruesome ordeal that we put Jesus through
did not extinguish the bonfire of love that
burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or
reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree.
It did not stop Jesus from continuing to love us
nonetheless.
It still burns but is not consumed.
Infinite is the love of God. It is a love
without limits, radical in size, scope and
intransigence.
The dial that controls God's love for us is in
his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the
highest degree and is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to the Son of God
could budge it.
The burning bush
is the only thing that makes us turn aside,
like Moses, to see the great sight
(Exodus 3:1-3).
It excites our curiosity in God.
It is the engine that energizes the pursuit of God.
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[¶ 00578 Updated: 07_30_2024]
A Modest Proposal
(00576)
A lacuna existed in the Creeds of Christianity
(Apostles' Creed)
(Nicene Creed).
The gap is so big that a truck can be driven through
it.
Missing after the part where Jesus "was crucified, died and was
buried;" is language that says, "He forgave us
for the evils that we did to him during the
Crucifixion." Such language would make clear the
bipolarity of the Cross - the duality of the
Crucifixion. It would highlight the intersection
of heaven and hell upon the earth.
No change in doctrine. Just a change in
emphasis. A tweak - nothing more.
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[¶ 00576 Updated: 07_29_2024]
Come, meet your God! Where? At the intersection of
heaven and hell
(00577)
The Crucifixion was the venue that hosted the
intersection of heaven and hell upon the earth
(00382).
In the Crucifixion, the duality of heaven and hell
took place. In the Crucifixion, Jesus brought the
heaven. We brought the hell.
The collision of 'matter' and 'anti-matter'
changed our world by upgrading our understanding
of God
(00289).
In the dichotomy of the
Crucifixion, Jesus revealed
the truth about our God. The revelation is the
Good News of Great Joy. Jesus forgave his
enemies for the evils that we had done to him.
Forgiveness is our God. Forgiveness is the apotheosis
of the radical love of God.
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's radical love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(00142)
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
Jesus was the Love that God had sent us in the
Incarnation to answer the question,
'Who is God?'
(00268)
(00530).
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[¶ 00577 Updated: 07_30_2024]
Jesus created his Magnum Opus in brave defiance
of the fire
of the Crucifixion (00568)
When you look at the Crucifixion, what do you see
(00536)?
Do you see a cripple hopping about on one leg or an
athlete running swiftly on two? The
Crucifixion is a two legged creature of God.
One leg is heaven, the other, hell. The
Crucifixion was bipolar - a duality.
God joined heaven
and hell together during the Crucifixion.
Jesus brought the heaven; we brought
the hell.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9)
(00561)
(00557)
(00536)
(00532)
(00512)
(00511)
(00530).
When we fail to recognize the duality of the
Crucifixion - that is, the heaven that Jesus hung
from the Cross and the hell that we hung - we
empty the Crucifixion of its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Failing to recognize the duality of the
Crucifixion destroys the energy gradient between
heaven and hell and, thereby, saps the Crucifixion
of its sizzle.
It de-energizes the revelation of the radical love of
God that the combination of forgiveness and the
fire of the Crucifixion convey.
Emptying
the Cross of Christ of its meaning is a huge
obstacle in the way of the pursuit of God.
Jesus, the artist, created his Masterpiece of
Love with the
gentle brush of forgiveness on the fiery canvas of
the Crucifixion
(00351).
Jesus also paid the cost of its creation out of his
own pocket with the coin of his flesh and blood.
The cost was exorbitant.
We made Jesus pay all of his limited human resources
in the fire of the Crucifixion.
We did not let him keep a penny in the bank in
reserve for himself.
What other artist does his
best work in such adverse circumstances?
What other artist creates the beauty of heaven in
the ugliness of hell?
The fire of the Crucifixion was the hostile foil
(00156)
(00406)
in which Jesus set the jewel of his
Magnum Opus
(00358).
The fire of the Crucifixion was the showcase in which
Jesus put the beauty of forgiveness on public
display for
the children of Adam and Eve regardless of
religion to behold.
In the fire of the Crucifixion, Jesus gave birth
to forgiveness
(Luke 2:7)
- the first-born,
most gentle and sweetest
progeny of the radical love of God.
Such artwork is a prodigy without peer.
It has no equal.
Moreover, Jesus showed us our artistic potential by
fulfilling his
(00492)
(00227).
He set the standard for beauty.
Love is the gold standard against which Christianity
measures all things
(00493)
(00567).
'Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend
or foe?' We interrogated Jesus with lash, thorns,
nails and Cross. We gave him the third degree.
In answer, he forgave us.
Forgiveness identifies him as our friend not
our foe - a dear, dear friend. Forgiveness was
his unequivocal declaration of friendship that
he published from the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity. Rally 'round
the bipolar cross! Its duality illuminated the
darkness of our understanding of God in a
glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
It is the rock
(Matthew 7:24-27)
on which
the wise anchor their understanding of God.
We broke Jesus' most Sacred heart when we ignited the
fire of the Crucifixion and fueled it with the
flammable kindling of his flesh and blood.
With forgiveness, Jesus glued the pieces back together
again. Love fixed it.
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[¶ 00568 Updated: 07_28_2024]
Peak Verification (00572)
The purpose of the fire of the Crucifixion was to
be part of the verification of the Love Note
that God had written to us in the Incarnation to
answer the question, 'Who is God?'
(00474).
In the Incarnation, Divinity disarmed
(00149)
(00521).
Divinity defortified himself.
On the brink of mortal combat with the monster
of the Crucifixion,
Jesus doffed his invincible armor of divinity and
donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood
so Jesus could
also be part of the verification. In the fire
of the Crucifixion, the oxymoron of the suffering
and dying God was born
(00228).
Jesus suffered and died so he could forgive us.
Forgiveness demonstrated the radical love of God
for us. Forgiveness was the key that unlocked the
enigmatic black box in which our God was hiding from
us
(Isaiah 45:15)
(Psalm 91:1)
(00319).
Verification of the radical love of God reached its
climax when Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did
to him in the fire of the Crucifixion. At peak
verification, the radical love of God
for the children of Adam and Eve was revealed.
It was published. Jesus deposited the revelation
into the public domain
(00329)
(00564).
Forgiveness and
the fire of the Crucifixion are inextricably intertwined
in the process of the verification of the genuineness
of the Love Note.
Leave the fire
of the Crucifixion out and there is no verification.
Leave forgiveness out and there is no verification.
Both are essential elements of a single unit of
apocalyptic revelation. We brought hell to
the Crucifixion. Jesus brought heaven. Duality
is the hallmark of the Crucifixion. Omit the duality
of the Crucifixion and we empty the Crucifixion of
its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Duality is the ingredient that gives the
Crucifixion its sizzle. The duality
of the Crucifixion is the gravamen of Christianity -
superior to everything else. Everything else is
obiter dicta
(00459).
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[¶ 00572 Updated: 07_29_2024]
In the Incarnation, God sent us a Love Note.
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's radical love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
In the Crucifixion, God wrote the verification of
the Love Note in
the indelible ink of radical forgiveness.
Radical
forgiveness is the reflection of
the radical love of God.
Radical forgiveness is the intrusion of divinity
into our godless world.
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The Verification of the Love Note that
God had sent us in the Incarnation (00452)
[¶ 00142 Updated: 05_20_2024]
Why is the most Holy Eucharist, in the context
of the Mass, important?
(00574)
Why is the most Holy Eucharist, in the context
of the Mass, important?
The most Holy Eucharist, in the context
of the Mass, is important because
it is a Victory Party
(00558)
(00556)
at which the
duality of the Crucifixion
(00572)
(00568)
is re-enacted and Jesus, the hero of the
Crucifixion, is celebrated.
He is celebrated for bringing heaven to hell
- for hanging sweet forgivenes to the Cross
in bold defiance of the fact that,
during the Crucifixion,
we incinerated his flesh and blood
in the fire of hell - we used his flesh and blood
as flammable kindling to ignite and fuel the
fire of the Crucifixion.
In the laboratory of the Crucifixion, we subjected
Jesus to a gruesome experiment.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
Do not the circumstances make it highly unlikely -
extremely improbable - that
Jesus would continue to love us? Yet, his radical
love for us did not fade as we tortured him and
did not die when we killed him. The bonfire of love
that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart was neither
extinguished by the evils that we did to him during
the Crucifixion nor was its intensity reduced by
even the slightest degree. He continued to love us
nonetheless. His love for us survived the evils
that we did to him in the fire of the Crucifixion.
Although we
celebrate Jesus, the hero of the
Crucifixion, during Eucharistic Adoration, there
is no re-enacrment of the
duality of the Crucifixion during it.
Hence, the most Holy Eucharist in the context
of the Mass is a superior form of liturgy
(00549).
The re-enactment of the duality
of the Crucifixion is important because it
is the vehicle that conveys
the revelation about the radical love of God
to the children of Adam and Eve
(00558).
At Mass, Jesus, the hero of the Crucifixion,
makes and serves a meal of bread and wine to
his enemies who had kindled and fueled the
fire of the Crucifixion with the flammable
kindling of his flesh and blood. He
makes and serves his enemies a meal of bread
and wine while they are still chewing his
flesh in their mouths and his blood is still
staining their hands
(00573).
He included
his enemies within the scope of his love
so we would recognize and appreciate
the radicalness of his love
(00558)
(00103)
for the children
of Adam and Eve
(Matthew 22: 8-10)
(Matthew 13:47).
If his love for the children of Adam and Eve were
ordinary instead of radical, would Jesus have included
his enemies within the scope of his love?
In the context of a Mass, Jesus' enemies approach
the altar to take from him his flesh and blood.
They leave the altar with bread and wine.
They experience for themselves the duality of
the Crucifixion - the bipolarity of heaven
and hell.
Who
but our radically philanthropic God satisfies
the hunger of his enemies with bread, quenches
their thirst with wine and fills their bellies
with forgiveness
(00370)
(00561)
(00539)?
The meal of bread and wine that
Jesus makes and serves in the context of a Mass is
the apotheosis of radical forgiveness.
The meal of bread and wine is the irrefutable proof
that his love for us survived the evils that we did
to him. His love for us is radically intransigent.
Jesus won his victory in mortal combat
with the monster of the Crucifixion when
he boldly defied the fire of the Crucifixion
to perform the miracle of forgiveness
(00573)
(00570)
in its midst. The bush burned but the radical
love of God was not consumed
(00578)!
Making and serving a meal of bread and wine
in the context of a Mass re-enacts his victory.
Eat! Drink! For our Lord has revealed and verified
the Love Note that God had sent us in the Incarnation
in a glorious victory on the battlefield of the
Crucifixion.
Rally 'round the bipolar Cross and remember the
duality of the Crucifixion!
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[¶ 00574 Updated: 07_31_2024]
The most Holy Eucharist is the comestible
confirmation of the radical love of God
(00370)
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
was the master of the art of
non-verbal communication
(1 Kings 19:11-13).
He makes and serves us a meal of bread and wine.
He satisfies our hunger with bread.
He quenches our thirst with wine.
He fills our bellies with the food and
drink of forgiveness. He gives us a seat at the
family table, out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort and joy of the family tent.
He includes his enemies in the scope of his
generosity even though they ignited and fueled
the fire of the Crucifixion with the flammable
kindling of his flesh and blood. He included
his enemies so we would recognize and appreciate
the radicalness of his love for the children
of Adam and Eve
(Matthew 22: 8-10)
(Matthew 13:47).
The most Holy Eucharist is the comestible
confirmation of the radical love of God.
It is perfection in the non-verbal expression
of forgiveness.
There is no better or more
persuasive way to express forgiveness non-verbally
than by satisfying the hunger and quenching the
thirst of the enemies who still have your flesh
in their mouths and your blood on their hands.
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
was the master of the art of
non-verbal communication.
Our God reduces himself to a lower level of
complexity to communicate with us
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00370 Updated: 04_06_2024]
"Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready,
but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye
shall find, bid to the marriage.
So those servants went out into the highways,
and gathered together all as many as they found,
both bad and good:
and the wedding was furnished
with guests"
(Matthew 22: 8-10)
(Matthew 13:47).
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[¶ 00571 Updated: 07_27_2024]
The miracle of God's continued love for us verified its
genuineness (00253)
The survival of Jesus' love for us is the verification
of its genuineness. It is the proof. The Love Note
that God sent us in the Incarnation is real.
Jesus continued his love for us in circumstances
that made it extraordinarily difficult for him
to love us. The circumstances in which Jesus set
his love for us made us ineligible for his
love. They disqualified us.
In the laboratory of the Crucifixion, we subjected
Jesus to a gruesome experiment.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
Don't the circumstances make it highly unlikely that
Jesus would continue to love us?
Wouldn't any love for us have
faded as we tortured him and died when we killed him?
Love does not grow in the toxic soil of
evils.
It is a sterile matrix - utterly barren -
hostile in the extreme. So when love in the form of
forgiveness germinated, sprouted and grew,
we beheld a miracle. It was completely unexpected -
an utter surprise.
The greater were the evils that we did to Jesus
in the fire of the Crucifixion,
the more glorious is the miracle.
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[¶ 00253 Updated: 07_27_2024]
Jesus completed his Magnum Opus when he
brought heaven to hell
(00323)
Hell was the fire of the Crucifixion; heaven was
forgiveness.
Jesus is the artist who embellished the canvas of
the Crucifixion with the beauty
of forgiveness.
In the hell
of the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion,
Jesus completed his Magnum Opus.
What other artist works so successfully
in such adverse conditions?
Jesus showed us our potential.
Embellishment is our superpower.
Life is a beauty contest
(00535)
(00493).
We are beauticians.
Jesus set the standard of beauty on the Cross in
the fire of the Crucifixion.
Like Jesus, our job is to embellish the canvas of
life with heaven.
If we are not embellishing the canvas of life with
heaven as Jesus did, we are not doing Christianity -
we are not following Jesus.
Jesus is the vehicle that transported heaven to
hell to reveal God to us.
In the hell that we made for Jesus by
the evils that we did to him during his Crucifixion,
Jesus delivered to us the perfect expression of
the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'.
Jesus forgave us. Jesus testified to the fact
that forgiveness is God. He gave his testimony
in hell. Hell was an absurd venue for his
testimony. Yet, the asymmetry of the venue and
the testimony is precisely the punch that
gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
Furthermore, Jesus
launched a fleet of vehicles that carry the same
load and whose purpose is to deliver heaven
to the children of Adam and Eve incarcerated in hell.
Are you part of Jesus' fleet? Are you delivering
heaven to hell? Doing so brings about the golden age
of Christianity upon the earth.
We bring heaven to hell when we give food to the
hungry, drink to the thirsty, companionship to
the stranger, clothes to the naked, care for
the ill and make visits to prisoners
(Matthew 25:33-40).
Jesus did not say to throw the codex of rules, regulations,
red tape and rigmarole at the heads of those not
in compliance with it.
Being out of compliance is not one of the 'hells'
of human existence that Jesus had in mind nor
was turning the rulebook into a weapon a solution
that he embraced.
[Contrast this with Coloring Book
Christianity by clicking here (00184)]
(00508)
(00247).
"Do something beautiful for God" Mother Teresa
(Amazon).
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(00534)
(00536)
[¶ 00323 Updated: 07_13b_2024]
Preach the duality of the Crucifixion then get out of the way
to let God go to work
(00355)
Do you see what I see? Do you see the duality of
the Crucifixion?
The Crucifixion was a duality.
The Cross was bipolar. Both hell and
heaven hung from it. We hung the hell. Jesus
hung the heaven. The energy gradient between
heaven and hell powers the revelation of the
radical love of God. It gives the revelation
its sizzle. The hell that we hung is the foil
that highlights and
emphasizes and intensifies and magnifies and
amplifies and accentuates and underlines and
energizes
the heaven that Jesus hung.
What was hung from the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity?
What we hung on the Cross was different than
what Jesus hung - radically different.
We hung a tortured and dying corpse of flesh and blood.
Jesus hung the radical love of God.
We hung hell; Jesus hung heaven.
We took from him his flesh and blood.
He, however, did not give us what we took.
Instead of flesh and blood, he gave us
bread and wine. We deserved punishment for
what we did to Jesus. In lieu of
punishment, Jesus substituted forgiveness.
The Cross was bipolar. Both hell and
heaven hung from it.
The energy gradient between
heaven and hell powers the revelation of the
radical love of God. It gives the revelation
its sizzle.
Most, however, only see what we hung.
Few see what Jesus hung.
The hell of the Cross blinds them to its heaven.
Jesus hung the radical love of God
from the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
Salute the flag
(Romans 14:11)!
Rally 'round the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
When our blindness ends and we are able
to see that there were two hangings from the Cross
not just one, we will have become fully fledged
Christians.
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(00153)
[¶ 00355 Updated: 07_27_2024]
Preach the wonderous deeds that Jesus did
in the fire of the Crucifixion to build our
understanding of the radical love of God (00530)
The Crucifixion was a duality - a combination of heaven
and hell. Without an understanding of the duality
of the Crucifixion, any claim of being a Christian
is bogus. So, Christian, articulate the duality of
the Crucifixion. Put it into words. Show us your
bona fides! Verify your claim of being a Christian
by demonstrating your understanding of the duality
of the Crucifixion.
Belief in the radical love of God is not a luxury.
It is a necessity.
The radical love of God
(00152)
is the knowledge
that saves us from destruction
(00151)
(00494).
We only acquire it, however, by serious
contemplation of the Fire and Water of the
Crucifixion, that is, its bipolarity.
So, cleric, do your job!
Propagate the
Fire and Water of the Crucifixion - the Crucifixion's
bipolarity -
from the point and place of its
obscure origin in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
But, please, before you begin,
try to understand them yourself first!
All Christian professionals - in order to do their job -
must acquaint themselves with and become privy to
the Fire and Water of the Crucifixion.
An understanding of the bipolarity of the Crucifixion is
a must - a sine qua non - for the Christian professional.
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(00406)
(00531)
[¶ 00530 Updated: 07_27_2024]
What is God's desire for us? (00535)
God wants us to live a life refined by love
(00493).
He wants us to garnish the canvas of life with
the beauty of love, that is, with heaven
(00323)
(00516)
(00522)
(00487)
(00492)
(00493)
(00491)
(00486)
(00316)
(00482).
He wants the nobility of love to enter and abide in
our hearts.
Love supercharges life.
A life without love is a tabula rasa.
It is salt without flavor
(Matthew 5:13)
(00495).
Love is life in abundance
(John 10:10).
Love embellishes life.
Love is the treasure of Christianity.
Love is the grease that lubricates the wheels of our
passage through the hostile desert of
godlessness. Love reduces the friction and
enables us to slip through life.
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(00323)
[¶ 00535 Updated: 07_24_2024]
The Purpose of Life (00492)
What is the purpose of life? Our purpose is to
embellish the canvas of life with the various
pigments of love. Jesus did this in his Magnum Opus.
In answer to the atrocities that we did to him
during the Crucifixion, Jesus revealed our purpose
and demonstrated our potential. He forgave us
for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
Forgivenes is the sweetest of the sweet fruits of
love. The deposit of
forgiveness into the foil of evils made
a masterpiece of incomparable beauty.
Our job is to make our own
masterpieces as Jesus made his.
Our job is to add
beauty to the canvas of life as Jesus did.
We are capable.
We are made in the image and likeness
of God
(Genesis 1:26)
(00394).
This is our superpower
(00493).
What is stopping us from pulling the trigger?
Would that our clerical teachers do their jobs and
start to explain to us with confidence
our purpose in life. We cannot exercise
a superpower we do not know that we have.
A word to the wise is sufficient!
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(00487)
(00521)
[¶ 00492 Updated: 07_06_2024]
Christians follow Jesus from godlessness
through the Fire of the
Crucifixion to the Revelation of the Radical
Love of God (00521)
In the Fire of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
Jesus forged
the key of forgiveness.
The key of forgiveness
opened the gate to the kingdom of God
(Matthew 7:13-14)
(00502).
Repentance is the vehicle that takes us through the
gate, across the threshold and into the kingdom
of God.
"...
Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
(Matthew 4:17)
(00501)
(00126).
Between godlessness and the revelation of the radical
love of God burned the Fire of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
A hero was needed to take the children of Adam and
Eve through the fire of the Crucifixion
from godlessness to the revelation.
Jesus was the hero who made the epic journey.
The manner in which he made the journey to the
revelation was heroic
because, in the Incarnation, he had disarmed.
He had defortified himself. He had divested himself
of the full panoply of divinity.
Defortification on the brink of war is so contrary
to human logic that it boggles the mind.
What rational human general does this?
Even a military novice would reject a strategy of
disarmament. Only an insane combattant would rig
himself for defeat, right?
Yet, Jesus doffed
his invincible armor of divinity
in the Incarnation
and donned
our frail uniform of flesh and blood.
Dressed like us in his divinity depleted state,
Jesus put himself in harm's way.
He entered
the scrum at the line of scrimmage
in the war against evils
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16),
cheek to jowl with us,
toe to hoof against his enemies.
The almighty had made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
In weakness - with only his limited human resources -
Jesus entered the fire of the Crucifixion.
In the fire of the Crucifixion, Jesus revealed our
salvation.
We ignited and fueled the fire of the Crucifixion with
the kindling of his flesh and blood.
Jesus extinguished the fire of the Crucifixion
with the water of forgiveness
(John 7:37-38).
Glorious victory immersed ignominious defeat
(00514)
(00293).
It overwhelmed it.
Moreover, by extinguishing the fire of the Crucifixion
with the water of forgiveness,
Jesus showed us our superpower
(00492)
(00182).
Like Jesus, we, too,
can extinguish the fire.
In what direction was Jesus headed during his time
with us on earth?
He was headed in the direction of
the revelation of the radical love of God.
Between Jesus and the Revelation was
the fire of the Crucifixion.
The fire of the Crucifixion was a daunting
obstacle in his way, indeed
(Matthew 20:22).
Yet, Jesus had the courage to immolate himself in
the fire of the Crucifixion
(Daniel 3:16-28)
even though, in
the Incarnation, he had doffed
his invincible armor of divinity
and donned
our frail uniform of flesh and blood. In the
Incarnation, He became
one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner
with us in our suffering. He proceeded because getting
to the the revelation of
the radical love of God was crucial for our
salvation.
Jesus put himself in harm's way for us. Wow!
Who could have predicted such a courageous
sacrifice by our Creator for
creatures so unworthy that they were
still chewing his flesh in their mouths with
their teeth and their hands were still stained
red with the blood from his wounds?
Only radical love pushed him through
the fire of the Crucifixion to forge
the key of forgiveness for them.
Radical love was his
motivation.
No radical love;
no passage through the fire of the Crucifixion;
no forging of the key of forgiveness;
no opening of the gate to paradise;
no salvation
(00297).
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(00182)
(00492)
(00537)
[¶ 00521 Updated: 07_08_2024e]
In the fire of the Crucifixion - an inferno that we
had ignited and fueled with the flammable kindling of
his flesh and blood -, Jesus released the spirit
of forgiveness. In doing so, Jesus revealed the
radical love of God to us.
Who would have guessed that our God would have
answered the atrocities that we did to him in
such a gentle manner
(00561)
(00512)
(00496)
(00499)
(00466)
(00460)
(00450)
(00434)?
We did not deserve such gentleness;
yet, he blessed us with it anyway.
What a God is our God! What a delight!
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[¶ 00566 Updated: 07_22_2024]
How radical is the love of God? (00557)
The bipolarity of the Crucifixion is the irrefutable
proof of the radicalness of the love of God.
On the Cross, we hung hell; Jesus hung
heaven. The Crucifixion could not get any
more antipodal than this, could it? It could not
be any more radically asymmetric, right?
How radical is the love of God? Jesus continued to love
his enemies who had ignited the fire of the
Crucifixion and fueled it with the flammable kindling
of his flesh and blood. Jesus did not exclude them
from the scope of his love. They deserved exclusion
as punishment for their crimes against him. They were
guilty. Yet, he included them.
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
While we were unrepentant
(Matthew 22:10)
sinners
(Romans 5:8)
(Matthew 7:6),
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
expressed his love to them by releasing the spirit
of forgiveness into the fire of the
Crucifixion. The spirit
of forgiveness extinguished the fire of the Crucifixion.
We started the fire. Forgiveness put the fire out
(00529)
(00425)
(00248)
(00554)
(00536)
(00037).
Forgiveness gobsmacks us.
It delivers a powerful wallop -
so powerful that
it knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
We squirm under the overwhelming weight of the
radical love of God
(00508)
(00316).
Only the overwhelming weight of the
radical love of God squeezes the sin out of
us
(00518).
The radical love of God is the magic that turns
settlers into pilgrims and
sinners into saints
(00303)
(00037)
(00446).
The radical love of God gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to propagating it,
the power to change the world.
Embrace the magic!
The radical love of God is the Good News of Great Joy.
If his love for the children of Adam and Eve were
ordinary instead of radical, would Jesus have included
his enemies within the scope of his love?
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[¶ 00557 Updated: 07_18_2024]
The Fire of the Crucifixion is the football
of Christianity (00548)
Rally 'round the bipolar Cross
(00323)!
The fire of the Crucifixion is the football
that Christians carry into
the end zone. Without the football, the great game of
Christianity cannot be played.
The job of a football coach is to give his players
the ball.
Note:
Jesus waged and won the war against evils in
the fire of the Crucifixion. Jesus won and became
the hero of the Crucifixion
when he released the spirit of forgiveness onto
the battlefield of the Crucifixion while
we were igniting and fueling the fire of the
Crucifixion with
the flammable kindling of his flesh and blood.
The spirit of
forgiveness - the sweetest of the sweet fruits of
love - has accomplished many great and wonderous
prodigies including but not limited to
extinguishing the fire of the Crucifixion.
We started the fire. Forgiveness put the fire out.
Forgiveness neutralized it.
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[¶ 00548 Updated: 07_17_2024]
The Bipolarity of the most Holy Eucharist is a
reflection of the bipolarity of the Crucifixion
(00561)
When you look at the most Holy Eucharist, what do you see?
Do you see a cripple hopping about on one leg or an
athlete swiftly running on two? The most Holy
Eucharist is a two legged creature of God.
One leg is heaven, the other, hell.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
The Crucifixion was bipolar.
We brought hell to it.
Jesus brought heaven.
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him to the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
Jesus, however, did not hang mute.
His tongue was not nailed to the Cross.
He did not take the fifth.
Jesus answered the atrocities that we did to him
during the Crucifixion.
Conventional biblical wisdom created
the expectation of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48),
Thankfully for us, Jesus defied
the conventional biblical wisdom
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
and forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
He did not give us the punishment that we deserved.
He did not answer the evils that we did to him
in kind.
He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did not take from us the coin of our flesh and
blood as we took them from him.
His answer to the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion was radically asymmetric, that is,
bipolar.
The bipolarity of the Crucifixion
was the vehicle that
conveyed the apocalyptic revelation
of the radical love of God to the children of
Adam and Eve.
Our God designed the most Holy Eucharist to be a
reflection of the bipolarity of the Crucifixion.
At Mass, glorious victory erupts from ignominious defeat
by virtue of the most Holy Eucharist.
To achieve the bipolarity of the most Holy Eucharist,
Jesus amalgamated bread, wine, flesh
and blood into the most Holy Eucharist - a single
unit of apocalyptic revelation. In so doing, Jesus
made the
abstract concepts of ignominious defeat and
glorious victory concrete.
Jesus announced the amalgamation at the
Last Supper. We take from Jesus and consume his
flesh and blood. This is the hell that we brought
to the Crucifixion. We ignited the fire of the
Crucifixion and fueled it with the flammable
kindling of his flesh and blood.
The answer that Jesus
brings to the Crucifixion is heaven. He serves
us a meal of bread and wine. He satisfies our
hunger with bread. He quenches our thirst with
wine. He fills our bellies with the food and drink
of forgiveness. He gives us a seat at the family
table, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort
and joy of the family tent.
Bipolar was the Crucifixion - a combination of
heaven and hell. Bipolar is the most Holy
Eucharist, the same combination of heaven and hell.
The combination of heaven and hell reveals the
radicalness of God's love for the children of Adam
and Eve. We gave him hell. Still, God gives us heaven
(00356)
(00325)
(00506)
(00355).
In the fire of the Crucifixion, we discovered that
that the dial that
controls God's love for us is in his hands
not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree
and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we
did to him
could budge it.
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(00452)
(00457)
(00455)
[¶ 00561 Updated: 07_21_2024]
What is the worst enemy of Christianity?
(00552)
Jesus waged and won the war against evils in
the fire of the Crucifixion. Do you understand how
he accomplished his victory - what he did
to achieve it? Are you privy to his glorious
victory and the ignominious defeat that gave
rise to it?
Can you articulate it? If you do not have the
words to articulate Jesus' victory, you do not
understand Christianity no matter how much you
claim to be a Christian.
Hint: The taking of the most Holy Eucharist by
the congregation at Mass corresponds to
Jesus' ignominious defeat. We took from him his
flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood
was his to keep not ours to take.
The giving of the most
Holy Eucharist by a priest in persona Christi
corresponds to Jesus' glorious victory. He
gave to us bread and wine even though we deserved
punishment not forgiveness. Jesus gave
the most Holy Eucharist a dual identity at the
Last Supper. It is two sides of the same coin. In
the taking of the most Holy Eucharist the side
of the coin that matters is flesh and blood. The
flesh and blood side of the coin is the hell that
we brought to the Crucifixion. In
the giving of the most Holy Eucharist the side
of the coin that matters is bread and wine.
The bread and wine side of the coin is the heaven
that Jesus brought to the Crucifixion. The
Crucifixion was bipolar. Hence, the most Holy
Eucharist is bipolar. The Last Supper introduced
the bipolarity of the most Holy Eucharist to
correspond to the hell that we brought to the
table and the heaven that Jesus brought. Flesh
and blood for hell. Bread and wine for heaven.
(00549)
(00379)
(00539).
The worst enemy of Christianity is not the hostile,
secular culture. It is not the external enemy.
The worst enemy of Christianity is the Christian
who dilutes the radical love of God
(00551)
(00509)
(00423)
(00555)
(00152).
The radical love of God is divinity concentrated.
The radical love of God in its
highest and purest concentration,
undiluted by time and space,
unalloyed by evil, is Jesus
“…God is light, and in him there is no darkness
at all”
(1 John 1:5).
There was no room for evil
to enter the inn of his most Sacred Heart
(Luke 2:7).
Love had reserved all of the space for itself.
The worst enemy of Christianity is the Christian who
shrinks the size of the radical love of God,
narrows its scope and undermines its durability
(00555)
(00152).
The worst enemy is the Christian zealot who claims
to be a Christian but who does not have a clue about
the revelation of the radical love of God that Jesus
released in the fire of the Crucifixion.
The ignorant Christian zealot rots
Christianity from within. Beware of the cancer of
ignorant Christian zealots who consume
the body of Christ from within
(1 Corinthians 12:12-27)!
They reveal themselves by overweighting morality and
underweighting theology in the Christian scheme of
things. Their portfolio is out of balance
(00311)
(00131)
- their Christianity is out of whack.
The problem is that the Church has invested so much
in the doctrine of the real presence that it is
nigh near impossible to pry its iron grip from it
(Matthew 19:26).
This is
so given its allegiance to the procedural doctrines of
infallibility and the hermeneutic of continuance.
They restrict its room to maneuver dramatically.
Once the course is set it is hard to change.
Course corrections mid stream are frowned upon -
to put it mildly.
The
Church would rather be consistent than right.
However, upon closer scrutiny of the lens
of presence to view the most Holy Eucharist compared to
the lens of glorious victory, the superiority
of the lens of glorious victory is quickly
apprehended, and the iron grip weakens. Remember,
the doctrine of the real presence is not wrong.
The Church has not made an error.
It is just not quite right.
Jesus designed the Mass to express his
ignominious defeat and glorious victory by
means of re-enactment. The taking and giving
of the most Holy Eucharist are the re-enactment.
Presence does not rise to the task.
Presence does not re-enact.
Presence obfuscates the re-enactment.
Glorious victory illuminates.
Our thinking about the most Holy Eucharist
at Mass must evolve - it needs updating - it
needs to reach, not merely approach, the fullness
of truth.
"No man will give his life for a question mark;
he will for an exclamation point"
(Timothy Cardinal Dolan, New York Times, July
10, 2024, America’s New Catholic Priests:
Young, Confident and Conservative
by Ruth Graham ).
The apocalyptic revelation about the radical
love of God that erupted from the
theology of the fire of the Crucifixion is
the exclamation point!
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(00551)
(00509)
(00423).
(00152)
(00549).
[¶ 00552 Updated: 07_20_2024]
Do you appreciate God's radical philanthropy?
(00554)
Our God is a gift-giver - a radical philanthropist.
In the Incarnation, He sent us a Love Note
(00452)
(00142)
(00268)
(00084)
(00094)
(00251)
(00046)
(00474)
(00152).
Moreover, God did not stop his gift giving
at the Love Note. The Love Note was not
the end of the story.
God also blessed us with a Verification of
the Love Note.
The verification is the cherry that God put on
top of the Love Note. It is the icing on the cake.
Jesus verified the genuineness of the
Love Note.
The Love Note was verified in the demonstration
of forgiveness that unfolded in
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture, that
we may find out how gentle he is and make trial of
his forbearance"
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
If the Love Note were counterfeit, God's love
for us would have faded as we tortured Jesus and
died when we killed him. But it did not. God's love
for us survived the evils that we did to Jesus.
Its survival is the verification.
The evils that we did to Jesus did not extinguish
the bonfire of love that burns for us in God's
most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even
the slightest degree.
The dial that controls the radical love of God
is in
his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the
highest degree and is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to the flesh
and blood of the Son of God
could budge it.
The burning bush burns but it is not consumed
(Exodus 3:1-3)!
We set it on fire.
Are you privy to the gruesome experiment?
Do you appreciate God's philanthropy?
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[¶ 00554 Updated: 07_30_2024]
Who is the hero of Christianity, what exactly was his
victory, how do we celebrate him and his victory
today?
(00558)
The hero of Christianity is the hero of the Crucifixion.
In the fire of the Crucifixion, the hero of
Christianity invested all of his limited human
resources. He spent them all. He kept not a penny of
the coin of his flesh and blood in the bank in
reserve for himself. He has never spent more for anything
else. The size of his investment in the Crucificion
is a very good indicator
of its importance within the Christian scheme of
things, that is, the framework of Christianity.
Moreover, the size of his investment also is a
high fidelity reflection of
the humongous size of his radical love for us.
Let us begin the story of the Crucifixion with its
villain. We ignited the fire of the Crucifixion and
fueled it with the flammable kindling of his flesh
and blood. By the evils that we did to Jesus during
the Crucifixion, we waged war against our God.
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled
him to the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
We made ourselves God's enemies.
The evils that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion
served as the foil that highlighted and emphasized
and intensified and magnified and amplified and
accentuated and underlined and energized
the glorious victory that Jesus engineered
in the fire of the Crucifixion.
What exactly is the glorious victory that erupted
from the ignominious defeat
that befell Jesus in the fire of the Crucifixion?
Victory was won the moment that Jesus released the
spirit of forgiveness in the fire of the Crucifixion.
The spirit of forgiveness accomplished many great
and wonderous prodigies. It extinguished the the fire
of the Crucifixion. We lit the fire. Forgiveness snuffed
it out. It opened the narrow gate into the kingdom
of God. Now we can cross the theshold into Paradise on
the vehicle of repentance. It confronts us with the
radical love of God. It challenges us to grips with
it - to reconcile ourselves to it. It showed us our
artistic potential. We, too, can beautify
the canvas of life with
the gentle brush of love even in the most hostile
circumstances. Am I leaving any of the great and
wondrous prodigies that arose from the outpouring
of the spirit of forgiveness out?
Have I named them all?
Today, we celebrate his glorious victory at the Mass.
The Mass is a memorial, celebration and re-enactment
of his victory.
The Mass is a victory party not a presence party
(00556).
It celebrates the apotheosis of forgiveness
that Jesus achieved when he serves a meal
of bread and wine to his enemies who had ignited
and fueled the fire of the Crucifixion with the
flammable kindling of his flesh and blood.
At Mass, we approach the altar of sacrifice to take
from Jesus his flesh and blood. The flames of candles
flicker around the altar to remind us that the fire
of the Crucifixion consumed his flesh and blood.
Jesus, however, does not give us exactly what we
take. At the Last Supper, Jesus substituted bread
and wine for his flesh and blood. He incarnated
forgiveness into shells of bread and wine.
He made the abstract concept of forgiveness tangible,
concrete and comestible
(00425).
Is there
a better, more persuasive way to express forgiveness
than by serving your enemies a meal? At the Last
Supper, Jesus turned the altar of sacrifice into
a table of forgiveness - ignominious defeat into
glorious victory via the magic of forgiveness.
We approached the altar for his flesh and blood.
We leave the altar with the apotheosis of
forgiveness, that is, with a meal of bread and wine.
As the Crucifixion released Jesus from his shell of
flesh and blood, our consumption of the meal
releases him from his shell of bread and wine
so he can build the kingdom of God within us
(00425).
After the Mass is complete the flames of the candles
around the altar are extinguished to remind us that
forgiveness extinguished the fire of the Crucifixion.
The Mass propagates Jesus' glorious victory
from the point and place of its
obscure origin in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
Viewing the Mass as a victory party instead of a presence
party is a better interpretation of the Mass. In this
way of looking at the Mass, there is a stronger
correspondence between the Mass and the Crucifixion.
Presence is colorless. Presence is odorless.
It is neutral in flavor. It is drab. There are no
fireworks in presence. Presence is an enigmatic
black box.
Viewing
the Mass as a presence party robs it of its pizzazz.
Victory is the ingredient that makes the Mass sizzle
(00506)
For the stubborn among us who obstinately persist
in viewing the Mass as a presence party instead
of as a victory party, ask yourselves,
'What Christian liturgy celebrates Jesus' glorious
victory?'. By thinking of the Mass as a presence
party and not as a victory party, have we not
swept his victory under the rug? Doesn't presence
obscure victory?
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[¶ 00558 Updated: 07_19_2024]
The Mass is a Victory Party not a Presence Party
(00556)
The Mass is not a presence party. It is a Victory Party.
We started the fire of the Crucifixion.
Jesus put it out.
The Mass propagates Jesus' glorious victory
from the point and place of its
obscure origin in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
In
'Organizers hope for spiritual revival with US
bishops' National Eucharistic Congress'
by Brian Fraga
on July 17, 20024, he quotes Cardinal Christophe Pierre,
the Vatican Ambassador to the United States, saying
"We have set out on this Eucharistic Revival because we want our people
to come to a renewed and deeper appreciation of Christ's presence in te
Eucharist"
(NCR Article).
This is the goal but it is a bad goal. It misses the
point of the most Holy Eucharist.
The statement of Cardinal Christophe Pierre,
the Vatican Ambassador to the United States, is
not quite right.
Indeed, we celebrate
Jesus, the hero of the Crucifixion, at a Mass.
The most Holy Eucharist, however, is a re-enactment
of his Victory during the Crucifixion. Presence is not
enough. The Mass is not a celebration of his presence.
The Mass is a reminder and celebration of the
hero of the Crucixion and the victory that he won
there. It is not a presence party. It is a victory
party. Jesus turned ignominious defeat into glorious
by pouring the spirit of forgiveness on the fire
of the Crucifixion. We had ignited the fire
of the Crucifixion with the flammable kindling of
his flesh and blood. We started the fire; Jesus put
it out.
It is important for our religious elite to
upgrade their understanding of the most Holy Eucharist
and bring it in better correspondence with the
Crucifixion
(00549)
Upon a meal of bread and wine - the tangible
and comestible
incarnation of the spirit of forgiveness, the
edifice of Christianity is built.
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(The Most Holy Eucharist)
[¶ 00556 Updated: 09_11_2024]
Which is the superior form of Liturgy and
why: the Mass or Eucharistic Adoration?
(00549)
Upon a meal of bread and wine - the tangible
and comestible
incarnation of the spirit of forgiveness, the
edifice of Christianity is built.
At Mass and during Eucharistic Adoration, we
celebrate Jesus, the hero of the Crucifixion,
for the victory againt evils that he won in the
fire of the Crucifixion. The difference in
the two celebrations is that during Mass, Jesus'
victory is re-enacted. At Eucharistic Adoration,
it is not.
At Mass, we take from Jesus his flesh and blood.
However, Jesus does not give us precisely
what we take. He makes a substitution
(00020)
(00055)
(00450).
He serves us a meal of bread and wine during
the Mass.
We came for flesh and blood; we left with bread
and wine. His flesh and blood were not ours to take
but his to keep, We deserved punishment not forgiveness.
Yet, he did not punish us; he forgave us
(00539).
A chef makes a meal for consumption not merely
for display. Our hunger needs to be satisfied.
Our thirst needs to be slaked. Our bellies
need to be filled. There is no satisfying,
slaking or filling during Eucharistic Adoration.
Hence, the Mass is a superior form of liturgy
compared to Eucharistic Adoration.
Eucharistic Adoration plays second fiddle to the
Mass.
That being
said, there are lot of worse things that we can
do in lieu of Eucharistic Adoration.
Note:
Jesus waged and won the war against evils in
the fire of the Crucifixion. Jesus won and became
the hero of the Crucifixion
when he released the spirit of forgiveness into
the world while
we were fueling the fire of the Crucifixion with
the kindling of his flesh and blood.
A Mass is a Victory
Party at which we celebrate the hero of the
Crucifixion and re-enact his victory
(00204).
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(00552)
(00377)
(00500)
(00035)
(00550)
(00416)
(00556)
(US bishops' Eucharistic Revival misses how synodality makes for better Eucharist,
National Catholic Reporter, July 12, 2024, by
Thomas Reese)
[¶ 00549 Updated: 07_31_2024]
Getting to know the hero of the Crucifixion and
his Victory (00537)
Jesus is the hero of the Crucifixion and his
victory - the moment he turned ignominious
defeat into glorious victory - was the
moment he released the spirit of forgiveness
onto the battlefield. The spirit of forgiveness
extinguished the fire of the Crucifixion that we
had ignited and fueled with the flammable
kindling of his flesh and blood. Forgiveness
put the fire out.
Between godlessness and the revelation of the radical
love of God burned the Fire of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
A hero was needed to take the children of Adam and
Eve through the fire of the Crucifixion
from godlessness to the revelation.
Jesus was the hero who made the epic journey
(00521).
Jesus blazed the trail
(John 14:6)
across the hostile desert of godlessness
from the starting line to the finish line
of the gruesome
experiment
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
that we cruelly
administered to him in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion
so we could follow him
(00521)
to the revelation
about the radical love of God
(00488).
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
The test and its result are rich in revelation -
far richer than any
other clue that our God left us
(00276).
The test and its result help us to figure out
for ourselves this thing called God.
'Tis better and more effective to be prophets
of the revelation of the radical love of God
than kings trying to regulate our behavior. Can we
devote at least 50% of our time to being prophets?
Is 50% too much to ask
(00311)?
Let us give the prophets a chance
(00402)
(00494)
(00151)
(00131)
(00542)
(00543)
(00544)!
More theology, less morality. More
revelation, less regulation. More prophet, less king.
Always. No exceptions.
Theology is the force that shapes morality.
Theology molds the contours, profile, limits
and, in short, the overall topography of morality.
The followeres of Ares
and Bacchus observe a different morality than
the followers of Christ. Their morality is a
reflection of their theology.
Therefore, it is important that we get our theology
of God right. It is important that our theology
of God is high fidelity - that our theology
of God matches the reality of God. The greater
is the verisimilitude between our theology
of God and the reality of God, the better is
our morality. so, let us close the gap
(00471).
How?
By serious contemplation of the theology of
the fire of the Crucifixion and the revelation
of the radical love of God that erupted from
the flames.
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[¶ 00537 Updated: 07_16_2024b]
What energizes the pursuit of God?
(00538)
A high fidelity theology energizes the pursuit of God. In
the case of the Christian God, it is the theology
surrounding the fire of the Crucifixion. The fire
of the Crucifixion is the inspiration for the
pursuit of the Christian God. Nothing else. Why?
The fire of the Crucifixion revealed the radical
love of God for the children of Adam and Eve.
The assumption of the Christian enterprise is that,
if the sweetness of paradise
becomes known, the children of Adam and Eve will
pursue it.
Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise
and flee the sourness of godlessness.
It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise.
It is crazy to do otherwise.
We are disobedient not irrational.
God's power made paradise for us.
God's love for us, however,
is the ingredient that makes paradise sweet. Power
begets respect. But love begets love - only love
begets love.
God's radical love for us,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope,
and forever in duration
is the honey that draws the bees back home
to their hive.
God's radical love for us is the reason that
the birds fly home to their nest.
God's radical love for us is the inescapable,
centripetal force
that pulls us back to paradise.
The theology of the radical love of God
and this theology alone is the
understanding whose gravity pulls us into
an ever tightening orbit
around God.
What energizes the pursuit of God?
The discovery
of the radical love of God energizes our pursuit
of him.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
God declared,
"... they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing"
(Psalm 34:10)
(Matthew 7:7-8).
Only participation in the process of seeking God
produces results.
Thus, the pursuit of the radical love of God is
primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is
secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect.
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[¶ 00538 Updated: 07_16_2024]
What was hung from the Cross during the Crucifixion? (00536)
We hung hell from the Cross in the Crucifixion. Jesus
hung heaven. The Crucifixion was a double hanging.
What was brought to the table of the Crucifixion,
that is, to the venue where Jesus released the
revelation about the radical love of God?
We brought hell. Jesus brought heaven.
We brought the fire; Jesus brought the water.
We ignited and fueled the fire of the Crucifixion
with the flammable kindling of his flesh and blood.
He extinguished the fire of the Crucifixion with
the water of forgiveness.
The bipolarity between our contribution
to the Crucifixion and the Son of
God's contribution was the vehicle that Jesus
used to convey the
revelation about the radical love of God.
Bipolarity was the rocket that carried the
payload
(00477).
Radical asymmetry revealed God to us.
The revelation
is the Good News of Great Joy.
God is not like us - way different
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
The #1 source of error in understanding the meaning
of the Crucifixion
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
(See, 00355)
(00361)
(00156)
(00010)
(00001)
is the failure to recognize the bipolarity of
the Crucifixion. Two things, not one, were hung
from the Cross. We hung hell; Jesus hung heaven.
The Crucifixion was a double hanging.
Without
recognizing the bipolarity of the Cross, we
empty the Cross of its meaning and, thereby,
distort our understanding of the radical love
of God.
Christians rally 'round the bipolar Cross.
They coalesce there. The bipolarity of
the Crucifixion is the safe harbor of
Christianity. It gives us our hope that we
shall survive the storms that besiege us as
we make our escape in the new Exodus
through the Valley of Tears
from godlessness to God.
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(00511)
(00323)
[¶ 00536 Updated: 07_25_2024]
Deconstructing the Hodgepodge of Flesh, Blood,
Bread and Wine (00539)
In the new Incarnation, Jesus deposits the spirit of
forgiveness into the bread and wine of the most
Holy Eucharist. To remember and celebrate his glorious
victory with his friends and his enemies,
He feeds them a meal of bread and wine
(00036).
Keep in mind
that his enemies had quite recently
ignited the fire of the
Crucifixion and fueled
it with the kindle of his flesh and blood.
Yet, he included them.
He welcomed them to a seat at the family table,
out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort
and joy of the family tent.
He satisfied their hunger with bread. He quenched
their thirst with wine. He filled their bellies
with the spirit of forgiveness. Forgiveness cannot
get any more concrete and comestible than this, can
it?
Radical is the scope
of the love of God
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7)!
By depositing the spirit of forgiveness
into a meal of bread and wine, Jesus gave it
a local habitation and a name
(00423)
(00475)
(00540).
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(00552)
[¶ 00539 Updated: 07_14_2024]
From the position of prominence on the flagpole of
Christianity in the fire of the Crucifixion, Jesus
sent a message to his enemies. The vehicle that
carried his message was a meal of bread and wine.
He invited them to take a seat with him at the
family table, out of the sun and the rain, under
the comfort and joy of the family tent.
Even though his enemies ignited the fire of the
Crucifixion and fueled it with the flammable kindling
of his flesh and blood, Jesus welcomes them
to satisfy their hunger with bread, to slake
their thirst with wine, and to fill their
bellies with the spirit of forgiveness. Radical is
the scope of the love of God
(Matthew 22: 8-10).
Note: Participation in the treasure hunt is open to
all of the children of Adam and Eve regardless of
their compliance with any byzantine codex of
rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Nobody
is excluded not even snners. The treasure hunt is
not reserved for saints. The participation of both
the good and the bad is encouraged and welcome
(Matthew 22: 8-10).
Why?
Close encounters with the radical love of God
are the catalyst of conversion. Only love begets love.
So, Jesus loved us first.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
Only close encounters with
the radical love of God depetrify our stony hearts
and fleshify them
(Ezekiel 36:26).
Close encounters with a byzantine codex of rules,
regulations, red tape and rigmarole do not produce the
same result.
By loving us first
(1 John 4:19),
Jesus jump-started our
transformation into children of God
(1 John 3:1).
No participation in the treasure hunt;
no transformation.
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[¶ 00541 Updated: 07_16_2024]
[Under Construction]
Jesus did his best work on the Cross in the fire
of the Crucifixion. He did more - much more -
than merely suffer and die. On the Cross in the
fire of the Crucifixion, Jesus was active not
passive - at the apotheosis of the radical
love of God (00534)
Forgiveness is the common motif of the great and
wondrous
deeds that Jesus did on the Cross in the fire of
the Crucifixion
(00323).
On the Cross in the fire of
the Crucifixion, forgiveness assumed many forms.
Forgiveness was the weapon that Jesus used on
the Cross in the fire of the Crucifixion to wage
and win the war against evils
(00363)
(00364)
(00365)
(00521).
Jesus put himself in harm's way.
He entered
the scrum at the line of scrimmage
in the war against evils
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16),
cheek to jowl with us,
toe to hoof against his enemies.
Jesus did not hang passively on the Cross
as a worm hangs on a hook. He was busy.
On the Cross in the fire of the Crucifixion,
Jesus went to work. He did not merely suffer and die.
He did great deeds while suffering and dying.
In fact, the venue for his best, most impacrful
work was on the Cross in the fire of the Crucifixion.
The great deeds that he did while sacrificing his
flesh and blood were the vehicle on which
he conveyed the revelation of the radical love
of God to the children of Adam and Eve.
On the Cross in the fire of the Crucifixion,
Jesus performed the roles of
blacksmith, artist, firefighter, hero, magician
and savior.
[Contrast this with Coloring Book
Christianity by clicking here (00184)]
(00508)
We ignited the fire of the Crucifixion and fueled it
with the kindling of Jesus' flesh and blood.
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled
him to the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death. The evils that we did to
Jesus during the Crucifixion fashioned the foil that
highlighted and emphasized and intensified and
magnified and amplified and accentuated and
underlined and energized the work that Jesus did on
the Cross in the fire of the Crucifixion.
While burning in the fire of the
Crucifixion, Jesus, the blacksmith,
forged the key of forgiveness.
Forgiveness opened the narrow gate to the kingdom of
God. We cross the threshold of the kingdom of
God on the vehicle of repentance
"...
Repent: for [the narrow gate is opened so]
the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
(Matthew 4:17)
(00501)
(00502)
(00126)
(00511)
(00228)
(00521)
(00485)
(00039)
(00533).
While burning in the fire of the
Crucifixion, Jesus, the artist,
created his Magnum Opus.
Jesus created a Masterpiece of Love in the form
of forgiveness on the canvas of
the Crucifixion at an exorbitant cost to himself.
What other artist works so successfully in such
adverse conditions?
The
size, scope and durability
of his love proved extraordinary.
Size
is a function of cost. The cost to him for the
creation of his Magnum Opus was exorbitantly expensive.
Jesus paid the cost in the coin of his
flesh and blood.
He emptied his pockets of all of his limited
human resources. He kept not a penny in the
bank in reserve for himself.
Does not the size of his payment inform us of
the radical size of his love for us?
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24).
This statement, however, is not quite true despite
it being
biblical wisdom. Jesus lay down his life for his
enemies. Who does this but the God who loves us?
Scope
is a function of who is included or excluded.
The beneficiaries of his love in the form of
forgiveness included the enemies who chewed his flesh
with their teeth and whose hands were
stained red with his blood. Radical, too, is the
scope of his love!
Durability
is a function of its stability over time
and under pressure. We discovered from our
test of him
in the fire of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
that the dial that
controls God's love for us is in his hands
not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree
and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we
did to the Son of God in the laboratory
of the Crucifixion while he was human, tender,
vulnerable and our guest upon the earth
could budge it.
The gruesome ordeal that we put Jesus through
during the Crucifixion
did not extinguish the bonfire of love that
burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or
reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree.
It did not stop Jesus from continuing to love us
nonetheless.
His radical love for us did not
fade as we tortured him and did not die
when we killed him. Steadfast is the radical
love of God. Wow!
After the fire of the
Crucifixion had served its purpose, Jesus,
the firefighter, extinguished it with the
water of forgiveness.
(John 7:37-38).
He put the fire out.
We deserved punishment not forgiveness for taking from
him his flesh and blood. They were his to keep
not ours to take. Yet, Jesus did
not give us what we deserved.
In fact, he did not wait for our conversion to
forgive us, he forgave us to bring about our
conversion
(00348)
(00393).
After the fire of the
Crucifixion had served its purpose, Jesus,
the hero, turned ignominious defeat into
glorious victory.
After the fire of the
Crucifixion had consumed his flesh, his
blood and his life, Jesus,
the magician, conjured up new life via
the magic of forgiveness.
Love does not grow in the toxic soil of the
Crucifixion. It is a sterile matrix - utterly barren -
hostile in the extreme. So when love in the form of
forgiveness germinated, sprouted and bloomed,
we beheld a miracle. It was completely unexpected
- an utter surprise. The greater were the evils that
we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion,
the more glorious is the miracle.
Jesus is the hero who turned igmonious defeat
on the Cross in the fire of the Crucifixion
into glorious victory through the magic of
forgiveness. We remember and celebrate
the magic of forgiveness
with the magician at a Mass. At a Mass, we rejoice
at his glorious victory. What a victory party is a
Mass!
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[¶ 00534 Updated: 07_13_2024 under construction]
The Fire and Water of the Crucifixion
(a/k/a its Bipolarity) build our
understanding of the radical love of God (00532)
We ignited the fire of the Crucifixion and fueled it
with the kindling of Jesus' flesh and blood.
Like a geyser, the Water of Forgiveness erupted from
the Fire of the Crucifixion. The eruption
opened the enigmatic black box in which
our God was hiding from us
(Isaiah 45:15)
(Psalm 91:1)
to reveal the radical love
of our God.
What is the the Fire and
Water of the Crucifixion - the Crucifixion's
bipolarity?
We ignited the fire of the Crucifixion and fueled it
with the kindling of Jesus' flesh and blood.
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled
him to the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
While burning in the fire of the
Crucifixion, Jesus forged the key of forgiveness.
Forgiveness opened the narrow gate to the kingdom of
God. We cross the threshold of the kingdom of
God on the vehicle of repentance
"...
Repent: for [the narrow gate is opened so]
the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
(Matthew 4:17)
(00501)
(00502)
(00126)
(00511)
(00228)
(00521)
(00485)
(00039)
(00533).
After the key was forged,
Jesus
extinguished the fire of the Crucifixion
with the water of forgiveness
(John 7:37-38).
He put the fire out.
Compared to the atrocities
that we did to him during the Crucifixion,
Jesus's answer to them was radically asymmetric,
that is, bipolar.
Jesus created a Masterpiece of Love in the form
of forgiveness on the canvas of
the Crucifixion at an exorbitant cost to himself
for the benefit of the enemies who chewed his flesh
with their teeth and whose hands were
stained red with his blood.
His creation was his Magnum Opus.
What other artist works so
successfully in such adverse conditions?
In short, we hung hell from the Cross;
Jesus hung heaven.
At public liturgies, we remember and celebrate in
astonishment the radical love of God
that erupted from the dark foil of the Crucifixion as
the dawn emerges from the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
The light from the Fire of the Crucifixion
illuminated the forgiveness that erupted from it
and, in so doing, illuminated the darkness
of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of
apocalyptic epiphany.
We were guilty; yet, our God
forgave us. He did not visit upon us the punishment
that we deserved.
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
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(00406)
(00531)
(00303)
[¶ 00532 Updated: 07_11_2024d]
The Simplicity of Christianity (00529)
We came for a homicide; we left with a meal
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
The water of forgiveness extinguished the fire of
the Crucifixion and ignited the fire of love.
The fire of love is the energy of life.
Jesus fought fire with fire. Love is the water
that extinguishes and ignites.
Jesus is the hero of the Crucifixion
(00521)
(00523)
(00500)
(00261)
(00001).
At an exorbitant
cost to himself
(00065)
(00468)
(00406)
(00451)
(00453)
(00439)
(00396),
he passed through the fire of the
Crucifixion
(00524)
(00521)
to reach the revelation of the radical
love of God
(00512).
His purpose was to depetrify our hearts of stone and
fleshify them with the revelation
(00128)
(00425)
(00348).
“I have come to set the earth on fire [with the
revelation of the radical
love of God],
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
We fueled the fire of the Crucifixion with
the kindling of his flesh and blood.
Jesus extinguished the fire of the Crucifixion
with the water of forgiveness
(John 7:37-38).
Jesus put the fire out. He extinguished one fire
by starting another
(Luke 12:49)!
The water of forgiveness ignited the fire of love.
"We love him because he loved us
first"
(1 John 4:19).
Love begot love. And radical love begets love
radically.
What a glorious paradox! What a sublime mystery!
Water that extinguishes and ignites
(John 7:37-39)!
The water of forgiveness extinguished the fire of
the Crucifixion and ignited the fire of love.
The fire of love is the energy of life.
Jesus fought fire with fire. Love is the water
that extinguishes and ignites.
The Mass is a Victory Party
(00513)
(00515)
(00155).
We celebrate his heroic victory with him
at Mass.
Forgiveness is the cause of our celebration.
Our God forgave us even though we were still chewing
his flesh in our mouths with our teeth and our hands
were still stained red with the blood from his
wounds
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
We were guilty; yet, still, he forgave us
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
The greater were the evils that we did
to him during the Crucifixion, the sweeter is the
forgiveness.
The components of the core of Christianity are the fire
of the Crucifixion, the hero of the Crucifixion
and the Victory of the Crucifixion. Understand
Fire, Hero and Victory and you will have a
pretty good understanding of Christianity -
better than most. Fire, Hero and Victory point
us in the direction of the revelation of the
radical love of God - the cynosure of
Christianity.
The Fire of the Crucifixion cannot be
circumnavigated. It cannot be gone around.
To get to its other side, the only way is
through
(Matthew 7:13-14)
(00502).
The cost to go through the Fire of the
Crucifixion was not cneap. In fact, it
was exorbitantly expensive.
Jesus paid the cost in the coin of his
flesh and blood.
He emptied his pockets of all of his limited
human resources. He kept not a penny in the
bank in reserve for himself.
We have a decision to make.
Shall we not join Jesus on the other side?
Is the cost of getting to the other side
worth it?
How much are we
willing to pay
(Mark 10:17-31)?
How much are we willing to bid for the prize
(Matthew 13:44-46)
(00483)
(00459)
(00440)
(00055)
(00449)
(00450)
(00435)
(00431)
(00265)
(00392)
(00028)
(00300)?
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[¶ 00529 Updated: 07_10_2024f]
The Fire of the Crucifixion (00524)
The Fire of the Crucifixion is the gravamen of
Christianity - superior to everything else.
Everything else is obiter dicta. Why? The water
of forgiveness arose from the Fire of the
Crucifixion like a fountain
(Jeremiah 2:13)
(James 3:11)
(Proverbs 16:22)
(Zechariah 13:1)
(Revelation 21:6)
to extinguish it. The resurrection
of the Water of Forgiveness from the fire of
the Crucifixion
is the only resurrection
that matters. It revealed the radical love of God
to us.
It opened the enigmatic black box in which our God
was hiding
(Isaiah 45:15)
(Psalm 91:1)
to let the cat out of the bag.
The uprising of the Water of Forgiveness to
extinguish the Fire of the Crucifixion
filled the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
The Fire of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
(Isaiah 43:2)
is the key to an understanding
of Christian theology
(00177).
The light from the Fire of the
Crucifixion illumunated the darkness of our understanding
of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Jesus put himself in harm's way after he had defortified
himself in the Incarnation
(00365)
(00526).
[Who disarms on the brink of war?]
Jesus passed through the Fire of the Crucifixion to lead
the children of Adam and Eve to the revelation of
the radical love of God.
Only by following Jesus through the Fire of his Crucifixion
do we discover the radical love of God.
The revelation of
the radical love of God was the purpose of Jesus'
visit to the children of Adam and Eve.
The manner in which he released the revelation
was most extraordinary and unexpected.
He paid for the release of the revelation with
the coin of his flesh and blood. Moreover, He paid the
exorbitant cost of the revelation even though we were
still chewing his flesh in our mouths and the blood
from his wounds was still staining our hands.
He kept not
a penny of his limited human resources in the bank
in reserve for himself. He was all in.
He bet the farm on the revelation of the radical
love of God.
We have a relationship with the Fire of the Crucifixion
and our God also has a relationship with it.
During the Crucifixion, we hung hell to the Cross.
Jesus hung heaven.
We fueled the fire of the Crucifixion with
the kindling of Jesus'
flesh and blood.
Jesus extinguished the fire of the Crucifixion with
the water of forgiveness
(John 7:37-38).
By extinguishing
the fire of the Crucifixion with
the water of forgiveness, Jesus revealed the
radical love of God to us.
Wow! Is there a better theology of God than the
theology of God that Jesus himself showed us by
passing through the fire of the Crucifixion?
If we grok
the Fire of the Crucifixion, we will have perfected
our understanding of God.
The wise anchor their understanding of God to
the fire of the Crucifixion
(Matthew 7:24-27).
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(00523)
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[¶ 00524 Updated: 07_08_2024]
Who are Christians? (00522)
In a narrow sense, Christians are firefighters who
extinguish the fires of the crucifixions through which
they pass with the water of forgiveness.
In a broader sense, Christians are
artists who add the beauty of love to the canvas
of life even during the most adverse circumstances
(00495).
Being a Christian is about what we do
(00147)
(00412)
(00410)
(00411).
Are you a Christian?
Whether we do Christianity or not depends on
whether we have experienced a close encounter with
the radical love of God, that is, whether we have
been confronted with the radical love of God,
challenged to come to grips with it, and have
reconciled ourselves to it
(00525).
Christianity is the religion that makes sinners squirm
under the overwhelming weight of the radical love
of God
(00184).
Only a close encounter with
the radical love of God squeezes the sin out of
us
(00518).
The radical love of God is the magic that turns
settlers into pilgrims and
sinners into saints
(00303)
(00037)
(00446).
The radical love of God supplies the energy
to us
as we make our escape
in the company of the new Exodus
(Exodus 13: 17-18),
through our dire predicament
in the hostile desert of godlessness
between Scylla & Charybdis,
across the Red Sea of death
(1 Corinthians 15:26),
over the finish line
(2 Timothy 4:7),
and into the promised land
flowing with milk and honey
(Numbers 13:27)
hand-in-hand, arm-in-arm,
together as one family to
the rhythmic beat of the loving heart
of our living God
(00527).
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(00493)
(00492)
[¶ 00522 Updated: 07_06_2024c]
How do we Rejuvenate Christianity? (00517)
The pursuit of God is sputtering and stalling.
It is flagging. Fewer and fewer of the children of
Adam and Eve are going to Mass. Of those who go,
fewer still understand that the Mass is a Victory
Party not a Presence Party
(00515).
Nobody goes to Confession.
Vocations are drying up.
Marriages are crumbling.
Churches are withering and dying.
The only sacrament holding its own is
the sacrament of extreme unction and
this is so only because the dying do not have
much of a choice.
The trend is downward and accelerating.
The thermometer that gauges the temperature of
the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity.
By this measure, the patient is moribund -
a few breaths away from death.
But, do not lose hope. There is a solution.
Moreover, the solution does not
entail a change in doctrine - just a change in
emphasis - a tweak, nothing more.
We need to shift our focus
(00519)
(00520)
(00138).
We need to focus more on the operating system of
Christianity
(00493)
(00491)
and less on Christianity's applications
(00312).
At the level of the operating system of
Christianity is found its pizzazz. The nitty gritty
of Christianity - the obiter dicta
(00459)
(00509)
-
is found at the level of the
Christian applications. At the operating
system level is the radical love of God
(00152) -
the knowledge of God
that saves us from destruction
(00151)
(00494).
The radical love of God is Christianity's
best recruitment and retention tool
(00496).
It is irrational to expect a child of Adam and Eve
to behave as a Christian behaves and to believe as a
Christian believes before they become a Christian
(00518).
So, how is a Christian made?
The radical love of God is captivating.
The centripetal force of its gravity pulls us into
an ever tightening orbit around God.
The radical love of God gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to propagating it,
the power to change the world.
Only a close encounter with the operating system of
Christianity transforms a child of Adam and Eve into
a Christian.
Only exposure to the radical love of God shifts
the paradigm.
Therefore, more theology, less morality. More
revelation, less regulation. More prophet, less king.
Always. No exceptions.
Can we devote 50% of the conversation to God? Is
50% too much to ask?
Let us meditate on the radical love of God
day and night
(Joshua 1:8).
Let the radical love of God percolate
through us.
Let us figure out for ourselves
this thing that we call God.
Let us immerse ourselves in it.
Why?
If we do not meditate on it day and night
we are robbing ourselves of the insights -
the epiphanies - the breakthroughs in
understanding - that continuous, focused
meditation on a single topic
can bring us.
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(00311)
(00511)
[¶ 00517 Updated: 07_14_2024]
The bipolarity of the Crucifixion
was the vehicle that
conveyed the apocalyptic revelation
of the radical love of God
(00512)
The Cross was bipolar.
Revelation hitched a ride on its bipolarity.
How many hangings took place during the Crucifixion?
Our salvation depends on getting it through our
thick skulls that two hangings took place during
the Crucifixion - not one.
We hung hell; Jesus hung heaven.
We fueled the fire of the Crucifixion with
the kindling of his
flesh and blood.
Jesus extinguished the fire of the Crucifixion
with the water of forgiveness
(John 7:37-38).
The fuse was lit.
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled
him to the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
The bomb, however, was a dud. It
did not detonate.
Conventional biblical wisdom created
the expectation of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48),
Thankfully for us, Jesus defied
the conventional biblical wisdom
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
and forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
He did not give us the punishment that we deserved.
He did not answer the evils that we did to him
in kind.
He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did not take from us the coin of our flesh and
blood as we took from him.
His answer to the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion was radically asymmetric, that is,
bipolar.
The bipolarity of the Crucifixion
was the vehicle that
conveyed the apocalyptic revelation
of the radical love of God to the children of
Adam and Eve.
Jesus accepted conventional defeat to show the children
of Adam and Eve unconventional divinity
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Divinity and humanity are as different as the night is
different from the day.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Jesus created the beauty of forgiveness in the
hostile desert of the Crucifixion. His creation
was his Magnum Opus. What other artist works so
successfully in such adverse conditions?
The radical love of God is the rock
(Matthew 7:24-27)
on which the wise build their lives.
As a foundation for living, it
is robust.
Meditate on the radical love of God
day and night
(Joshua 1:8).
Figure out for yourself
how this thing that we call God works.
Immerse yourself in it.
Why?
If we do not meditate on it day and night
we are robbing ourselves of the insights -
the epiphanies - the breakthroughs in
understanding - that continuous, focused
meditation on a single topic
brings us.
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[¶ 00512 Updated: 07_06_2024a]
The Superpower that makes us Godlike (00182)
What is our Superpower?
Into the foil of the evils that we did to him in the
laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19),
Jesus poured the sweet syrup of forgiveness through
his bloody wounds.
The greater were the evils that we did to Jesus
during the Crucifixion, the sweeter is
the forgiveness.
The sweet syrup of forgiveness diluted the toxicity of
the foil of the Crucifixion
in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the
bitterness of a cup of bad coffee.
Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evils.
Our superpower is that we, too, can dilute our
evils as Jesus diluted his. Our superpower makes
us godlike.
Evils are the pollution that fouls our souls.
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(00521)
(1) Index: Juxtaposition
(00159)
[¶ 00182 Updated: 07_06_2024a]
Two Visual Aids are available to help Christian
Clerics to explain to the children of Adam and Eve
(and to themselves) the Bipolarity of the
Crucifixion (00528)
We fueled the fire of the Crucifixion with
the kindling of his
flesh and blood.
Jesus extinguished the fire of the Crucifixion
with the water of forgiveness
(John 7:37-38).
We hung hell; Jesus hung heaven.
On one side of the equation is flesh and blood.
We inflicted atrocities to Jesus' flesh and blood
during the Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
The visual aid that represents this is the Crucifix.
On the other side of the equation is bread and wine.
Jesus served his enemies a meal of bread and wine
while they were still chewing his flesh
in their mouths and the blood from his wounds was
still staining their hands. Bread and wine were
Jesus' bipolar - radically asymmetric - answer to the
evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
Bread and wine were how Jesus 'incarnated' the abstract
concept of forgiveness - how he made forgiveness
coalesce into a tangible, comestible form.
We can sink our teeth into forgiveness.
Bread satisfies our hunger. Wine quenches our thirst.
Forgiveness fills our bellies.
Bread and Wine are the second visual aid.
Jesus used flesh, blood, bread and wine to convey
the radical love of God.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
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[¶ 00528 Updated: 07_07_2024]
Consumption of the
most Holy Eucharist is essential to the revelation of
the radical love of God (00036)
At Mass, the Eucharistic banquet is not complete
until we consume
the bread and wine of forgiveness.
The meal is not just prepared from the flesh and
blood of sacrifice. Preparation is but one part
of the meal.
The meal is served and consumed as well.
An uncomsumed meal does not satsfy our hunger or
quench our thirst.
It does not fill our bellies.
A chef makes
a meal for consumption not for display.
To say otherwise is to express not the truth
but a fiction.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00036 Updated:07_14_2024]
A Mass is a Publication of the Radical Love of
God (00523)
A Mass puts the radical love of God on display.
It showcases the formula of salvation. It presents
the Incarnation
(00149)
(00489)
(00452)
(00227)
(00430)
(00526),
the fire of the Crucifixion
(00524)
and Jesus' bipolar
- radically asymmetric - answer to the atrocities
that we did to him during the Crucifixion. At Mass,
we celebrate the Victory of the Crucifixion and
its hero. The hero of the Crucifixion himself feeds us
a meal of bread and wine even though we are still chewing
his flesh in our mouths and the blood from his wounds
is still staining our hands.
We fueled the fire of the Crucifixion with
the kindling of his
flesh and blood.
Jesus extinguished the fire of the Crucifixion
with the water of forgiveness
(John 7:37-38).
We hung hell from the Cross;
Jesus hung heaven.
The greater were the atrocities that we did
to Jesus during the Crucifixion, the sweeter is
the forgiveness and the more glorious is his
Victory.
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(00515)
[¶ 00523 Updated: 07_07_2024underConstruction]
Is the Mass a Presence Party or a Victory
Party? (00515)
The presence that we celebrrate at Mass is
the presence of the glorious victory. The
presence of the hero of the glorious victory is
real but incidental to the glorious victory.
At Mass, are we celebrating his presence or his victory?
The wrong answer is that his presence is his victory.
A Mass is a victory party not a presence party. The only
open question is whether we can articulate his victory.
“The difference between the almost right word
and the right word is really a large matter.
’tis the difference between the lightning bug
and the lightning” (Mark Twain).
Jesus' presence is not the lightning
(00516).
It is the lightning bug
(00516).
His glorious victory is the lightning
(00516).
Hint: Jesus made forgiveness comestible - He turned
forgiveness into bread and wine - so his Victory could
be really present at a Mass. Bread and Wine are the
tagible 'incarnation' of forgiveness. Bread
satisfies our hunger; wine quenches our thirst; and
forgiveness fills our bellies with the hope of
salvation.
The bread and wine of the most Holy Eucharist
are Jesus' answer to the atrocities that we did
to him during the Crucifixion.
Jesus fed his enemies - that is, us, -
a meal of bread and wine even though they
were chewing his flesh in their mouths and
his blood was staining their
hands.
Is there a better, more persuasive way for
the Word of God
(John 1:1)
to express the radical love of God than by forgiving
us for the evils that we did to him during the
Crucifixion
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)?
Can the radical love of God be expressed any better
than this?
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(00513)
(00516)
(00424)
[¶ 00515 Updated: 07_03_2024a]
Embracing Ignominious defeat to achieve Glorious
Victory (00514)
We can add evils to the world. We have the power.
Jesus, however, refused. He embraced defeat rather
than add a drop of evil to the world. He embraced
defeat regardless of the cost.
Ye have heard that it hath been said,
An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil:
but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek,
turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law,
and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile,
go with him twain.
Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would
borrow of thee turn not thou away
(Matthew 4:16).
Jesus created the beauty of forgiveness in the
hostile desert of the Crucifixion. His creation
was his Magnum Opus. What other artist works so
successfully in such adverse conditions?
Why? Jesus had little regard for the things of the
world.
Jesus showed us how to lose. By losing, we win.
We attain glorious victory. Try it. Start small.
Pay the cost in little conflicts. Dip into
your own pockets in small matters. See what
happens when you willingly and deliberately
lose a controversy - when you throw a fight
(Matthew 11:28-30).
Jesus kept score differently than we do.
What scorecard are you using?
Are you keeping score with the world's scorecard
or with Jesus'?
Jesus abandoned himself into the care
of his father. Only trust in the Father
enabled him to lose
the conflict of the Crucifixion. As Jesus abandoned
himself, Christians abandon themselves into the care
of Jesus. Only trust in Jesus enables them
to wage and win
the war against evils. Trust is the secret to
abandonment and abandonment is the secret to
success. Abandonment to Jesus takes away the fear
of defeat.
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(00447)
[¶ 00514 Updated: 07_04_2024a]
The Upper Room of Christianity (00511)
Are we spending any time in the Upper Room
of Christianity where the bipolarity of the
Crucifixion confronts us and we are challenged to
come to grips with it?
Have you ever wondered why Pentecost took place
in the upper room
(Acts 1:12-14)
instead of in the many rooms that
occupy the ground floor of life?
Christianity, done right, requires that we spend time
in the upper room trying to grok the bipolarity
of the Crucifixion and figure out for ourselves
the revelation about the radical love of God
that it conveyed to us.
The bipolarity of the Crucifixion is Jesus' masterpiece -
his Magnum Opus - his greatest work. It is
God in his highest and purest concentration.
The bipolarity of the Crucifixion is the
source of the notion of the radical love
of God. Thence it came.
We fueled the fire of the Crucifixion with his
flesh and blood.
Jesus doused the fire of the Crucifixion
with the water of forgiveness
(John 7:37-38).
Jesus forged the key of forgiveness in the fire of
the Crucifixion. The key of forgiveness opened the
narrow gate to the kingdom of God.
Repentance is the vehicle that takes us through the
gate, across the threshold and into the kingdom
of God.
"...
Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
(Matthew 4:17).
In other words,
we hung hell from the Cross; Jesus
hung heaven.
Two hangings, not one, took place during the
Crucifixion.
The atrocities that we did to
Jesus during the Crucifixion formed a foil
that highlighted and emphasized and intensified and
magnified and amplified and accentuated and
underlined and energized his radically asymmetric
answer to them. Bipolarity makes the revelation
about the radical love of God
sizzle. Bipolarity gobsmacks us
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
The greater were the atrocities that we did to
Jesus during the Crucifixion, the greater is
our astonishment at his radically asymmetric answer
to them.
In the Upper Room contemplating the bipolarity of
the Crucifixion, we are born again.
When the light from Jesus' radically asymmetric
answer to the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion illuminates the darkness of
our understanding of God, the narrow gate is opened,
and, if we enter, we are born again
(John 3:3)
(Luke 15:32).
Therefore, spend some quality time in the upper room
contemplating the bipolarity of the Crucifixion.
P.S. The bread and wine of the most Holy Eucharist
are Jesus' answer to the atrocities that we did
to him during the Crucifixion.
Jesus fed his enemies
a meal of bread and wine even though they
were chewing his flesh in their mouths and
his blood was staining their
hands.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
P.P.S. 'Who are you, God? Identify yourself.
Friend or foe?' The answer is found in the upper
room.
Are the professionals of Christianity doing their
jobs? Are they escorting the children of Adam
Eve to the Upper Room of Christianity where
the bipolarity of the
Crucifixion confronts them and they are challenged
to come to grips with it? Are they propagating the
bipolar Cross from the point and place of its
obscure origin in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now?
Or, instead of the Upper Room, are they
lollygagging in the many rooms that
occupy the ground floor of life?
The professionals of Christianity are the ushers
who show us to
our seats in the Upper Room so Jesus can put on a
show. Jesus is
the star of the show.
The Christian religion goes off the rails
when the ushers spend too much time in the many rooms
that occupy the ground floor of life and not
enough time in the Upper Room.
Please, stop lollygagging and get to work!
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(00312)
[¶ 00511 Updated: 06_29_2024g]
Why is the Model of the Radical Love of God
that Jesus built important?
(00508)
Only love begets love. And radical love begets love
radically.
Highly confident in the theory that only love begets
love, Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
"We love him because he loved us
first"
(1 John 4:19).
Christianity is the religion that makes sinners squirm
under the overwhelming weight of the radical love
of God.
It confronts
us with the radical love of God .
It challenges
us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves
to it.
We do not transform ourselves. Our Church does not
transform us. Only God transforms us and he does so as
we seek him. No seeking; no transformation.
Therefore, let no man stand between
a child of Adam and Eve
who is seeking God and the radical love of God
(Isaiah 57:14)!
Let no man interfere
(Luke 17:2)!
Only the process of seeking God produces results.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand [that the key of forgiveness
that Jesus forged in the fire of the Crucifixion
opened the gate to paradise], and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
If we are not confronting the children of Adam
and Eve with the radical love of God -
if we are not challenging them
to come to grips with it -,
we are not doing Christianity.
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(00506)
(00128)
(00303)
(00323)
[¶ 00508 Updated: 06_27_2024a]
The escape of the New Exodus proceeds
through the hostile desert of godlessness
from the Mountain of Forgiveness to
the Valley of Repentance
Christianity is the new Exodus.
The new Exodus is making its escape from the Mountain
of Forgiveness to the valley of repentance.
It passes through our dire predicament
in the hostile desert of godlessness
(Exodus 13: 17-18),
across the Red Sea of death
(1 Corinthians 15:26),
over the finish line
(2 Timothy 4:7),
and into the promised land
flowing with milk and honey
(Numbers 13:27)
hand-in-hand, arm-in-arm,
together as one family to
the rhythmic beat of the loving heart
of our living God.
Waging unconventional warfare against evils
(00364)
Evil was driven out of heaven and precipitously
cast down
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16).
Evil was evicted but not defeated.
The war against evil was incomplete - unfinished.
The coup de grâce had yet to fall.
Only the venue had changed from up there to down here.
God dispatched Jesus from heaven to show
the children of Adam and Eve on the earth
how to wage and win the war against evil.
His mission was to demonstrate
to them what victory looks like.
Jesus is the model soldier
- the archetype of the opposition to evil.
Jesus, however, did not invade the hostile desert of
godlessness at the head of a powerful
army of angels
(Matthew 26:53),
riding a tank and
armed to the teeth.
He had a different, more subtle methodology
than the use of brute force.
Like a guerilla, Jesus
infiltrated behind enemy lines into
hostile territory alone,
riding a cross, and armed with no weapon but love.
His purpose was to recruit, train and equip an
army of the children of Adam and Eve
to wage unconventional
warfare against evil
by resisting evil not with evil
but by resisting evil with love
(Matthew 5:38-48).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00364 Updated: 04_04_2024]
The Mass is a Victory party not a presence party
(00513)
Indeed, Jesus is present at Mass in 'a special way'.
The Mass, however, is not a presence party. The
Mass is a Victory party.
We celebrate his victory not his presence.
The Mass is a meet-and-greet at which we, the
unworthy beneficiaries of his victory, assemble
to celebrate
the size, scope and
duration of the gentle love of God.
It is well and good that he showed up. It is far
better that he won.
indeed, he is present for the celebration. However,
he is present not as a goldfish is present in
a fish tank but as the hero who turned
an ignominious defeat into a glorious victory
through the magic of forgiveness.
From the scabbard of his love for us,
Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness.
With it, he slew the monster of the Crucifixion.
Forgiveness killed the monster dead
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Praise and thanksgiving are owed to him not on
account of his presence but on account of his
glorious victory.
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[¶ 00513 Updated: 07_01_2024a]
Pivoting from presence to victory (00155)
For Christianity to succeed, we must pivot from
thinking about the Mass as a presence party to thinking
about the Mass as a Victory Party. We have allowed
presence to eclipse victory to the detriment of
Christianity. Official Christianity no longer
understands Jesus' victory anymore.
No change in doctrine. Just a change
in emphasis. A tweak, nothing more.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00155 Updated: 01_22_2024]
The Catholic Church is hung up with the presence of
divinity (00424)
The Catholic Church is confused about the presence
that is celebrated in the most Holy Eucharist.
We celebrate the presence of his glorious victory
not merely the presence of the hero of the victory.
The most Holy Eucharist is a rebroadcast of his
victory not merely a re-presentation of
the hero.
To appear to the children of Adam and Eve,
our God concentrates himself and coalesces
into coherent forms such as flesh and blood or
bread and wine. The forms are not random. They
are the key part of the message that divinity tries
to convey. Hence, the form is not inconsequential.
Form and presence are partners. Contrary
to Catholic thinking, however, the form of bread
and wine is the senior partner and
presence is the junior partner. Why? The
divine presence is mute. The form
speaks. Are you privy to what our God is trying to
say to us via the bread and wine of the most Holy
Eucharist? Or does an inordinate exuberance
for the presence of divinity drown out
and obfuscate the message of divinity?
Our God reduces himself to a lower level of
complexity to communicate with us
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
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[¶ 00424 Updated: 07_03_2024]
Our God concentrated himself into a coherent form
and bound himself, not randomly, but
systematically, to well defined locations
in our reality
(00423)
"And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name".
(Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5, Scene 1)
If you want to communicate with an ant become an
ant, not a horse. If you want to communicate
with a horse become a horse, not an ant.
God is transcendant. God occupies
all time and all space - the entire universe -
everywhere, everywhen and all at once.
Our God, however, is so spread out that no one
notices him. He is spread thin.
Only when
our God concentrates himself into a coherent form
that falls within humanity's understanding and it
intrudes into our
reality at a particular time and in a particular
place do we take notice.
Concentrated divinity captures our attention.
Concentrated divinity makes our attention rapt.
Jesus is divinity concentrated.
The radical love of God in its
highest concentration, undiluted by time and space,
unalloyed by creation, is Jesus.
Moreover, he
attached himself, not randomly,
but systematically, to particular spots on the
very fabric of our reality.
The impossible happened. The supernatural took place.
Divinity concentrated itself and landed.
Divinity touched down.
The untetherable, tethered
himself. The unbound, bound himself.
The transcendant became immanent and turned
our reality upside down and inside out.
In the first act, Jesus, the radical love of God,
poured himself into a shell of flesh and blood.
After the intermission,
that is, after he descended into hell, divinity's
intrusion into our reality similiarly repeated itself.
In the second act,
Jesus, the radical love of God, pours
himself into shells of bread and wine.
He binds himself,
not randomly but systematically, to particular
aspects of his creation. Why?
When we figure out his reasoning, we will have figured
out his plan for our salvation.
The connections that Jesus made to the very
fabric of our reality - where divinity touched
down - transmitted to us
the knowledge that teaches us how to
end our destruction
(Hosea 4:6).
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
spoke to us by making these particular, non-random,
connections. All we need to do is to decipher
their meaning. Jesus is the Rosetta Stone that enables
us to do so. Jesus makes our transparent God,
apparent -
our intangible God, tangible. He makes our
transcendant God
concrete and comestible. We can take a bite
out of this thing called God in a manner similar
to Adam and Eve taking a bite out of the
apple.
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(00539)
(00177)
[¶ 00423 Updated: 07_14_2024]
Salvation is all about the release of Jesus,
the radical love of God, from the shells
constraining him (00390)
The Crucifixion released the radical love of God
from his shell of flesh and blood so he
could answer the evils that we had done to him.
To answer the evils that we had done to him during
the Crucifixion, the radical love of God returns to us
in shells of bread and wine. He satisfies our hunger
with bread. He quenches our thirst with wine. He
fills our bellies with the sweet fruit of love,
forgiveness. His love for us is so radical that
he forgives us while we still have his flesh in
our mouths and his blood on our hands.
Like the Crucifixion, our Consumption of the most Holy
Eucharist releases the radical love of God
from his shell of bread and wine so he can build -
"[Was] he not the carpenter"
(Mark 6:3)? -
the kingdom of God within us.
"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees,
when the kingdom of God should come,
he answered them and said,
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!
for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you"
(Luke 17:20-21).
The seed of God is in us.
Given an intelligent
and hardworking farmer,
it will thrive and grow
up into God, whose seed
it is; and accordingly its
fruits will be God-nature.
Pear seeds grow into
pear trees, nut seeds
into nut trees, and
God seeds into God.
(Meister Eckhart)
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00390 Updated: 04_28_2024]
No. Jesus does not love us.
This is not accurate.
These words do not reflect the fullness of the truth.
They do not capture it.
In fact, they obscure it.
It is akin to calling Albert Einstein smart
or Adolf Hitler bad.
The words are litotic
(Wikipedia)
- a gross and flagrant understatement.
We demean the
radical love of God by just saying that
he loves us.
We reduce it.
We debase it. We make the extraordinary ordinary -
the humongous, tiny. We make the Love Note that
our God sent us in the Incarnation
a banal, trite message and its
Verification in the laboratory of the Crucifixion meh.
Jesus loves us
even though we tortured and killed him. Wow!
Now, that's love! Get the formula right!
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00152 Updated: 04_24_2024]
From where was the notion of the radical love
of God derived? (00510)
What put the notion of the radical love
of God into our heads?
The bipolarity of the Crucifixion is the
source of the notion of the radical love
of God. Thence it came.
We fueled the fire of the Crucifixion with his
flesh and blood.
Jesus doused the fire of the Crucifixion
with the water of forgiveness
(John 7:37-38).
In other words, we hung hell from the Cross; Jesus
hung heaven. The bipolarity between heaven and hell
generates the apocalyptic revelation of the
radical love of God. The atrocities that we did to
Jesus during the Crucifixion formed a foil
that highlighted and emphasized and intensified and
magnified and amplified and accentuated and
underlined and energized his radically asymmetric
answer to them. Bipolarity makes the revelation
sizzle. Bipolarity gobsmacks us
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
The greater were the atrocities that we did to
Jesus during the Crucifixion, the greater is
our astonishment at his radically asymmetric answer
to them.
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[¶ 00510 Updated: 06_28_2024a]
How is a Saint made? (00394)
We are made in the image and likeness
of God
(Genesis 1:26).
He endowed us with the capacity
to love
(Luke 17:20-21).
Our hearts are vessels that can be filled
to the brim with love.
The greater the love that we hold in our hearts,
the greater is our resemblance to God.
A saint is a child of Adam and Eve who bears
an uncanny resemblance to God.
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another“
(John 13:35)
(Matthew 22:36-40)
(1 John 4: 7-12).
Deification is the process of increasing our
resemblance to God.
Only love deifies us.
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[¶ 00394 Updated: 06_15_2024]
Rubbernecking at Our suffering and dying God
(00228)
To open for us a narrow gate into
his kingdom, Jesus forged the key of forgiveness
in the fire of the Crucifixion.
Forgiveness is
the key that opened the gate.
Jesus suffered and died during the process
of forging the key. We used his flesh and blood
as the fuel for the fire of the Crucifixion.
No fuel; no fire; no forgiveness.
Only his radical
love for us made him willing to pay the
exorbitant cost of forging the key.
For us, he put himself in harm's way.
By the sacrifice of
his flesh and blood, our suffering and dying God
bought us an all-expenses-paid ticket
through the gate, across
the threshold and into paradise. Shall we not go?
Shall we not use the ticket and make the trip?
Like Moses, let us turn aside to see the great sight.
The bush burns but his love for us is
not consumed! His love for us survived the evils
that we did to him. Survival verifies the radicality
of God's love for us.
Conventional wisdom takes the position that a god does
not suffer and does not die. Suffering and dying
are human weaknesses
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
that do not afflict divinity.
Divinity is immune.
So, when we behold a suffering and dying God, we
behold a paradox - an oxymoron - something that
should not exist but does - that challenges
the conventional wisdom.
It is an earthquake that disturbs the status quo of
our understanding
and, thereby, shifts the paradigm.
Is not the paradoxical notion of
a suffering and dying God extraordinarily
strange?
The strangeness of the paradox piques our morbid
curiosity in the same way as a car crash does.
We cannot take our eyes off such a profound disaster.
We rubberneck. We gawk.
Like Moses, let us turn aside to see the great sight
(Exodus 3:1-3).
The strangeness of the paradox
calls us to explore it to figure out for ourselves
its meaning.
Does it not merit
further investigation - additional scrutiny?
P.S. The drama of a suffering and dying God was designed
to capture our attention. The million dollar
question is why did God want to capture the
attention of the children of Adam and Eve? What
did God want to show us?
How did our God get himself into such a miserable state?
What was the origin of it. How did it develop?
More importantly, Why? Why did Jesus need to become
the suffering and dying God? What advantage did
suffering and dying give him?
Hint:
The point of suffering and dying
was forgiveness.
Suffering and dying made it possible for
God to forgive us for the evils that we did to
him.
The greater were the suffering and the dying,
the more astonishing is the forgiveness.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00228 Updated: 06_24_2024b]
The fire of the Crucifixion and the key of forgiveness
form the two parts of a single, indivisible unit
of apocalyptic revelation (00503)
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
Forgiveness is the key that Jesus forged
in the fire of the Crucifixion
fueled by the sacrifice of his flesh and blood
to open
the narrow gate to the kingdom of God.
Repentance is the vehicle that takes us
across the threshold into God's kingdom.
"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say,
Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
(Matthew 4:17).
We cannot sneak across the threshold into
the kingdom of God. We cannot hitchhike on
someone else's ride.
We cannot infiltrate.
We cannot hire coyotes to smuggle us in.
We can only repent our way in.
The way is now clear.
The gate is now open.
Nothing is stopping us.
Let us come home to the
kingdom of God.
"...
Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
(Matthew 4:17).
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand [that the key of forgiveness
that Jesus forged in the fire of the Crucifixion
opened the gate to paradise], and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
God declared,
"... they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing"
(Psalm 34:10).
Are we oriented, pointed and proceeding in the
right direction?
Are we actively engaged in the process of seeking
God?
Each of us is the pilot of our own soul.
We cannot subcontract the job to another.
We cannot delegate it.
No one else can do it for us not even our Church.
It cannot be done vicariously.
Seeking God is a unique, idiosyncratic,
personal experience.
There is no substitute for going through it. Why?
In the process of seeking God, God transforms us.
Unless we do it ourselves, we cannot be transformed.
"The direction of the [soul] is more important than
its progress"
(Joseph Joubert)
(Joseph Joubert 2).
The job of Chistianity is limited
to getting a soul oriented, pointed
and proceeding in the right direction.
God does the rest. Christianity is in charge of
turning settlers into pilgrims. God is in charge
of turning sinners into saints.
The train of salvation
goes off the rails when Christianity tries to
do God's job. Christianity is successful only
when it does not overreach - only when it stays within
the guardrails - only when it respects its limitations.
A successful Christianity is content to tee the ball
up for God so God can swing the club.
'Who are you, God? Identify yourself. Friend or foe?'
Jesus forged the answer to our interrogation
in the fire of the Crucifixion. In the fire of
the Crucifixion, Jesus forged the key of forgiveness
to open the narrow gate of the kingdom of God.
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[¶ 00503 Updated: 06_23_2024b]
The Escape (00208)
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand [that Jesus opened
the gate to paradise], and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
God declared,
"... they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing"
(Psalm 34:10).
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(Matthew 13:44-46).
Are you insisting that God make good on his
promise? If you are not actively engaged in
the pursuit of God - if you are not making your
escape -, you are not insisting.
Now is a good time to start insisting!
Jesus blazed the escape route through
the hostile desert of godlessness,
defined it with holy places,
made a map of them,
established a Church,
entrusted the map to the Church and
gave the leadership of the Church a mission.
The mission is to facilitate our escape -
not to frustrate it, not to filter it and
not to foul it up.
The pursuit of the radical love of God is primary.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary.
Anything that interferes is suspect.
Like bloodhounds, Christians follow the scent of
the radical love of God
on the trail to paradise.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Escape (00086)
(2) Index: The Pursuit of the Radical Love
of God (00132)
(2) Index: The Map (00226)
[¶ 00208 Updated: 06_22_2024]
What does Christianity do? (00020)
The most urgent challenge of Christianity and
the first pillar of the Christian life
is still as it has always been.
It has not changed.
It is to propagate Jesus' dramatic performance
in the theater of forgiveness
where he took the stage
in mortal combat against
the monster of the Crucifixion.
There, via forgiveness for the evils that we did
to him during the Crucifixion, the Word of God
(John 1:1)
expressed the radical love of God
to the children of Adam and Eve.
In his Magnum Opus, Jesus substituted forgiveness
for punishment.
Instead of giving us the punishment that we deserved
for taking from him his flesh and blood,
Jesus served us the bread and wine of forgiveness.
We came for his flesh and blood;
we left with a meal.
While we still had his flesh in our
mouths and his blood
on our hands, He forgave us.
He gave us a mulligan,
a do-over,
a second chance,
a fresh start.
Forgiveness wiped our slates clean.
"Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft
shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?
till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not
unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy
times seven"
(Matthew 18:21-22).
Wow! Who does this?
The transfer of love from his heart
to our hearts was the vehicle that carried and
transferred the knowledge of God to us.
Jesus had said,
"...he that hath seen me hath seen
the Father..."
(John 14:9).
The substitution of forgiveness for punishment
revealed the Father to us. The revelation
is the Good News of Great Joy - very good
news for us indeed!
The propagation of the substitution proceeds
from the point and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history and
geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here
and now. Then the hardest part is to get out
of the way so God can go to work.
Christianity is the religion that makes sinners squirm
under the overwhelming weight of the radical love
of God.
It confronts
us with the radical love of God .
It challenges
us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves
to it.
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Jesus took the initiative.
He was the aggressor.
He fired the first shot.
He landed the first blow.
Why?
Only love begets love.
The Pharisees neither understand nor approve of Jesus'
audacious methodology
(Matthew 9:10-12).
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[¶ 00020 Updated: 06_24_2024]
Cobbling the pieces of God Together
Adam and Eve dropped our understanding of God
and it shattered into pieces upon impact
with the ground.
God dispatched Jesus to pick up the pieces,
cobble them together and return
our resurrected understanding of God
to the position of prominence
in the showcase of Christianity.
God dispatched Jesus from heaven to earth
to upgrade our understanding of God.
Putting together the pieces of the puzzle
of God (00504)
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to give us the
pieces of the puzzle of God. Our job is to put
the jumble of pieces together into a coherent
whole. The pieces either go together or they
do not. The arrangement of the pieces is
predetermined. The pieces cannot be forced
together unnaturally against their will. Authority
has absolutely nothing to do with the assembly
of the puzzle. With regard to assembly, authority
plays no role.
The centerpiece of the puzzle of God is Jesus'
radically asymmetric answer to the atrocities that
we did to him during the Crucifixion. Without it,
our understanding of God is irreparably distorted.
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[¶ 00504 Updated: 07_14_2024]
The Key that opens the Narrow Gate is Jesus'
answer to the Crucifixion (00502)
Jesus forged the key of forgiveness in the fire
of the Crucifixion
At the entrance to the kingdom of God is a narrow gate
(Matthew 7:13-14).
To pass through it, a key is needed.
Knowledge is the key
(Hosea 4:6)
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34),
in particular, the knowledge
of the radical love of God.
Jesus transferred the key to
the kingdom of God to us
by forgiving us for the atrocities that we did
to him during the Crucifixion
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
We have the key. The kingdom of God is at hand
(Matthew 4:17).
When the light from Jesus' radically asymmetric
answer to the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion illuminates the darkness of
our understanding of God, the narrow gate is opened,
and, if we enter, we are born again
(John 3:3)
(Luke 15:32).
The key
(Matthew 16:19)
was designed to open the narrow gate
not to close it. Opening the narrow gate is
the only valid purpose of the key.
The key was given to us but Jesus gave his Church the mission of
safeguarding the key
(Matthew 16:19).
He appointed the Church as the trustee of
the key.
The job of the Church
is to remind the children of Adam and Eve that
Jesus gave them the key to the narrow gate that
takes them into the kingdom of God and to encourage
them to use it.
The key is misused if the Church, to whom
it was entrusted, does not do its job.
Jesus instructed Peter to feed his sheep
not to starve them
(John 21:10-17).
Jesus instruction to Peter was unambiguous.
To forge the key to the narrow gate,
Jesus paid the coin
of his flesh and blood. The exorbitant
payment enabled him to carry the radical
love of God from the darkness into the light
by virtue of the torch of forgiveness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
“I have come to set the earth on fire [with the
knowledge of the radical
love of God],
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
The Fire of the Crucifixion is where the key of forgiveness
was forged.
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(00444)
(00496)
(00521)
[¶ 00502 Updated: 07_08_2024]
Adding the Salt of Love to the Stew of Life (00495)
Love is the salt that gives life its flavor.
Our job is to add the salt of love to the
stew of life to enhance its flavor.
If we become insipid - if we do not add the
salt of love to the stew of life - we
become
"good for nothing, but to be cast out,
and to be trodden under foot of men"
(Matthew 5:13)
(Matthew 3:7-8)
(Mark 11:12-25).
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(00493)
(00516)
[¶ 00495 Updated: 06_21_2024]
Stare Decisis versus Evolution in Religion
(00507)
It is a pernicious fiction to claim that the dark
clouds that obscure the truth lifted instantaneously
with the birth of the Church at Pentecost.
The truth has always existed but we have not always
apprehended it correctly despite the best efforts of
the Holy Spirit.
The job of
the Holy Spirit is not to maintain the doctrinal
status quo and to reject all doctrinal innovation
for the sake of complying with the wierd notion of
hermeneutic consistency.
The job of the Holy Spirit is
to move us closer to perfection in the truth.
Our current apprehension of the truth may be
inconsistent with our prior attempts at apprehension.
The fault is not the Holy Spirit's. The Holy
Spirit tries; we fail.
Stare Decisis in religion, as in law, forms guardrails
against the pathologic evolution of religious
doctrine not to healthy doctrinal growth.
Stare decisis does not forclose the possibility of
evolution.
Doctrine evolves.
It does not stay the same.
It does not stay stagnant.
It must.
Absolute inflexibility for the sake of inflexibility
takes us down the roads to either irrelevancy or
destruction.
Creatures that do not evolve die.
They go extinct.
They do not survive without adaptation.
We can surmise that Neanderthals were not too happy
with the evolution of Homo Sapiens. Yet, here we are.
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little
minds, adored by little statesmen and
philosophers and divines. With consistency
a great soul has simply nothing to do.
He may as well concern himself with his
shadow on the wall. Speak what you think
now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what
to-morrow thinks in hard words again,
though it contradict every thing you said
to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be
misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then,
to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was
misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus,
and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo,
and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit
that ever took flesh. To be great is to be
misunderstood.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance: An Excerpt from Collected Essays, First Series
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[¶ 00507 Updated: 06_26_2024a]
Crawling Back into the Womb of Forgiveness (00501)
'Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus
saith unto him, How can a man be born
when he is old? can he enter the second time into
his mother's womb, and be born?'
(John 3:3-4)
Through the womb of forgiveness, we are born again
(John 3:3)
(Luke 15:32).
We are given a mulligan,
a do-over,
a second chance,
a fresh start.
Forgiveness wipes our slate clean
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
The womb of forgiveness is the narrow gate
(Matthew 7:13-14).
The womb of forgiveness is
our safe space - our sanctuary.
It is the kingdom of God.
To enter the kingdom of God, we must crawl back into
the womb of forgiveness.
Prostrating ourselves in repentance is how we crawl.
Repentance and repentance alone takes us there.
Repentance and repentance alone grants us access.
Repentance and repentance alone is our passport into
the kingdom of God.
Repentance and repentance alone is the key to
the narrow gate
(Matthew 7:13-14)
(Matthew 16:19).
When the light from Jesus' radically asymmetric
answer to the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion illuminates the darkness of
our understanding of God, we are born again
(John 3:3)
(Luke 15:32).
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(00521)
[¶ 00501 Updated: 06_21_2024]
The Bridge of Forgiveness (00126)
Since Eden, we have dug a pit of sin
in our relationship with our God -
a dark, nasty and loveless abyss.
To span the pit of sin, Jesus erected
the bridge of forgiveness
(John 14:6).
Paradise is found not at the bottom of the pit
but at the far side of the bridge.
Our job is to stop digging the pit and
to start crossing the bridge.
Repentance is the vehicle that
transports us out of the pit and
across the bridge
(Matthew 22: 11-13).
"Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance..."
(Luke 3:8).
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(00521)
(1) Index: Forgiveness and Repentance (00082)
[¶ 00126 Updated: 06_21_2024]
Starting the Conversation about God (00498)
Jesus'answer to the Crucifixion is the catalyst
of the conversation about God
To transfer the knowledge of God to the children of
Adam and Eve
(Hosea 4:6),
a medium is needed. No medium; no transfer.
The medium by which the knowledge of God is transferred
is the conversation about God. Jesus was dispatched
from heaven to earth to start the conversation about
God among the children of Adam and Eve.
He started the conversation about God with
his radically asymmetric answer to the atrocities
we did to him during the Crucifixion.
Forgiveness, substitued for punishment, in answer
to the Crucifixion
filled the earth with the
knowledge of the radical love of God as water
covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
It instigates the conversation about God.
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[¶ 00498 Updated: 06_18_2024]
Where should Evangelization begin? (00402)
What is the point and place of beginning?
Where is the starting line?
First, introduce us to your God -
not to your Church -
not to its byzantine codex of rules, regulations,
red tape and rigmarole - not to your morality.
First, introduce us to the God who loves us even
though we tortured and killed him - even though
we made him suffer and die - even though we impaled
him to the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
Who is this God who voluntarily, though
reluctantly
(Matthew 26:39),
stepped into the laboratory of
the Crucifixion where he
submitted himself to a gruesome experiment
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
that we cruelly administered to him? What was
the result of the experiment?
Tell us about him.
Give us the details.
Help us to make the acquaintance of our God.
Help us get to know him.
Theology only. Nothing else.
'Who are you, God? Identify yourself. Friend or foe?'
More of the radical love of God; not less.
More theology; less morality.
More revelation; less regulation.
Always. No exceptions.
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(00537)
[¶ 00402 Updated: 07_14_2024]
At Mass, we rally around Jesus' Answer
to the Crucifixion (00499)
Jesus' answer to the Crucifixion revealed the
Radical Love of God to us. His answer is the
Good News of Great Joy. The greater were the
atrocities that we did to him during the
Crucifixion, the more extraorinary is his answer
to them. His answer to the Crucifixion is why
we celebrate a Mass not his static and mute
presence. We celebrate the Word of God for
what he said not for where he is - for his
announcement not for his habitation.
At Mass, we rally 'round Jesus' answer to the atrocities
that we did to him during the Crucifixion. Like the
Cross, a Mass is a loudspeaker
(00183)
through which Jesus himself again makes the
apolyptic announcement that he
has forgiven us for the evils that we had done to him
during the Crucifixion.
Jesus articulates the
announcement of forgiveness - a general amnesty -
by feeding us a meal of bread and wine.
We deserved punishment, not forgiveness, for taking
his flesh and blood from him.
Conventional biblical wisdom created
the expectation of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on
its head. He forgave us despite our unworthiness.
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Jesus took the initiative.
His love
for us is so radical that he did not wait
for our conversion to forgive us. He forgave us
to bring about our conversion.
Wow! Who is this God who forgives us
in advance?
At Mass, we celebrate what Jesus did on the
Cross not merely where
Jesus is - his amazing victory not merely his
static and mute presence.
The Good News of Great Joy is that he forgave us not
merely that he is here with us. Of course, he is here
with us. Would the hero of the victory miss his
Victory Party?
Rally 'round the Cross! Rally 'round the Mass!
Let us lift our eyes from the presence of Jesus
in the most Holy Eucharist to what Jesus
was announcing by means of
the most Holy Eucharist.
Let us lift them to a higher truth.
Let us elevate them from his presence to what
he is revealing to us about the radical love of
God.
No change in doctrine. Just a change in emphasis.
A tweak, nothing more.
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(00183)
(00241)
[¶ 00499 Updated: 06_19_2024]
Which is more important? The Announcer or the
Announcement (00500)
The weight that the Church places on
the announcer compared to the announcement -
to flesh and blood compared to bread and wine -
is imbalanced - absurdly imbalanced.
At Mass, the apocalyptic announcement that Jesus
made from the
position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity
is rebroadcast. He forgave us for the atrocities that
we did to him during the Crucifixion
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
Furthermore, the
the Word of God
(John 1:1)
articulates his apocalypic announcement of
forgiveness by serving us a meal of bread and wine
while we are still chewing his flesh in our mouths
and his blood is still staining our hands.
"Man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God"
(Matthew 4:4).
The bread and wine of forgiveness are the words that
proceed from the mouth of God
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58).
Unfortunately, the Church gives no play to
the apocalyptic announcement and overweighs the
announcer. Indeed, Jesus himself is the announcer.
However, he designed the Mass to showcase, not his
presence, but his apocalyptic announcement. The
Church mistakenly thinks that the Mass was designed
by Jesus to showcase his presence. The Church is
confused. His apocalyptic announcement of forgiveness,
not his presence in the most Holy Eucharist,
is the Good News of Great Joy. It is the main course.
The presence of the hero of the Crucifixion
at his Victory Party is only a magnificent side dish.
We go to a concert to hear a singer sing or
a band play not to see them standing mute on a stage.
Their performance, not their presence, draws us
to them.
So, too, it is with Jesus.
Jesus is no different.
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[¶ 00500 Updated: 06_19_2024]
The Artwork on which the edifice of Christianity
is built (00487)
Love embellishes life. Love is the salt that gives
life its flavor.
The fruits of love are the
seeds of the kingdom of God. We plant them; God
cultivates them. Love begets
love. And radical love begets love radically.
Jesus decorated the black and white canvas of the
Crucifixion with the vibrant color of forgiveness.
He added a splash of color to life when it was
bleakest - at
its most monochrome - when it was drab in the extreme.
The embellishment is his Magnum Opus - his
greatest work.
His artwork is the tangible, frank, unambiguous and
unrestrained expression -
the incarnate articulation - the apotheosis -
of the radical love of God
(1 John 4:8).
His artwork is the reservoir that Jesus built
here on earth to hold the radical love of God in
its highest and purest concentration
(Isaiah 55:1-2).
His artwork is the rock on which
the edifice of Christianity is built
(Matthew 7:24-27).
Christians are the children of Adam and Eve who
have fallen in the artistic line of Jesus and
imitate his artwork.
They, too, embellish the canvas of life with the
pigments of love.
"[O]ut of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]"
(Luke 6:45),
Christians produce the sweet fruits of love
"... some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some an hundred"
(Mark 4:20).
Unfortunately, not many who claim to
be Christians are, indeed, Christians.
They bear no fruit
(Matthew 3:7-8)
(Mark 11:12-25).
The blame belongs to their clerical
teachers who
have failed to convince them that the purpose of
life is to embellish it with the pigments of
love regardless of circumstances
(00492).
Thus, not many hang from their crosses as Jesus
hung from
his. Few have discovered the bipolarity of
the cross
(00151)
(00081).
Have you?
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(00516)
[¶ 00487 Updated: 06_16_2024]
The validity of the theory that Jesus
brought from heaven to earth was tested
in the Laboratory of the Crucifixion
(00128)
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to
test the theory that only love begets love.
Highly confident in the theory that only love begets
love, Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
"We love him because he loved us
first"
(1 John 4:19).
Jesus initiated the process of our salvation
by planting the seed of love in the toxic soil
of our stony hearts. He began our rehabilitation.
His love for us jump started the process of
depetrification
(Ezekiel 36:26).
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(1) Index: Only Love Begets Love (00129)
(00508)
[¶ 00128 Updated: 06_27_2024a]
The only universal language to survive the
confounding of languages that took place at Babel
(Genesis 11:1-9)
was the language of suffering. All creatures who
suffer understand it. It is our native tongue.
God became a creature who suffers so He could
communicate with us in our native tongue.
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[¶ 00405 Updated: 04_24_2024]
The heroic artistry of Jesus (00491)
Jesus' defiance of the hostile circumstances
in which he did his artwork is the game changer.
It shifted the paradigm of our understanding of God.
Jesus painted the canvas of life with the pigments
of love.
Jesus, however, was not just an ordinary
artist who worked in hospitable circumstances.
He was a heroic artist - a martyr. His heroism
arose from the grisly circumstances in which his
artwork was done.
Jesus made beauty with the fruits of love even in the
hell of the evils that we did to him during
his Crucifixion.
He did his art in hostile circumstances designed to
extinguish his artistry. Jesus, however, defied them.
He did not allow them to get in his way - to interfere
with the production of his artwork.
Hell was an absurd venue for the production
of his best work, yet Jesus created his Magnum Opus
there.
Jesus defied his enemies while they were still
chewing his
flesh in their mouths and
his blood was still staining their hands.
Forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:6-7)
was his act of defiance.
Forgiveness is divinity's official act of protest
against evils. Forgiveness, the sweetest of the
sweet fruits of love, confounds his enemies
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
To confront his enemies
with the radical love of God - to
challenge them to come to grips with it -, Jesus
raised the middle finger of forgiveness and put
it smack dab in their
faces. The audacity of his radically asymmetric
answer to the atrocities that we did to him
during the Crucifixion gobsmacks us
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Its bipolarity knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
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[¶ 00491 Updated: 07_05_2024]
What was the Word of God's answer to the Crucifixion
and how did he articulate it? (00490)
What is the relationship between the most
Holy Eucharist and Jesus' answer to the
Crucifixion?
What was the Word of God's
(John 1:1)
answer to the Crucifixion
and how did he articulate it?
Radical forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:6-7) was Jesus' answer to
the Crucifixion. He articulated radical forgiveness by
giving his enemies a meal of bread and wine while
they were still chewing his flesh in their mouths
and still staining their hands with his blood.
"Man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God"
(Matthew 4:4).
The bread and wine of the most Holy Eucharist
is the articulation of Jesus' radically asymmetric
answer to the atrocities that we did to him
during the Crucifixion. He satisfied our hunger
with bread. He slaked our thirst with wine. He filled
our bellies with forgiveness.
Jesus gave his enemies a seat
with him at the family table and invited them
to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort and joy of the family tent
(John 6:53)
(John 6:25-35).
Noteworthy is the fact that he paid for the meal
himself out of his own pocket with the coin of
his flesh and blood. He paid all of his limited
human resources to purchase the meal. He kept
not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
Does not the size of his payment inform us of
the radical size of his love for us?
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24).
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[¶ 00490 Updated: 06_11_2024]
Christian Unity (00303)
Is unity at all levels of Christianity
necessary or desirable?
Do we disdain a person
who is not a fully fledged Christian -
who has some Christian feathers missing or some
out of place?
More importantly, how is
Christian unity achieved?
Unity only matters at the highest level of
Christianity, that is, the level of Christianity that
deals with the pursuit of God.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
God declared,
"... they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing"
(Psalm 34:10).
He did not look down from heaven to see who is
in compliance and who is out of compliance with the
Christian rules of the road. He was not taking
names and keeping score.
When unity in the pursuit of God is achieved,
it cascades and propagates itself
downwards to the lower levels of Christianity.
We participate in the pursuit of God so God
can do his work. We cannot refine the undesirable
parts out of ourselves or out of our neighbors.
Only God can. Thinking that we
can do God's job is hubris of the worst kind.
Its the hubris of Lucifer.
Participation
in the New Exodus - the escape
through the Valley of Tears
(Salve Regina)
from godlessness to God -
is the job of the Church.
The job of the Church is
to turn settlers into pilgrims.
Transformation
is the job of God.
The job of God is to transform
sinners into saints.
The work of salvation goes off
the rails when the Church tries to do God’s job.
"The direction of the [soul] is more important than
its progress"
(Joseph Joubert)
(Joseph Joubert 2).
Our job is to get a soul pointed and proceeding
in the right direction. Our job is not
to castigate sinners for their lack of progress
(Matthew 7: 1-5).
Castigation for lack of progress does not get
the job done. Castigation only feeds the castigator's
arrogant self-appraisal of
superiority
(Luke 18:9-14).
The dogged pursuit of the radical love of God heals
the rift between heaven and earth.
The pursuit of the radical love of God is primary.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary.
Anything that interferes is suspect.
Like bloodhounds, we follow the scent of
the radical love of God
on the trail to paradise.
Only during our pursuit of the radical love of God
do we shed our non-Christian impurities.
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[¶ 00303 Updated: 06_15_2024]
Layers of Reality are stacked together to form the
Crucifixion (00287)
It is the combination of the layers of its
reality that
conveys the meaning of the Crucifixion. Peel
off a layer and its meaning gets distorted
(00055).
Reality is not thin. It is thick.
It is thick because it does not consist of
a single layer. Multiple layers give reality
its thickness.
They form a stack. Furthermore, different stories
unfold on each of the different layers of reality.
Each layer of reality is the substrate for its own
story.
Adjacent layers of reality are related to each other.
One layer of the reality of the Crucixion holds
the gruesome experiment
(Isaiah 48:10)
that we
cruelly administered to Jesus
in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
Let us call this layer the suffering layer.
A second layer of the reality of the Crucifixion
holds Jesus' asymmetric answer to the atrocities
that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
He forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
Let us call this layer the forgiveness layer.
The two layers - the suffering layer and the
forgiveness layer - are sandwiched together
to form
the stack that defines the Crucifixion.
Moreover, God added a third layer to the stack of
the Crucifixion. He superimposed the third layer over
the forgiveness layer
(00353).
On this third layer, Jesus
feeds his enemies with bread and wine while they are
still chewing his flesh in their mouths and his blood
is still staining their hands. On this third layer,
the abstract concept of forgiveness is made concrete
and comestible
(00475).
We can sink our teeth into it.
It fills our bellies
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58).
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[¶ 00287 Updated: 06_14_2024]
Opening a Window into the Mind of God (00489)
Forgivenes is the window that Jesus opened through
which we can peek into the mind of God.
Jesus gave us a glimpse
(John 14:8-14).
Jesus' radically asymmetric answer to the
atrocities that we did to him during the
Crucifixion revealed God to us. It catapulted
us into the mind of God.
Forgiveness was the fact that Jesus exploited to verify
that God, in the Incarnation, had
sent us a Love Note.
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[¶ 00489 Updated: 06_11_2024]
Have you found the Narrow Gate? (00485)
"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life,
and few there be that find it"
(Matthew 7:13-14).
What is the narrow gate
(Matthew 7:13-14)?
Have you found it? Are you even looking for it?
The narrow gate that few find is
the radical love of God that Jesus revealed to us
in his asymmetric
answer to the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion.
(Matthew 7:13-14).
The narrow gate is Christianty's ultimate
recruitment and retention tool.
By passing through the narrow gate, we discover the
Good News of Great Joy - the treasure of Christianity -
the radical love of God in its highest and purest
concentration. We discover the treasure chest and its
treasure that
"leadeth onto life"
(Matthew 7:13-14)
(John 14:6).
Wow! What a discovery
(Matthew 13:44-46)!
Jesus embellished the canvas of life with love in
the form of forgiveness in the hell of the evils that
we did to him during the Crucifixion. His hellish
circumstances did not diminish his artistry.
The atrocities that we did to him during the
Crucifixion did not extinguish the bonfire of love
that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce
its intensity by even the slightest degree.
The dial that
controls God's love for us is in his hands not ours.
Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is
locked in place. Not even the atrocities
that we did to him could budge it.
Radical in size, radical in scope, and radical in
tenacity is the love of God for us.
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[¶ 00485 Updated: 06_10_2024]
Forgiveness is Our first impression of God (00299)
Forgiveness is the first impression of God
that Jesus presented to us in answer to
the atrocities that we did to him during the
Crucifixion.
Forgiveness is our introduction to God.
Forgiveness illuminates the darkness of our
understanding of God in a glorious burst of
apocalyptic epiphany.
Isn't forgiveness one of the sweet fruits of love?
Is not a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
When we reverse engineer forgiveness,
are we not taken back to a heart filled
to the brim with love?
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[¶ 00299 Updated: 06_10_2024]
Radical Forgiveness is a reflection of the Radical
Love of God (00488)
Radical Forgiveness is a reflection of the Radical
Love of God. Jesus forgave his enemies
while they were still chewing his flesh in their
mouths and his blood was still staining their hands.
Forgiveness does
not get any more radical than this. The greater were
the atrocities that we did to him during the
Crucifixion, the more radical is his forgiveness of us.
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[¶ 00488 Updated: 07_05_2024]
How do we do Christianity right? (00039)
There is a right way to do Christianity and many, many
wrong ways
(Matthew 7:13-14).
"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life,
and few there be that find it"
(Matthew 7:14).
The narrow gate is a warning to Christians in general
and to Christian teacers in particular.
The right way to do Christianity is by
giving priority to the radical love of God that
Jesus revealed to us in his answer to the Crucifixion.
The point and place of beginning for Christianity
is the theology surrounding the radical love
of God as revealed to us by Jesus' asymmetric
answer to the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion. Now is time to relect.
Are you doing Christianity
the right way? Is not now the time to bait your
hook as Jesus baited his
(Matthew 4:18-19)?
Jesus' bait catches fish hook, line and sinker.
It works!
Why fish with any other bait?
If we are not confronting the children of Adam
and Eve with the radical love of God -
if we are not challenging them
to come to grips with it -,
we are not doing Christianity.
Sinners squirm under the overwhelming weight of
the radical love of God.
Does the overwhelming weight of the radical love of
God make sinners squirm in your version of Christianity
or do you substitute something else in your attempt to
persuade sinners to repent and return to God?
Only the radical love of God is persuasive.
The Church, its saraments, blessings, clerics and
members are designed to be access points to the radical
love of God.
Are we functioning according to our design?
The radical love of God that Jesus revealed to us
by his asymmetric
answer to the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion is the narrow gate that few find
(Matthew 7:13-14).
Note: Many Christian clerics have not yet discovered
the narrow gate
(Matthew 7:13-14).
They are wishy-washy
(Matthew 5:13).
They do not have the slightest clue about the
best bait for the hook. In their indecisiveness,
they think anything Christian is good bait.
Until they discover that the best bait is the
radical love of God that Jesus revealed to us
by his asymmetric answer to the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion, Christianity will continue to
go down the tubes.
The radical love of God that Jesus revealed to us
by his asymmetric answer to the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion is Christianty's ultimate
recruitment and retention tool.
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(1) Index: Right and Wrong Methodologies (00072)
[¶ 00039 Updated: 06_09_2024]
Jesus is the CEO of the enterprise of revealing
the radical love of God to us (00316)
God entrusted Jesus with the job of running
the enterprise
of revealing the radical
love of God to the children of Adam and Eve.
God appointed Jesus the CEO of the revelation.
The CEO of the revelation discharged his responsibility
by creating a Masterpiece of Love with the brush of
forgiveness on the canvas of hell
during his Crucifixion.
Hell was an absurd venue for the production
of his best work, yet Jesus created his Magnum Opus
there.
Furthermore, Jesus established a Church to propagate
the radical love of God from the
point and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history
and geography, to
the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
If we are not confronting the children of Adam with the
radical love of God and challenging them to come to
grips with it, we are not doing our job - we are not
doing Christianity.
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[¶ 00316 Updated: 06_09_2024]
Our understanding of God is under development. It
is a work in progress (00479)
The genesis of Christianity is Jesus' answer
to the atrocities that we did
to him during the Crucifixion. Are you privy to it?
If Jesus had not
answered the atrocities or would have answered
them differently, we would be screwed. His
answer is the proof that we are saved.
Our understanding of God is under development.
It is a work in progress.
Where do we start? Where does the process of development
begin? There is only one place to start if we
want to get the development right.
To develop
a proper understanding of God, we start at
Jesus' answer
to the atrocities that we did
to him during the Crucifixion.
Anchor the development of your understanding of
God to Jesus' answer.
Jesus' answer is the point and place of beginning
for Christianity.
It is the foundation.
Upon Jesus' answer, the edifice
of Christianity is built.
Proceed from there.
Note: The Mass is the primary means of preserving
and propagating Jesus' answer
to the atrocities that we did
to him during the Crucifixion.
The Mass is the primary vehicle that transports
his answer from the point and place of its obscure
origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and geography, to the children of
Adam and Eve here and know. Serving us a meal of
bread and wine is Jesus' answer. He served us
a meal of bread and wine before we started
chewing his flesh in
our mouths and his blood started staining
our hands
(Luke 22:14-20).
The banquet preceded the sacrifice - the Last Supper
preceeded the Crucifixion. Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
He took the initiative. He ran the first play.
His love
for us is so radical that he did not wait
for our conversion to forgive us. He forgave us
to bring about our conversion.
Wow! Who is this God who forgives us
in advance?
The audacity of Jesus' answer gobsmacks us
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
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(See, 00410)
(00443)
(00471)
(00177)
(00153)
[¶ 00479 Updated: 06_07_2024]
The Gravamen of Christianity (00459)
Jesus introduced us to our God by his answer
to the Crucifixion. By Jesus' answer
to the Crucifixion, we meet our God face-to-face.
What is the gravamen of Christianity - superior tp
everything else?
The gravamen of Christianity is the radical love
of God revealed to us by
Jesus' answer to the Crucifixion.
Everything slse
is obiter dicta. The theology surrounding
the radical love of God revealed to us by
Jesus' answer to the Crucifixion is the foundation
of Christianity. Upon it, the edifice of Christianity
is built.
The radical love of God revealed to us by
Jesus' answer to the Crucifixion is the bait that
catches the children of Adam and Eve hook, line
and sinker. Nothing else works as well.
After the Crucifixion evicted him from the
shell of flesh and blood that had become,
in the Incarnation, his home
here on earth,
Jesus, in new 'Incarnations',
pours himself into shells of bread
and wine. They represent his radically
asymmetric answer to the atrocities
that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
The radical love of God revealed to us by
Jesus' answer to the Crucifixion occupies the
pinnacle of the hierarchy of Christian truths
(Par. 11 UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO).
It is the treasure of Christianity.
And there is only one treasure.
Are you privy to it? When you are asked to express the
gravamen of Christianity - the foundation upon
which the edifice of Christianity is built - what
do you say? Can you articulate it? Do you have the
words? Is your answer the same or different than the
answer given above? If different, how and why is it
different?
"Come now, and let us reason together,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 1:18).
Let us debate the nature of our God that Jesus
revealed to us in the laboratory
of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19).
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[¶ 00459 Updated: 06_08_2024]
The fruits of love convey its beauty (00484)
Jesus, in particular, his answer to the Crucixion,
is the unmistakeable signature of the radical love of
God
(John 14:8-14)
(Luke 6:45).
Do you
recognize the signature of God?
The fruits of love convey its beauty. Jesus
is a fruit of love. He is the beauty of God.
Jesus is the tangible expression of the
radical love of God -
its incarnate articulation -
the apotheosis of the radical love of God
(1 John 4:8)
Through Jesus, in particular, through his answer to
the Crucifixion, the mystery of God was revealed.
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[¶ 00484 Updated: 06_09_2024]
Jesus was a beautician of love (00482)
Hell was an absurd venue for the production
of his best work, yet Jesus created his Magnum Opus
there.
Love can take many forms - manifest itself in
many ways. Its fruits convey its beauty. The
sweet fruit of God's love for us was forgiveness.
Forgiveness is the sweetest of the sweet fruits of
love.
Jesus embellished the canvas of life with love in the
form of forgiveness.
Jesus was many things,
but, above all else, he was
a beautician of love.
With love as his medium, Jesus made beauty.
Furthermore, Jesus was not just an ordinary artist.
He was a heroic artist - a martyr. His heroism
arose from the grisly circumstances in which his
artwork was done.
Jesus made beauty with love even in the
hell of the evils that we did to him during
his Crucifixion.
Hell was an absurd venue for the production
of his best work, yet Jesus created his Magnum Opus
there.
Beauty is active not passive. It only reveals
itself by its fruits.
The fruits of love convey its beauty.
Its fruits are the proxies for itself
(Luke 6:44)
(Matthew 12:35).
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(00487)
[¶ 00482 Updated: 06_12_2024]
The Payload (00477)
What is the payload that Jesus
personally conveyed from heaven and
delivered to us
at an exorbitant cost to himself?
Jesus did not merely pass through our world
as travelers pass through Staten Island
(John 1:46)
on their way from New Jersey
to Brooklyn and beyond.
He stopped and stayed.
He pitched his tent with us
(John 1:14)
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of history and geography.
He dropped in to make
a delivery.
The payload that Jesus delivered to us
is the treasure of Christianity.
It is the foundation upon which
the edifice of Christianity is built.
The atrocities
that we did to him during the Crucifixion were
the foil for the payload. They highlighted and
emphasized and intensified and
magnified and amplified and accentuated and
underlined and energizes
the gloriousness of his radically asymmetric answer
to them.
Conventional biblical wisdom created
the expectation of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on
its head.
He upset the apple cart
(Matthew 21:12).
He shifted the paradigm.
He did the revolutionary instead of conforming to
the biblical status quo and orthodoxy.
We gave Jesus the third degree.
We interrogated him with lash, thorns, nails and
Cross.
The evils that we did to Jesus triggered a response.
Evils lit the fuse and the bomb of revelation
exploded.
Jesus did not hang mute.
His tongue was not nailed to the Cross.
He did not take the fifth.
Jesus answered us.
Furthermore, Jesus did not answer the evils that we
did to him in kind.
He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did not take from us the coin of our flesh and
blood as we took from him.
He did not exact
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Are you privy to his answer?
Can you articulate it?
Do you have the words?
Probably not because the conversation about God
is dead and, as a result, Christianity is moribund -
itself only a few breaths away
from death. Call a priest to give it Last Rites!
The head of the body of Christ
(1 Corinthians 12:12-27)
is Jesus' asymmetric answer to the atrocities that we
did to him during the Crucifixion.
He forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
By virtue of
the answer, Jesus introduced us to our God. We
made our God's acquaintance. His answer revealed
the radical love of God to us,
Thus, a decapitated Christianity is a
dead Christianity.
It is a failure.
Therefore, more theology and less of everything
else
(00355)!
More revelation and less regulation!
Always! No exceptions!
Can we devote 50% of the conversation to God?
Is 50% too much to ask?
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(See, 00151)
(00359)
(00472)
(00465)
(00355)
(00312)
(00313)
(00443)
(00471)
(00177)
(00153)
[¶ 00477 Updated: 06_07_2024]
What is a Mass? (00478)
When somebody off the street asks you,
'What is a Mass?', what do you say?
Try saying this.
A Mass is a celebration of Jesus' answer
to the atrocities that we had
done to him during the Crucifixion.
Jesus' answer is important - it is the key -
because it is the starting
line of the process of reverse engineering the nature
of God. By his answer Jesus forgave us for the evils
that we did to him during the Crucifixion
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
Forgiveness is the sweetest of the sweet fruits of love.
Is not a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
When we reverse engineer forgiveness,
are we not taken back to a heart filled
to the brim with radical love?
We had taken from Jesus his flesh and blood.
Instead of giving us the punishment that
we deserved, he forgave us - he served us a meal
of bread and wine.
The substitution of forgiveness for punishment
gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Is the substitution not a reason for celebration?
Our God wants to rehabilitate the relationship
between humanity and divinity. It is time
for rejoicing!
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(See, 00476)
(00460)
(00399)
[¶ 00478 Updated: 06_06_2024]
The Incarnation (00149)
In the Incarnation, the radical love of God took
up residence on earth
in a shell of flesh and blood
In the Incarnation, Jesus, the radical love of God,
took up residence on earth
in a shell of flesh and blood
(John 1:14).
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
became flesh
(John 1:14).
Jesus doffed
his invincible armor of divinity
and donned
our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He became
one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner
with us in our suffering.
Dressed like us, he entered
the scrum at the line of scrimmage
in the war against evils
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16),
cheek to jowl with us,
toe to hoof against his enemies.
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Our God was courageous.
He put himself in harm's way.
A freight train of evils barrelled toward him.
Yet, he did not flinch or falter.
He did not jump out of the way.
Weak like us, he confronted evils head on.
He showed us our potential by fulfilling his.
He showed us strength made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
In the Incarnation, Jesus, the radical love of God,
put himself in harm's way. He willingly risked
his flesh and his blood, that is, all of his
limited human resources. He bet the farm to
prove the theory that love begets love - only
love begets love
(1 John 4:19).
He put the theory to the test
in a gruesome experiment
(Isaiah 48:10)
that we administered to him
in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
The test irrefutably proved that the dial that
controls God's love for us is in his hands not ours.
Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is
locked in place. Not even the atrocities
that we did to the Son of God
during the Crucifixion could budge it.
His courage
gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Preview: Jesus would lose his shell of flesh and
blood in the Crucifixion, reclaim it in the
Resurrection, and take it back with him to heaven in
the Ascension. Along the way, as he announced at
the Last Supper, he would occupy and take up new
residences upon the earth in
shells of bread and wine.
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(00523)
The freight train of evils (00291)
[¶ 00149 Updated: 07_07_2024]
Through the Incarnation, Jesus entered the Paradox.
He became the Oxymoron
(00227)
Forgiveness perfected the paradox. Forgiveness
completed the oxymoron. Forgiveness clarified
their meaning and explained their purpose.
Jesus entered the paradox - he became the oxymoron.
What was the paradox - the oxymoron? A suffering and
dying God - a suffering and dying God put through
the ringer by the creatures he created.
How? How did Jesus step into the paradox?
How did he become the oxymoron?
The Incarnation. Jesus doffed his invincible
armor of divinity and donned
our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He became
one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner
with us in our suffering. Dressed like us, he entered
the scrum at the line of scrimmage
in the war against evils, cheek to jowl with us,
toe to hoof against his enemies
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16).
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Why? So he could introduce God to us. Forgiveness was
the introduction. Forgiveness was the vehicle that
Jesus used to make God known to us.
Forgiveness was the answer that Jesus gave
to the question, 'Who
is God?'. In Jesus' answer lives our hope.
Our hope is that, with God's help,
we can escape the monster of suffering and
the monster of death. Jesus showed us how to escape.
He hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from
our crosses. He demonstrated to us how to fulfill our
potential by fulfilling his.
Jesus demonstrated for us on the battlefield of
the Crucifixion
the truth that God is our friend not are foe.
He proved it. He proved it by demonstrating the
intransigence of his love for us, its huge size and
its broad scope. God's love for us is radical in
all of its dimensions. Radical love is the proof.
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him.
We came for his flesh and blood; we left with
bread and wine. He did not give us quite what we
came for
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58).
Instead of giving us the punishment that we
deserved for taking from him his flesh and blood,
Jesus substituted forgiveness for punishment.
The exotic substitution supplied the knowledge
of God to us. The knowledge of God brings our
destruction to an end
(Hosea 4:6).
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[¶ 00227 Updated: 02_03_2024]
Ingratitude is the only sin (00127)
Forgiveness is God's invitation to repentance
Both saints and sinners are gathered for the marriage
feast
(Matthew 22:10).
Only repentance, however, keeps us there.
Repentance is the wedding garment
(Matthew 22: 11-13).
Repentance is our passport into the kingdom of God.
Repentance is how we express our gratitude
for the forgiveness that Jesus offered to
the children of Adam and Eve in his answer to
the atrocities that we had done to him during
the Crucifixion. Thus, ingratitude - the lack
of repentance - is the only sin.
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Can you not hear the bugle of forgiveness?
(00081)
Forgiveness and Repentance (00082)
[¶ 00127 Updated: 06_02_2024]
Do you want to meet God here on earth face-to-face? (00470)
We administered a gruesome experiment
(Isaiah 48:10)
to Jesus in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19).
In the experiment,
we tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm
on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
Jesus answered the atrocities
that we did to him during
the experiment.
His answer was radically asymmetric.
He forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
Jesus deposited the knowledge of God in its highest
and purest concentration in his answer.
His answer is the tangible expression of the
radical love of God -
its incarnate articulation -
the apotheosis of God.
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
It is the mystery of God revealed.
Do you want to meet God here on
earth face-to-face?
Meet him at his
radically asymmetric answer
(John 14:8-14).
Evils are the opportunities that God gives us
to answer them as Jesus answered them. Evils
allow us to do as Jesus did. In a world with
no evils - a so called utopia - there is no
echo of Jesus' answer. The Word of God
(John 1:1)
goes silent. He becomes mute. His answer ceases to
exist.
The job of Christians are to serve in the
chorus that echoes the answer that Jesus gave
to the atrocities done to him during the
Crucifixion when they find
themselves in similar circumstances.
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The Union of the Two Jesus' (00457)
(00443)
[¶ 00470 Updated: 05_31_2024]
The key that unlocks the mystery of God (00466)
What is the key that unlocks the mystery of God?
Jesus' radically asymmetric answer to the atrocities
that we did to him during the gruesome experiment
(Isaiah 48:10)
that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
is a high fidelity, first class reflection
- the tangible expression -
the earthly incarnation -
of the radical love of God.
It is the abstract love of God made concrete.
It is the key to unlocking the
mystery of God.
Use the key. Meet your God.
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(See, 00443)
[¶ 00466 Updated: 06_07_2024]
What is the revelation about the
nature of God that Jesus
released to us during the gruesome experiment
(Isaiah 48:10)
that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
Furthermore, what was the mechanism of
the gruesome experiment
(Isaiah 48:10)
that generated the revelation? In other words, what
happened during the gruesome experiment
(Isaiah 48:10)?
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[¶ 00462 Updated: 05_31_2024]
The Best Approximation of God (00471)
Jesus did impressions
(John 14:8-14).
A gap exists between our understanding of God and
the nature of God. Jesus closed the gap.
Jesus delivered to the children of Adam and Eve
the best approximation of God.
The best approximation of God is Jesus'
radically asymmetric answer to the atrocities
that we did to him during the gruesome experiment
(Isaiah 48:10)
that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
He forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
God is love
(1 John 4:7-8)
and forgiveness is the sweetest of
the sweet fruits of love.
Closing the gap is important. Jesus made his biggest
investment trying to close the gap. He spent all of
his limited human resources. He kept not a penny
of the coin of his flesh and blood in the bank
in reserve for himself. While on the earth, he never
spent more for anything else.
The job of the Christian Church is to propagate
the best approximation of God that Jesus gave us
from the point and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and geography, to the children of
Adam and Eve here and know. Propagation
is the Church's top priority. The best approximation
of God that Jesus delivered to us is the foundation
of Christianity. Get the foundation right and
everything else comes together. Get the foundation
wrong and everything else false apart.
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(00177)
(00537)
[¶ 00471 Updated: 07_16_2024]
The theology of the radical love of God (00153)
Christians coalesce around the radical love of God.
They rally 'round the Bipolar Cross!
The radical love of God is the life preserver
that Jesus threw to us who are drowning in
a cantankerous sea of evils. Grab it.
Cling to it. Hold tight. Don't let go.
Not only will it keep us afloat, it will
help us to do great things.
However, how do we grab, cling and hold onto
something unless we know that it is there?
To save the children of Adam and Eve, the
theology of the radical love of God must be
preached to them.
They must know the apocalyptic
revelation about God that erupted from the
union between suffering and forgiveness that
Jesus forged together in the gruesome experiment
(Isaiah 48:10)
that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19).
To save them, they must know the two Jesus' -
Jesus suffering
and Jesus forgiving - and about the exorbitant
cost that Jesus paid out of his own pocket
in the coin of his flesh and blood to forge a
bond between them.
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Preach the bipolar Cross then get out
of the way to let God go to work
(00355)
[¶ 00153 Updated: 06_01_2024]
Love is radical when love is done despite the
high cost of doing so (00468)
It is easy to forgive a small slight. However, as the
cost climbs, the desire for reimbursement overwhelms
any inclination towards forgiveness. The flower
of forgiveness does not grow in the toxic soil of
exorbitant cost.
It is a sterile matrix - utterly barren -
hostile in the extreme.
So when love in the form of
forgiveness germinated, sprouted and grew out of
the gruesome experiment
(Isaiah 48:10)
that we cruelly
administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19),
we beheld a miracle.
It was completely unexpected -
an utter surprise.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24).
The greater were the atrocities that we did to Jesus
during the Crucifixion,
the more glorious is the miracle of forgiveness
that arose from them as the glorious dawn
arises from the gloomy darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
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[¶ 00468 Updated: 05_30_2024]
What is the greatest deed that Jesus did -
far greater than any words that Jesus ever said?
(00469)
Tent and table were customarily reserved
for family and friends.
Enemies were kept at arms-length.
Outside his tent and away from his table,
Jesus' enemies skulked in darkness with his blood
still on their hands.
Yet, in a shocking evolution of custom, Jesus
invited his enemies into his tent and
welcomed them to sup at his table (Luke 15:1-2).
He did not even insist that they first wash his blood
off their hands.
Jesus did not just show his family and friends
hospitality.
He showed his enemies hospitality as well
(Luke 7:34).
Jesus did not punish his enemies.
He rewarded his enemies with the gift of
sweet forgiveness - a
strange and bewildering novelty indeed
(Matthew 18:21-35) (Isaiah 55:8).
He crossed the line.
He shifted the paradigm.
He subverted the status quo.
He radically expanded the size and scope of his love.
The good Samaritan is celebrated for radicalizing
the scope of his love.
He picked up the tab for a stranger in distress.
Including a stranger within the scope of love
was unprecedented.
The expansion of the scope of love by
the good Samaritan was a breakthrough in the
science of love. When it was Jesus's turn
to advance the science of love, however,
Jesus pushed the envelope.
Jesus raised the bar that marks the upper limit
of love far higher than
the Good Samaritan did (Luke 10:25-37).
Jesus radicalized both the size of his love and
the scope of his love.
Jesus spent more than the Good Samaritan did.
He spent all of his limited human resources
not just some.
Moreover, Jesus expanded the scope of his love
beyond friends and strangers.
He included his enemies within the scope of his love.
He turned exclusion into inclusion as a garment is
turned inside out.
Is there any limit to the size and scope of
our God’s love?
Jesus forgave his enemies and, by forgiving them,
he gave
his enemies a second chance.
We did not deserve a second chance but he gave it
to us anyway.
Highly confident in the theory that only love begets
love, Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19).
"We love him because he loved us
first" (1 John 4:19).
By loving us first, Jesus set up
the apocalyptic, paradigm-shifting confrontation
between Divinity and humanity.
He confronts us with
the love of God,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
forever in duration.
He engages us with it.
He whacks us over the head and about the body
with it.
He sticks the love of God in our faces.
He pokes us in the eyes with it.
He rubs our noses into this truth.
Jesus challenges us to come to grips with it.
Jesus pounds us with the love of God.
He pounds us with it over and over again.
He pounds us into submission with the love of God.
With the sweet sledgehammer of the love of God,
Jesus pounds us again and again.
It is go time!
Jesus put us on the spot and on the clock.
God's eye is upon us.
We are in his crosshairs.
Life is the opportunity that God gives us
to take advantage of our second chance.
He is monitoring and measuring what we do with it.
Do we bury our second chance in the ground or
do we do something with it?
Is not the core of Christianity simple yet sublime?
P.S. What are we doing with our second chance?
Are we squandering it or are we staging a comeback?
P.P.S.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8).
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2).
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[¶ 00469 Updated: 05_30_2024]
The Mass (00473)
The Mass is the living monument that God
erected at an exorbitant cost to his Son
to remind us
that, in the Crucifixion, Jesus verified the
genuineness of the
Love Note that our God had,
in the Incarnation, sent us to answer
the question, 'Who is God?'.
If the Love Note were counterfeit,
would our God feed his enemies a meal of
bread and wine
while we still had his flesh in our mouths and
his blood on our hands? Of course not!
God's love for us would have faded as we tortured
Jesus and died when we killed him. But it did not.
God's love for us survived the evils that we did
to Jesus. Its survival is the verification of the
genuineness of the Love Note.
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The Verification of the Love Note that
God had sent us in the Incarnation (00452)
What was God's answer to the question,
'Who is God?' (00474)
The Incarnation, Crucifixion and the Release
of Jesus from his local habitation
that happened originally and De Novo at Mass
(00428)
[¶ 00473 Updated: 06_08_2024]
The Comestibility of God (00475)
Jesus forgave us by feeding us a meal of bread and wine
that he paid for by spending
the coin of his flesh and blood.
By serving a meal of bread and wine to his
enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths
and his blood on their hands,
he makes the abstract concept of forgiveness
concrete and comestible.
We can sink our teeth into it.
It fills our bellies
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58).
The meal of bread and wine is his answer to the
atrocities that we did to him during the
Crucifixion.
We enter the mind of God through
the gateway of forgiveness
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
(Matthew 7:13-14).
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(00539)
[¶ 00475 Updated: 06_03_2024]
During the gruesome experiment
(Isaiah 48:10)
that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19),
Jesus fed us a meal of bread and wine even though
we had taken from him his flesh and blood.
Radically asymmetric was his answer to the
atrocities that we had done to him.
Conventional biblical wisdom created
the expectation of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on
its head.
He upset the apple cart
(Matthew 21:12).
He shifted the paradigm.
He did the revolutionary instead of conforming to
the biblical status quo.
Instead of punishing us for taking from him his
flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
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[¶ 00467 Updated: 05_30_2024]
In what direction are we pointing and
proceeding? Towards the apocalyptic revelation
of the radical love of God that erupted from
the union between Jesus suffering (
We took from
him his flesh and blood)
and Jesus forgiving (
He
gave us bread and wine) forged
in the furnace of affliction
(Isaiah 48:10)
at the laboratory
of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19).
The revelation arising from the union of
the two Jesus' is the cynosure of Christianity.
If we are pointing and proceeding in a different
direction, we are heading the wrong way.
"The direction of the mind is more
important than its progress"
(Joseph Joubert)
(Joseph Joubert 2).
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[¶ 00464 Updated: 05_29_2024]
| Rung | Event |
|---|---|
| Top Rung | When we consume the meals, we release Jesus from his shells of bread and wine as the Crucifixion released him from his shell of flesh and blood. Consumption liberates our God. Released, Jesus goes to work building the kingdom of God within us (Luke 17:20-21). "[Was] he not the carpenter" (Mark 6:3)? |
The second stage propagates Jesus' radically asymmetric answer to the atrocities that we did to him during the Crucifixion from the point and place of its obscure origen, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. Propagation takes place at a Mass. |
|
| Rung #6 | the new 'Answer.' He serves us a meal of bread and wine in the most Holy Eucharist to answer the atrocities that we did to him during the Crucifixion. A meal of bread and wine is itself his radically asymmetric answer to the atrocities that we did to him during the Crucifixion. We can sink our teeth into meals of bread and wine. |
| Rung #5 | The New 'Crucifixion'. Our consumption of the flesh and blood of the most Holy Eucharist releases Jesus from the shells of bread and wine as the Crucifixion released him from his shell of flesh and blood. |
| Rung #4 | the new 'Incarnation'. Having been evicted by the Crucifixion from his shell of flesh and blood, Jesus relocated to shells of bread and wine. |
In the first stage, Jesus gives us his radically asymmetric answer to the atrocities that we did to him during the Crucifixion. |
|
| Rung #3 | Answer. Jesus' radically asymmetric answer to the atrocities that we did to him during the Crucifixion. He forgave us. |
| Rung #2 | Crucifixion. The atrocities that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion evicted him from his shell of flesh and blood. The evils that we did to Jesus made us eligible and worthy of punishment. We deserved punishment for what we did to Jesus. The Crucifixion released Jesus from his shell of flesh and blood forcing him to relocate - to re-establish himself here on earth. |
| Bottom Rung | Incarnation. He took up residence here on earth in a shell of flesh and blood. Jesus doffed his invincible armor of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. Dressed like us, he entered the fray. He entered the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war against evils, cheek to jowl with us, toe to hoof against his enemies. Weak like us, he confronted evils. He put himself in harm's way to reveal to us the radical love of God and to show us our potential. |
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00461 For more, click on the link[s] below [¶ 00461 Updated: 05_26_2024] |
|
To Understand the Mystery of the most Holy
Eucharist, think Succesively (00463)
We ate his flesh and blood.
In answer, he fed us bread and wine.
The mystery of the most Holy Eucharist becomes
clear only
when we think about it successively not
simultaneously.
First notice the distinction between his real presence
and the shells of flesh, blood, bread and wine
that hold his real presence.
His habitations are not him. Do not confuse them -
do not blend them together. Errors get made in our
understanding of God when the shells and
his presence are blended together.
When we think about flesh, blood, bread and wine,
let us think cause and effect
not their cohabitation. The real presence cohabits
with his shells. His shells do not cohabit with
each other.
The radically asymmetric answer of
Jesus to the atrocities that we
did to him during the Crucifixion reveals
God to us not some bizarre and meaningless
combination
of a shell within a shell.
Indeed, the real presence of Jesus occupies
the most Holy Eucharist as it did the shell of his
flesh and blood and as it does the shells
of bread and wine. The occupancy of the shell of
flesh and blood, however, preceeded his occupancy of
the shells of bread and wine. The Crucifixion caused
Jesus to relocate. It forcibly evicted him.
It dispossessed him of his flesh and blood.
Jesus did not reclaim his shell of flesh and blood
until the Resurrection and took it with him
to heaven in the Ascension.
Jesus is not a maker of
clones. He does not somehow mysteriously stuff
miniaturized
clones of his flesh and blood into shells of
bread and wine
as a babushka stuffs potatoes into pieorgi.
Isn't it
enough of a mystery for him to 'incarnate' himself
into shells of bread and wine? Isn't his new
'incarnations' enough of a miracle?
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Paradise Lost; Epiphany Postponed
(00450)
Why is the most Holy Eucharist important and
noteworthy? It is but why? (00433)
Jesus, the radical love of God,
is dynamic not static -
He moves!
(00413)
The most Holy Eucharist is not a Russian Matryoshka
nesting doll
(00385)
Which is the superior form of liturgy: The Mass or
Eucharistic Adoration? And why?
(00377)
Jesus established the Dramatic Theatre of
Suffering and Forgiveness to articulate the
radical love of God (00055)
The most Holy Eucharist are the words that
proceed from the Mouth of God (00045)
[¶ 00463 Updated: 05_27_2024]
What is worthy Reception of the most Holy Eucharist?
(00037)
A caution to our curious readers who dare to approach
the God who loves them: approach worthily
(1 Corinthians 11:27-29)
-
approach with fear and trembling
(Philippians 2:12).
"... Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from
off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest
is holy ground"
(Exodus 3:5)!
What is worthy reception of the most Holy Eucharist?
Must we have no Catholic feathers missing and none out
of place to be worthy to receive it? In other words,
are only saints eligible to receive the most Holy
Eucharist?
Let us start the discussion by asking the question,
'Whom did Jesus exclude from reception of the most
Holy Eucharist?'
He invented the most Holy Eucharist.
He was the first to distribute it. What was the example
that Jesus set?
Jesus fed us the bread and wine of forgiveness while
we were still chewing his flesh in our mouths and his
blood was still staining our hands
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Nobody was on
Jesus' exclusion list. In fact, he did not have an
exclusion list.
While we were unrepentant
(Matthew 22:10)
sinners
(Romans 5:8)
(Matthew 7:6),
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Are we pointed and proceeding in the
right direction? That is the sole criterion.
Eligibility does not require us to be at a certain
spot on the spectrum of progress or at a certain point
in close proximity to God. Yes, sinners are eligible.
"The direction of the [soul] is more important than
its progress"
(Joseph Joubert)
(Joseph Joubert 2).
Let it not be heard said to a person pointed and
proceeding in the direction of the radical
love of God demonstrated by the union
between Jesus suffering and Jesus forgiving
forged in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
that they are unworthy on account of a judgment
of a lack of progress. The domain of God is
progress. A judgement on lack of progress is
a condemnation of God. Our domain is getting
the children of Adam and Eve pointed and proceeding
in the right direction. We make pilgrims. Only
God makes saints.
Participation
in the New Exodus - the escape
through the Valley of Tears
(Salve Regina)
from godlessness to God -
is the job of the Church.
The job of the Church is
to turn settlers into pilgrims.
Transformation
is the job of God.
The job of God is to transform
sinners into saints. The work of salvation goes off
the rails when the Church tries to do God’s job.
Get out of the way and stay
out of the way so God
can do his job.
Our response to the initiative of God is what
matters for our salvation.
God made the first move.
The ball is in our court.
It is our time to respoind.
Unfortunately, many
clerics try to take away the initiative of God.
They act as if we are supposed to make
the first move not God. God is proactive.
He is on offense.
We are reactive.
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[¶ 00037 Updated: 05_28_2024]
The Union of the Two Jesus' (00457)
Jesus suffering + Jesus forgiving = Our
Salvation
The union between Jesus suffering
and Jesus forgiving
was forged in the laboratory
of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19).
In the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19),
the two Jesus' were forged into a single unit of
apocalyptic revelation about the radical love of
God. The apocalyptic revelation about the radical
love of God becomes garbled when we try to understand
each Jesus independently of both Jesus'. Only
together as a pair or as a team does the revelation
get communicated. Neither makes any sense alone.
If we understand what the union tells us about our
God, there is nothing more to
understand. Jesus has done his job. Jesus has
completed his mission. Jesus has delivered the
destruction averting knowledge of the radical
love of God
(Hosea 4:6).
“I have come to set the earth on fire [with the
knowledge of the radical
love of God],
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
The union of the two Jesus' illuminates the darkness
of our understanding of God in a glorious burst
of apocalyptic epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
What therefore God hath joined together
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19),
"
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
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Do you want to meet God here on earth
face-to-face? (00470)
Can you not hear the bugle of forgiveness?
(00081)
[¶ 00457 Updated: 06_02_2024]
We are invited to a forgiveness party (00460)
The Mass is a forgiveness party that celebrates
and memorializes Jesus' asymmetric answer to the
atrocities that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
What was Jesus' answer to the atrocities that we did
to him during the Crucifixion?
The smart money bet that Jesus would conform to
the conventional biblical wisdom. He would go by
the book. Conventional biblical wisdom created
the expectation in the mind of the savvy bettor
of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on
its head.
He upset the apple cart
(Matthew 21:12).
He shifted the paradigm.
He did the revolutionary instead of conforming to
the biblical status quo.
Instead of punishing us for taking from him his
flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Jesus served us a meal of bread and wine
while we were still chewing his flesh in our mouths
and his blood was still staining our hands.
He satisfied our hunger with bread. He quenched
our thirst with wine. And he, thereby, filled our
bellies with the sweetest of the sweet fruits of
love, namely, forgiveness.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
The bread and wine that Jesus gives us in
the most Holy Eucharist purchased at an exorbitant
cost to himself is his asymmetric answer to the
atrocities that we did to
him during the Crucifixion.
At Mass, we eat and drink the treasure of Christianity.
We eat and drink Jesus' asymmetric answer to the
atrocities that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
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(00478)
[¶ 00460 Updated: 05_30_2024]
The Awesomeness of God (00458)
It is awesome, indeed, that Jesus, our God, is really
present in the most Holy Eucharist.
When the Crucifixion had evicted him from his shell of
flesh and blood, he relocated himself into shells of
bread and wine.
There is, however,
something more awesome than his real presence in
his new residences here
on earth.
The most Holy Eucharist
is Jesus' asymmetric answer to
the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
In his answer to them, Jesus himself
served us the bread and wine of
forgiveness.
What treasure the most Holy Eucharist holds is one
thing. What the most Holy Eucharist tells us about
God's radical love for us, however,
is a horse of a different color.
Where he is is extraordinary. What he does from
where he, however, is exponentially more extraordinary.
Jesus is more than a mute presence - a silent
occupant of the most Holy Eucharist.
The bread and wine of the most Holy Eucharist
are the words that proceed from the mouth of God
(Matthew 4:4).
They are our sustenance.
They are the food and drink by which we live.
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him during
the Crucifixion
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
The radical love of God whose name is Jesus
is undiluted even by the evils that we did to him
during the Crucifixion.
Beware anyone who says otherwise.
His undiluted love is the rock on which
the wise
build their lives
(Matthew 7:24-27)
and rest their understanding of God
(John 14:8-14).
It is the robust foundation of Christianity.
Trust in him.
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[¶ 00458 Updated: 05_24_2024]
Hasten to the place of Assembly! (00454)
The edifice of Christianity is built upon the dramatic
interplay between Jesus suffering and Jesus
forgiving. Remove either one of the two pillars
of the foundation of Christianity and the
edifice comes crashing down
(Judges 16:23-30).
The dramatic interplay between Jesus suffering and Jesus
forgiving is the vehicle that delivers to us the
destruction averting knowledge of God
(Hosea 4:6).
Where do we assemble? Where do we muster? What is
the precise location where we can go to upgrade our
understanding of God? Jesus did not take any chances
that we would get lost in our search for the knowledge
of God
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
(Psalm 34:10).
Jesus, the carpenter
(Mark 6:3),
erected two monuments that point us to
the source of the knowledge of God: 1)
the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
and the ceremonies at which the most Holy Eucharist
is given and taken, i.e., the Mass.
The pristine and unique source of the knowledge of
God is Jesus' answer
to the evils that we had done to him during the
Crucifixion.
Hasten there!
Here glorious victory erupted from ignominious
defeat.
Here Jesus made his biggest investment.
Here Jesus spent all of his limited human resources -
all of the coin of his flesh and blood. He kept
not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
Here he emptied his purse.
Here Jesus suffering met Jesus
forgiving.
Here Jesus waged the war and won!
The truth that forgiveness succeeded suffering
is the Good News of Great Joy. Succession
informed us about the radical love of God for
the children of Adam and Eve.
Succession filled the earth with the
knowledge of the radical love of God as water
covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Succession illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God
in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
It could have gone the other way. We deserved punishment
for taking from Jesus his flesh and blood. He did
not have to substitute forgiveness for punishment.
The substitution and the succession could have been
different. Thanks to the God who loves us so radically
that such was not the case. Yes, indeed, the news
was good - very good news for us indeed!
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(00177)
[¶ 00454 Updated: 05_22_2024]
Quantum Entanglement (00455)
Jesus suffering and Jesus forgiving are entangled
together as flesh and blood are entangled with
bread and wine.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
A dramatic nuclear reaction between the atoms
of flesh and blood and the atoms of bread and
wine took place in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
to form the molecule of salvation.
The energy released from the fusion of the four
atoms - flesh, blood, bread and wine -
gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Jesus announced the forging of the bond of love
between Jesus suffering and Jesus forgiving at the
Last Supper
(Luke 22:14-20).
The failed Christian cleric does not understand the
physics of the fusion of the four atoms into a
single unit of apocalyptic revelation so he or she
stays far away from it and, thereby, distorts his or
her understanding of God and, hence, contaminates with
misunderstanding everybody whom the
failed cleric touches. The quantum entanglement
between Jesus suffering and Jesus forgiving - between
the atoms of flesh and blood and the atoms of bread
and wine - are the foundation upon which the edifice
of Christianity is built and the foundation
from which the molecule of
salvation reveals God to us. Failed Christian clerics
cannot build a proper understanding of this thing
called God for us. They should either learn the physics
of quantum entanlement [it is not that difficult]
or leave the clerical
profession for another profession more suited to
their talents.
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[¶ 00455 Updated: 05_21_2024]
Get the direction right! (00456)
We do not offer God a gift of bread and wine during the
most Holy Eucharist. God is offering us the gift.
God is not hungry or thirsty. We are hungry and
thirsty. We don't feed God's belly. God feeds ours.
God did not take our flesh and blood.
We took God's flesh and blood.
There was no
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
His answer to the evils that we did to him during the
Crucifixion was not symmetric. It was asymmetric.
Don't go backwards.
Let's get the direction right!
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[¶ 00456 Updated: 05_21_2024]
The Warriors of Truth wield their Weapons of War (00440)
'Who is God?' The answer is the treasure of Christianity.
Jesus brought the treasure from heaven and buried
it here on earth. Where? Jesus buried the treasure
in his answer to the
evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
Are you privy to it? Have you grabbed your
shovel, made your way to where Jesus buried the
treasure,
and dug it up for yourselves?
What does his answer tell us about our God?
Our God lamented:
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
Our God had become a stranger to us
(John 10:5)
(Psalm 69:8)
(Exodus 2:22)
(Isaiah 45:15)
(Psalm 91:1).
“And a stranger will they
not follow, but will flee from him: for they know
not the voice of strangers”
(John 10:5).
God dispatched Jesus from heaven to earth to fill the
lacuna in our knowledge of God - to plug the
holes in our understanding of God -
and, thereby, bring an
end to our destruction
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
“I have come to set the earth on fire [with the
knowledge of the radical
love of God],
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
Questions are the weapons of the warriors of truth.
Arm yourselves and assemble, warriors,
to wage war against
the lack of knowledge about our God
(Hosea 4:6)
(Proverbs 18:15)
(Proverbs 24:5)
(Proverbs 1:7).
Our God is the battlefield.
Discover the answers to your questions about him.
Gird your loins
(Luke 12:35).
Draw your inquisitive swords.
Let your investigative arrows fly.
Spill the blood of knowledge. Cleave
the flesh of wisdom.
Let the disemboweled entrails of truth
slobber over
the arid framework of godless reality.
'Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war'
(Shakespeare's Julius Caeser)!
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32).
Victory belongs to the curious.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall
find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that
seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened
(Matthew 7:7-11).
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[¶ 00440 Updated: 05_20_2024]
The Revelation of the radical love of God was given
to us in the
vernacular of
flesh, blood, bread and wine (00451)
Feeding his enemies a meal that he had purchased for
us at an exorbitant price with the coin of
his flesh and blood was Jesus' answer to
the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
What does his answer tell us about our God?
The Revelation of the radical love of God was given
to us
in the vernacular of
flesh, blood, bread and wine.
Flesh, blood, bread and wine are the vocabulary of
salvation.
By spending the coin of his flesh and blood, Jesus
purchased for us at an exorbitant price a meal of
bread and wine. The edifice of Christianity is built
on this transaction. He gave us bread to satisfy
our hunger. He gave us wine to quench our thirst.
He filled our bellies with the sweetest of the
sweet fruits of love, to wit, forgiveness. He
served us a meal of bread and wine while we were
still chewing his flesh in our mouths and his
blood was still staining our hands.
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(00602)
Jesus wrote the revelation about God
that is the treasure of
Christianity in the ink of suffering
(00265)
The Vocabulary of Salvation
(00396)
[¶ 00451 Updated: 08_07_2024]
The Cost of Forgiveness (00453)
The Son of God bought a gift for his enemies who
tortured and killed him - who
made him suffer and die - who
impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
Obviously, we did not deserve the gift. Yet, Jesus
gave it to us anyway.
And Jesus paid the exorbitant cost of the gift
out of his own
pocket in the coin of his flesh and blood.
Jesus did not merely forgive us for the evils that
we did to him during the Crucifixion. He also
paid the cost of forgiveness.
And the cost was exorbitant.
He emptied his purse.
He paid the cost of
forgiveness in the coin of his flesh and blood.
He paid all of his limited resources. He kept
not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
The greater was his payment, the higher was
the value that he placed on the forgiveness that he
purchased for us.
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[¶ 00453 Updated: 05_20_2024]
Jesus established the Dramatic Theatre of
Suffering and Forgiveness to articulate the
radical love of God (00055)
The treasure of Christianity is
the tangible, frank and unreserved expression
of God's radical love for us that Jesus, the
Word of God
(John 1:1),
articulated in his asymmetric answer to the
evils that we
did to him during the Crucifixion. His articulation
of the radical love of God was brought to life
by the props of flesh, blood, bread and wine. Jesus
spent the coin of his flesh and blood to purchase
at an exorbitant price a meal of bread and wine for
his enemies while they were still chewing his flesh
in their mouths and his blood was still staining
their hands.
Jesus established the Dramatic Theatre of
Suffering and Forgiveness to articulate the
radical love of God. Suffering and Forgiveness are
the stars of the show.
Christianity is the religion that recruits
understudies to audition for future performances of
the role that Jesus played in the
premier of the drama between suffering and forgiveness.
Many Christian clerics, however, have a distorted
understanding of Christianity.
They focus solely on
one of the stars of the drama, suffering, and not on
the other star, forgiveness.
They are pathologically
obsessed with the suffering while oblivious
to sufferings relationship to forgiveness.
It is imposible to
understand the meaning of the drama in which Jesus
made his debut unless the relationship between
suffering and forgiveness is seen and understood.
The foundation of Christianity is the truth that,
in lieu of the punishment that we deserved for taking
from Jesus his flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
The edifice of Christianity is built on the
substitution of forgiveness for punishment.
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Paradise Lost; Epiphany Postponed (00450)
[¶ 00055 Updated: 05_20_2024]
The Shovel is the preferred implement of the
Christian Treasure Hunter (00449)
Christianity is a treasure map for treasure
hunters engaged in a treasure hunt.
What is the treasure of Christianity? The treasure
of Christianity is the answer to the question,
'Who is God?'.
Jesus brought the treasure from heaven and buried
it here on earth.
Where?
Jesus buried the treasure in his answer to the
evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
What was his answer?
Jesus answered the evils that we did to him during
the Crucifixion in this manner:
Jesus made us a meal of bread and wine that
he had bought for us with the coin of his flesh and
blood. He served it to us while
we were still chewing his flesh in
our mouths and his blood was still staining our
hands.
Jesus invited his enemies to take a seat
with him at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort and joy of the family tent
(John 6:53)
(John 6:25-35).
The evils that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion
did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns
for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity
by even the slightest degree.
The bonfire of his love for us did not fade
as we tortured him or
die when we killed him.
The bonfire of his love for us survived the evils
that we did to him.
The dial that controls God's love for us is in his hands
not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree
and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we
did to the Son of God in the laboratory
of the Crucifixion
could budge it
(Wisdom 2: 19).
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
In his answer to the evils that we did to him
during the Crucifixion, Jesus buried the treasure of
Christianity. Have you grabbed your
shovel, made your way to where Jesus buried it,
and started digging up the treasure
for yourselves?
What does the treasure tell us about our God?
The job of a cleric is to hand out shovels to
the children of Adam and Eve, escort them to
the place where Jesus buried the treasure of
Christianity and exhort them to dig, dig, dig.
Nothing more; nothing less. Clerics are our tour
guides who take us on expeditions to explore
for ourselves
the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God.
They are the ushers who show us to
our seats so Jesus can put on a show. Jesus is
the star of the show.
The Christian religion goes off the rails
when the ushers think that they are the stars of
the show.
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[¶ 00449 Updated: 05_19_2024]
Paradise Lost; Epiphany Postponed (00450)
Upon a meal of bread and wine that Jesus
purchased for us at an exorbitant price with
the coin of his flesh and blood, the edifice
of Christianity is built.
Catholic Christians are trapped in a pit
(Platonic Cave).
The pit is the real presence of God in the most
Holy Eucharist.
Catholic clerics are the gaolers who are incarcerating
them there.
They do not help us to see that the most Holy Eucharist
is more than the new home on earth for the real
presence of God after the Crucifixion had evicted
him from his frail shell of flesh and blood.
They suppress the knowledge of the
additional role that the most Holy
Eucharist plays in the articulation of the
radical love of God.
But, a cage is still a cage no matter how
gilded. The treasure of Christianity is not
visible from inside the pit. It only becomes visible
when we look outside of the pit
to the horizons
beyond the real presence.
What is the treasure?
The treasure of Christianity is
the tangible, frank and unreserved expression
of God's love that Jesus, the Word of God
(John 1:1),
articulated for us in his asymmetric answer to the
evils that we
did to him during the Crucifixion.
His answer is the treasure of Christianity
because in his answer to the evils that we
did to him during the Crucifixion
is the answer to the question,
'Who is God?'.
Jesus, the Word of God
(John 1:1),
wrapped an answer
in an answer. He doubled up.
Jesus revealed God to us in the vernacular of
bread and wine that he purchased for us
at an exorbitant price with the coin of
his flesh and blood.
The revelation cost Jesus more than a pound of
flesh - much more
(Shylock)
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24).
Jesus served us a meal of bread and wine
while we were still chewing his flesh in our mouths
and his blood was still staining our hands.
He satisfied our hunger with bread. He quenched
our thirst with wine. And he, thereby, filled our
bellies with the sweetest of the sweet fruits of
love, namely, forgiveness.
His answer to the evils that we
did to him during the Crucifixion was
a meal.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
His answer surprises us. It is utterly unexpected.
Conventional biblical wisdom created the expectation
of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on
its head.
He upset the apple cart
(Matthew 21:12).
He shifted the paradigm.
He did the revolutionary instead of conforming to
the status quo.
Instead of punishing us for taking from him his
flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Jesus made a substitution - a propitious,
unconventional substitution.
He substituted
forgiveness for punishment.
And the abstract concept of forgiveness took
the tangible form of a meal!
Upon a meal, the edifice of Christianty
is built.
When will Catholics get it? When
will their clerics allow them to climb out of
the pit so they can catch a glimpse of the treasure
of Christiany? When will the breakthrough happen?
When will they enjoy the epiphany of God?
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Why is the most Holy Eucharist important and
noteworthy? It is but why? (00433)
Jesus, the radical love of God,
is dynamic not static -
He moves!
(00413)
The most Holy Eucharist is not a Russian Matryoshka
nesting doll
(00385)
Which is the superior form of liturgy: The Mass or
Eucharistic Adoration? And why?
(00377)
Jesus established the Dramatic Theatre of
Suffering and Forgiveness to articulate the
radical love of God (00055)
The most Holy Eucharist are the words that
proceed from the Mouth of God (00045)
To Understand the Mystery of the most Holy
Eucharist, think Succesively (00463)
[¶ 00450 Updated: 05_19_2024]
God's appeal is to our faculty of rationality (00441)
God does not appeal to our faculty of obedience.
Our faculty of obedience is broken and has been
broken since the age of Adam and Eve.
It is irreparable so don't bother.
Take the road less traveled.
It makes all the difference
(Robert Frost).
Therefore, God appeals to our faculty of rationality.
He supports his appeal with evidence.
It is up to us to reach and render a verdict.
Hopefully, it is a verdict based on the evidence.
Reaching a verdict is an evidence based endeavor.
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[¶ 00441 Updated: 05_15_2024]
In doing Christianity, in what direction do we point?
North? South? East? Or West? (00446)
Forgiveness is the face of God. Therefore, 'tis
better to point up to the face of God than laterally
to our lack of progress. This is what Jesus did
on the Cross. Should we not follow his example?
In doing Christianity, we can point the children of
Adam and Eve in many different directions. Which
direction is the priority? Which direction makes the
difference?
"The direction of the [soul] is more important than
its progress"
(Joseph Joubert)
(Joseph Joubert 2).
Our job is to get a soul pointed and proceeding
in the right direction. But, what is the direction?
Jesus showed us. He pointed us to God
(John 14:8-14).
John the Baptist pointed us to Jesus
(Matthew 3: 1-11)
and Jesus
pointed us to God
(John 14:8-14).
The greatest and most costly service that Jesus
performed for the
children of Adam and Eve was done while he hung
from the Cross. From the position of prominence on
the flagpole of Christianity, Jesus pointed us
to the face of God and we beheld the
face of forgiveness. While we were still
chewing his flesh in our mouths and his blood was
still staining our hands, Jesus forgave us for the
evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
He satisfied our hunger with bread.
He quenched our thirst with wine.
And, he filled our bellies with the sweetest of
the sweet fruits of love, to wit, forgiveness.
Should we not point to the
same thing as Jesus? Should we not point in a
different direction?
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
God declared,
"... they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing"
(Psalm 34:10).
Only when we point to the face of God and get the children
of Adam and Eve to recognize him do they participate
in the new Exodus making their escape
from godlessness to God.
“I have come to set the earth on fire [with the
knowledge of the radical
love of God],
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to
fill the earth with
the knowledge of the radical love of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
It is waste of Christian
resources to point in any other direction but
at the face of God. We must
point in the same direction as Jesus pointed while
he hung from the Cross. Direction, not progress, is
the ballgame. Let us play it.
P.S. The temptation for Christians is to play the progress
game. Unfortunately, progress can only be addressed
indirectly through direction. Get the direction right
and progress takes care of itself.
Beware Christians who are fond of pointing
laterally to the lack of progress of their
neighbors - who castigate their neighbors for
their lack of progress while smugly
patting themselves on
the back congratulating themselves
for their own supposed superiority
(Luke 18:9-14).
(John 8:1-11)
(Matthew 7:1-5).
They have not yet seen and do not yet recognized
the face of God on the Cross. They do not
yet understand the gravamen of Christianity.
They wallow in Christianity's obiter dicta.
They delight in taking names and keeping score
instead of pointing their neighbors to the
face of God
(Luke 10:38-42).
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Viva la revolución (00447)
Love is measured by three variables (00448)
[¶ 00446 Updated: 05_17_2024]
Meeting God Face-to-Face (00443)
Forgiveness is the face of God
We can meet God face-to-face. Forgiveness is the face
of God
(Num 6:25-26)
(1Chr 16:11)
(Ps 4:6)
(Ps 31:16)
(Ps 67:1)
(Ps 80:19)
(Ps 105:4)
(Ps 119:135)
(Ezek 39:29)
(Matt 18:10)
(Rev 22:4).
Jesus introduced God to us when he answered the evils
that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
We deserved punishment for taking from Jesus
his flesh and blood, Instead of punishment,
Jesus
forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Forgiveness is the glimpse of God that Jesus gave us
from the position of prominence on the flagpole
of Christianity. Forgiveness illuminated
the darkness of our understanding of the nature of
God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
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[¶ 00443 Updated: 05_14_2024]
The Avatar of Forgiveness (00445)
Jesus conceived and brought to life
the avatar of forgiveness.
Jesus announced its creation at the Last
Supper
(Luke 22:14-20).
The avatar of forgiveness
is Jesus serving us a meal of bread and wine that
he had bought for us with the coin of his flesh and
blood while we were still chewing his flesh in
our mouths and his blood was still staining our
hands.
Jesus invited his enemies to take a seat
with him at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort and joy of the family tent
(John 6:53)
(John 6:25-35).
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Who includes his enemies within the scope of his
love besides our God? Not even the evils that we
did to him during the Crucifixion got us evicted
from the scope of his love. Wow!
What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight
(Psalm 37:4)!
Steadfast
is his radical love for us. Wow!
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[¶ 00445 Updated: 05_17_2024]
The Radical Love of God is Undiluted (00444)
The radical love of God whose name is Jesus
is undiluted.
Not even the atrocities that we did to him during
the Crucifixion diluted it.
Beware anyone who says otherwise.
His undiluted love is the rock on which
the wise
build their lives
(Matthew 7:24-27)
and rest their understanding of God
(John 14:8-14).
It is the robust foundation of Christianity.
Trust in him.
The dial that
controls God's love for us is in his hands not ours.
Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is
locked in place. Not even the atrocities
that we did to him could budge it.
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(00502)
(00496)
[¶ 00444 Updated: 06_21_2024]
Jesus, the Word of God, Wrapped An Answer
in an Answer (00435)
Who is God? === What was Jesus' answer to the evils
that we did to him during the Crucifixion? They
are two different questions that generate the
same answer.
The meals of bread and wine that
we consume at Mass are
the treasure chests that hold
the treasure of Christianity, that is,
the incontrovertible knowledge of God
(Matthew 13:44-46).
“And ye shall know the truth [about the radical
love of God], and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32).
Furnishing us with meals of bread and wine while
we were still chewing his flesh in our mouths
and his blood was still staining our hands
is his surprising, unexpected, and radically
asymmetric answer
to the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
Furthermore, the meals of bread and wine
serve a dual purpose. They simultaneously
answer the question, 'Who is God?'.
Jesus, the Word of God
(John 1:1),
wrapped an answer in an answer.
Dig in! Mangia
(Psalm 34:8)!
Through our bellies, Jesus reveals God to us in the vernacular of food
and drink.
Jesus makes the meals for us
at Mass and serves them to us as well.
Moreover,
Jesus paid for the meals himself out of
his own pocket with the coin of his
flesh and blood. We charged Jesus an exorbitant price
for the meals. We took from him all of his
limited human resources. We emptied his purse.
We cut him no slack. We gave him no discount.
He made the meals for us, yet, we gave him
no break on the price.
We did not leave him with a penny in the bank
in reserve for himself. He has never paid more
for anything else.
Doesn't the size of his payment testify to the value
that Jesus places on the meals? Wow! What an
extravagant premium
he put on the meals
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58)!
Jesus valued the meals of bread and wine more
than he valued his life.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24).
Perhaps, we should value the meals of bread and wine
as well - at least a little bit.
When we consume the meals, we release
Jesus from his shells of bread and wine
as the Crucifixion
released him from his shell of flesh and blood.
Released, Jesus goes to work building the
kingdom of God within us
(Luke 17:20-21).
"[Was] he not the carpenter"
(Mark 6:3)?
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[¶ 00435 Updated: 05_13_2024]
At the Last Supper, God Registered his
change of address (00376)
We can have a conversation with God in person, that
is, face-to face or remotely via the telephone.
God is flexible. He has long ears. At the Last Supper
(Luke 22:14-20),
God registered his new address. He
gave out his new address so we would
know where to find him and how to reach him.
During the Crucifixion, he would be evicted
from his shell of flesh and blood -
a shell that he had
occupied since the Incarnation - and would
relocate his earthly residences to shells
of bread and wine in new 'Incarnations.'
Would you prefer to talk with him remotely or
in person, face-to-face?
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[¶ 00376 Updated: 05_14_2024]
What is Jesus? (00436)
Jesus is the radical love of God concentrated.
He is radical love coalesced into a tangible,
papable, coherent form.
He is the radical love of God in its
highest concentration, undiluted by time and space,
unalloyed by creation. Immeasurably dense is Jesus
with the radical love of God. He is packed to
the gills with it. He is filled to the brim
with it. He is the perfection of it.
“His cup overflows”
(Psalm 23:5).
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's radical love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
The radical love of God whose name is Jesus is undiluted.
Beware anyone who says otherwise.
His undiluted love is the rock on which
the wise
build their lives
(Matthew 7:24-27)
and rest their understanding of God
(John 14:8-14).
It is the robust foundation of Christianity.
Trust in him.
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[¶ 00436 Updated: 05_15_2024]
Kenosis and the Double Doffings (00442)
The fullness of God within Jesus was obscured.
Two eclipses blinded humanity to the nature of God.
So, to expose the nature of God to the children
of Adam and Eve, Jesus emptied himself not once
but twice. First, Jesus emptied himself in the
Incarnation. Second, Jesus emptied himself in the
Crucifixion. After the two doffings, the fullness of
God was exposed to us. Nothing interfered with or
obscured the 'view' between us and our God. Jesus
cleared the way
(John 14:6).
Jesus exposed the fullness of God to us.
We met our God face-to-face.
In the Incarnation, Jesus doffed his invincible armor
of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh and
blood. He became one of us - an equal to us in our
humanity - a partner with us in our suffering.
Dressed like us, Jesus was now prepared - now in
position - for his second doffing, round two of his
clearing the way of obfuscations between us and our
God. In the Crucifixion, Jesus doffed his shell of
flesh and blood. We took from him his flesh and blood
even though his flesh and blood was his to keep not
ours to take.
Now, doubly doffed, it became possible
for Jesus to open the door behind which stood the
mystery of God. He did and we beheld forgiveness.
Forgiveness was our introduction to God.
Forgiveness illuminated the darkness of our
understanding of God in a glorious burst of
apocalyptic epiphany.
He forgave
us for the evils that we did to him during the
Crucifixion.
Isn't forgiveness the sweetest of the sweet
fruits of love?
Is not a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
When we reverse engineer forgiveness,
are we not taken back to a heart filled
to the brim with the radical love of God?
Neither the invincible armor of divinity
nor his shell of flesh and blood obscured our
God from us. The obstructions were now removed.
By twice emptying himself in the Incarnation and
the Crucifixion,
Jesus had cleared the way
(John 14:6).
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[¶ 00442 Updated: 05_14_2024]
Is our God reliable? (00437)
Is our God reliable? We tested the reliability of
our God in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
His radical love for us survived the evils
that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
His radical love for us
remained intact -
its integrity undisturbed.
It suffered neither nick nor blemish.
Will he ever let us down?
Will he ever disappoint us
(Romans 8:31)?
Will he ever betray us?
Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid
(Psalm 27)?
What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight
(Psalm 37:4)!
Steadfast
is his radical love for us. Wow!
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[The Rebar that Strengthens our Faith
(00438)]
[¶ 00437 Updated: 05_10_2024]
Making the Payment / Purchase Distinction and
the consequence of not making it (00439)
The domain of payment is Jesus' flesh and blood.
The domain of purchase is his bread and wine.
What is the payment / purchase distinction and why is
it noteworthy and important?
A team - not a single, isolated, independent actor -
works together
as a single unit of apocalyptic revelation.
Revelation was not a solo act.
If you
will, call payment and purchase (a/k/a foil and
payload) the odd couple of epiphany. Many
who claim to be Christian get the revelation that
Jesus transported from heaven to earth wrong because
they do not make the payment / purchase distinction.
The domain of payment is Jesus' flesh and blood.
Jesus paid for the purchase in the coin of his
flesh and blood. He emptied his treasury. He did
not keep a penny of his limited human resources in
the bank in reserve for himself.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24).
Jesus went all in.
He bet the farm.
The size of his
payment was exorbitant. But what did he purchase with
his exorbitant payment?
The domain of purchase is his bread and wine.
His
exorbitant payment purchased for us a meal of bread
and wine - the bread and wine of forgiveness.
While we were still chewing his flesh in our
mouths and our hands were still stained with his
blood, he forgave us even though
we did not deserve his gift of unconditional forgiveness.
Instead of punishing us for taking from him his
flesh and blood, Jesus substituted
forgiveness for punishment
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
He satisfied our hunger with bread.
He quenched our thirst with wine.
And, he filled our bellies with the sweetest of
the sweet fruits of love, to wit, forgiveness.
When we fail to make the the payment / purchase distinction,
the Church gives us a special holiday to celebrate
Corpus Christi
(Corpus Christi Wikipedia)
but no special holiday to celebrate
his unexpected, surprising and radically asymmetric
answer to the evils that we did to him during
the Crucifixion.
Revelation was not a solo act. It took a team
to make the revelation. Flesh and blood were one
half of the team; bread and wine were the other.
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Foil, Payload
[¶ 00439 Updated: 05_11_2024]
What was Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him
during the Crucifixion and in what
manner, shape and form did he give his
answer?
(00431)
How did Jesus respond to his enemies who were chewing
his flesh in their mouths and whose hands were
stained with his blood? How did he 'hit' back?
Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him
during the Crucifixion is the treasure
chest of Christianity. It holds the answer to
the question,'Who is God?'.
An answer wrapped in an answer.
Jesus' answer demonstrated God to us.
He showed us God in action - an active God
affirmatively engaged
with the evils of the Valley of Tears.
As the answer plays out before our eyes, we
become witnesses to God, qualified to give testimony.
Put your cleric to the test.
Ask him or her for Jesus'
answer to the
evils that we did to him. Ask him or her to describe
the answer's manner, shape and form. If the cleric
does not possess the treasure of Christianity run
from him or her. Run fast and run far.
P.S.
Jesus put his answer in the form of a meal
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58).
He made
and served us a meal of bread and wine while our
mouths were still chewing on his flesh and
his blood was staining our hands.
He satisfied our hunger with bread.
He quenched our thirst with wine.
The sweetest of the sweet fruits of love, forgiveness,
filled our bellies.
The
manner, shape and form of his answer was a meal of
bread and wine. He purchased it with the coin of
his
flesh and blood. He makes and serves it to us
during
the celebration of the Mass.
Who is God? To answer the question,
Christians point to the meals of bread
and wine that Jesus paid for out of his own pocket
during the Crucifixion in the coin of his
flesh and blood. He makes and serves them to us at
Mass. They point and say,
'There, there is our God! Look at the wonderful
meal he has made for us in lieu of the punishment
that we deserved for taking from him his flesh
and blood during the Crucifixion'
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7)!
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
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[¶ 00431 Updated: 05_10_2024]
Our God had threatened to forgive us
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
Jesus is how our God followed through on
his threat.
From the position of prominence on the flagpole of
Christianity, by the substitution of forgiveness
for punishment,
Jesus presented to us the knowledge of the radical
love of God. It was an apocalyptic presentation -
an awesome demonstration of the potential of
humanity.
Rally 'round the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
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[¶ 00432 Updated: 05_08_2024]
Why is the most Holy Eucharist important and noteworthy?
It is but why? (00433)
Why is the most Holy Eucharist important and noteworthy?
Is it important and noteworthy because it holds the real
presence of Jesus our savior?
Or is it important and noteworthy because it is Jesus' answer to
the evils that we did to him?
Is it important and noteworthy for what it holds or for what
it is?
It's both. The most Holy Eucharist is both. So, someone
please explain to me why the Catholic Church harps
on it as the host of the real presence of Jesus,
the radical love of God, but says nothing whatsoever about
it as
Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him during
the Crucifixion. The unequal emphasis distorts our
understanding of God. It obscures the revelation that
Jesus brought from heaven to earth and, in doing this,
dishonors the sacrifice of Jesus and desecrates
his memory.
In its treatment of the most Holy Eucharist,
the Catholic Church is only half right. The fullness
of truth resides in it but it has not reached it
yet. It possesses all of the puzzle pieces but
it has not put the puzzle together yet. Will it
get there?
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Paradise Lost; Epiphany Postponed (00450)
[¶ 00433 Updated: 05_019_2024]
Jesus had a sense of humor -
and it was symmetrical.
Food brought about our downfall.
Food rehabiltates us.
The apple brought us down.
On the bread and wine of forgiveness, we rise.
Our bellies determine our fall and our rise.
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[¶ 00371 Updated: 05_09_2024]
To answer the evils that we did to him during
the Crucifixion, Jesus blessed us
with the gift of forgiveness in the form of
a meal of bread and wine
(00434)
Surprising, unexpected, radically asymmetric
was Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to
him during the Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
We interrogated him with lash,
thorns, nails and Cross. We gave him the third degree.
Jesus did not hang mute.
His tongue was not nailed to the Cross.
He did not take the fifth
Jesus answered us.
His answer gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Furthermore, Jesus did not answer the evils that we did to him
in kind.
He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did not take from us the coin of our flesh and
blood as we took from him.
He did not exact
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Conventional biblical wisdom created the expectation
of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on
its head.
He upset the apple cart
(Matthew 21:12).
He shifted the paradigm.
He did the revolutionary instead of conforming to
the status quo.
Instead of punishing us for taking from him his
flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
He substituted
forgiveness for punishment.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
We were hungry for his flesh and thirsty for his
blood. Yet, Jesus gave us bread to
satisfy our hunger. He gave us wine to
quench our thirst. And he gave us love -
radical love in the form of a meal - to
fill our bellies. We can sink our teeth into
it.
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness"
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58).
Moreover,Jesus fed us a meal
of forgiveness while our mouths were
still chewing on his flesh and his blood
was still staining oour hands.
His love
for us is so radical that he did not wait
for our conversion to forgive us. He gave
us the sweetest of the fruits of love,
forgiveness, even though we did not
deserve the gift - even though we were unworthy
of it.
Jesus took the iniative. He took the first step.
He made the first move.
While we were unrepentant
(Matthew 22:10)
sinners
(Romans 5:8)
(Matthew 7:6),
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Why? Only love begets love.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
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[¶ 00434 Updated: 05_09_2024]
How well do we know the Christian Schema of
Salvation? (00430)
How well do we know the Christian Schema of
Salvation? Very well? A little? Not at all? Are we
privy to any of it? Can we articulate it?
Can we sketch it out? Can we put the pieces of
the puzzle of salvation together into a coherent
whole?
Anyone who claims to be a Christian ought to be
fluent in it, no?
The Christian Schema of Salvation consists of five (5)
legs of a pipeline or an aqueduct that carries Jesus,
the radical love of God, through his life on earth
from his origin in heaven to our neighbors, his
ultimate destination here on earth.
Love
is made perfect when it is given to our neighbors.
Jesus brings the perfection of love to them. In
the process of getting it to them,
he brings it to us as well.
First Leg: From heaven to the Incarnation
In the Incarnation,
Jesus, the radical love of God, took up residence
here on earth in a shell of flesh and blood.
A shell of flesh and blood became his
local habitation - his pied-à-terre here on the
earth. The Incarnation was the first stop of
the cascade.
Jesus is the radical love of God concentrated -
coalesced. He is the radical love of God in its
highest concentration, undiluted by time and space,
unalloyed by creation. Immeasurably dense is Jesus
with the radical love of God. He is packed to
the gills with it. He is filled to the brim
with it. He is the perfection of it.
Jesus doffed his invincible armor of divinity
and donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood.
He became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity -
a partner with us in our suffering. Dressed like us,
his vulnerability enabled him to answer the evils that
we would do to him. In answering them himself,
Jesus would give us the example of the best way
do so - the gold standard.
He would teach us how to
optimize our answer to the evils that are done to
us.
In his shell of flesh and blood, he hung
from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our
crosses.
Unlike our other teachers,
Jesus taught the gravamen of Christianity -
its most costly lesson -
by doing not by preaching.
His answer to the evils that we did to him
is the treasure chest that
holds the knowledge that teaches us how to
end our destruction
(Hosea 4:6).
Second Leg: From the Incarnation to the Crucifixion
The Crucifixion released Jesus, the radical love
of God, from his shell of flesh and blood.
It set him free. The evils that we did to Jesus
during the Crucifixion were the tool of displacement.
Displacement enabled him to answer the evils that
we did to him. His answer was his new residences.
His new residences are his answer.
The Crucifixion forcibly
evicted him from his home-away-from-home
in his shell of flesh and blood. It points us
to his answer. His answer is the centerpiece of
Christianity. It revealed God to us.
Third Leg: From the Crucifixion
to the most Holy Eucharist
The most Holy Eucharist was Jesus' answer to the
evils that we did to him. We deserved punishment
for the evils that we did to him. Instead of punishment,
Jesus made and served us a meal of bread and wine.
He made and served us a meal of bread and wine while
we were still chewing his flesh in our mouths and
staining our hands with his blood. Bread satisfied our
hunger. Wine quenched our thirst. And the
sweetest fruit of love, forgiveness,
filled our bellies.
Jesus, the radical love
of God, was 'reincarnated' in shells of bread and
wine. After his forcible eviction from his shell
of flesh and blood, he retrenches himself in
shells of bread and wine. They are his new
'Incarnations'. He picked his new residences -
he selected his new digs - to answer the evils
that we did to him. They were his answer.
What a surprising, totally
unexpected, answer it was indeed!
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Fourth Leg: From the most Holy Eucharist to
our Consumption of it
Our Consumption of the most Holy Eucharist
releases Jesus, the radical love
of God, from his shell of bread and wine.
It sets him free.
Consumption causes him to relocate into us.
He comes to dwell in us and us in him. He deifies
us.
Fifth Leg: From us to our neighbors
The bucket brigade of love does not stop at us. We
pass Jesus, the radical love of God, onto our
neighbors.
Let us familiarize ourselves with
the Christian Schema of Salvation.
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[¶ 00430 Updated: 05_08_2024]
Belly Diplomacy
(00425)
Our God is conducting 'belly diplomacy' with the
children of Adam and Eve
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58).
He wants us to know
for certain that we are truly forgiven.
He wants to eliminate any and all of our doubts.
His love for us is a radical love and he wants us to
know and appreciate just how radical it is. So
our God dispatched his dearly beloved Son from
heaven to earth not to tell us but to put
on a costly but whimsical demonstration of its
radicality. He pays for, makes and serves us
a meal.
The role that culinary whimsy plays in our
salvation is astounding!
It turns out that the way to salvation is
through our bellies! Surely God must smirk
at the viscerality of our emancipation
from sin and death.
At an exorbitant cost to himself,
Jesus spends the coin of his flesh and blood
to purchase for us a happy meal of bread
and wine.
We took from Jesus all of the coin of his flesh
and blood.
We stripped him bare of all of his limited human resources.
We emptied his purse. We did not leave
him a penny in the bank in reserve for himself. Yet,
he forgave us while we were still chewing his flesh
in our mouths and staining our hands with his blood
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
In the Incarnation, Jesus, the radical love of God,
left his home in heaven to take up residence here
on earth originally in a shell of flesh and blood
and then, subsequently at Mass,
in shells of bread and wine.
At the Last Supper, Jesus announced the change of
address. He would relocate his earthly residence from
his shell of flesh and blood after evils evicted
him therefrom to shells of bread and
wine.
To do his work for
the children of Adam and Eve, the radical love of
God, Jesus, needed to be freed from the constraints
of his shells. Evils set him free. Jesus
exploited the evils that we did to him to escape
the constraints of his local habitations. Originally,
the evils
of the Crucifixion freed Jesus, the radical love
of God, from his shell of flesh and blood.
Subsequently at Mass,
the 'evils' of our Consumption of him while
he is esconced in shells of bread and wine sets
him free.
Freed, he answered the evils that we did
to him and, by his answer,
revealed to us that God's love for us is radical in
size, scope and tenacity. The knowledge is the
raw material that Jesus uses to
build the kingdom of God
within us
(Luke 17:20-21).
"[Was] he not the carpenter"
(Mark 6:3)?
With food and drnk, Jesus propagates the kingdom
of God. A meal of food and drink depetrifies
our hearts of stone
and fleshifies them
(Ezekiel 36:26).
The meal reforms our gaunt and haggard look.
Bread satisfies our hunger. Wine quenches our thirst.
And, thusly fortified, the meal fills our bellies with
the sweetest of the fruits of love, namely, forgiveness.
Is there
a better way for the Word of God
(John 1:1)
to express his radical love for the children of
Adam and Eve than by forgiving them despite the
evils that they did to him confirmed, proven and
verified by his
serving them a happy meal?
Methinks the Word of God
(John 1:1)
hits the nail on the head.
We are witnessing perfection in the expression
of the radical love of God
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)!
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[¶ 00425 Updated: 05_06_2024]
The Announcement of Equality (00427)
Jesus' presence in the shells of bread and wine
is real not symbolic. However, it also is not
humonculus literal.
At the Last Supper
(Luke 22:14-20),
Jesus made an announcement.
He declared the equality between flesh and blood and
bread and wine.
"This is"
the Word of God
(John 1:1)
said
(Luke 22:14-20).
He did not equivocate. He was not ambiguous.
He did not say that
'this might be'.
He announced the equation of salvation at the
Last Supper and tested and verified its validity
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
How did his fiat make it so?
He took up residence first in a shell of
flesh and blood and, after the Crucifixion
evicted him from there, he relocated and
retrenched himself in shells of bread and wine.
His humonculus - head, torso and
appendages - does not embed itself into
shells of bread and wine like Russian Matryoshka
nesting dolls.
Jesus, the radical love of God, simply moved from
one local habitation to another. He is really
present in shells of bread and wine as the radical
love of God but not as a humonculus of himself.
Ineed, His real presence is not symbolic.
However, it also is not humonculus literal.
If God can take up residence in
a shell of flesh and blood here on earth
which he did in
the Incarnation and occupy everywhere
and everywhen in the whole universe all at once
(Omnipresence),
can we say that it is beyond his power to
make his local habitations in shells of bread and
wine (mini-Incarnations that echo the original
Incarnation sans flesh and blood)?
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[The most Holy Eucharist is not a Russian Matryoshka
nesting doll
(00385)]
[¶ 00427 Updated: 05_05_2024]
The Incarnation, Crucifixion and the Release
of Jesus from his local habitation
that happened originally and De Novo at Mass
(00428)
The Mass is celebrated to keep alive the memory
of what happened to Jesus and why.
There is nothing new at a Mass.
What happens at Mass reflects what happened
originally. It is a repetition - a
repeat -
the mantra of Christianity that we chant
through time and space over and over again.
The Incarnation
The point and place of beginning is the Incarnation.
Originally, Jesus, the radical love of God, was
'incarnated' in a shell of flesh and blood. At Mass,
Jesus, the radical love of God, is
'incarnated' in shells of bread and wine.
The shells of bread and wine echo the original
Incarnation sans flesh and
blood. This is why some call the Mass a bloodless
sacrifice. There is no gore at Mass.
The Crucifixion
For there to be a Crucifixion,
an Incarnation needed to have taken place.
No Incarnation, no Crucifixion.
Originally, we consumed Jesus' shell of flesh and
blood during the Crucifixion. At Mass,
we consume the shells of bread and wine.
Once again we take from Jesus the shell in which
he made his local habitation while here on earth.
The Release
After his ordeal, the released Jesus does
not go on vacation, he goes to work.
He goes about doing the work of salvation.
The Crucifixion of his flesh and blood and the
Consumption of his bread and wine mark the end
of his ordeal and the beginning of his work upon
the earth. The two tragic events trigger
the release of Jesus from the shells that
constrained him upon on earth.
After Jesus, the radical love of God,
was released from the constraints of his shells,
he answered the evils
that we did to him.
He forgave us. He forgave us while
we still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood
on our hands.
In so answering, Jesus revealed that
God loves us with a radical love.
The revelation gives us
the knowledge that ends our destruction
(Hosea 4:6).
It is the raw material with which the
released Jesus builds the kingdom of God within
us.
He forgave us by feeding us a meal
of bread and wine that he paid for by spending the
coin of his flesh and blood. By serving a meal of
bread and wine to his torturers and murderes, he makes
the abstract concept of forgiveness concrete and
comestible. We can sink our teeth into it.
It fills our bellies.
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness"
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58).
The Amazing Parallels between the Original
and the Copies
As you can see from the parallels between Jesus
originally and Jesus
at Mass, the Mass is a fair and accurate reflection
of the Incarnation, Crucifixion and Release
of the radical love of God from the shells
in which he was constrained.
When properly
understood, the Mass does a good job at reminding
us about the salient features of Jesus' life
here on earth.
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The Mass (00473)
[¶ 00428 Updated: 06_03_2024]
Jesus' suffering and death on the Cross were the trigger
that detonated the glorious explosion of
the apocalyptic revelation of the radical love of God
(00426)
The evils that his enemies did to him lit the fuse.
Ordinarily, when the fuse is lit, the bomb explodes.
But, remarkably, it did not.
The fuse worked but the bomb was a dud.
Love made it a dud.
Jesus' suffering and death on the Cross were the
devilish spark
that ignited the light that illuminated the darkness
that obscured from us the radical love of God.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
The temptation is to the sin of elision.
Suffering and the Cross were
the trigger that set off the explosion of the
glorious revelation of the radical love of God.
It is easier to say
that suffering and the Cross were the light. But, they
are not. They are part of the darkness.
Their function was to ignite the light.
The radical love of God is the light.
“I have come to set the earth on fire [with the
knowledge of the radical
love of God],
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to
fill the earth with
the knowledge of the radical love of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Do not confuse the light and the darkness.
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[¶ 00426 Updated: 05_04_2024]
Jesus wrote the revelation about the radical love of God
that is the treasure of
Christianity in the ink of suffering
(00265)
Only one universal language survived the great
tongue-twisting of Babel
(Genesis 11:1-9),
that is, the language of suffering.
Jesus did not speak to us in the language of
divinity. As creatures of flesh and blood,
we do not understand the language of divinity.
Jesus did not speak to us in the language of
the angels. As creatures of flesh and blood,
we do not understand the language of angels.
Jesus answered the question, 'Who is God?',
in the language of suffering because he wanted
to make sure that all of the children of
Adam and Eve understood the nature of God.
Suffering is our native tongue.
All creatures of flesh and blood understand it.
It is a simple language. It works like this.
Nobody signs up to dive headfirst or,
for that matter, even dip his pinky toe into
a boiling cauldron of suffering unless they are
insane or something important outweighs the
high cost of suffering.
We understand that
suffering is an exorbitant price we only
willingly pay for something that is extremely
dear to us. Jesus paid the exorbitant price
because we are extremely dear to Him
(Matthew 10:29-31).
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24).
The Son of God became one of us -
an equal to us in our humanity -
a partner with us in our suffering -
so we could become an equal to him in his
divinity - a partner with him in his glory
(Romans 8:17)
(John 1:12).
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The Revelation of God was given to us in the
vernacular of flesh, blood, bread and wine (00451)
[¶ 00265 Updated: 05_20_2024]
The radical love of God is the club of the
Christian (00419)
If the club being wielded is anything but the
radical love of God as revealed by Jesus'
answer to the Crucifixion,
Christianity is not being done,
The radical love of God, found in its highest and
purest
concentration in Jesus' answer to the Crucixion,
abashes
us into repentance
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7)
(Matthew 22:10).
Its overwhelming weight causes us to
bend the knee.
"For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord,
every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue
shall confess to God"
(Romans 14:11).
We bend our knees, not in submission, but in awe.
Few can resist
(Matthew 22: 11-13).
Confront the children of Adam and Eve with
the radical love of God. Challenge them to come
to grips with it - to reconcile themselves
to it.
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Go to the Table of Contents
(Table of Contents)
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00496)
[¶ 00419 Updated: 06_09_2024]
The Cascade
(00392)
God is love
(1 John 4:7-8)
Jesus is the highest concentration of the radical love
of God - immeasurably dense with it - packed
to the gills with it - filled to the brim with it.
In Jesus, the radical love of God is unalloyed.
Like a dewfall
(Hosea 14:5)
(Eucharistic Prayer II),
Jesus is a cascade of radical love that rains down
from heaven to irrigate the aridness of our
stony hearts
(Ezekiel 36:26).
Jesus is the reservoir that collects and concentrates
the radical love of God. Furthermore, with his own
two hands, Jesus built the pipeline that transports
it to its destinations in the hearts of
the children of Adam and Eve here on earth.
The first stop of the cascade of the radical love of
God was the shell of his flesh
and blood (the Incarnation).
Jesus doffed
his invincible armor of divinity
and donned
our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He became
one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner
with us in our suffering. Dressed like us, his
vulnerability enabled him to answer the evils that we
would do to him. In answering them himself,
Jesus would give us the example of the best way to
answer the evils done to us ourselves.
He would teach us how to
optimize our answer to the evils that are done to
us.
In his shell of flesh and blood, he hung
from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our
crosses.
Unlike our other teachers,
Jesus taught the gravamen of Christianity -
its most costly lesson -
by doing not by preaching.
His answer to the evils that we did to him
is the treasure chest that
holds the knowledge that teaches us how to
end our destruction
(Hosea 4:6).
He forgave his enemies while they were still chewing
his flesh in their mouths and still staining
their hands with his blood.
Can love get any more radical - any more perfect -
than a love that
includes active enemies within its scope?
"That ye may be the children of your Father
which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to
rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth
rain on the just and on the unjust"
(Matthew 5:45).
We are the beneficiaries of forgiveness because, by
following Jesus' example, we become godlike. By
forgiveness, we deify ourselves.
By forgiveness, souls that occupy shells of
flesh and blood reach and realize their potential.
Where did Jesus, the radical love of God, go next?
What is the next stage of the journey of
the radical love of God?
Was his shell of flesh and blood his one and only
habitation upon the earth? Or, are there other
habitations where he, to the present day, still
makes his residence upon the earth? Where is Jesus
today? Why is Jesus there?
Evicted by the
Crucifixion, Jesus, the radical love of God,
relocates thence to
shells of bread and wine (the Consecration).
He retrenches himself in a happy meal.
The shells of bread and wine are made, served and
consumed at Mass in the most Holy Eucharist and
their content, Jesus, the radical love of God,
released.
Bread satisfies our hunger
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58).
Wine quenches our
thirst. And forgiveness fills our belies.
His love for us is so radical that
He forgave us even though his flesh was still in
our mouths and his blood on our hands.
Evicted by our Consumption of the most Holy Eucharist,
Jesus, the radical love of God, travels thence into our
loveless hearts (our Deification).
Our Consumption of the bread and wine of the
most Holy Eucharist releases
Jesus, the radical love of God,
from his shell of bread and wine so he can build -
"[Was] he not the carpenter"
(Mark 6:3)?
the kingdom of God within us.
"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees,
when the kingdom of God should come,
he answered them and said,
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!
for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you"
(Luke 17:20-21).
From Jesus' heart, our hearts
receive a transfusion of love
(Romans 5:5).
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
When the radical love of God fills
our hearts to the brim with love, we have
found God.
We have hit the
jackpot of Christianity.
We have found the pot of gold
at the end of the rainbow.
We have won the lottery.
Our hearts, however, are not love's final
resting place. Love reproduces, multiplies and
continues to our neighbors (Love's Propagation).
"[O]ut of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]"
(Luke 6:45)
we bear them the sweet fruits of love
"... some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some an hundred"
(Mark 4:20).
And, thus, the pipeline of the radical love
of God is complete from end to end.
The powerful current of the cascade of
the radical love of God
sweeps us off our feet
and carries us to our salvation.
Few swim against its tide
(1 Timothy 2:4).
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[¶ 00392 Updated: 05_01_2024]
Scope
(00420)
Jesus is the highest concentration of the radical
love of God. He is dense with it. He is packed
to the gills with it. He is filled to the brim with
it. In him, the radical love of God is unalloyed.
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's radical love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
Can we prove it? Take a look at its scope.
He forgave his enemies while they were still chewing
his flesh in their mouths and still staining
their hands with his blood.
Can love get any more radical - any more perfect -
than a love that
includes active enemies within its scope?
"That ye may be the children of your Father
which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to
rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth
rain on the just and on the unjust"
(Matthew 5:45).
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[¶ 00420 Updated: 05_01_2024]
Tenacity
(00422)
Jesus is the highest concentration of the radical
love of God. He is dense with it. He is packed
to the gills with it. He is filled to the brim with
it. In him, the radical love of God is unalloyed.
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's radical love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
Can we prove it? Take a look at its tenacity.
The dial that controls God's love for us is in his hands
not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree
and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we
did to the Son of God in the laboratory
of the Crucifixion while he was human, tender,
vulnerable and our guest upon the earth
could budge it.
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[¶ 00422 Updated: 05_01_2024]
Deciphering the 'Morse Code' of God
(00417)
Understanding the dots and dashes of Salvation
Each shell that Jesus concatenated into a pipiline
to carry the Word of God
(John 1:1)
serves a particular
purpose and has its own story to tell.
Jesus, the Word of God
(John 1:1),
was regular and systematic in his mode
of communication. The radical love of God does not
stand still. He is mobile. To communicate to
us, he jumps from shell to shell. His movement
from shell to shell conveys his meaning.
The logistics of transporting the radical love of God
was Jesus' business.
Jesus concatenated
shells loaded with the radical love of God into
a pipeline to transmit their cargo from its origin
in heaven
to its destinations here on earth.
Credit Jesus with building the world's first
shellular transmission network.
In the Incarnation, the radical love of God departed
from heaven to bring heaven to earth. He took
up residence upon the earth
in a shell of flesh and blood.
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
became flesh
(John 1:14).
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Jesus doffed
his invincible armor of divinity
and donned
our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He became
one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner
with us in our suffering. Dressed like us, he entered
the scrum at the line of scrimmage
in the war against evils, cheek to jowl with us,
toe to hoof against his enemies.
Weak like us, he confronted evils.
He put himself in harm's way to show us our potential.
He showed us our potential by fulfilling his.
He showed us how to make our strength perfect
by making his strength perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
In the Crucifixion, Jesus vacated his shell of
flesh and blood and retrenched himself in shells of
bread and wine. He occupied this habitat in order
to answer the evils that we did to him. Bread
satisfies our hunger. Wine quenches our thirst.
Forgiveness fills our bellies. Is there a better.
more concrete and comestible way for
the Word of God
(John 1:1)
to express forgiveness than by making and serving a
meal to enemies who still have his flesh in their
mouths and his blood on their hands?
In our Consumption of the most Holy Eucharist, Jesus
vacates his shells of bread and wine and relocates
to our shells of flesh and blood. He does so to
build the kingdom of God within us
(1 John 3:23-24).
(Luke 17:20-21).
(Romans 5:5).
With the kingdom of God within us, we can now fulfill
our potential by passing the kingdom of God to our
neighbors.
Love begets love. Only love begets love. Jesus,
the Carpenter
(Mark 6:3),
built a pipeline to transport
the radical love of God from heaven to a shell
of flesh and blood, to shells of bread and wine,
to our shells of flesh and blood and thence to
our neighbors'. We must make sure that the pipeline
does not leak and the radical love of God is not
wasted.
Love is passed in buckets from Jesus to us
and from us onto the fire.
Christianity,
when done right, is a bucket brigade of love.
Find the fire and extinguish it with love.
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[¶ 00417 Updated: 04_30_2024]
Crucifixion = Consumption
(00416)
What do we do in memory of him?
In the Crucifixion, we consumed Jesus, the
radical love of God, while he occupied
his shell of flesh and blood. In the Consumption
of the most Holy Eucharist, we consume Jesus, the
radical love of God, while he occupies
his shell of bread and wine.
The sacrifice of flesh and blood was turned into
a banquet of bread and wine by the magic of divine
forgiveness.
Both the
Crucifixion and our Consumptions
of the most Holy Eucharist release
Jesus, the radical love of God, from the
shells that constrain him. The Crucifixion
releases him so he can answer the evils that
we did to him. Our Consumptions
of the most Holy Eucharist release him so
he can build the Kingdom of God within us.
The asymmetry between the evils that we did to him
and his answer to them and the symmetry between
the Crucifixion and our Consumptions of the
most Holy Eucharist gobsmack us.
Asymmetry and Symmetry knock us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
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[¶ 00416 Updated: 04_30_2024]
When we are squeezed in the vice of evils as we
squeezed Jesus - and such testing is ineluctable
as we pass through the Valley of Tears -, what will we release into
the world?
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[¶ 00418 Updated: 04_30_2024]
Jesus, the radical love of God,
is dynamic not static -
He moves!
(00413)
Jesus, the radical love of God, is "really
present" at all the stages of the pipeline
not just one. Focusing on one to the exclusion
of the other stages is an admission of ignorance
of the pipeline and its function in the mission
of Jesus.
Jesus,
the Word of God
(John 1:1)
is a verb not a noun. He moves!
The meaning of God is
found in his movement not in his habitation.
Unfortunately, some Churches are pathologically
fixated on his presence in his shell of bread and
wine. They assert that he is "really present" in this
one habitation. They think that his "real presence" in
his shell of bread and wine is the whole story. It
is not. They are wrong. Indeed, Jesus,
the radical love of
God is "really present" there. However, there is more
to the story than his "real presence" there - much more.
Whence he came, why he is there and where he is
going thence -
his movement through the pipeline of the radical
love of God from
beginning to end - gives God his meaning.
Follow the current of the radical love of God
through the pipeline from shell to shell:
1) shellless in heaven, 2) shell of
flesh and blood (Incarnation) 3) shells of
bread and wine (Consecrations) 4) the
reclamation of his shell of flesh and blood
(the Ressurection) 5) returning to heaven with
his shell of flesh and blood (the Ascension)
6) his movement into our
own shells of flesh and blood
(Consumption of the most Holy
Eucharist) and
7) his movement into our neighbors shells
of flesh and blood (Propagation of the radical
love of God).
Jesus, the radical love of God moves
as the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters
(Genesis 1:2).
It moves from
flesh and blood to
bread and wine - from sacrifice to banquet.
It is dynamic not static.
Its movement ripples the very fabric of reality.
It kicks with life as a baby in the womb kicks
with life.
After his baptism in evil,
Jesus did not release the gruesome three-headed
monster of
revenge, retaliation and retribution
from the dungeon of his broken heart against
his enemies. Instead, through his bloody wounds,
he released the sweet angel of forgiveness.
The sweet angel of forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28)
poured into the Valley of Tears
to dilute its toxicity in the same way that
sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of
a cup of bad coffee.
Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil.
Those whose priority and focus are exclusively
the "real presence"
of Jesus, the radical love of God, in his shells
of bread and wine in the most Holy Eucharist
are not wrong. They just are not
quite right. Jesus, the radical love of God, is
an active process. All stages of the process merit
scrutiny and understanding not just one stage.
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Paradise Lost; Epiphany Postponed (00450)
[¶ 00413 Updated: 05_19_2024]
The aqueduct of love (00429)
The knowledge of the radical love of God
does not propagate itself.
It does not have its own legs.
It is not self-propelled.
To get the knowledge of the radical love of God
from the point and place of
its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history
and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve
here and now, an aqueduct is needed.
The aqueduct is the Church.
Jesus established his Church to serve as the
acqueduct of the radical love of God.
Jesus is offering the children of Adam and Eve
jobs building, maintaining and
operating the acqueduct.
In this work, we find joy.
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[¶ 00429 Updated: 05_06_2024]
Jesus, the radical love of God, ripples across the
very fabric of reality
(00414)
Jesus, the radical love of God, moves
as the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. It moves from
flesh and blood to bread and wine -
from sacrifice to banquet. It is dynamic
not static. Its movement ripples
the very fabric of reality.
The relocation of Jesus, the radical love
of God, from a shell of flesh and blood
to shells of bread and wine was announced
in advance at the Last Supper
(Luke 22:14-20).
The announcement foretold that the sacrifice of
his flesh and blood would become a banquet of
bread and wine through the magic of forgiveness.
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[¶ 00414 Updated: 04_29_2024]
Making and serving a meal of bread and wine for
his enemies was Jesus' answer to the evils
that they did to him (00415)
Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him
during the Crucifixion (the Consumption of
his flesh and blood) was to satisify the
hunger of his enemies with bread, quench their
thirst with wine and fill their bellies
with forgiveness. Jesus forgave us while we
still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood
on our hands.
Jesus invites his enemies to take a seat
with him at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort and joy of the family tent
(John 6:53)
(John 6:25-35).
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
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[¶ 00415 Updated: 04_29_2024]
The Magic Mirror
(00408)
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest
God of all
(Wikipedia)
In the mirror of the Crucifixion, radical forgiveness
is the refection of the radical love of God.
He forgave us while we still had his flesh in our
mouths and his blood on our hands
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
In the Crucifixion, we behold the reflection
of God
(1 Corinthians 13:12).
The Cross was bipolar.
We hung hell to the Cross. Jesus hung heaven.
Hell and heaven met on the Cross.
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[¶ 00408 Updated: 04_28_2024]
Suffering is the mother who gave birth to
radical forgiveness
(00409)
Coventional biblical wisdom shaped our expectations.
We expected
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on
its head. He upset the apple cart
(Matthew 21:12).
He shifted the paradigm. He did the revolutionary
instead of conforming to the biblical status quo.
Instead of punishing us for taking from him his
flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
He substituted
forgiveness for punishment.
He forgave us while we still had his flesh in our mouths
and his blood on our hands. Radical forgiveness takes
us by surprise. It is utterly unexpected.
The asymmetry between the evils that we did to him
and his answer to them - what we gave to him and what
he gave to us - gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
Our God had threatened to forgive us
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
Jesus is how our God followed through on
his threat.
From the position of prominence on the flagpole of
Christianity, by the substitution of forgiveness
for punishment,
Jesus presented to us the knowledge of the radical
love of God. It was an apocalyptic presentation -
an awesome demonstration of the potential of
humanity.
Rally 'round the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
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[¶ 00409 Updated: 04_27_2024]
The Chasm
(00410)
Jesus strung a tightrope - a high wire -
across the gap between heaven and hell and
beckons us to follow him home on it.
In the Crucifixion, Jesus revealed the chasm
between the evils that we
did to him and his answer to them. The gap of the
chasm is as wide as
the distance between heaven and hell.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Jesus bridged it
(John 14:6).
He strung a tightrope - a high wire -
across the gap between heaven and hell
(Matthew 7:13-14).
Moreover, he beckons us to follow him.
He wants us to cross over from the bad
side of the chasm to the good side - from
hell to heaven - from exile to home
(Matthew 7:13-14).
Like Jesus, we accomplish the crossing by our answers
to the evils that are done to us.
We deal with the
evils done to us as Jesus dealt with the evils done
to him. Jesus showed us our potential by fulfilling
his. He led by example.
He donned the jet pack of love and flew
to show us that we,
too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was!
Jesus transported the technology of love from
heaven to earth and demonstrated that it works by
putting the technology to the test in mortal combat
with the monster of the Crucifixion.
From the scabbard of his love for us in his most
Sacred Heart,
Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness.
With it, he slayed the monster.
Forgiveness killed the monster of the Crucifixion
dead
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Matthew 5:38-48).
When you hang as Jesus hung, cling
as Jesus clung, hold tight and refuse to let go of
love.
Love is advanced, alien technology.
It is the operating system of the kingdom of God.
It is not pie-in-the-sky,
head-in-the-clouds technology.
Jesus transported and demonstrated down-to-earth,
practical technology. We can use it today,
not just tomorrow, profitably.
The technology of love is relevant to this world
not just to the next.
Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang
from our crosses.
The radical love of God
is the long pole that helps us balance on
the tightrope of life as
the new Exodus makes the parlous crossing from
earth, over the abyss of hell, into heaven.
Grab it and do not let go
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(See, 00479)
[¶ 00410 Updated: 08_07_2024]
Tightrope Walking
(00412)
Practicing Christianity is dramatic.
Christians walk the tightrope that Jesus
strung
(John 14:6)
in the gap of the chasm that seperates
hell and heaven.
The gap is wide
(Luke 16:26),
the chasm is deep
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
and the tightrope is narrow
(Matthew 7:13-14).
So walking the tightrope is breathtaking. On
the tightrope, evils
buffet and batter Christians.
We keep our balance when we answer evils
as Jesus answered the evils done to him.
Falling is easy; walking the tightrope is hard.
Christianity is not easy.
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[¶ 00412 Updated: 04_28_2024]
Safari (00147)
Don't tell us; show us. Don't tell us about
Christianity; show us Christianity. Do
Christianity; don't just talk about it.
We learn far better by example than by words
bereft of example
(1 John 3:18).
The difference between reading about safari
and going on safari is, as Mark Twain said,
as large as the difference between a lightning bug
and lightning. Christians do not just read about
safari. Christians go on safari. The Church is the
tour guide. The Church takes the children of Adam
and Eve on expeditions to the holy places -
the access points to the radical love of God - that
define the escape route from godlessness to
paradise during which we explore for ourselves
the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God.
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(1) Index: Safari (00146)
[¶ 00147 Updated: 04_28_2024]
The Bounce
(00407)
The kingdom of God is built from the inside out not
from the outside in
(Luke 17:20-21).
Its foundation is laid in our hearts not in our
circumstances
(Matthew 6:20-33).
By forgiving us for the evils that we did to
him, Jesus depetrifies our stoney hearts
so we can fleshify our circumstances
(Ezekiel 36:26).
Get the foundation right and everything else
falls together. Get the foundation wrong
and everything else falls apart.
Jesus, the radical love of God, bounced from
a shell of flesh and blood into shells of bread
and wine. The bounce was announced at the Last Supper
(Luke 22:14-20).
The bounce took place when the Crucifixion released
him from his shell of flesh and blood. After his
release, He bounces into shells of bread and wine
during a Mass. Similar to the Crucifixion,
our consumption of the shells
of bread and wine releases him into our hearts
where be builds the kingdom of God
(Luke 17:20-21).
"[Was] he not the carpenter"
(Mark 6:3)?
No Crucifixion, no comsumption, no bounces and
no construction of the kingdom of God. The
Crucifixion and our consumptions are the triggers
that release Jesus, the radical love of God from
his shells. They
effectuate the bounce.
Note: There is no release of the radical love of God
at Eucharistic Adoration or at live streamed Masses
because there is no consumption. Consumption is
a prerequisite for release as was the Crucifixion
(Thomas Reese, Streaming the Eucharist should be
banned, April 5, 2024, National Catholic Reporter,
"an illusion of the Eucharist").
Virtual consumption does not work.
Virtual consumption is faux consumption -
"an illusion of the Eucharist".
For this reason, the Mass is a superior form
of worship.
At Mass, the Eucharistic banquet is not complete
until we consume
the bread and wine of forgiveness.
The meal is not just prepared from the flesh and
blood of sacrifice. Preparation is but one part
of the meal.
The meal is served and consumed as well.
Preparation, service and consumption.
An uncomsumed meal does not satsfy our hunger or
quench our thirst.
It does not fill our bellies.
A chef makes
a meal for consumption not for display.
To say otherwise is to express not the truth
but a fiction.
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness"
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58).
Leftover bread goes stale. Old wine turns to
vinegar. Fresh bread and new wine made, served
and consumed at Mass builds the kingdom
of God.
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[¶ 00407 Updated: 04_26_2024]
The Collision a/k/a the Crucifixion (00289)
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
The collision was bigger than the Big Bang
and larger than CERN's Large Hadron Collider.
In the annals of Christianity, there is only one
collision. The collision is unique - sui generis.
The collision is the gravamen of Christianity -
superior to everything else. Everything else is
obiter dicta.
What was the byproduct of the collision? What
was the result of this test?
What did we find out?
What did we discover?
The collision between the evils that we did to
Jesus and his answer to them revealed God
to us. Collision gave birth to the revelation.
The byproduct of the collision was radical forgiveness.
Jesus forgave us while we still had his flesh in our
mouths and his blood on our hands.
Jesus recruited an army, his Church, to propagate
the collision from the
point and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history
and geography, to
the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
If we are not confronting the children of Adam with the
radical love of God that the collision revealed to
us and challenging them to come to
grips with it, we are not doing our job - we are not
doing Christianity.
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[¶ 00289 Updated: 04_26_2024]
Jesus autographed the Cross.
He put his signature on it.
Jesus' signature was radical forgiveness.
Radical forgiveness is the unmistakeable
signature of God.
Jesus signed
the Cross in the indelible ink of radical forgiveness.
Radical forgiveness was the seal that Jesus affixed
to the Cross to verify the genuineness of the
radical love of God for us. Radical forgiveness was
the mark that authenticated the radical love of God.
He forgave us even though we still had his flesh
in our mouths and his blood on our hands.
We deserved punishment not forgiveness. Jesus
forgave us anyway.
The biblical injunction holds:
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,
neither cast ye your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them under their feet,
and turn again and rend you
(Matthew 7:6).
Jesus defied it. He broke the biblical
commandment. Jesus warned us of the
dire consequences
of dealing kindly with wild and vicious animals.
He did so to show us the
radical love of God.
Jesus cast the holy pearls of radical forgiveness
to the dogs and the swine
(Matthew 7:6).
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
His hope was to inspire repentance - to instigate it.
Jesus confronts the children of Adam and Eve with
the radical love of God.
He challenges
us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves
to it. So, Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
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[¶ 00403 Updated: 04_24_2024]
The Message and the Jewels of Verification with which
God adorned the delivery of the Message
(00400)
The gravamen of Christianity consists of
the Message that Jesus delivered from heaven to
earth to answer the question, 'Who is God?' and
the Jewels of Verification with which God adorned
the delivery of the Message. The gravamen of
Christianity enables us to figure
out for ourselves this thing called God.
'Who is God?'
was an unaswered question. Many had tried
to answer it but all had failed to get it right.
The Jews had come the closest.
Moreover,
the absence of an answer was bringing about the
destruction of humanity.
Our God lamented:
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
Our God had become a stranger to us
(John 10:5)
(Psalm 69:8)
(Exodus 2:22)
(Isaiah 45:15)
(Psalm 91:1).
“And a stranger will they
not follow, but will flee from him: for they know
not the voice of strangers”
(John 10:5).
God dispatched Jesus from heaven to earth to fill the
lacuna in our knowledge of God and, thereby, bring an
end to our destruction. He brought with him the
definitive answer to the question, 'Who is God?'.
The answer was the Message of the Word of God
(John 1:1).
“I have come to set the earth on fire [with the radical
love of God],
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to
fill the earth with
the knowledge of God as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
What, exactly, is the Message?
The Message is the Good News of Great Joy.
The message tells us that
God's love for us is radical - radical in size,
radical in scope, and radical in tenacity -
radical in all of the extremes of love.
The Incarnation marked
the beginning of the delivery of the Message.
The Resurrection marked delivery's end. In
between, God adorned the delivery of the
message with the jewels of verification.
The Verifications confirmed both the importance
of the Message and the genuineness of
the Message
What is an example of a Verification of
the importance of the Message?
The status of the Messenger who delivered
the message verified the
importance of the Message.
The status of the Messenger
has a poweful impact on the recipients of
the message.
The importance of the message
rises or falls according to the status
of the Messenger.
The higher the status of the Messenger, the higher
is the credibiliy of the message.
So God dispatched a high status Messenger
as his herald
(John 1:14)
to deliver the message into the possession of
the children of Adam and Eve
(Luke 20:9-15).
Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do?
I will send my beloved son: it may be they
will reverence him when they see him
(Luke 20:13).
God dispatched an equal to
himself, that is, his dearly beloved Son.
A message delivered by the Son of God hilmself
- whatever its
contents - and not by one of God's flunkies must
be important, right?
What is an example of a Verification of
the genuineness of the Message?
The cost of the delivery of the message
verified the genuineness of the Message.
God understood that a verified message
has a more poweful impact on the recipients of
the message than an unverified message.
Verification makes a difference. So God
affixed his seal to the Message.
In the Incarnation, God sent us a Love Note.
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's radical love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
God, however, wanted to do more for us than
merely send us a Love Note. God want
to prove to us that the Love Note he had
sent us was authentic - genuine.
So, in the Crucifixion, God verified the
genuineness of the Love Note.
God made the cost of delivery of the message
high
- exorbitantly high. The higher
the cost that was paid,
the greater is the genuineness of the message.
A high cost message is impossible to
counterfeit. Counterfeiters do not want to
pay a high cost.
So, the Messenger delivered the Message
at an exhorbitant cost to himself.
Like Pheidippides
(Pheidippides),
the delivery cost him his life.
He paid
the cost of the message's delivery
in the coin of his
flesh and blood - all of it. He spent all of his
limited human resources. He kept not a penny
in the bank in reserve for himself. Wow!
Jesus did not just suffer.
Suffering was the mother
that gave birth to
the verification of the radical
love of God. Glorious victory arose from his
ignominious defeat as the dawn emerges from the
darknesss. God wrote the verification of
the Love Note in the indelible ink of radical
forgiveness.
Love survived the evils that we did to
Jesus. The Messenger forgave the recipients of the
message while they still had his flesh in their
mouths and his blood on their hands.
Suffering did not verify the genuineness of the Love
Note. The forgiveness following the suffering did.
Radical
forgiveness is a fair and accurate reflection -
the palpable, tangible, concrete and comestible
fruit - of
the radical love of God.
Whoever claims that an application of
Christianity is its preeminent priority
signals that they do not understand the
gravamen of Christianity. No application
of Christianity is superior to the gravamen
of Christianity. Nothing.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00673)
[¶ 00400 Updated: 09_08_2024]
Jesus' mission to bring us the answer
to the question, 'Who is God?'
was planned
in meticulous detail. It is the gravamen of
Christianity - superior to everything else
(Par. 11 UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO).
Everything
else is obiter dicta. The obiter dicta bogs down
and derails the pursuit of God. It pushes us
off-track. Successful clerics focus on the gravamen
of Christianity not on its obiter dicta. Christianity
is effective when its clerics devote their resources
to the operating system of Chirstianity instead of to
the applications of Christianity. Unfortunately,
most clerics are confused. They cannot distinguish
the operating system of Christianity from the
applications - the gravamen from the obiter dicta.
All aspects of Christianity are mushed together
in their heads into a confused, incomprehensible blob.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00401 Updated: 04_21_2024]
The Vocabulary of Salvation
(00396)
Can we get the vocabulary of Salvation right?
Can we distinguish the message, the messenger
and the
manner of the message's verification?
The message a/k/a the Good News of Great
Joy, the messenger and the
manner of the message's verification are
distinct from one another.
Jesus is
not
the Good News of Great Joy. He gets
credit for being the Good News of Great Joy
because he was the Messenger who delivered it to
the children of Adam and Eve. Intimate
association with it made his halo glow brighter.
Notwithstanding the
distinction between message and Messenger,
in a sense, the
message and the Messenger are one
(1 John 4:7-8).
The message, that is, the Good News of Great Joy,
is that God's
love for us is radical in size, radical
in scope and radical in tenacity.
It is radical in all three of its dimensions -
radical in the extreme.
Furthermore, God created two truths in addition
to the truth that we call, the
message, to bolster the message - to verify its
validity.
“And ye shall know the truth [about the radical
love of God], and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32).
The two additional truths are:
1) God understood that the status of the Messenger
has a poweful impact on the recipients of the message.
The importance of the message
rises or falls according to the status
of the Messenger.
The higher the status of the Messenger, the higher
is the credibiliy of the message.
So God dispatched a high status Messenger
as his herald
(John 1:14)
to deliver the message into the possession of
the children of Adam and Eve
(Luke 20:9-15).
Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do?
I will send my beloved son: it may be they
will reverence him when they see him
(Luke 20:13).
God dispatched an equal to
himself, that is, his dearly beloved Son.
A message delivered by the Son of God himself
- whatever its
contents - and not by one of God's flunkies must
be important. Right? The time of the Son of God is
too valuable to waste delivering trivia or gossip.
Yes?
2) God understood that a verified message
has a more poweful impact on the recipients of
the message than an unverified message.
Verification makes a difference.
In the Incarnation, God sent us a Love Note.
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's radical love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
God, however, wanted to do more for us than
merely send us a Love Note. God want
to prove to us that the Love Note he had
sent us was authentic - genuine.
So, in the Crucifixion, God verified the
genuineness of the Love Note.
God made the cost of delivery of the verification
high
- exorbitantly high. The higher
the cost that was paid to verify the message,
the greater is the importance of the message.
So, the Messenger delivered the Good News of Great
Joy at an exhorbitant cost to himself.
Like Pheidippides
(Pheidippides),
the delivery cost him his life.
He paid
the cost of the message's verification
in the coin of his
flesh and blood - all of it. He spent all of his
limited human resources. He kept not a penny
in the bank in reserve for himself. Wow!
Jesus did not just suffer. Suffering was the mother
that gave birth to the verification of the radical
love of God. Glorious victory arose from his
ignominious defeat as the dawn emerges from the
darknesss. God wrote the verification of
the Love Note in the indelible ink of radical
forgiveness.
Love survived the evils that we did to
Jesus. The Messenger forgave the recipients of the
message while they still had his flesh in their
mouths and his blood on their hands.
Suffering did not verify the genuineness of the Love
Note. The forgiveness following the suffering did.
Radical
forgiveness is a fair and accurate reflection -
the palpable, tangible, concrete and comestible
fruit - of
the radical love of God.
If the
content
of the message, the
status
of
the messenger and the exorbitant
cost
of
the message's verification do not persuade the
children of Adam and Eve to repent, nothing can
or will. Therefore, preach the content of
the message, the status of the Messenger and
the cost of the message's verification
and then get out of the way and let
the radical love of God go to work. Content,
status and cost manifest the persuasive
genius of God.
The persuasive genius of God is enough.
More is too much.
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Go to the Table of Contents
(Table of Contents)
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The Revelation of God was given to us in the
vernacular of flesh, blood, bread and wine (00451)
The Verification of the Love Note that
God had sent us in the Incarnation (00452)
[¶ 00396 Updated: 06_08_2024]
Takeaway
(00399)
God deposits Jesus, his radical love for us,
into palpable,
tangible, concrete and comestible packages of
bread and wine. Jesus serves them to his enemies
while they still have his flesh in their
mouths and his blood on their hands.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
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(00478)
(00602)
[¶ 00399 Updated: 06_05_2024]
Forgiveness, not punishment, went on in real time
(00398)
As we took from Jesus his flesh and blood, Jesus
served us a meal of bread and wine. He satisfied
our hunger with bread, slaked our thirst with wine,
and,
thereby, filled our bellies with forgiveness.
He catered the banquet while we still had
his flesh in our mouths and his blood on our
hands. We deserved punishment not forgiveness. Jesus
forgave us anyway despite our unworthiness.
Jesus defied the biblical injunction against doing so
(Matthew 7:6).
Jesus gave what was holy to dogs and cast pearls
before swine
(Matthew 7:6).
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
His hope was to inspire repentance - to instigate it.
Jesus confronts the children of Adam and Eve with
the radical love of God.
He challenges
us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves
to it. So, Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00398 Updated: 04_17_2024]
The Symmetry of the Release of the radical
love of God (00386)
As the Crucifixtion released the radical love
of God from its shell of flesh and blood,
our consumption of the most Holy Eucharist
releases the radical love of God
from its shell of bread and wine.
Note: There is no release of the radical love of God
at Eucharistic Adoration or at live streamed Masses
because there is no consumption. Consumption is
a prerequisite for release as was the Crucifixion
(Thomas Reese, Streaming the Eucharist should be
banned, April 5, 2024, National Catholic Reporter,
"an illusion of the Eucharist").
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00386 Updated: 04_13_2024]
Unparalled expertise in the science of cause
and effect
(00397)
Our God is the master of the science of cause
and effect. He subscribes to the principle that
only love begets love.
Therefore, the God who loves us dispatched
Jesus from heaven to earth to
put the principle into practice.
Jesus brought a radical, prodigal, limitless love to
confront the children of Adam and Eve.
He makes us squirm
under the overwhelming weight of the love of God.
He challenges
us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves
to it.
By loving us first
(1 John 4:19),
Jesus jump started the process
of our conversion. He hit us with the defibrillator
paddles of love. From Jesus' heart, our hearts
receive a transfusion of love
(Romans 5:5).
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00397 Updated: 04_17_2024]
The messenger and the manner of delivery enhanced
the message
(00395)
Can we distinguish the message, the messenger and the
manner of the message's delivery?
God had a message for the children of Adam and Eve.
The message was that
God's love for them is radical.
The open questions were who would be the messenger
and what would be the method of the
message's delivery.
Both the messenger and its method of delivery
could enhance or detract from the message.
As the messenger, God entrusted the message to
his dearly beloved son, Jesus. He made Jesus the
herald of the message
(John 1:14)
from heaven to earth
(Luke 20:9-15).
Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do?
I will send my beloved son: it may be they
will reverence him when they see him
(Luke 20:13).
The message was important.
The message puts us
in possession of the knowledge of God
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
and the knowledge of God brings our destruction
to an end
(Hosea 4:6)
(John 10:5).
The status of the messenger
reflects the importance of the message.
So, God did not delegate the job of delivering
the message to his subordinates.
He did not send a flunky.
God dispatched an equal to God, his dearly
beloved Son.
The Son of God did the job of delivery himself.
The method used to deliver
the message to the children of Adam
and Eve was equally as important as the message
and the messenger.
A well chosen method of delivery
could enhance the message in the same way as
packaging can enhance or detract from a gift.
The method of delivery
could serve the message
as a foil serves its payload. The method of delivery,
as a foil, could highlight and emphasize
and intensify and magnify and amplify and accentuate
and underline the jewel of the message.
The setting of the jewel makes the jewel. It can
and did prove the importance of the message.
God made the cost to deliver the message exorbitant.
The messenger would pay the cost out of his own
pocket in the coin of flesh and blood. He would
pay all of the limited human resources in which
God would endow the messenger. He would keep not
a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
Despite its exorbitant cost, Jesus
delivered his
message as Pheidippides did his
(Pheidippides).
Jesus got the job done. The cost did not deter him.
Jesus delivered the message despite the cost.
The prodigious size of his payment also reflects
the importance of the message.
Then from the cloud came a voice that said,
“This is my chosen Son; listen to him”
(Luke 9:35).
If the content of the message, the status of
the messenger and the exorbitant cost of
the message's delivery do not persuade the
children of Adam and Eve to repent, nothing can
or will.
The content of the message that Jesus
delivered from heaven to earth that God's
love for us is radical in size, radical
in scope and radical in tenacity is the
Good News of Great Joy. The status of
the messenger and the method of the
message's delivery verify the Good News
of Great Joy.
The Good News of Great Joy, that is, the content of
the message, the messenger and the method of the
message's delivery are the gravamen of Christianity,
superior to everything else. Everything else is
obiter dicta. Jesus recruited an army to distribute
the gravamen of Christianity from the point
and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and
geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and
now
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14).
"I have come to set the earth on fire [with the
knowledge of God], and how I wish
it were already blazing"
(Luke 12:49)!
Behold and believe!
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00395 Updated: 04_16_2024]
THE AUDACIOUS PROCESS OF DEPETRIFICATION (00348)
Fleshifying Stony Hearts
Jesus took a risk.
His high confidence in the belief that only love
begets love
made him audacious.
He did not wait for our conversion to forgive us.
He forgave us to bring about our conversion.
He took the first step of forgiveness in the hope that
we would take the next step of repentance.
He planted
the seed of love in the hostile soil of our stony hearts
in order to depetrify them
(Ezekiel 36:26).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00348 Updated: 03_25_2024]
The unusual and undeserved gift
(00393)
Who gives a gift to his enemies who still
have your flesh in their mouths and your
blood on their hands? Jesus did. He served
them a meal of bread and wine even though they
took his flesh and blood from him.
They deserved punishment not forgiveness.
Yet, he satisfied their hunger with bread,
slaked their thirst with wine and,
thereby, filled their bellies
with forgiveness.
The
gift was given to inspire repentance - to
instigate it. He
did not wait for our repentance to forgive
us; he forgave us to bring about our
repentance.
It was unusual but God brought the bad to
the wedding feast not just the good.
(Matthew 22:8-10).
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
Not all, however, feel the inspiration
(Matthew 22:11-13).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00393 Updated: 04_15_2024]
A Two Stage Rocket carried the Payload
of the radical love of God
into orbit around humanity (00359)
Three components were used to launch the
revelation of the radical love of God
into orbit.
The payload that Jesus brought from heaven to earth
was the apocalyptic revelation about
the radical love of
God. A rocket with two stages was used to launch
the payload into orbit around humanity.
The first stage of the rocket was the evils that we
did to Jesus during the Crucifixion.
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm
on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
The first stage of the rocket is called hell.
Hell was our contribution to the construction
of the rocket
(Wisdom 2: 19).
The second stage of the rocket was Jesus' answer
to the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
His answer was asymmetric - radically asymmetric.
Conventional biblical wisdom created the expectation
of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on
its head. He upset the apple cart
(Matthew 21:12).
He shifted the paradigm. He did the revolutionary
instead of conforming to the biblical status quo
and orthodoxy.
Instead of punishing us for taking from him his
flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
He substituted
forgiveness for punishment.
The second stage of the rocket is called heaven.
Heaven was Jesus' contribution to the construction
of the rocket.
The energy gradient, i.e., potential difference,
between heaven and hell powered
Jesus' revelation about the radical love of God.
We brought hell to divinity. Divinity brought heaven
to humanity. The asymmetry between
heaven and hell gave the mechanism its powerful
punch.
The asymmetry made the revelation
energetic.
The two stages of rocket and its payload are a single
mechanism.
They are the three components of a single
unit of apocalyptic revelation.
All three components are necessary for it to
achieve orbit.
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(See, 00477)
(00389)
[¶ 00359 Updated: 06_07_2024]
The two (2) shells in which Jesus, the radical love of
God,
has taken up residence while here on earth
have served two different purposes
(00391)
Before Jesus makes us like God, he showed us God.
He showed us our potential.
He showed us our potential by fulfilling his.
A shell of flesh and blood and shells of bread and wine
have served as home-away-from-home while Jesus,
the radical love of God, has sojourned
here on earth.
The two (2) shells have served two (2) different
purposes.
Released from his shell of flesh and blood,
the radical love of God answered the evils that we
did to him during the Crucifixion.
And, in so doing, ipso facto, Jesus
showed us God.
Released from his shell of bread and wine by our
consumption of it,
the radical love of God is building the kingdom of God
within us
(Luke 17:20-21).
And, in so doing, ipso facto,
Jesus is making us more like God.
The radical love of God satisfies our
hunger with bread, slakes our thirst with wine and,
thereby, fills our bellies with forgiveness.
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness"
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58).
Jesus, the radical love of God, invites us,
his enemies, who still have his flesh in our mouths
and his blood on our hands, to take a seat
with him at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort and joy of the family tent
(John 6:53)
(John 6:25-35).
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00391 Updated: 04_14_2024]
The monumental journey of Jesus
illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God
(00388)
Jesus went on a monumental journey that cost him
his life. Despite its exorbitant cost, Jesus
arrived at his destination and delivered his
message as Pheidippides did
(Pheidippides).
Jesus got the job done. The cost did not deter him.
Doesn't the cost that Jesus paid in the coin of
his flesh and blood to deliver the message
suggests the importance of the message?
A segment of Jesus' life sticks out in high relief
above the
rest. The outstanding segment is a journey that
Jesus made at exorbitant cost to himself.
It is so outstanding that Jesus himself erected
monuments to mark the start of the journey and its
end. The journey begins at the Crucifixion.
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm
on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
The monument that marks the beginning of the journey of
Jesus is the Cross of Christ
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
The journey ends at the answer that Jesus gave to
the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion.
The monument that marks the end of the journey of
Jesus is the meal of bread and wine. The meal of bread
and wine is the answer that Jesus gave to the evils
that we did to him during the Crucifixion. Jesus
announced and prepared the meal of bread and wine
on Holy Thursday
at the Last Supper. He served it to us at his
Crucifixion on Good Friday while we still had his
flesh in our mouths and his blood on our hands.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
The monumental journey undertaken at exorbitant cost
to himself
stands out because it is the
unambiguous
answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. It
definitively reveals God to us.
The Crucifixion and the the Meal of bread and wine
are the two parts of a single unit of apocalyptic
revelation that delivers to us a better understanding
of God.
The monumental journey is the gravamen of Christianity - superior
to everything else. Everything else is obiter dicta.
Christian are the children of Adam and Eve who
follow Jesus' journey on the trail that
he blazed from monument to
monument.
They have upgraded their understanding
of God by studying and scrutinizing the
monumental journey.
They have figured this thing called God out for
themselves.
They appreciate the exoribitant cost that Jesus
paid in the coin of his flesh and blood to
make the journey. He spared no expense. He emptied
the treasury. He kept not a penny in the
bank in reserve for himself. He has never paid
a higher price to deliver a message than he did
to pay for the monumental journey.
The exorbitant cost that Jesus paid to deliver
the message is irrefutable proof of the message's
importance.
When Christians come to appreciate the significance
of what Jesus' monumental journey is telling us about
our God, we are gobsmacked.
Our new understanding of our God
knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Indeed, Jesus' monumental journey unfolded
during Holy Week -
the holiest of weeks in
the Christian year. Jesus' journey makes the week
holy.
The monumental journey was the gift that Jesus gave us
at an exorbitant cost to himself. It enables us to
figure out this thing called God for ourselves.
Have you tried to use it?
It catapults us into the mind of God.
It is the key that unlocks a high fidelity,
first class understanding of God.
It refreshes our understanding of
God.
"I have come to set the earth on fire [with the
knowledge of God], and how I wish
it were already blazing"
(Luke 12:49)!
Behold and believe!
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00388 Updated: 04_16_2024]
Who is God?
(00387)
Who is God?
Jesus deposited the answer to the question, 'Who
is God?' into a short segment of
his life on earth.
He deposited it into a journey that he made between
two monuments.
How Jesus revealed the answer to us
gobsmack us.
It knock us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
The segment of Jesus' life that holds
the answer is short - very short.
The answer is found in
Jesus' journey from the Cross to the Meal of bread
and wine.
The Cross is the monument to the evils that we
did to Jesus. The Meal of bread and wine is
the monument to his answer to them.
Conventional biblical wisdom created the expectation
of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on
its head. He upset the apple cart
(Matthew 21:12).
He shifted the paradigm. He did the revolutionary
instead of conforming to the biblical status quo.
Instead of punishing us for taking from him his
flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
He substituted
forgiveness for punishment.
To answer the evils that we did to him during
the Crucifixion that evicted him from his
shell of flesh and blood, Jesus took up
residence in a shell of bread and wine. His new
residence was the answer of Jesus, the radical love
of God, to to the question, 'Who
is God?'. He satisfied
our hunger and slaked our thirst with a meal
of bread and wine. He filled our bellies with
forgiveness while we still had his flesh in our
mouths and his blood on our hands.
Jesus' monumental journey is the
backbone of Christianity. Upon his journey,
the edifice of Christianity is built.
If we do not understand
the origin and destination of his journey,
we do not possess the revelation. Our claim
of being a Christian is invalid.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00387 Updated: 04_13_2024]
Jesus, the Real Presence of God, is a commuter
from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven.
The radical love of God is the Easy Pass that
greases the wheels of his commute.
(00384)
Jesus, the radical love of God, is mobile.
He does not sit still. He is a commuter from
heaven to earth and from earth to heaven. The
radical love of God is the Easy Pass that greases
the wheels of his commute.
While away from his home
in heaven, Jesus takes up temporary residence
in transient quarters here on earth.
How and why he enters and
exits his temporary residences here on earth tells
the story of our salvation.
Jesus, the radical love of God, has been present
with us since the Incarnation
(Matthew 1:23).
First, in a shell of
flesh and blood
(John 1:14).
Subsequently, in
a shell of bread and wine
(John 6:25-59).
Since the Incarnation. the presence of the radical
love of God has been real, palpable and tangible.
However, a tweak was made to the real, palpable and
tangible presence of God. In the most Holy
Eucharist, the real presence was also made comestible.
The real presence became a palatable proposition.
In the Incarnation, Jesus, the radical love
of God, made his debut on the workd stage in
a shell of flesh and blood.
Jesus brought his shell of
flesh and blood into the picture of Christianity
before he introduced us to his shells
of bread and wine at the Last Supper.
The Crucifixion evicted
Jesus from his residence in
the shell of flesh and blood.
The evils that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion
released the radical
love of God from its shell of flesh and
blood.
In the Resurrection, Jesus reclaimed his shell of
flesh and blood
(Luke 24:39)
(John 20:17)
In the Ascension,
he and his shell of flesh and blood
ascended upwards back into heaven.
Jesus brought
the shell of bread and wine
into the picture of Christianity at the Last Supper.
In his Reincarnations, He descends from heaven
to take up residence again on the earth in
shells of bread and wine.
The movement of Jesus, the radical love of
God,
(Genesis 1:2)
tells the story of our salvation.
The edifice of
Christianity is built on and around its story.
Are you privy to the story of Christianity?
Can you articulate it?
Do you have the words?
Your claim of being a Christian is baseless
unless you know and
can tell the story of Christianity -
unless you are fluent in it.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00384 Updated: 04_10_2024]
The most Holy Eucharist is not a Russian Matryoshka
nesting doll
(00385)
When we understand the concept of shells in which
the real presence of God nests while on earth
away from heaven, we realize that viewing
the most Holy Eucharist as a Russian Matryoshka
nesting doll
is absurdly complex.
The real presence of God
does not nest in a shell of flesh and blood that
nests in a shell of bread and wine -
a shell within a shell - a nest
within a nest.
Such a convoluted fantasy is cognitive legerdemain -
it carries no meaning.
In the most Holy Eucharist, the
real presence of God nests in a shell of bread
and wine.
Indeed, there is a tight relationship between the flesh
and blood combination and the bread and wine
combination.
The flesh
and blood combination was the coin that Jesus
paid to confect the bread and wine
combination.
Jesus sacrificed his shell of flesh and
blood so he could take up residence in the
shells of bread and wine. The sacrifice was how Jesus
paid the cost of forgiving us for the evils that
we did to him. Jesus paid for the creation of
shells of bread and wine in the coin of his flesh
and blood. No payment; no forgiveness;
no illumination of the darkness of our understanding
of God.
The most Holy Eucharist is a shell of bread and
wine in which nests Jesus, the radical love of God.
By consuming it, we release the radical love of God
as the Crucifixion released the radical love of God
from its shell of flesh and blood.
The most Holy Eucharist is not a shell of bread and
wine in which nests a shell of flesh and blood in
which nests Jesus, the radical love of God. Such
convolution adds nothing to the story of our
salvation.
To share this blurb, copy and share this
link:
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00385
For more, click on the link[s] below
The Announcement of Equality (00427)
Paradise Lost; Epiphany Postponed (00450)
[¶ 00385 Updated: 05_05_2024]
Where did Jesus, the radical love of God,
go after the Crucifixion evicted him from his
residence in his shell of flesh and blood?
He took up residence in shells of bread and wine.
Why? In this way, Jesus answered the evils that we
did to him during the Crucifixion. His new residences
were his answer. He satisfied the hunger and slaked
the thirst of his enemies with a delicious meal of
bread and wine who still had his flesh in
their mouths and his blood on their hands.
He filled their bellies. He gave them something
into which they could sink their teeth.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00383 Updated: 04_09_2024]
The Eviction (00382)
The Crucifixion was an eviction. The evils
that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion evicted
Jesus, the radical love of God, from his
residence in the shell of flesh and blood
into which he was deposited during the
Incarnation. The Crucifixion made Jesus
homeless.
During the Crucifixion, we baptized Jesus in hell
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Mark 10:37-38).
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on
a sharp hook where he hung until death.
The Crucifixion, however, was only the first half
of the interrogation. We interrogated him with lash,
thorns, nails and Cross. We gave him the third degree.
Jesus answered us.
Jesus did not hang mute.
His tongue was not nailed to the Cross.
He did not take the fifth.
Jesus did not answer the evils that we did to him
in kind.
He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did not take from us the coin of our flesh and
blood as we took from him.
He did not exact
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Conventional biblical wisdom created the expectation
of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on
its head.
He upset the apple cart
(Matthew 21:12).
He shifted the paradigm.
He did the revolutionary instead of conforming to
the status quo.
Instead of punishing us for taking from him his
flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
He substituted
forgiveness for punishment.
To answer the evils that we did to him, Jesus took
residence in a shell of bread and wine. His new
residence was the answer of Jesus, the radical love
of God, to the evils that we did to him.
Jesus gave us his answer in the Reincarnation.
The Crucifixion released the radical love of God from
his shell of flesh and blood.
Consumption of the most Holy Eucharist at Mass
releases the radical love of God from
his shell of bread and wine.
The symmetry of our salvation is preserved in the
Mass.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00382 Updated: 04_10_2024]
The Reincarnation (00375)
At the Last Supper, Jesus, the radical love of God,
announced his reincarnation,
not in another shell of flesh and blood, but
in a shell of bread and wine.
The Last Supper
(Luke 22:14-20)
was the preparation for
the jump of Jesus, the radical love of God,
from his shell of flesh and blood into
his shell of bread and wine.
It was time for him to move on
(John 14:3) and, at the Last
Supper, he made the announcement of his
relocation.
Jesus registered his change of address.
He made the address of his new residence here on
earth public.
Jesus published his new address at
the Last Supper so we would
know where to find him and how to reach him.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00375 Updated: 04_09_2024]
By depositing the radical love of God in a shell of
bread and wine during his Reincarnation,
Jesus erected a monument to
it (00381)
By depositing the radical love of God in a shell of
bread and wine during his Reincarnation,
Jesus erected a monument to it.
Only the meal of bread and wine that Jesus made for
us during the Reincarnation at the Last Supper
and served to us
during the Crucifixion satisfies our hunger and quenches
our thirst. During his Reincarnation,
Jesus made the radical love of God
palpable, tangible, concrete and comestible.
We sunk our teeth into it. It filled our bellies.
Moreover, he paid cost of the construction
project out of his
own pocket with the coin of his flesh and blood.
He paid all of the coin of his flesh and blood.
He emptied the treasury. He did not keep a penny in
the bank in reserve for himself. He had never paid
more for anything else. Doesn't the size of his payment
confirm the importance of the monument?
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00381 Updated: 04_09_2024]
On what foundation does Christianity rest?
(00380)
Behold with your eyes flesh and blood! Behold
bread and wine! Believe that Jesus, the radical love
of God, was present in the shell of flesh and blood.
Believe that he is now present in the shell of bread
and wine. This is Christianity - no more, no less.
The encapsulations of Jesus, the radical love of God,
in a shell of flesh and blood (the Incarnation) and in a shell of
bread and wine (the Reincarnation)
are the foundation of Christianity.
Upon this foundation, the edifice of Christianity
is built.
Behold and believe
(John 14:1)!
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00380 Updated: 04_09_2024]
The power to relocate the radical love of God
(00378)
If we believe that our God exercised the power to load
his radical love for us into a shell of flesh and blood,
it is easy to also believe that God exercised the
power to load
his radical love for us into a shell of bread and
wine.
"For nothing will be impossible with God"
(Luke 1:37).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00378 Updated: 04_08_2024]
The Relocation of the Radical love of God
(00374)
Why did Jesus, the radical love of God, relocate
his residence from a shell of flesh and blood to
a shell of bread and wine?
Jesus, the radical love of God, relocated
his residence from a shell of flesh and blood to
a shell of bread and wine because our God wanted
to satisy our hunger and quench our thirst.
Words alone do not do this.
To satisy our hunger and quench our thirst something
a bit more substantial is needed than words -
something into which we can sink our teeth.
The most Holy Eucharist is the lagniappe of
forgiveness that Jesus gave us in addition to
giving us the words of forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
Words of forgiveness
do not satisfy our hunger and quench our thirst
in quite the same way as bread and wine do.
We can't fill our bellies with words
but we can sink our teeth into a meal of bread
and wine.
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life:
he that cometh to me shall never hunger;
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst"
(John 6:25-59).
The most Holy Eucharist makes the radical love
of God palpable, tangible, concrete and
comestible.
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness"
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58).
The most Holy Eucharist makes the radical love
of God palpable, tangible, concrete and
comestible. We can sink our teeth into a meal
of bread and wine. It is the only thing that
satisfies our hunger and quenches our thirst.
Nothing else does.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00374 Updated: 04_08_2024]
Reincarnation, re-Crucifixion, and the re-Release of
the Radical Love of God takes place de novo
during the Mass
(00379)
The Mass redoes the story of our salvation
de novo.
At Mass during the consecration of the most Holy
Eucharist reincarnation is taking place. However,
instead of being incarnated into a shell of
flesh and blood, Jesus, the radical love of God
is 'incarnated' into a shell of bread and
wine - reinarnation all over again except in
a different shell.
At Mass during the serving of the most Holy
Eucharist to the congregation, re-Crucifixion
is taking place. We take from Jesus his flesh
and blood as we consume his shell of bread
and wine. Our consumption of his shell of
bread and wine is the Crucifixion de novo.
The hell in which we baptized Jesus
during the Crucifixion releases de novo
Jesus, the radical love of God from
his shell of bread and wine.
Hell sets him free.
“And ye shall know the truth [about the radical
love of God], and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32)
as it made free the radical love of God.
Hell opened the door to heaven.
Through the opened door we see that the face of God
is forgiveness.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00552)
[¶ 00379 Updated: 04_08_2024]
Which is the superior form of liturgy: The Mass or
Eucharistic Adoration? And why?
(00377)
The most Holy Eucharist at Mass is a
superior form of liturgy compared to Eucharistic
Adoration because, at Mass,
preparation (Holy Thursday), service
(Good Friday) and consumption (Good Friday)
take place.
Neither preparation (Holy Thursday),
service (Good Friday) or consumption (Good Friday)
happen during Eucharistic
Adoration. Through preparation,
service and consumption of the most Holy
Eucharist at Mass the
story of our salvation is told. The
story of our salvation is not told during
Eucharistic Adorarion.
Jesus said to do this in remembrance of him
(Luke 22:19).
He did not say hang out with me.
Close proximity to the real presence of God does not
transfer the knowledge of God to us.
Osmosis does not work.
The onomatopoetic-like flow of the radical
love of God from preparation (Holy Thursday)
to service (Good Friday) and
onto consumption (Good Friday) is needed
to convey the knowledge of God to us.
To share this blurb, copy and share this
link:
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00377
For more, click on the link[s] below
Paradise Lost; Epiphany Postponed (00450)
[¶ 00377 Updated: 05_19_2024]
The face of God (00352)
The glorious face of God erupted dramatically
from the
gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered
to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
Behold the face of forgiveness -
the sweet, sweet face of forgiveness!
From the utter darkness of the
gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered
to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19),
the radical love of God erupted dramatically
as the sun dawns
from the darkness
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
God showed us his face
(Num 6:25-26)
(1Chr 16:11)
(Ps 4:6)
(Ps 31:16)
(Ps 67:1)
(Ps 80:19)
(Ps 105:4)
(Ps 119:135)
(Ezek 39:29)
(Matt 18:10)
(Rev 22:4).
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00352 Updated: 04_06_2024]
The sun at the center of
Christianity
(00373)
Cozy up to the Sun!
The radical love of God is the sun at the center of
Christianity.
Its powerful gravity pulls
Christians into orbit around it.
The closer is the orbit,
the greater is the holiness.
Evangelization is the attempt to entangle
the children of Adam and Eve in
the gravity of the radical love of God.
Only a close encounter with the radical love of God
results in entanglement.
Only the radical love of God maintains the
entanglement.
Why?
Only love begets love.
And radical love begets love radically.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00373 Updated: 04_06_2024]
Hell opened the door to heaven
(00368)
Christianity follows the movement of
the radical love of God from its shell
of flesh and blood to its shell of
bread and wine. Christians follow the
bouncing ball.
In
the Incarnation,
the radical love of God
was deposited into a shell of flesh and blood.
At
the Last Supper,
Jesus, the shell of flesh
and blood, became the shell of bread and wine. How this
was done is a mystery. Why it was done is not.
The substitution of shells was the
perfection of the Word of God's non-verbal
expression of forgiveness
(Matthew 4:4).
It was the
tangible, palpable, concrete and comestible
lagniappe that Jesus gave to us
in addition to giving us words of forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
Words do not satisfy our hunger and quench our thirst
in the same way as a meal
of bread and wine does.
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life:
he that cometh to me shall never hunger;
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst"
(John 6:25-59).
There is no better or more
persuasive way to express forgiveness non-verbally
than by satisfying the hunger and quenching the
thirst of the enemies who still have your flesh
in their mouths and your blood on their hands.
In
the Crucifixion,
the evils that we did to Jesus
released the radical love of God from its shell of
flesh and blood so it could take up residence in
the shell of bread and wine.
Evils were the nutcracker.
Hell opened the door to heaven.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00368 Updated: 04_06_2024]
The taking and giving were not the same
(00354)
We took from Jesus his flesh and blood. Jesus,
however, did not give us exactly what we
took. He gave us bread and wine. At the
Last Supper, Jesus had made a substitution.
The miracle is that both the taking and the
giving occupied and co-existed in
the same time and space.
The taking was hell; the giving, heaven.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00354 Updated: 04_06_2024]
"And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name".
(Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5, Scene 1)
God gave his radical love for the children
of Adam and Eve a shape, a local habitation and a name
when, in the Incarnation, he encapsulated it in a
shell of flesh and blood. Jesus was the 'poet's pen'
(John 1:1)
who made 'airy nothing'
tangible - concrete - real.
By pitching his tent with us
(John 1:14),
Jesus became able to show us God
(John 14:8-9)
in a graphic demonstration that unfolded in
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to him during his Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19).
By shedding his shell of flesh and blood
in the Crucifixion,
Jesus unboxed the enigma of God.
The evils that we did to Jesus during his Crucifixion
stripped God of his disguise
(Isaiah 45:15)
(Psalm 91:1)
to reveal his radical love for the children of Adam
and Eve.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00177)
[¶ 00545 Updated: 07_12_2024]
Jesus made the ingredients for the meal
of forgiveness out of himself
(00367)
Why did Jesus turn his flesh and blood into
bread and wine at the Last Supper on Holy
Thursday?
He had already brought flesh and blood into
the picture during the Incanation. Why did he
bring bread and wine into the picture
at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday?
Jesus anticipated the evils that we would do
to him
(Matthew 16:21-23)
and he knew what his answer to them
would be.
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
wanted to prepare and serve us a meal of
forgiveness in addition to the words of
forgiveness that he had given to us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
Words do not satisfy our hunger and quench our thirst
in the same way as a meal does.
However, there were no supermarkets
at which he could shop for the ingredients
for the meal of fotgiveness. So he made
them himself. He made them out of himself.
Satisfying the hunger and quenching the thirst
of his enemies who still had his flesh in their
mouths and his blood on their hands is perfection
in the non-verbal expression of forgiveness.
In so doing,
the Word of God
(John 1:1)
demonstrated his total and complete
mastery over the expression
of the radical love of God.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00367 Updated: 04_06_2024]
Coalescence (00366)
We came for flesh and blood; we left with bread
and wine.The punishment that we deserved for taking
from him his flesh and blood was transmuted into
undeserved forgiveness.
On Holy Thursday at the Last Supper, Jesus caused
the abstract concept of forgiveness to
coalesce into something palpable - tangible -
concrete, that is, into a meal of bread and wine.
We can sink our teeth into it.
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life:
he that cometh to me shall never hunger;
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst"
(John 6:25-59).
Serving a meal of bread and wine to us while
we still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood
on our hands was his asymmetric answer to the evils
that we did to him.
It put meat on the bones of the ethereal concept
of forgiveness. It was the shell that encapsulated
forgiveness.
Serving a meal of bread and wine to us while
we still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood
on our hands was the proof of forgiveness.
It was the verification of the radical
love of God. It was its comestible confirmation.
By preparing (Holy Thursday) and serving (Good Friday)
a meal of bread and wine for his enemies,
the Word of God
(John 1:1)
gave us something in addition to giving us words of
forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
Jesus gave us a forgiveness bonus -
a forgiveness lagniappe.
He gave us a deed of forgiveness. Jesus did
forgiveness; he did not just say it.
Furthermore, at each most Holy Eucharist, a priest
repeats Jesus' deed of forgiveness.
"And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it,
and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which
is given for you: this do in remembrance of me"
(Luke 22:19).
During the most Holy Eucharist, a priest
prepares (Holy Thursday) and serves (Good Friday)
a meal of bread and wine to us guilty of taking
from him his flesh and blood. We consume it. A meal
is made to be eaten not to hang out with.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00366 Updated: 04_07_2024]
In weakness, Jesus made the strength of God visible
(00365)
Defortification on the brink of war is so contrary
to human logic that it boggles the mind.
What rational human general does this?
Even a military novice would reject a strategy of
disarmament. Only an insane combattant would rig
himself for defeat, right?
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Evils were driven out of heaven and precipitously
cast down
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16).
Evils were evicted but not defeated.
The war against evils was incomplete - unfinished.
The coup de grâce had yet to fall.
Only the venue had changed from up there to down here.
To continue the war against evils here on earth,
Jesus did not invade the hostile desert of
godlessness at the head of a powerful
army of angels
(Matthew 26:53),
riding a tank and armed to the teeth.
Like a guerilla, Jesus infiltrated behind enemy lines
into hostile territory alone, riding a cross,
and armed with no weapon but love.
Our God disarmed. He defortified himself.
He doffed his invincible armor of divinity and
donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood.
Jesus became one of us -
an equal to us in our humanity -
a partner with us in our suffering.
Dressed like us, he entered the scrum.
He had a different, more subtle methodology
than the use of brute force against our enemies.
His methodology was radically unconventional
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Defortification on the brink of war is so contrary
to human logic that it boggles the mind.
What rational human general does this?
Even a military novice would reject a strategy
of disarmament. Only an insane combattant would rig
himself for defeat, right?
But not our God.
Jesus made himself vulnerable
in order to make himself the bait
for the trap of our salvation.
The children of Adam and Eve took the bait hook, line
and sinker. And the trap sprung thereby releasing
onto the battlefield the revelation of the radical
love of God.
He forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
Forgiveness, not punishment, was his answer to the
evils that we did to him.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00365 Updated: 04_04_2024]
The Energy Gradient
(00356)
The energy gradient, i.e., potential difference,
between heaven and hell powered
Jesus' revelation about the radical love of God.
We brought hell to divinity. Divinity brought heaven
to humanity. The asymmetry made the revelation
energetic.
It gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
It catapults us into the mind of God
(Isaiah 55:8).
The high-energy revelation is the gravamen of
Christianity -
superior to everything else.
Everything else is obiter dicta.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00356 Updated: 03_31_2024]
The Translation (00362)
The meal of bread and wine is the verification
of the truth that he forgave us. It is the comestible
confirmation of
forgiveness - more substantial than mere words
of forgiveness. We can sink
our teeth into it.
Jesus prepared (Holy Thursday) and served (Good Friday)
a meal of bread and wine to his vicious enemies who still
had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their
hands.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
The translation of flesh and blood into
bread and wine took place
on Holy Thursday at the Last Supper.
On Good Friday,
despite the biblical injunction against doing so
(Matthew 7:6),
Jesus gave what is holy to dogs and cast pearls
before swine.
The translation made
his answer to the evils that we did to him tangible -
comestible - more than mere words of forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
We can sink our teeth into it.
The radical love of God satisfied
our hunger with bread,
quenched our thirst with wine
and filled our bellies with companionship.
Jesus had invited his enemies to take a seat
with him
at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort and joy of the family tent
(John 6:53)
(John 6:25-35).
By preparing and serving a meal of bread and wine
to his vicious enemies, Jesus
eliminated ambiguity from his answer to the evils
that we did to him.
The meal of bread and wine is the verification
of the truth that he forgave us.
It is the comestible confirmation of forgiveness.
The translation made the abstract concept of
forgiveness concrete. It made his answer to the
evils that we did to him clear.
Is their a better way for the Word of God
(John 1:1)
to express forgiveness?
Entertain no doubts - none whatsoever. He is risen
and we are forgiven.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00362 Updated: 04_03_2024]
Calibration
(00322)
Against what do we calibrate our understanding of
God?
Let us calibrate our understanding of God against
the revelation of the radical love of God that
erupted from the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to Jesus
in the laboratory of his Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19).
Calibration puts us
in possession of the knowledge of God
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
and the knowledge of God brings our destruction
to an end
(Hosea 4:6)
(John 10:5).
"I have come to set the earth on fire [with the
knowledge of God], and how I wish
it were already blazing"
(Luke 12:49)!
God decided to resurrect the knowledge of God
from the dead
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3),
affix it prominently to the flagpole
of Christianity,
and recruit an army to distribute it from the point
and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and
geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and
now
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00322 Updated: 04_03_2024]
What is the Church holiday that celebrates
Jesus' answer to the evils that we
did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)?
What is the solemnity?
Where do we find Jesus' answer in the liturgical
calendar?
Where does the Church stop us to reflect about
his answer?
Does the Church even take notice of its significance?
Or, like the priest and the Levite
(Luke 10:31-32), does the Church
pass Jesus' answer by?
The appropriate feast is Good Friday. The day that
we did evils to Jesus is the day that Jesus
answered them. Yet, the focus of Good Friday
is on the evils that we did to him not on his answer
to them. We reflect on only one of the hangings not
on the two. We reflect on the first part of
the revelation not on the second.
We reflect on the hell that we brought
to the Cross and not on the heaven that Jesus
brought to it. This monocular view of Good Friday
distorts our understanding of the
revelation of the radical love of God. Our view
of Good Friday needs to become binocular. We need
to understand the bipolarity of the Cross. Without
an understanding of the bipolarity of the Cross, we
empty the Cross of its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00360 Updated: 04_02_2024]
Bipolarity (00361)
The Bipolarity of the Cross = the Bipolarity of
the most Holy Eucharist
The Bipolarity of the Cross = the Bipolarity of
the most Holy Eucharist. Both hold heaven and
hell. We supplied the hell. Jesus supplied
the heaven.
We hung from the Cross a tortured and dying
corpse of flesh and blood.
Jesus hung the radical love of God.
We took from Jesus his flesh and blood.
Jesus gave us bread and wine. We deserved
punishment. In lieu of punishment, Jesus forgave
us.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
The Cross is bipolar. It consists of a
rocket and a payload. We brought
the Rocket. Jesus brought the payload.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00361 Updated: 04_02_2024]
The house of heaven is built from
bricks of love.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00357 Updated: 03_31_2024]
The Crucifixion
(00553)
In the fire of the Crucifixion, the evils that we did to
Jesus
freed the radical love of God from its shell of
flesh and blood. The fire of the Crucifixion
liberated Jesus
from the limitations of humanity. In the fire of the
Crucifixion,
Jesus doffed his frail uniform of flesh and blood
in which he had dressed himself in the Incarnation and
that he would later reclaim in the Resurrection.
As he was doffing his frail uniform of flesh and blood,
Jesus released the spirit of
forgiveness to extinguish the flames of the
fire of the Crucifixion. Forgivenes put the fire out.
To share this blurb, copy and share this
link:
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00553
Go to the Table of Contents
(Table of Contents)
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00553 Updated: 07_16_2024]
The Centerpiece of Christianity
(00349)
Jesus' Magnum Opus is the revelation of the
radical love of God. Jesus hung his Magnum Opus
from the position of prominence on the
flagpole of Christianity.
Rally 'round the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
The centerpiece of Christianity is the
Masterpiece of love that Jesus created
with the brush of forgiveness
on the canvas of Hell during his Crucifixion.
Jesus embellished hell with heaven. It was his
finest work - his Magnum Opus.
It captured the energy of the precipitous
gradient - the
potential difference - between heaven,
the highest of points, and
hell, the lowest. We brought hell to Jesus.
Jesus brought heaven to us.
The radical asymmetry between hell and heaven is
precisely what packs overwhelming power
into the punch of Jesus' revelation about
the radical love of God.
Our job is to duplicate the artistry of Jesus.
Christianity is a colony of artists who try to
embellish the hells of earth with heaven -
to decorate earthly hells
with the sweet and exquisite
fruits of love.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00349 Updated: 04_02_2024]
Superimposition (00353)
We baptized Jesus in hell
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Mark 10:37-38).
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on
a sharp hook where he hung until death.
Jesus superimposed heaven onto hell. Jesus embellished
the hell in which we baptized him with the blessing
of forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00353 Updated: 03_29_2024]
Are you a Passerby? (00062)
Have you ever stopped to reflect about
Jesus' answer to the evils that we did
to him during the Crucifixion? Or do you just
pass by? Have you missed the best, the juiciest,
the most delectable part of Christianity?
Are you a passerby like the priest and the Levite
(Luke 10:31-32)?
Have you ever stopped to reflect about
Jesus' answer to the evils that we did
to him during the Crucifixion?
Or do you just pass by?
Have you missed the best, the juiciest,
the most delectable part of Christianity
(Luke 10:42)?
The hell in which we baptized Jesus elicited an
answer.
Jesus did not hang mute.
His tongue was not nailed to the Cross.
He did not take the fifth.
With lash, thorns, nails
and a Cross, we gave him the third degree.
We interrogated him.
'Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself.
God or fraud? Friend or foe?'
Are you privy to his answer?
Jesus' answer was designed to produce a specific
effect.
Jesus answered the evils that we did to him in
the way that he did to provoke a specific
reaction in us.
Jesus was highly confident in the theory that
love begets love - only love begets love.
Did it?
Was his confidence justified? Did his theory work?
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to blurbs about Transferring the knowledge of
God from Divinity to Humanity.
[¶ 00062 Updated: 03_28_2024]
Jesus did not wait for our conversion to forgive us;
he forgave us to bring about our conversion (00290)
Jesus took the first step of forgiveness in the hope
that we would take the second step of repentance
(Matthew 22: 11-13).
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19)
by forgiving us for the evils that we did to
him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Jesus did not wait for our conversion to forgive us;
he forgave us to bring about our conversion.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
Our God is the master of the science of cause
and effect. He subscribes to the principle that
only love begets love.
Therefore, the God who loves us dispatched
Jesus from heaven to earth to
put the principle into practice.
Jesus brought a radical, prodigal, limitless love to
confront the children of Adam and Eve.
He makes us squirm
under the overwhelming weight of the love of God.
He challenges
us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves
to it.
By loving us first
(1 John 4:19),
Jesus jump started the process
of our conversion. He hit us with the defibrillator
paddles of love. From Jesus' heart, our hearts
receive a transfusion of love
(Romans 5:5).
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00290 Updated: 03_28_2024]
The launch of the revelation of
the radical love of God?
(00346)
Salute the flag
(Romans 14:11)!
Rally 'round the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to publish
the revelation of the radical love of God.
"To this end was I born, and for this cause
came I into the world, that I should bear
witness unto the truth [about the radical
love of God]"
(John 18:37).
What was the launching pad at which publication
took place?
The revelation of the radical love of God
erupted dramatically from the gruesome
experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19).
Jesus impaled bloody and alive like a worm on a sharp
hook was hung from the gantry of the launchpad.
There he died. His death initiated the countdown
.
Liftoff followed ignition.
From the launchpad, Jesus ascended like a shooting star
into the night sky.
He streaked through the darkness to illuminate our
understanding of God in a
glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Jesus was the rocket whose payload was
the revelation of
the radical love of God.
We, via the evils that we did to him,
hung the revelation of the radical love of
God from the position of prominence on the flagpole
of Christianity.
Salute the flag
(Romans 14:11)!
Rally 'round the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00346 Updated: 03_28_2024]
The Taming of the Shrew
What tamed Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him?
(00351)
Jesus did not answer the evils that we did to him
in kind.
He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did not take from us the coin of our flesh and
blood as we took from him.
He did not exact
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Conventional biblical wisdom created the expectation
of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on
its head.
He upset the apple cart
(Matthew 21:12).
He shifted the paradigm.
He did the revolutionary instead of conforming to
the status quo.
Instead of punishing us for taking from him his
flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
He substituted
forgiveness for punishment.
Why?
What tamed Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him?
His radical love for us tamed his answer to the
evils that we did to him. Radical love
subdued it. It gentled it
(1 Kings 19:11-13).
Is not a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
Can we not reverse engineer God from the fruit
to the tree?
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00351 Updated: 03_28_2024]
A Christian Trivialist (00350)
The radical love of God is the Sun of
Christianity. Christians are the planets
that orbit around it. The closer is the orbit,
the greater is the holiness.
A trivialist is a Christian who is trapped in a
silo of Christian minutiae and, like a Platonic
cave dweller, cannot see the bigger Christian
picture. A trivialist is lost in the small stuff.
A trivialist obsesses over
the obiter dicta of Christianity but devotes none
of his resources to its gravamen.
In fact, a trivialist
cannot distinguish the gravamen of Christianity
from the obiter dicta.
He cannot see the gravamen because the obiter
dicta get in his way.
The obiter dicta are the red herrings that lead
the trivialists astray along petty tangents, down
dead ends
and away from the radical love of God.
Pluto is a planet cold, dark and dead
because it is far
from the sun. A trivialist resembles Pluto
because he is far from the radical love of
God.
The radical love of God is the sun of Christianity.
Christians orbit it.
But, the radical love of God is not the 'be-all and
end-all' of a trivialist.
A trivialist is out of sync with the radical love
of God. He revolves around minor matters - petty
thing. A trivialist avoids the gravitational
pull of the Sun. He hitches his wagon not to the
stars but to
little things.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00350 Updated: 03_28_2024]
The Triple Crown of Divinity
(00347)
Jesus showed us
the Triple Crown of Divinity.
The size, scope and tenacity of his love for
us are without limits - love
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
intransigent in tenacity.
Jesus showed us our potential.
From the position of prominence on the
flagpole of Christianity, Jesus set the
bar high.
Rally 'round the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00347 Updated: 03_25_2024]
The Distillation of Christianity (00317)
What is the blessed byproduct of the distillation?
What do we get when we boil down Christianity?
What do we get when we reduce Christianity to
its essence?
From the Masterpiece of Love that
Jesus created with the brush of forgiveness on
the canvas of life during his Crucifixion in the
hell of the evils that we did to him,
we discover the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'.
Hell was an absurd venue for him to
give us
the answer to the question, 'Who is God?',
yet Jesus made hell the venue of his
apocalyptic announcement.
What did Jesus do there? He forgave us for the
evils that we did to him. Despite our
Crucifixion of him in the hell of the evils
that we did to him, Jesus forgave us.
Does not forgiveness points to a heart filled
to the brim with love for us
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
Forgiveness in hell enabled us to distill
the truth about the nature of God.
The byproduct of the distillation
is that God's love for is radical in size,
scope and tenacity.
We discovered by baptizing Jesus in a dunghill of
evils
(Wisdom 2: 19)
that the dial that controls his love for us is
in his hands not ours.
Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and
is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to Jesus could
budge it.
The radical love of God is the gravamen of
Christianity - superior to everything else.
Everything else is obiter dicta. Beware the
saboteurs of Christianity who dilute the radical
love of God. Beware when
"Thy silver is become dross,
thy wine mixed with water"
(Isaiah 1:22),
Let us safeguard the radical love of God from
the saboteurs!
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00317 Updated: 03_24_2024]
The ladder of knowledge
(00327)
God dispatched Jesus from heaven to earth not
to form a government to rule us
but to open a school to teach us.
Climb the ladder of knowledge from
the squalid level of the
loveless beasts who scavenge for scraps in cutthroat
competion against each other in utter poverty
among the ruins of Eden to the sublime level of our
home with the radical love of God.
To acquire knowledge, we go to school. At school,
the knowledge is arranged in the form of a ladder.
Each rung of the ladder holds a unit of knowledge that
is a 'stepping stone' for the next rung. As
we climb the ladder, we acquire the knowledge.
Our ascent up the ladder gives us a well-developed
understanding of the curriculum of the school.
Our God opened a school for us. He sent Jesus
to be our teacher. And, he wants us to enroll.
In the laboratory of the Crucifixion, Jesus built
a ladder of knowledge for us to climb
(John 1:51)
(Genesis 28:12)
to acquire the knowledge of God
(Hosea 4:6)
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
"[Was] he not the carpenter"
(Mark 6:3)?
The ladder consists of two rungs:
1) We baptized Jesus in hell and
2) Jesus baptized us in Heaven.
The Crucifixion was a duality not a singularity.
The Cross was bipolar.
The radical asymmetry berween hell and heaven
is precisely what packs overwhelming power
into the punch of Jesus' revelation about God.
We made hell for Jesus with the evils that we did
to him during our Crucifixion of
him. Jesus made heaven for us by forgiving us for
the evils that we did to him during
his Crucifixion.
Embellishing hell with heaven is Jesus' greatest
work - his Magnum Opus.
The ladder of knowledge that Jesus left us in
the laboratory of the Crucifixion
is the gravamen of Christianity -
superior to everything else.
Everything else is obiter dicta.
The journey up the ladder illuminates the darkness of
our understanding of God in a glorious burst of
apocalyptic epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
The two rungs of the ladder are the odd couple of
epiphany. God joined them together.
Jesus used their combination -
their marriage -
to reveal to us the radical love of God.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
By climbing the ladder, we upset our classical
understanding of God as power and discover that God
is also love - radical love.
Power begets respect but love begets love - only love
begets love - and radical love begets love
radically. God is not just father; God is
also mother - a mix -
the perfect alloy of power and love.
Go home! Go home, children of Adam and Eve
(Luke 15:11-32)!
You are not scarabs - midden dwellers.
Climb out of the dunghill!
Bring your self-imposed exile to an end.
In exile, you do not belong.
There is nothing there
for you. So, tarry there no longer!
Ascend the ladder of knowledge!
Depart to your home with the radical love
of God! The radical love
of God eagerly awaits your return
(Luke 15:11-32).
To share this blurb, copy and share this
link:
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00327
Go to the Table of Contents
(Table of Contents)
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00327 Updated: 08_04_2024]
The revelation about God erupted
from the encapsulation / decapsulation process with
a miraculous twist
(00345)
Midstream, the radical love of God substituted
a shell of bread and wine for a shell of flesh
and blood to interact with our world differently -
not for his benefit but for our benefit.
The substitution was the miraculous twist. We thought
that we were taking from him his flesh and blood.
However, we got more than we bargained for. He
did not give us what we took. He
gave us bread and wine.
The path from the Incarnation
to Holy Thursday to the Crucifixion to the
most Holy Eucharist is the path of Salvation.
It is the gravamen of Christianity, superior to
everything else. Everything else is obiter dicta.
Lock your focus on the radical love of God that Jesus
delivered to the children of Adam and Eve. To get to
us, the radical love of God followed the path
from the Incarnation to Holy Thursday
to the Crucifixion to the most Holy Eucharist.
Follow the bouncing ball
(TV Tropes)!
The purpose of the encapsulation / decapsulation process
was revelation - the apocalyptic revelation of
the radicalness of God's love for the children
of Adam and Eve.
"I have come to set the earth on fire [with the
knowledge of God], and how I wish
it were already blazing"
(Luke 12:49)!
In the Incarnation, encapsulation took place.
God deposited the radical love of
God into a shell of flesh and blood. A shell of flesh
and blood was the treasure chest that held the treasure
of Christianity. It was the palanquin that carried
the radical love of God.
In the Incarnation, Jesus doffed his invincible armor
of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh
and blood. He became one of us - an equal to us in
our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering.
Dressed like us, he entered the scrum at the line of
scrimmage in the war against evils, cheek to jowl
with us, toe to hoof against his enemies.
Jesus put himself in harm's way.
At the Last Supper, the radical love
of God changed shells. Jesus made a substitution.
In the miracle of substitution, Jesus transformed
his shell of flesh and blood into a shell of bread
and wine. The radical love of God changed containers.
At the Last Supper, there was a confusion - a mixing
together - a merger - of flesh, blood, bread and
wine. Is light a particle, a wave or both? Is the
radical love of God held in a shell of flesh and blood,
a shell of bread and wine or both?
During the Crucifixion,
decapsulation took place.
The hell of evils that we did to Jesus during the
Crucifixions stripped away the shell to expose the
radical love of God within. Instead of imposing the
punishment upon us that we deserved for taking from
him his shell, he blessed us with the gift of
forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
The punch of the revelation about the radical love
of God derives its power from the potential
difference - the energy gradient - between heaven
and hell. We brought hell to the
encapsulation / decapsulation process.
Jesus brought heaven.
--- to be continued ---
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00345 Updated: 03_22_2024]
Two encapsulations, one name
(00344)
"And being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted
him, and given him a name which is above
every name: That at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in
heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth;"
(Philippians 2: 8-10)
The radical love of God encapsulated, at the
Incarnation, in a shell of
flesh and blood, we have given the name, Jesus.
The radical love of God encapsulated, at the
Last Supper, in a shell of
bread and wine, we have given the name, Jesus.
The shells are different but the radical love of
God that the shells hold is the same.
Both are called Jesus.
Two encapsulations, one name.
The two shells serve
different purposes but both convey the
radical love of God to the children of
Adam and Eve.
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
knows how to express himself. Jesus
(John 1:1)
is not limited to only one means of expression.
The undressing of Jesus in the Crucifixion
(Matthew 27:35)
after
he was dressed in a shell of flesh and blood
in the Incarnation loaded
the revelation
about the radical love of God with the power of
the potential difference - the energy gradient -
between heaven and hell. Putting the radical love of
God into a shell of food and drink at the Last
Supper informs us how vital it is to us. Without
food and drink, we hunger, we thirst, we die.
Without the radical love
of God, we suffer the same fate.
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life:
he that cometh to me shall never hunger;
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst"
(John 6:25-59).
"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you"
(John 6:53).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00344 Updated: 03_20_2024]
The Shell Game (00341)
The Palanquins that carry the radical love of God
The radical love of God is too ethereal to 'move'
in our reality. Movement requires the placement of
the radical love of God into a 'shipping container',
a palanquin.
The radical love of God
is encapsulated into shells.
The shells add a
particular meaning to the radical love of God.
To enable it to enter our world and interact with
it, the radical love of God was deposited into
a shell of flesh and blood.
It received its palanquin during the Incarnation.
During the Crucifixion, the evils that we did to
the radical
love of God stripped it of its shell to reveal
the blessing of forgiveness. The shell
of flesh and blood was the curtain that evil drew
open as part of the revelation.
The shell of flesh and blood was not the only shell
that our God used.
To demonstrate its existential value to us,
Jesus deposited the radical love of God into a shell
of bread and wine.
Jesus
made the radical love of God comestible. We can
sink our teeth into it.
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life:
he that cometh to me shall never hunger;
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst"
(John 6:25-59).
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you"
(John 6:53).
The radical love of God received
its palanquin of bread and wine
on a Thursday at the Last Supper.
Instead of giving his enemies the punishment that they
justly deserved for taking his flesh and blood,
the radical love of God blessed them with
the priceless gift of forgiveness.
His enemies did not deserve it, but Jesus gave the
gift of forgiveness to them anyway.
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
The radical love of God satisfied
our hunger with bread, quenched our thirst with wine
and filled our bellies with companionship.
Jesus served a meal to the
enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and
his blood on their hands.
Jesus had invited his enemies to take a seat with him
at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort and joy of the family tent
(John 6:53)
(John 6:25-35).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00341 Updated: 03_19_2024]
The Packaging, Unpackaging and Repackaging of the Radical
love of God (00342)
The radical love of God was packaged, unpackaged
and repackaged and, when repackaged, became essential
food and drink for the children of Adam and Eve.
To make the radical love of God substantial and enable
it to intereact with our reality, it was first packaged
in a shell of flesh and blood.
In a shell of flesh and blood, the radical love of God
entered our world.
This miracle took place
in an event that has come to be known as
the
Incarnation.
The packaging of
the radical love of God in a shell of flesh and blood
was done in anticipation of its unpackaging. During
the
Crucifixion, the evils that we did to the shell
of flesh and blood unpackaged the radical love of God.
The hell of evils
that we did to it smashed the shell into smithereens
to reveal its contents to the children of Adam
and Eve. Its contents appeared in the form of
forgiveness, one of the sweet fruits of love.
On a Thursday at the
Last Supper,
Jesus repackaged
the radical love of God into a shell of bread and
wine so the children of Adam and Eve could consume it.
Consumption of the radical love of God is essential
for our survival - a sine qua non of life and living
(John 6:25-59).
Without consuming the radical love of God, we have
no life within us
(John 6:53).
The repackaging of the radical love of God into a shell
of bread and wine allowed the radical love of God to
persist upon the earth after the destruction
of the shell of flesh and blood. The radical love
of God was able to continue here albeit in a new shell.
The shell of flesh and blood became the shell of
bread and wine on a Thursday at the Last Supper.
Between the creation of the shell of bread and wine
on a Thursday at the Last Supper and the destruction
of the shell of flesh and blood on a Friday during
the Crucifixion, both shells co-existed. The shell of
flesh and blood and the shell of bread and wine served
the same purpose. They hosted and still host the radical
love of God here on earth.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00342 Updated: 03_19_2024]
The Boxing and Unboxing of the Radical Love
of God (00340)
Our fragile shell of flesh and blood was the box that
held the radical love of God.
The miracle of the Incarnation was the boxing.
In the Incarnation, the radical love of God
was boxed in a shell of flesh and blood.
The Crucifixion was the nutcracker that opened
the shell and released its contents.
The miracle
of the Crucifixion was the unboxing.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00340 Updated: 03_18_2024]
How did God make the abstract concept of the radical
love of God concrete - tangible?
(00328)
The radical love of God was encapsulated
in food and drink - bread and wine - that Jesus
made out of his flesh and blood to depetrify
our stony hearts and fleshify them
(Ezekiel 36:26).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00328 Updated: 03_16_2024]
forgiveness and repentance are partners in
the symbiotic dance of salvation
(00321)
Forgiveness is God's invitation to join him in the
dance. By repentance, we accept the invitation.
Forgiveness and repentance dance their way into paradise.
Lord, help me to repent and to stay repentant
(Luke 9:62).
Let the
symbiotic dance between forgiveness and repentance
commence and continue.
Let me not mar the beauty of the dance by dancing in
fits and starts.
When I falter
(Matthew 14:22-33),
thank you for picking me up where
we left off
(Matthew 18:21-22).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00321 Updated: 03_16_2024]
Reciprocal Baptisms
(00326)
We baptized Jesus in hell
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Mark 10:37-38).
Jesus baptized us in forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00326 Updated: 03_15_2024]
Hell
(00324)
Hell is a place marked by the absence of the sweet
fruits of love.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00324 Updated: 03_15_2024]
Convergence
(00270)
The radical love of God is the point of
convergence. When we come too close to it, we
spiral into it.
All of the threads of Christianity converge on
one point, to wit, the radical love of God.
The radical love of God is the backbone of the universe -
the substrate of Creation. It is the glue that
holds all of the elements of the world together.
The radical love of God is the dynamic
agent that does the
work in Christianity. It does the heavy lifting.
The radical love of God is the catalyst of our
conversion. The gravity of the radical love of God
pulls us ineluctably into the tender embrace
of the vortex of divinity.
It is the most powerful force in heaven and on earth.
The radical love of God gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to propagating it,
the power to change the world. When the gravity of the
radical love of God captures us, we have hit the
jackpot. We have found the pot of gold
at the end of the rainbow. We have won the lottery.
The radical love of God is the rock
(Matthew 7:24-27)
on which the wise build their lives.
As a foundation for living, it
is robust.
Immerse yourself in it.
Meditate on the radical love of God
day and night
(Joshua 1:8).
Figure out for yourself
how it works.
The radical love of God is the smack of Christianity.
It is habit forming and addictive.
We who have tasted the radical love of God cannot
get enough of it.
Therefore, more of the radical love of God; not less.
Always. No exceptions.
Do you have an addiction to the radical love of God?
Are you dependant on it? How can you not?
It is our lifeline.
The radical love of God is the air that we
breathe. Tap into it!
Fill your lungs with it!
Avail yourself of it!
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Convergence (00273)
(2) Index: The Radical Love of God
(00167)
(3) Index: The Glue of Christianity
(00274)
[¶ 00270 Updated: 03_04_2024]
Love accelerates the discovery of God. God accelerates the discovery of love.
The asymmetry between the venue and what Jesus did
at the venue gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
The venue was the hell of evils that we did to Jesus
during the Crucifixion. What Jesus did at the venue was
to forgive us. While we still had his flesh in our
mouths and his blood on our hands, he forgave us.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
Imagine two Jesus'.
One of them curses his enemies
who forced him into the venue. The other
blesses his enemies
(Luke 6:28-30).
Both were martyrs.
Both were wronged in the same way. Which is
the authentic Jesus and which is the counterfeit?
Is the Jesus whose answer was asymmetric
to the evils done to him the authentic Jesus?
Or is the Jesus who answered us in kind -
who gave us a taste of our own medicine -
who required
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48) -
the authentic Jesus?
Who is the real Jesus and who is the phony?
Which of the two is like us and
which is unlike us
(Isaiah 55:8)?
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00320 Updated: 03_06_2024]
Are you privy to the story of the creation of Jesus'
Magnum Opus? Can you articulate it? Do you have the
words?
Can you propagate it from the
point and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history
and geography, to
the children of Adam and Eve here and now?
Progagate it. Get out of the way. Let God do
the rest.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00309 Updated: 03_02_2024]
A meal of bread and wine is the avatar that Jesus
created to make the abstract concept of forgiveness
concrete - tangible. Of note is that He created
the avatar from his flesh and blood.
At the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, he created it.
At Calvary on Good Friday, he served it.
He prepared the meal of bread and wine for us
in advanced before he served it and we consumed it.
Forgivenesss = a meal of bread and wine.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00318 Updated: 03_06_2024]
Jesus demonstrated in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
in the hell of the evils that we did to him
that the technology of love
works (00212)
Jesus field tested the technology of love
himself in the gauntlet of evils. He
took it for a spin. And he proved that it works.
The technology of love that Jesus transported from
heaven and demonstrated here on earth in the gruesome
experiment that we cruelly administered to him in
the laboratory of the Crucifixion
is not pie-in-the-sky,
head-in-the-clouds technology.
Jesus transported and demonstrated down-to-earth,
practical technology. We can use it today,
not just tomorrow, profitably.
The technology of love is relevant to this world
not just to the next.
The technology of love enables us to pick up
and carry our crosses
(Matthew 16:25)
(Matthew 5:38-48)
as we make our escape through the gauntlet of crosses -
the minefield of crosses - on our journey
to the promised land.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00212 Updated: 03_04_2024]
The Exhibition of Jesus' Magnum Opus (00315)
The most Holy Eucharist is an exhibition
of Jesus' Magnum Opus - the masterpiece of love
that Jesus created by applying
the brush of forgiveness
to the canvas of life
during his Crucifixion in the
hell of the evils that we did to him.
Hell was an absurd venue for the production
of his artwork, yet Jesus did his best work there.
Jesus substituted
forgiveness for the punishment that we deserved
for taking from him his flesh and blood.
We came for his flesh and blood. We left
with bread and wine.
Jesus turned the altar of
sacrifice into
a banquet of forgiveness.
He satisfied the hunger of his enemies with bread,
slaked their
thirst with wine and filled their bellies with
companonship. While we still had his flesh
in our mouths and his blood on our hands, Jesus
served us a meal at the family table,
out of the sun and the rain, under
the comfort and joy of the family tent.
We feast with Jesus at the banquet of forgiveness.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness"
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00315 Updated: 03_05_2024]
The Imbalance in the allocation of resources
between the operating system of Christianity
and its applications (00311)
A useful distinction can be made between
the operating system of Christianity and its
applications.
The operating system of Christianity
is the radical
love of God as revealed to us by
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion. It deals with the Magnum Opus
that Jesus created during his Crucifixion in the
hell of the evils that we did to him.
The applications of Christianity
are different from
its operating system.
When we try to figure how the radical love of
God works in a particular set of circumstances, we are
dealing with applications.
Abortion, sexual morality, the death penalty etc.
are examples of the applications of Christianity.
The Christian applications are the hotbeds of disagreement
and the flashpoints of controversy. Various opinions
are held with regard to extrapolating the radical love
of God into a particular set of circumstances.
The operating system is the foundation of Christianity.
Get the foundation right and everything falls together.
Get it wrong and everything falls apart.
In other words, the more resources that we devote to
the operating system of Christianity, the more
successful will be the applications of
Christianity.
Furthermore, because resources are limited, it is
important to strike the proper balance in allocating
resources to the operating system of Christianity and
its manifold applications.
Lastly, let us keep in mind that
the pursuit of God ebbs and flows according
to the energy that its engine supplies it.
The energy that drives the pursuit of God
is the radical love of God - the operating system
of Christianity.
Unfortunately, the
leadership of Christianity has failed to make the
distinction between operating system and applications
and, thus, out of ignorance of the distinction,
has failed to allocate resources appropriately.
Leadership has mismanaged its portfolio.
It is out of balance.
Leadership has invested too much into
the applications of Christianity and not enough into
the operating system of Christianity.
As a result of leadership's failure, the pursuit of God
is sputtering and stalling.
It is flagging.
Fewer and fewer of the children of Adam and Eve
are going to Mass. Nobody goes to Confession.
Vocations are drying up. Marriages are crumbling.
Churches are withering and dying.
The only sacrament holding its own is
the sacrament of extreme unction and
this is so only because the dying do not have
much of a choice.
The trend is downward and accelerating.
The thermometer that gauges the temperature of
the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity.
By this measure, the patient is moribund -
a few breaths away from death.
The usefulness of the distinction between operating
system and applications can be emprically tested.
Let us try to devote the bulk of our resources to
the operating system. Let us see how such a
portfolio rebalancing works out.
Therefore, more of the radical love of God; not less.
Always. No exceptions.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00517)
[¶ 00311 Updated: 07_04_2024]
The war against evils cannot be won without
capturing, taking control of, and holding
the high ground of Christianity (00312)
We must capture, take control of, and hold
the high ground of
Christianity before we can sally forth into the
trenches of Christianity to contest
its applications.
We cannot win
the war against evils in the trenches
without first seizing and owning the high ground.
What is
the high ground of Christianity?
It is the radical ove of God,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope, and
immortal in duration.
Christian crusaders must sally
forth from Christianity's stronghold into
the trenches of its applications.
There is no other way.
There is no other path to victory.
Retreat,
regroup,
reenergize and
reflect
on the high ground of Christianity.
Coalesce around the radical love of God.
The Cross of Christ
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
is the monument that Jesus built to mark
the high ground
of Christianity.
Rally 'round the Cross!
"God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear,
though the earth be removed,
and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea"
(Psalm 46:1-2).
To share this blurb, copy and share this
link:
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00312
For more, click on the link[s] below
Decapitating the Head from the Body of Christ (00472)
[¶ 00312 Updated: 06_01_2024]
The Mindset of the Church has Stymied a Culture
of Dialogue and Discussion (00313)
Leadership of the Church has failed to develop
a culture of dialogue and discussion. Why?
The mindset of leadership is that information flows
downstream from God to the Church and, thence, to
the multitude. Therefore, monologue is leadership's
preferred
form of discourse not dialogue.
Think of the sermon or homily.
Information flows only one way. Leadership doesn't
take feedback from the multitude
.
Leadership's disdain of feedback from the multitude
is unfortunate because feedback is a proven error
correction device and some of the best ideas come
from the bottom-up instead of the top - down.
The multitude can now read, write and think for
themselves.
Many are the sources of information available to
the multitude.
Now, the merits and demerits of an idea must stand on
their own two feet.
That the Church supports an idea is no longer enough.
The multitude rejects the leadership's claim of a
hotline between it and God and looks upon claims of
governmental legitimacy by virtue of the
"divine right of kings" as an anachronism meant
to frighten the multitude into submission.
These religious fictions no longer work.
They no longer instill docility into the multitude
(1906 “Vehementer Nos“).
To succeed in the modern world of a literate and
skeptical multitude, leadership must learn to do
what it has disdained to do, that is,
compete in the marketplace of ideas.
Its ideas are being challenged - their legitimacy
cast into doubt. The question yet unanswered is,
without a culture of dialogue and discussion,
can the Church successfully compete in the
marketplace of ideas?
Note: Pope Francis' synodality initiative is an
attempt to develop
a culture of dialogue and discussion within the
Church.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00313 Updated: 03_04_2024]
Our God threatened to forgive us. Jesus is how
our God followed through on his threat
(00305)
In the Incarnation, the radical love of God
was encapsulated in a shell of flesh and blood.
Jesus doffed his invincible armor of divinity
and donned
our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He became
one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner
with us in our suffering. Dressed like us, he entered
the scrum at the line of scrimmage
in the war against evils, cheek to jowl with us,
toe to hoof against his enemies.
Jesus courageously put himself in harm's way.
In the Crucifixion, the evils that we did to Jesus
freed the radical love of God from its shell.
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on
a sharp hook where he hung until death.
The Crucifixion did not go unanswered.
It elicited a response.
The radical love of God replied to the evils
that we did to him.
Asymmetry is the hallmark of the answer.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
Instead of doling out the punishment that we deserved
for taking from Jesus his flesh and blood,
the radical love of God doled out forgiveness.
The radical love of God made a substitution -
a propitious substitution from the perspective
of humanity.
The greater were the evils that we did to Jesus,
the more audacious and astonishing is
his gratuitous and unconditional substitution of
forgiveness for punishment
(Isaiah 11:6).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
Our God had threatened to forgive us
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
Jesus is how our God followed through on
his threat.
From the position of prominence on the flagpole of
Christianity, by the substitution of forgiveness
for punishment,
Jesus presented to us the knowledge of the radical
love of God. It was an apocalyptic presentation -
an awesome demonstration of the potential of
humanity.
Rally 'round the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
The knowledge of the radical love of God invites
repentance, reconciliation, and reunion.
It is our God's gratuitous and unconditional
invitation to us to
return to our home with him in paradise.
Everybody gets the invitation.
But, unfortunately, not everybody accepts
(Luke 9:59-63).
Repentance is how we accept the invitation
(Luke 3:8)
(Matthew 22: 11-13)
(Luke 15:11-32).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00305 Updated: 02_29_2024]
The Nestling
(00285)
Lamb = the radical love of God encapsulated in a
shell of flesh and blood
Wolf = the evils that we did to Jesus
that produced his sacrifice
Miracle = The revelation of the radical love
of God
Jesus, 'the little child', gently nestled
the radical love of God encapsulated in a shell of
flesh and blood
against the evils that we did to him.
"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
and the calf and the young lion and the
fatling together; and a little child shall
lead them"
(Isaiah 11:6).
The asymmetry of what Jesus did was audacious.
It gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
The greater were the evils that we did to
Jesus, the greater is our astonishment at
his gentle answer to them
(1 Kings 19:11-13).
His gentle answer to the evils that we did
to him marks the day that our God
"set his hand
again the second time to recover the
remnant of his people" "like as it was to
Israel in the day that he came up out of
the land of Egypt"
(Isaiah 11).
The radical love of God as expressed by his gentle answer
to the evils that we did to him is the
ensign for the nations that Jesus set up to
assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together
the dispersed from the four corners of the earth
(Isaiah 11:12).
The evils that we did to Jesus affixed the revelation
of the radical love of God to the position of
prominence on the flagpole of Christianity.
Rally 'round the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6), our God lamrnted.
Jesus, 'the little child', by the nestling,
supplied
the knowledge that ended our destruction.
The nestling filled the earth with
the knowledge of God as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
The nestling is rich in revelation.
The knowledge that the nestling released into
the world upgraded our understanding of God.
It enables us to figure out
for ourselves this thing called God.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00285 Updated: 02_27_2024]
The encapsulation of the radical love of God
in a shell of flesh and blood, a/k/a, the
Incarnation, initiated the process of
our salvation.
The process of our salvation
concludes with our repentance.
Between encapsulation and
repentance are the Crucifixion and
Jesus' answer to the evils that we did
to him during the Crucifixion.
The Crucifixion did not go unanswered.
The radical love of God replied.
During the Crucifixion, his enemies scraped away
the enscapulation as insouciantly as
barnacles are scraped away from the hull of a boat.
The evils that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion
freed the radical love of God from its shell.
In answer to the Crucifixion,
a substitution took place.
The radical love of God substituted forgiveness
for the
punishment that his enemies deserved for taking
from him his shell.
Ipso facto - by virtue of the
substitution- , the radical love of God is revealed
to the children of Adam and Eve who have no knowledge
of the nature of God. Their ignorance was
killing them
(Hosea 4:6).
Jesus was assigned the job of bringing
the children of Adam and Eve the knowledge
that would end their destruction.
By his answer to the evils that we
did to him in the Crucifixion,
Jesus filled the earth with
the knowledge of God as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Encapsulation a/k/a Incarnation -> Crucifixion
-> Answer to the Crucifixion -> Repentance
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00304 Updated: 02_29_2024]
The gist of Christianity
(00302)
What is the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'
and what evidence do we explore to discover the
answer? Let's explore the interaction between
divinity and humanity that took place when
Jesus paid us a visit.
Terrorists launched a rocket of evils at the radical love
of God encapsulated in a shell of flesh and blood.
The rocket hit its target. It destroyed the shell.
Nothing happened to the radical love of God. Jesus
continued to love the terrorists nonetheless.
He continued to include them within the scope of
his love.
His radical love for us survived the evils that we
did to him - intact - undiminished.
Wow! What a miracle!
Can you not feel the overwhelming weight of the
radical love of God? Are you insensitive to it?
Jesus confronts the children of Adam and Eve with
the radical love of God. He makes us squirm under
it. He challenges us to come to grips with it -
to reconcile ourselves to it.
It gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00302 Updated: 02_28_2024]
Forgiving us while his flesh was still in our mouths
and his blood was on our hands
is the giving
of what is holy to dogs and the casting of pearls
before swine. God said don't do it. Yet, despite his
admonition against it, Jesus did it anyway
(Matthew 7:6).
He broke his own rule to catalyze
our conversion. Our God was audacious.
He took the initiative
because he was highly confident in the proposition that
love begets love. Love transforms the dogs and swine
from loveless beasts into loving creatures.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00304 Updated: 02_28_2024]
the sequence of salvation in a nutshell
(00300)
In the Incarnation, the radical love of God
was encapsulated in a shell of flesh and
blood. Our God transmuted a shell of flesh and
blood into a treasure chest that held
the radical love of God.
Jesus, the Word of God
(John 1:1),
became the tangible expression of
the radical love of God -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
The radical love of God begot the Incarnation.
The Incarnation was the event that made the Crucifixion
possible.
The Crucifixion cracked open the shell of flesh and
blood to reveal the radical love of God to us.
The radical love of God is our treasure
(Matthew 13:45-46).
"Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself,
O God of Israel, the Saviour"
(Isaiah 45:15).
In a
"secret place", the most High dwells
(Psalm 91:1).
The Crucifixion unboxed the enigma.
The Crucifixion rent the veil in the temple in
twain from top to bottom
(Matthew 27:50-54)
to reveal the radical love of God to us.
Via the Crucifixion, Jesus released the Good News
of Great Joy into the world.
This is a summary of the sequence of
salvation in a nutshell.
Are you privy to the sequence of
salvation? Can you articulate it?
Do you have the words? If you cannot
artfully summarize the sequence of salvation,
you do not yet understand
Christianity.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Incarnation (00107)
[¶ 00300 Updated: 02_27_2024]
The validity of a claim that a person is a proxy
for God or
a successor to the apostles can be tested
(00314)
The credibility of an advocate of a position
rises and falls according to the bloody wounds
that it cost the advocate to support the
position. The greater the cost, the greater
the credibility.
The validity of a claim that a person is a proxy
for God or a successor to the apostles
can be tested. We do not have to take their word
for it.
The claimants to the halo of divine superiority cannot
heal the sick, feed five thousand or raise
the dead to life as Jesus did. They fail this test
(Matthew 23:4).
Their failure proves that their claim is false and
them to be counterfeits
(Matthew 17:20).
But perhaps this test is unfair for
ordinary human beings with no unlimited
divine resources at their beck and call?
Perhaps there is a better test?
Perhaps there
is a test that instead of challenging them to draw
from their unlimited divine resources, challenges
them to draw from their limited human resources?
As a matter of fact, there is.
Jesus spent all of the coin of his flesh and blood
to purchase for us the gift of forgiveness.
Jesus created a Masterpiece of Love
by applying the brush of
forgiveness to the canvas of life in the hell
of the evils that we did to him.
During the Crucifixion in the hell
of the evils that we did to him, Jesus created
his Magnum Opus.
Jesus paid the cost of his creation
out of his own pockets in the coin of his
flesh and blood.
The serpent spent
nothing. How much have the claimants to the halo
of divine superiority spent?
This is a better test. They have the power to
pass it as Jesus passed it.
Jesus showed them their potential by fulfilling
his.
Jesus earned his bloody wounds.
The serpent had none.
What about the claimants to the halo
of divine superiority?
Show us your bloody wounds
(John 20:24-29)
(Matthew 20:20-23).
"The other disciples therefore said unto him,
We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them,
Except I shall see in his hands the print of
the nails, and put my finger into the print of
the nails, and thrust my hand into his side,
I will not believe"
(John 20:25).
It ain't easy for a claimant to the halo
of divine superiority to prove his bona fides.
Don't just claim it.
Show us your bloody wounds
(John 20:24-29).
This is the hard test that reveals the impostors.
Do not be deceived. Most claimants to the halo
of divine superiority are frauds. They claim to be
proxies of God or successors to the apostles. Yet,
they can produce no evidence to support their
claim
(Matthew 3:9).
They cannot
heal the sick, feed five thousand or raise
the dead to life as Jesus did. They have spent
none of their limited human resources - not a
penny of the coin of their flesh and blood - on
love. Beware of the frauds.
They say but do not do. They are hypocrites.
They pass the collection basket around to others
but they do not contribute anything themselves.
They tell us to wash our neighbor's feet, yet
they do not condescend to wash their neighbor's toe
(John 13:1-17).
Frauds and hypocrites. Beware of them!
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00314 Updated: 03_04_2024]
Freelance Christianity
(00070)
Does freelance Christianity, that is, Christianity done
outside the structure and hierarchy of official
Christianity, work?
When the gravity of the radical love of God captures
us, we have hit the jackpot. We have found the pot
of gold at the end of the rainbow. We have won the
lottery.
Our God wants us to hit the jackpot.
The only way to do so is
to engage in the dogged pursuit of the radical love
of God
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
Like bloodhounds, we follow the scent of
the radical love of God
on the trail to paradise.
The pursuit of the radical love of God is primary.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary.
Anything that interferes is suspect.
How much progress can be made in the pursuit of
the radical love of God
outside the structure and hierarchy of the Church?
Why does the hierarchy frown on freelancing? What
effect does freelancing have on their monopoly?
Is their monopoly good or bad for the consumer of
their version of Christianity?
What do we do when the structure and hierarchy of
official Christianity dilute
the radical love of God with obiter dicta?
The practice of Christianity has become perfunctory -
cursory. We just go through the motions. It needs
a refreshing.
What was Jesus' take on freelance Christianity?
We know it from
(Luke 9:49-50).
And John answered and said, Master, we saw one
casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him,
because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said
unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not
against us is for us
(Luke 9:49-50).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Pursuit of the
Radical Love of God. (00132)
[¶ 00070 Updated: 02_27_2024]
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
Jesus blazed the escape route through
the hostile desert of godlessness,
defined it with holy places,
made a map of them,
established a Church,
entrusted the map to the Church and
gave the leadership of the Church a mission.
The mission is to facilitate our escape -
not to frustrate it, not to filter it and
not to foul it up.
Leadership is the grease for the wheels of the escape
not an obstacle in its way
(Isaiah 57:14).
If leadership gets in the way of the escape,
the children of Adam and Eve go around them,
over them, under them and through them.
Leadership make themselves irrelevant.
They are failures.
So, we pursue God without them.
The pursuit of the radical love of God is primary.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary.
Anything that interferes is suspect.
Like bloodhounds, we follow the scent of
the radical love of God
on the trail to paradise.
We, the children of Adam and Eve, are the consumers
of religion. What do we want from it?
What is it that we need?
Is it a religion that tells us how to behave? Or is
it a religion that helps us figure out
for ourselves this thing called
God?
How does it weight its portfolio? Is its portfolio
overweighted to morality and light on theology?
Does it focus on revelation or regulation?
Does it give prority to helping us figure out for
ourselves this thing called God or does it
pathologically obsess with trying to govern
our behavior?
Do we want a religion that tells us what it found
or a religion that shows us where to look?
Better that the freedom of our behavior be oppressed
by our loving God
(Matthew 11:28-30)
than
oppressed by counterfeit proxies who claim,
without credible
substantiation, to be acting on
his behalf
(Matthew 23:4).
Can these self-annointed, sanctimonious
proxies heal the sick, feed five thousand or raise
the dead to life as Jesus did?
Jesus spent all of the coin of his flesh and blood
to purchase for us our salvation. The serpent spent
nothing. How much have the counterfeit proxies
spent?
Our God is wonderful
because his love for us is radical and his radical
love drives him to bless us with many gifts including
his first gift, the gift of life!
"… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts,
And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven
for you, and pour down upon you
blessing without measure!"
(Malachi 3:10).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00537)
(1) Index: Only Love Begets Love (00129)
[¶ 00131 Updated: 02_27_2024]
Diluting the radical love of God (00150)
The leadership of Christianity is diluting
the radical love of God with obiter dicta.
They have watered it down.
"Thy silver is become dross,
thy wine mixed with water"
(Isaiah 1:22),
As a result, the pursuit of God
is sputtering and stalling.
The pursuit is flagging.
Fewer and fewer of the children of Adam and Eve
are going to Mass. Nobody goes to Confession.
Vocations are drying up. Marriages are crumbling.
Churches are withering and dying.
The only sacrament holding its own is
the sacrament of extreme unction and
this is so only because the dying do not have
much of a choice.
The trend is downward and accelerating.
The thermometer that gauges the temperature of
the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity.
By this measure, the patient is moribund -
a few breaths away from death.
To share this blurb, copy and share this
link:
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00150
Go to the Table of Contents
(Table of Contents)
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00150 Updated: 06_13_2024]
Jesus did not regulate us first. He loved us
first.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19)
(Matthew 22:37-39).
Hint. Hint.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00298 Updated: 02_26_2024]
Reverse Engineering God from the fruit to the tree
(00297)
How do we figure out this thing called God for
ourselves?
Is there an antidote to the poison of evils?
Love neutralizes evils.
The seeds of evil do not grow in the soil of love.
Love is toxic to evil. Love smothers evil as water
smothers fire.
Jesus showed us.
Jesus put on a demonstration of the
power of love.
Jesus is the Prometheus who 'stole' the fire
of love from Olympus and gave it to humanity
(Wikipedia).
“I have come to set the earth on fire [with the radical
love of God],
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
From the tree of Christianity
(Acts 5:30)
(1 Corinthians 1:17),
Jesus gave us the antidote to the poison.
He forgave us for the evils that we
did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Is not a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
Can we not reverse engineer God from the fruit
to the tree?
Can we not extrapolate?
From what God did we know who God is.
His deeds, not his words, God done not God said,
reveal to us the nature of God.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00521)
[¶ 00297 Updated: 07_08_2024]
Glorious Victory was achieved
when Jesus maintained
the integrity of the yolk despite
the destruction of its shell
(00293)
The yolk of humanity is the container that
holds our love of neighbor.
In our incarnations, God deposits the yolk of
our humanity into a shell of flesh and blood.
In Jesus, his love filled the yoke to the brim.
His love for the children of Adam and Eve was radical
in all of its dimensions, size, scope and durability.
In the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19),
the evils that we did to Jesus cracked the shell of
his flesh and blood. Evils shattered it
into smithereens. Yet, the destruction stopped there.
The evils that we did to Jesus progressed no farther.
They proved impotent beyond the shell.
The yoke of his humanity remained intact -
its integrity undisturbed. It suffered not
the slightest nick nor blemish
(John 19:36).
The greater was the shattering of the shell,
the more astonishing is the undisturbed integrity
of the yolk.
Our job is to maintain the integrity of the yolk
despite any damage to or destruction of the shell.
All of the King's horses and all of the King's men
could not put Humpty-Dumpty back together again. But
Jesus can. Have faith! Trust in the radical love of
God! On it, pin your hope
(Isaiah 40:31)!
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00521)
(00525)
[¶ 00293 Updated: 07_08_2024]
Love is the metformin that downregulates
the glucose of evils (00296)
Evils are the hormones that upregulate the circulation of
evils in the bloodstream of humanity.
Evils beget evils. The multiplication of evils is
a cascade of disaster
(Matthew 12:43-45)
(Matthew 24:12).
They overload the system bringing morbidity and mortality
to the body of humanity.
From the position of prominence
in the showcase of Christianity
(1 Corinthians 1:17),
Jesus showed us
how to downregulate evils. He showed us that
love neutralizes evils.
In the case of Jesus, the evils that we did to him
triggered a receptor on the membrane of his radical
love for the children of Adam and Eve. The receptor
activated
his defense mechanism. Through the bloody wounds that
our evils opened in his flesh, Jesus secreted
the sweet syrup of forgiveness, one of the fruits
of his radical love
(Luke 3:8).
"[O]ut of the good treasure of his heart"
(Luke 6:45),
Jesus poured forth one of the sweet fruits of love,
to wit, forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
"… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts,
And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven
for you, and pour down upon you
blessing without measure!"
(Malachi 3:10).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00296 Updated: 02_26_2024]
His victory earned him the position of prominence in the showcase of Christianity - not his presence.
Like Zeus, priests hold the lightning in their
hands (00295)
“The difference between the almost right word
and the right word is really a large matter —
it's the difference between the lightning bug and
the lightning" - Mark Twain
Most priests think that by holding Jesus'
presence in their hands that they are
holding the lightning. Not true.
They have confused the lightning bug
and the lightning.
The lightning is Jesus's demonstration of
the radical love of God during
his mortal combat with the monster of the Crucifixion.
The lightning bug is his presence.
Like Zeus, they hold
the lightning.
But the lightning is not presence.
Indeed, he is present.
What would a celebration be like without its hero -
its cause célèbre?
But,
we commemorate and celebrate his victory not
his presence.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00295 Updated: 02_27_2024]
X-ray Vision (00292)
By the substitution of forgiveness for punishment,
Jesus inaugurated the new covenant between divinity
and humanity. The substitution marked the
beginning of the process of our salvation. Repentance
marks the end.
We do not have X-ray vision. The outside blocks our
view of the inside.
We did evils to Jesus.
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on
a sharp hook where he hung until death.
The evils that we did to Jesus
scraped away his outside so we could have a view
of what was going on inside.
We scraped away his flesh and blood.
Jesus forgave us
for the evils that we did to him.
We deserved punishment for the evils that
we did to Jesus. However, he did not inflict
punishment on us.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
Instead of the punishment that we deserved,
Jesus forgave us.
By forgiveness, Jesus re-established his
covenant with us
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
(Isaiah 55:7).
The re-establishment of the new covenant
delights us.
We behold with our own eyes the Good News of Great
Joy.
From the position of prominence on the flagpole of
Christianity, by the substitution of forgiveness
for punishment,
Jesus presented to us the radical
love of God. It was an apocalyptic presentation -
an awesome demonstration of divinity.
Divinity stepped up to the plate.
Divinity did its part in the process of salvation.
It is humanity's turn. The ball is now in our
court.
Let us bring the process of our salvation to an
end by greeting it with repentance.
Let us bring the process of our salvation to a
happy conclusion.
Rally 'round the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
"Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance..."
(Luke 3:8).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00292 Updated: 02_27_2024]
The evils that we did to Jesus and his asymmetric answer
to them are the odd couple of epiphany. Jesus submitted
himself to this divinely choreographed dance to dump
the knowledge of God into the Valley of Tears.
Jesus used their combination -
their marriage -
to reveal to us the radical love of God.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00288 Updated: 02_02_2024]
The freight train of evils (00291)
We launched a freight train of evils at Jesus.
He saw it barreling toward him. Remarkably, he stood
in its path. He did not flinch. He did not cower.
He did not jump out of the way. Jesus and the
freight train collided. It was a violent collision
. The violence of the violent collision was bigger
than the Big Bang (Big Bang) and larger than
CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The byproduct
of the violent collision
revealed to us the nature of God.
The violent collision bore fruit.
It produced an apocalyptic revelation about the
nature of God. Because Jesus saw our atrocities coming,
he called an audible as he approached the line of
scrimmage. He changed the play before entering
the scrum. At the Last Supper, Jesus did the
unexpected (Matthew 5:38-50). He performed the
miracle of substitution. At the Last Supper
(Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59), Jesus made
a switch. By divine fiat, he did a swap.
He substituted bread and wine for flesh and blood.
In the battle of the Crucifixion, his enemies took
from him his flesh and blood. Jesus, however, did
not give us what we took. Instead, he served
us bread and wine. He turned his sacrifice into
a banquet at which he himself satisfied the hunger
and quenched the thirst of his enemies with
food and drink even though we were utterly
unworthy of his largesse (Matthew 5:43-45).
Who does this? Who else besides our God treats
vile and insolent torturers and murderers as
treasured and beloved dinner companions -
especially unrepentant sinners? Who includes not
just friends within the scope of his love but
enemies with his blood still on their hands
as well? Who doesn’t exclude the goats
(Matthew 25:31-33)? Is the scope of my love as
broad as Jesus’? Is yours? Where do we draw
the limits on the scope of our love?
Where do we set the limits?
Do we include
the goats as well as the sheep?
Or are only the sheep welcome within the scope
of our love?
To share this blurb, copy and share this
link:
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00291
For more, click on the link[s] below
The Incarnation (00149)
[¶ 00291 Updated: 06_02_2024]
Fixing a Broken World (00130)
Evils break the world into pieces.
Forgiveness is the cement that binds the pieces
of a broken world together.
Repentance is the accelerant that speeds up the
healing process.
“One part of Judaism called tikkum olam
(Wikipedia).
It says that the world has been broken into
pieces. All this chaos, all this discord.
And our job – everyone’s job – is to try to put
the pieces back together. To make things whole
again ... Maybe we’re the pieces. Maybe what
we’re supposed to do is come together. That’s how
we stop the breaking.”
― Rachel Cohn, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Forgiveness and Repentance (00082)
[¶ 00130 Updated: 02_22_2024]
The wheels of salvation
(00286)
The radical love of God begot the gruesome
experiment that we cruelly administered to
Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
which, in turn, begot the most Holy
Eucharist.
Sacrifice begot forgiveness which, in turn, begets
repentance.
The elements of the sequences define the
preconfigured pathways over which the wheels
of salvation turn.
Getting the order of the elements of the
sequences right enriches
our understanding of salvation.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00286 Updated: 02_22_2024]
The Most Holy Eucharist
(00284)
The most Holy Eucharist is a proxy for the
radical love of God.
God invented Christianity and established it on
the earth so the children of Adam
and Eve could experience for themselves
the radical love of God.
Christianity distributes the radical love of God
from the point and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and
geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and
now
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14).
The vehicle for distribution that Jesus conceived,
designed and built is the most Holy Eucharist.
The most Holy Eucharist is the dynamic
restatement of the radical love of God.
It repeats the apocalyptic demonstration of
the radical love of God that Jesus orchestrated in
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to him in the laboratory of
the Crucifixion.
The most Holy Eucharist is a proxy for the radical
love of God.
There is a one to one correspondence between the
most Holy Eucharist and the gruesome experiment
that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the
laboratory of the Crucifixion. The
most Holy Eucharist references the gruesome
experiment. The
most Holy Eucharist arises from the gruesome
experiment and
commemorates it
(Luke 22:19).
The radical love of God begot the gruesome
experiment which, in turn, begot the most Holy
Eucharist.
Love begets love. Only love begets
love.
So, Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
And his love bears fruit.
We love him because he loved us first.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00284 Updated: 02_21_2024]
The four (4) components of the answer to the question,
'Who is God?'
(00275)
Four (4) conponents constituted the single unit of
apocalyptic revelation that Jesus released into the
Valley of Tears from the gruesome experiment that
we administered to him in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion. The four (4) components are flesh,
blood, bread and wine. Not fewer - not more. Precisely
four (4).
The answer to the question, 'Who is God?', that Jesus
brought from heaven to earth consists of
four (4) words.
Jesus was clear not ambiguous -
neat not sloppy. Jesus
knew what he wanted to say and how to say it.
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
was succinct. He did not mince words.
'Who is God?'
was an unaswered question. Moreover,
the absence of an answer was bringing about the
destruction of humanity. Our God lamented:
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
Our God looked down from heaven upon
the children of men and saw little to no
understanding.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
So God dispatched his Son to bring the answer to the
question, 'Who is God?' from heaven to earth. He was
dispatched not to tell us about God in words but to
show us God in a demonstration of God - God done, not
God said.
In the Incarnation, our God endowed his Son with
flesh and blood. They were two (2) of the four (4)
building blocks of the answer to the
question, 'Who is God?'. The answer to the
question, 'Who is God?', consisted of four (4)
building blocks. The Incarnation gave Jesus two (2)
of them. The other two (2) building blocks were
bread and wine.
Jesus brought bread and wine into the picture at
the Last Supper
(Luke 22:14-20).
The Incarnation and the Last Supper put the
four (4) elements of the the answer to the
question, 'Who is God?' into play.
The Incarnation and the Last Supper put them
at Jesus' disposal.
Jesus, the Word of God
(John 1:1),
orchestrated the four (4) elements into a coherent
compositition in the gruesome experiment that we
cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of
the Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
His orchestration was his magnum opus.
Jesus created his Magnum Opus on the canvas of life
in the foil of the evils that we did to him.
In the laboratory
of the Crucifixion, Jesus presented a
beautiful demonstration of the radical love of God
for the children of Adam and Eve.
Besides being
the choeographer of the demonstration, Jesus was also
the star of the show.
He was the showstopper.
We approached Jesus to take from him
his flesh and blood.
Jesus, however, did not
give us exactly what we wanted to take. Between our
arrival and our departure, Jesus made a
substitution.
We left him with bread and wine.
For the flesh and blood of sacrifice, Jesus
substituted the bread and wine of
forgiveness. He did not give us
the punishment that we deserved for taking
from him his flesh and blood. In lieu of
punishment, Jesus gave us forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
By the substitution, the Son revealed the Father
to the children of Adam and Eve.
The substitution supplied the knowledge
of God to us. The knowledge of God brings our
destruction to an end.
Flesh, blood, bread and wine are
the Vocabulary of Salvation.
With precisely four words - flesh, blood, bread
and wine - Jesus constructed his message about
the radical love of God.
"Man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God"
(Matthew 4:4).
'Brevity is the soul of wit’ - Shakespeare
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00264 Updated: 02_19_2024]
The technology of love was tested in
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to Jesus
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
It passed the test with flying colors.
Its glorious success drives
the narrative of Christianity.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00215 Updated: 02_21_2024]
Burning our fingers in the flames is much more
persuasive about the heat of the fire
than words of warning that the fire
is hot.
The difference is the same
as
the difference between the lightning bug
and the lightning (Mark Twain).
By submitting himself to the gruesome experiment
that we cruelly administered to him in the
laboratory of the Crucixion
(Wisdom 2: 19),
Jesus is providing us with the opportunity
to experience for ourselves the radical love of God.
"I have come to set the earth on fire [with the
radical love of God], and how I wish
it were already blazing"
The gruesome experiment
burns our fingers in the fire of the
radical love of God.
(Luke 12:49)!
“And ye shall know the truth [about the radical
love of God], and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00278 Updated: 02_18_2024]
Christianity, done right, confronts us with
the radical love of God.
We squirm under the weight of the radical
love of God.
The radical love of God challenges us to come
to grips with it - to
reconcile ourselves to it.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00280 Updated: 02_19_2024]
No Abation
The love of God showed no signs of abating even though
we tortured and killed Jesus -
even though we made him suffer and die -
even though we impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on
a sharp hook where he hung until death.
We discovered by baptizing Jesus in a dunghill of
evils
(Wisdom 2: 19)
that the dial that controls his love for us is
in his hands not ours.
Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and
is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to Jesus could
budge it.
Hear ye him
(00264)
The most Holy Eucharist is a restatement of
the radical love of God. It is the treasure of
Christianity.
Jesus is present in the most Holy Eucharist.
His presence is real.
The big deal of the most Holy Eucharist, however, is
not
that Jesus is present in it.
The big deal of the most Holy Eucharist is
that Jesus is articulate in it.
Articulation, not presence, is the point of the
most Holy Eucharist. Both are real. But, articulation
is the point.
So,
What did Jesus say?
How did he say it?
"While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud
overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of
the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him"
(Matthew 17:5)
(Matthew 11:15)
(John 18:37)
(John 10:5).
Through the most Holy Eucharist, Jesus
speaks to us about the radical love of God.
And he repeats his testimony
to the radical love of God over and over and over
again.
"To this end was I born, and for this cause
came I into the world, that I should bear
witness unto the truth [about the radical
love of God]"
(John 18:37).
The radical love of God is the testimony of Jesus.
Our God loves us
with all his heart,
and with all his soul,
and with all his mind,
and with all his strength.
He loves us as he loves himself
(Mark 12:30-31).
There is no double standard, one for humanity and
a different one for divinity. God is not a hypocrite.
And God wants us to love as he loves. Jesus
showed us that such love is possible. Jesus
showed humanity our potential.
He demonstrated to us how to fulfill our potential
by fulfilling his.
Jesus, the Word of God
(John 1:1),
was the tangible expression of
the radical love of God -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00264 Updated: 02_16_2024]
The most Holy Eucharist is the dynamic articulation of
the radical love of God - more than the static host of
his mute, enigmatic presence - much more. It
is the glorious pantomine - the reproduction of Jesus'
Magnum Opus - that demonstrates the radical
love of God as it was demonstrated in the gruesome
experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the
laboratory of the Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
Are you privy to what Jesus is
saying and how he is saying it? If not, you
do not yet understand Christianity.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00281 Updated: 02_19_2024]
Blessed are the poor
(Matthew 5:3).
The poor who have nothing have
room to possess the only wealth that matters,
that is, the radical love of God.
The rich who have everything
have no room to possess the radical love of God
(Matthew 19:24)
(Mark 10:17-31).
The hearts of the rich are filled to the brim with
the scraps that they have scavenged in cutthroat competition
against the other loveless beasts among the ruins
of Eden. The scraps avail them not
(Luke 12:16-21)
(Matthew 6:24).
Make room! Make room! Make room in your hearts
for the radical love of God
(John 15:4-11)
(Ephesians 1:18-19)!
Discard the old to make room for the new
(Leviticus 26:10)
(2 Corinthians 5:17)!
Jettison the scraps
(Acts 27:18)!
Lighten your load
(Acts 27:18)
(Matthew 11:28-30)!
Survive the storm!
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00279 Updated: 02_20_2024]
What kept Jesus afloat in the storm? What kept
Peter
(Matthew 14:22-33)?
The radical love of God was their flotation
device. It lifted them up from
and out of their dire predicament.
It can lift us up and out too!
Powerful is the radical love of God.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00282 Updated: 02_20_2024]
Pope Benedict XI (00283)
"If a person bears great love in himself, this love gives him wings, as it were, and he can face all life’s troubles more easily because he carries in himself this great light; this is faith: being loved by God and letting oneself be loved by God in Jesus Christ. Letting oneself be loved in this way is the light that helps us to bear our daily burden."
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00283 Updated: 02_20_2024]
Doing martyrdom leaves an impression; preaching
martyrdom does not (00277)
Christianity is done not said. It is a practice not
a theory. It is the exerience of the radical love
of God.
Love is not love that does not pay the cost.
The greater is the cost, the greater is the
love.
Love is a function of cost
(Luke 21:1-4 - The widow paid the cost)
(Luke 10:30-37 - The Samaritan paid the cost
but the priest and Levite refused)
(Mark 10:17-31 - The rich, young man was
unwilling to pay the cost)
(John 15:13 - Jesus paid the cost).
Beware the hypocrite who proclaims sacrificial love
but is unwilling to pay the cost - who is unwilling to
bear the sacrifice.
Beware him who wants others to adopt a policy of
sacrificial love but does not adopt it himself.
Beware the coward who wants others to be
martyrs but not himself.
The only way to teach martyrdom is to be a martyr.
Doing martyrdom leaves an impression; preaching
martyrdom does not. Preaching is sterile; martyrdom
is fertile. We learn better by example than by
words bereft of example.
Preaching martyrdom - advocating
death to self - without
doing it - without paying the cost - only leaves
the stanky taste of hypocrisy in our mouths.
The taste is so foul - the hypocrisy is so vile -
that we regurgitate the preaching. We vomit it up.
Why?
Why can martyrdom only be taught
by martyrs?
Only love begets love.
Preaching does not.
So,
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
And his love bears fruit.
We love him because he loved us first.
Jesus became a martyr to invite us to become
martyrs. The invitation is challenging - daunting -
so Jesus assured us
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you,
and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke
is easy, and my burden is light"
(Matthew 11:28-30).
Let us not flinch at the challenge but trust in the God
who loves us even though we tortured and killed him.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24).
Who better to trust - our instinct for self-preservation
or Jesus?
“Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary,
use words”
- attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Paying the cost of love
(00064)
[¶ 00277 Updated: 02_20_2024]
Ushers (00148)
Our clerics are the ushers who show us to our
seats so Jesus can put on the show. They are not
the stars of the show. Jesus is the star of the
show. The Christian religion goes off the rails
when the ushers think that they are the stars of
the show.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00148 Updated: 01_20_2024]
Hang as Jesus hung (00272)
Evils challenge us in big and little ways.
Success in life is maintaining our position
on the level of our loving God.
We resist evil's attempts to depose us into
the dire predicament of scavenging for scraps
in cutthroat competition against the other loveless
beasts in the ruins of Eden.
Avoid the catastrophe of Adam and Eve!
Do not be dislodged!
Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to
hang from our crosses.
Therefore, do as Jesus did.
When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung.
Cling to love, hold tight and refuse to let go.
Love is inexorable evil's implaccable foe.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00272 Updated: 02_17_2024]
The worst sin is to make Christianity dull. Subtracting the radical love of God from Christianity makes it dull.
Ours is not a God who loves us just a little bit
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24).
Ours is not a God who loves us for just
a little while
(Lamentations 3:22-23).
Ours is not a God who loves just a few of us
(Matthew 20:1-16).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00068:01_01_2024]
God's recipe for Salvation: stuffing (00269)
God's recipe for Salvation is stuffing.
Jesus stuffed forgiveness down
the throats of his enemies.
In lieu of the punishment that we deserved for taking
from him his flesh and blood, Jesus substituted
forgiveness.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
Forgiveness gave them
a mulligan,
a do-over,
a second chance,
a fresh start.
Forgiveness wiped their slate clean.
Via forgiveness, we are born again
(John 3:3)
(Luke 15:32)!
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
They came for his flesh and blood.
They left with his bread and wine.
He did not give them quite what they came for.
They got more than they bargained for - much more.
Wow!
Brutally merciful is our God!
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00269 Updated: 02_16_2024]
The Vocabulary of Salvation
(00266)
In the most Holy Eucharist, the Word
of God is articulate not merely present. What did
Jesus say? How did he say it?
With flesh, blood, bread and wine, the Word of God
(John 1:1)
spoke to the children of Adam and Eve.
Flesh, blood, bread and wine are
the Vocabulary of Salvation.
Flesh, blood, bread and wine are the building blocks
with which Jesus constructed his message.
"Man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God"
(Matthew 4:4).
What did Jesus say?
How did he say it?
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00266 Updated: 02_14_2024]
Encapsulation (00267)
Jesus encapsulated the radical
love of God into a seed. He plants it
into our stony hearts to
depetrify and fleshify them
(Ezekiel 36:26).
The seed is the bread and wine of the most
Holy Eucharist. From it, the flower of
love germinates, sprouts and grows
Bread and wine are the tangible reality, the treasure
chest, into which
Jesus deposited the radical love of God.
Jesus
made the radical love of God comestible. We can
sink our teeth into it.
The most Holy Eucharist is
the earhtly perfection of the radical love of God.
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life:
he that cometh to me shall never hunger;
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst"
(John 6:25-59).
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you"
(John 6:53).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00267 Updated: 02_15_2024]
Jesus is the altar
(00242)
We approach the altar for flesh and blood; we leave
the altar with bread and wine. Between our arrival
and our departure, a substitution is made. The
substitution reveals God to us.
Jesus is the holy altar that honors his Father
(The Altar is Christ).
We approach the altar to take from Jesus
his flesh and blood.
Jesus, however, does not
give us exactly what we want to take. Between our
arrival and our departure, Jesus makes a
substitution.
We leave the altar with bread and wine.
For the flesh and blood of sacrifice, Jesus
substituted the bread and wine of
forgiveness.
By the substitution, the Son revealed the Father
to the children of Adam and Eve.
The substitution supplied the knowledge
of God to us. The knowledge of God brings our
destruction to an end
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00242 Updated: 02_07_2024]
The most Holy Eucharist captures Jesus in the performance
of the act of forgiveness
The give and take of the most Holy Eucharist captures
Jesus in the performance of the act of forgiveness.
In the most Holy Eucharist, Jesus makes the abstract
concept of forgiveness concrete. How?
He satisfies
the hunger of his enemies with bread, slakes their
thirst with wine and fills their bellies with
companonship. While his enemies still have his flesh
in their mouths and his blood on their hands, Jesus
serves them a meal at the family table,
out of the sun and the rain, under
the comfort and joy of the family tent.
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life:
he that cometh to me shall never hunger;
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst"
(John 6:25-59).
By capturing the performance of the act of forgiveness,
the most Holy Eucharist fills the Cross of Christ
with its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00030 Updated: 02_15_2024]
Let us lift the embargo on discussing what Jesus is
doing in and with the most Holy Eucharist?
(00246)
The monopoly that presence has over the discussion
of the most Holy Eucharist needs to end.
What is Jesus doing in and with the most Holy Eucharist?
The question needs to be asked and answered.
Presence monopolizes the conversation about
the most Holy Eucharist. Including what Jesus
is doing in the most Holy Eucharist in the
conversation seems to have been
placed under an embargo. Nobody talks about
it.
Once asked, however, the question can no longer be avoided.
Once asked, the cat is out of the bag.
Once asked, what Jesus is doing in the
most Holy Eucharist can no longer be ignored.
Presence is the impoverished way that we talk about
the most Holy Eucharist. Its richness is how Jesus
harnessed it to mightily proclaim the radical love
of God to the children of Adam and Eve.
Let us rediscover its richness!
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00246 Updated: 02_14_2024b]
The heroic demonstration of the power of love
(00261)
The exorbitant cost that Jesus paid in the coin
of flesh and blood to underwrite the demonstration
made it heroic. The higher
the cost, the greater the heroism.
The heroic demonstration of the power of love
that Jesus put on
from the position of prominence on the flagpole
of Christianity
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
is the gravamen of
Christianity - superior to everything else.
It occupies the pinnacle of the hierarchy
of truths
(Par. 11 UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO)
that define Christianity.
It is the treasure of Christianity.
There is only one treasure.
Everything else is obiter
dicta, important and interesting but not the crux.
God endowed Jesus with the coin of flesh and blood
in the Incarnation so he would have the
wherewithal to finance the heroic
demonstration of love. The Incarnation made
the Crucifixion of a God possible.
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on
a sharp hook where he hung until death.
The evils that we did to Jesus made us ineligible
for God's love. They disqualified us.
They made us eligible for punishment not forgiveness.
Yet, he chose forgiveness and rejected punishment
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
The evils that we did to Jesus did not extinguish the
love for us that burns like a bonfire in his most
Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the
slightest degree. His love for us survived the evils
that we did to him. The greater were the evils that
we did to him, the greater is our astonishment at
his love for us. Wow! Our God does not just love
us. He loves us even though we tortured and killed
him! Now, that's love!
We burnt the bush - we ignited the
conflagration that turned Eden into ruins -
but the bush was not consumed.
We gawk. We rubberneck.
Like Moses, we turn aside to see the great sight
(Exodus 3:1-3).
We arrive at a new understanding of God
(Revelation 21:5)
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
(Isaiah 43:18-19)
and,
because of our new understanding, we seek him
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
The pursuit of the radical love of God becomes
our priority.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary.
Anything that interferes is suspect.
Like bloodhounds, we follow the scent of
the radical love of God
on the trail to paradise.
The heroic demonstration of the power of love
illuminated the darkness
of our understanding of God in a glorious burst
of apocalyptic epiphany.
It filled the earth with
the knowledge of God as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00261 Updated: 02_13_2024]
Jesus paid all of the coin of his flesh and blood for
us. He paid until there was nothing left.
The serpent paid nothing.
Have you made the comparison?
Do you see the
difference?
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00262 Updated: 02_18_2024]
The Sequence of Salvation (00257)
Jesus put on a heroic demonstration of the power of love
from the position of prominence on the flagpole
of Christianity. The aftershocks of the demonstration
are still being felt today
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
Jesus took the initiative.
He was audacious.
He was the aggressor.
He fired the first shot.
He landed the first blow.
Why?
Jesus understands that
Only love begets love.
[Do we?]
Jesus' heroic demonstration of the power of love that took
place while he was affixed to the position of
prominence on the flagpole of Christianity
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
resurrected from the dead
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3)
the life
we lived before we scavenged for scraps in cutthroat
competition with the other loveless beasts in the
ruins of Eden.
Jesus' demonstration of the power of love transformed
the landscape of our lives.
Sacrifice came first. Forgiveness next.
Repentance follows.
This is
the sequence of salvation.
Get the sequence of salvation right.
Don't mix it up. Don't put the cart before the
horse.
Sacrifice and forgiveness are the two elements
that combust together to produce
the revelation about the radical love of God
that is the treasure of
Christianity.
Sacrifice and forgiveness are the odd couple of
epiphany. Jesus used their combination -
their marriage -
to reveal to us the radical love of God.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
Leave one element out and the knowledge of
God does not get delivered - there is
no combustion -
our God stays a stranger to us.
“And a stranger will they
not follow, but will flee from him: for they know
not the voice of strangers”
(John 10:5).
The knowledge of God erupted as the dawn emerges
from the darkness
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3)
from the gruesome experiment that
we cruelly administered to Jesus in the
laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19).
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
The laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
is ground zero of the revelation.
It is the launching pad for the knowledge of God.
The knowledge of God that arises from
the gruesome experiment invites repentence,
reconciliation, and reunion.
It is our God's unconditional invitation to us to
return to our home with him in paradise.
Everybody gets the invitation.
But, not everybody accepts
(Luke 9:59-63).
The job of the Church is to
distribute
the invitation from the point
and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and
geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and
now
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14).
["Please Mr. Postman don't pass me by. Can't
you see the tears in my eye"
(Marvelettes - Please Mr Postman)?
]
The vehicle for distribution that Jesus designed
and built is the most Holy Eucharist.
The Church not only delivers the invitation to us,
it also pitches its merits.
It is
the travel agent that tries to sell us
our ticket to the journey home.
Repentance is how we pay the cost of the ticket.
God's invitation is RSVP.
Repentance is how we accept the invitation.
Repentance is how we signal to God that we
understand and are headed home
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
Our baptism in the evils of the ruins of Eden
is harsh but effective medicine. It puts iron
in our grip. When the gift of paradise is
delivered to us, we will keep it. We will not
fumble the ball. We will not repeat the
catastrophe of Adam and Eve. The prodigal son
will never go back to the pig sty
(Luke 15:11-32).
Neither will
we. Our baptism in the pig sty makes us know
better. Once burned; twice shy.
We are disobedient not irrational.
To share this blurb, copy and share this
link:
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00257
Go to the Table of Contents
(Table of Contents)
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[¶ 00257 Updated: 06_07_2024]
God decided to resurrect the knowledge of God
from the dead
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3),
affix it prominently to the flagpole
of Christianity
(1 Corinthians 1:17),
and recruit an army to distribute it from the point
and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and
geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and
now
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14).
The vehicle for distribution that Jesus designed
and built is the most Holy Eucharist.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00258 Updated: 02_10_2024]
Christianity is a treasure map for treasure
hunters engaged in a treasure hunt
(00184)
Coloring book Christianity gives the children
of Adam and Even crayons and a
coloring book whose drawings are divided into parts
and numbered. It admonishes us to follow the numbers,
to color within the lines,
or, to go to hell.
Coloring book Christianity is a cartoonish
caricature of Christianity - primitive,
puerile and immature.
Coloring book Christians grow apoplectic
and stamp their feet when we
color outside the lines or use a crayon that
does not match the number on
their infantile picture of Christianity.
Coloring book Christians deputize themselves
into a sanctimonious posse of traffic
cops zealously issuing tickets to sinners who violate
Christianity's rules of the road.
Jesus, however,
does not want us to be ticket writing traffic cops
(Matthew 7:3-5)
(Matthew 7:1).
He wants us to be detectives, not traffic cops, who
investigate the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God.
He wants us to figure out this thing called God
for ourselves. To help us do so, he buried the answer
to the question, 'Who is God?', into the gruesome
experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the
laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19).
The answer to the question, 'Who is God?', is the
treasure of Christianity.
Our God wants Christianity
to guide us to where the treasure is buried, hand out
shovels, and let us dig it up for ourselves
(Matthew 13:44-46).
When we dig it up for ourselves.
we discover that the treasure is the radical love of
God
(Matthew 6:19-21)
(Luke 17:20-21).
The discovery of the radical love of God
energizes our pursuit of him.
In God's eyes, Christianity is not a trivial
adminstrative
exercise in strict compliance with
a byzantine codex of
rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole enforced
by zealous ticket writing traffic cops.
Christianity is
more than this - much more.
In God's eyes, Christianity is
a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in
a treasure hunt. Let us keep our eyes on the
prize! Let us continue the hunt for the treasure.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(The Wrong Way of Doing Christianity)
(00534)
(1) Index: The Regulation of Conduct (00075)
[¶ 00184 Updated: 07_12_2024]
God is no longer a stranger to us (00255)
Since Eden, our
understanding of God had faded with the passage of
time. God had become a stranger to us
(John 10:5)
(Psalm 69:8)
(Exodus 2:22)
(Isaiah 45:15)
(Psalm 91:1).
“And a stranger will they
not follow, but will flee from him: for they know
not the voice of strangers”
(John 10:5).
"Men have
forgotten God"
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn complained
(1983 Templeton Address).
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to
fill the earth with
the knowledge of God as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
"I have come to set the earth on fire [with the
knowledge of God], and how I wish
it were already blazing"
(Luke 12:49)!
God decided to resurrect our understanding of God
from the dead
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3),
affix it prominently to the flagpole
of Christianity,
and recruit an army to distribute it from the point
and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and
geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and
now
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00255 Updated: 02_10_2024]
Is there only one way to repent? (00259)
"Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance..."
(Luke 3:8).
The knowledge of God was released into the world from
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered
to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19).
The knowledge of God invites repentence -
reconciliation - reunion.
It is our God's unconditional invitation to us to
return home.
Everybody gets the invitation.
Not everybody accepts
(Luke 9:59-63).
The job of the Church is to distribute
the invitation from the point
and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and
geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and
now
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14).
Repentance is how we accept the invitation?
Is there only one way to repent?
To be continued...
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00259 Updated: 02_11_2024]
What distinguishes the Christian God from other
gods? (00249)
The God of the Christians is the God
whose love for us did not fade as we tortured
Jesus and did not die when we killed him.
He is the God whose love for us survived the evils
that we did to him.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00249 Updated: 02_08_2024]
The bonfire of love that burns for us in
God's most Sacred Heart (00250)
The evils that we did to Jesus
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
where we put him to the test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
did not extinguish
the bonfire of love that burns for us
in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity
by even the slightest degree.
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We did. We did indeed. What we discovered
from the gruesome experiment was the Good News of
Great Joy.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00250 Updated: 02_08_2024]
Jesus is the Love Note that our God wrote for us and
delivered to us in the Incarnation (00251)
What a poet is our God! And the pen with which he
scribbled his poetry of love on the canvas of life
in the fire of the Crucifixion
was the Word of God
(John 1:1).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00553)
[¶ 00251 Updated: 07_16_2024]
In the foil of the evils that we did to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19),
Jesus set the jewel of forgiveness.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Juxtaposition
(00159)
[¶ 00156 Updated: 02_09_2024]
The Serpent and his minions oppose our engagement
in the process of seeking God (00256)
The serpent and his minions try to minimize our
engagement in the process of seeking God.
They want to keep the children of Adam and Eve out
of the process. If we engage with God, we come to know
him. Engagement in the process of seeking God
enlightens us about the nature of God.
The serpent and his minions don't want us to get
to know God. They want God to remain a stranger to us.
"And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee
from him: for they know not the voice of
strangers"
(John 10:5)
(Psalm 69:8)
(Exodus 2:22).
Only a topsy-turvy Christianity with a confused
focus - a focus fixated on results instead of
on the process -
tries to stop the children of Adam and Eve
from seeking God.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00256 Updated: 02_10_2024]
By betting the farm, Jesus introduced our
God to us (00254)
Jesus bet the farm to jumpstart the process of our
conversion.
Our salvation was not free. It came at a cost.
And the cost was exorbitant. Jesus paid the
exorbitant cost of our salvation out of his own
pocket. Jesus paid by spending the coin of his
flesh and blood. He spent all of his limited human
resources. He kept nothing in reserve in the bank for
himself. He emptied the treasury. He has never
spent more on anything else. Is not the size of
his payment a good proxy for the size of his love for
us? Is it not a fair and accurate reflection?
Is it not said:
"Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24)?
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00254 Updated: 02_10_2024]
What is the Power of Christianity? (00239)
Have you identified and isolated the power
of Christianty? Have you taken ownership of it?
Is it yours to command?
The power of Christianity is the radical
love of God that Jesus
revealed to us in the gruesome experiment that
we cruelly administered to him in
the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
Have you learned how to wield the power of
Christianity?
Are you confronting the children of Adam
and Eve with it?
Are you challenging them to come to grips with it?
In wielding, confronting and challenging, we
fish for the children of Adam and Eve
(Matthew 4:18-19).
The radical love of God is the agent that does the
work in Christianity. It does the heavy lifting.
The radical love of God is the catalyst of our
conversion. The gravity of the radical love of God
pulls us into the vortex of divinity.
It is the most powerful force in heaven and on earth.
The radical love of God gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to propagating it,
the power to change the world. When the gravity of the
radical love of God captures us, we have hit the
jackpot of Christianity. We have found the pot of gold
at the end of the rainbow. We have won the lottery.
Therefore, more of the radical love of God; not less.
Always. No exceptions.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00239 Updated: 02_06_2024]
The right bait gets us to head in the right
direction.
The radical love of God gets us to head in
the direction of God.
Let us bait the hook accordingly.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00252 Updated: 02_06_2024]
Jesus is shooting for conversion not
compliance - direction not progress -
process not results
(00247)
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(Matthew 13:44-46).
He did not look down to see who was
in compliance with the rules of the
Christian road. Compliance is not conversion.
Our God is interested in conversion not compliance.
The road to compliance passes through conversion.
Our God's methodology, therefore, addressed the
disease of sin not its symptoms. Our God is highly
confident that if we get the process right, the
results will take care of themselves.
To induce conversion, Jesus confronted sinners
with the radical love of God that he released
into the world during the gruesome experiment that
we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory
of the Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
Jesus challenges us to come to grips with it.
We are judged not on our progress but on our
direction.
"The direction of the [soul] is more important than
its progress"
(Joseph Joubert)
(Joseph Joubert 2).
"In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on
our earthly possessions and human success,
but rather on how much we have loved"
(John of the Cross)
(Luke 7:47).
Compliance is a human success; direction is
a success of the divine.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00323)
[¶ 00247 Updated: 02_10_2024]
The Method and Mission of Christianity (00236)
Method = Tactics = Dangling the right bait (to wit,
the radical love of God). Mission =
Strategy = Getting us to head in the right
direction (to wit, in the direction
of God).
The mission of Christianity is
getting the children of Adam and Eve
to head in the right direction, that is,
to head in the direction of God.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(Matthew 13:44-46).
"The direction of the [soul] is more important than
its progress"
(Joseph Joubert)
(Joseph Joubert 2).
Therefore, what is the method by which we accomplish
the mission of Christianity?
The method by which we accomplish the mission of
Christianity is to fish
for the children of Adam and Eve with the right
bait
(Matthew 4:18-19).
Fishing alone is not enough
(Matthew 4:18-19).
We must fish with the right bait.
The right bait gets the fish heading for the hook
- that is, heading in the right direction.
The bait with which we fish is the agent
that catylizes the turnaround of the children
of Adam and Eve. Turnaround is our
salvation.
What is the bait? What is the bait that
gets the children of Adam and Eve to
head in the right direction?
God told us. God revealed the bait.
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(Matthew 13:44-46).
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6)
our God lamented.
Understanding. Knowledge.
A proper understanding of God is
the bait. Before we head in the direction of God, our
understanding of God needs an upgrade
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(Matthew 13:44-46).
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to
upgrade our understanding of God - to bring us
the knowledge of God.
How did he do it?
Jesus let us experience for ourselves
a close encounter with the radical love of God
by participating in the gruesome
experiment that we administered to him in
the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
In the gruesome experiment, we discovered God.
Jesus introduced God to us in the gruesome experiment.
In the gruesome experiment, Jesus released
the radical love of God into the world.
Great things happen when the children of
Adam and Eve, in the company of the new Exodus,
head in the right direction.
God declared,
"... they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing"
(Psalm 34:10).
As we pursue God, God fills our hearts
with love. When our hearts have been
filled to the brim with love, we have
found God.
We have hit the
jackpot of Christianity. We have found the pot of gold
at the end of the rainbow. We have won the lottery.
"[O]ut of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]"
(Luke 6:45)
we can produce the sweet fruits of love
"... some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some an hundred"
(Mark 4:20).
The right bait catches fish hook, line and sinker and
also keeps them. The right bait is the key to
Christianity's recruitment and retention policy.
Get the bait right and recruitment and retention are
a success. Get it wrong and the pursuit of God
flags, sputters and stalls.
Fewer and fewer of the children of Adam and Eve
go to Mass. Nobody goes to Confession.
Vocations dry up. Marriages crumble.
Churches wither and dye.
Get the bait wrong and the downward trend
accelerates.
The thermometer that gauges the temperature of
the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity.
Get the bait wrong and the thermometer registers
that the patient is moribund -
a few breaths away from death.
How good are we at dangling the bait?
The gold standard that measures the skill of
Christians in doing Christianity is how
well we are dangling the bait.
The only way to become good at dangling the bait
is to become fluent in all of the details
and aspects of the gruesome experiment.
If we are not
dangling the right bait,
we are not doing Christianity.
Plain and simple.
P.S. Are you trying to
catch fish by other means besides dangling
the bait? A word to the wise: other bait
doesn't work.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00236 Updated: 02_09_2024]
How do you fish for sinners
(Matthew 4:18-19)?
What bait do you use?
Is your bait condemnation? Criticism? Ostracism?
Threats of hell?
Do you point out to sinners that they are in
violation of the rules?
Do you cast stones
(John 8:7)?
What is your methodology for dealing with sinners?
What is your protocol for catching sinners and keeping
them? What is your recruitment and retention policy?
Jesus baited his hook with the radical love of God.
Do you? Do you bait your hook as Jesus baited his?
Do you use better bait than Jesus used? Pray tell,
what is the bait that you use?
Which is more important? Engaging sinners in the pursuit
of God or getting sinners to comply with the rules
of the Christian road? If increased compliance is
the fruit of the pursuit of God, the answer is the
pursuit of God.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00245 Updated: 02_08_2024]
There is no glory in being rulers of fish only
embarrassment
(00237)
The fish do not listen to our commands. Why bother
to rule them as their king. Trying to do
so only makes us
look like clowns.
God did not call us to be kings who
rule over the children of Adam and Eve
(1906 “Vehementer Nos“).
As a practical matter, the fish do not obey
our commands - never have, never will
(Proverbs 6:6-7).
The fish cannot be commanded to take
the hook or to jump into the net
(King Canute and the tide).
It is
the height of folly to expect them to do so.
God called us to be fishers of men
(Matthew 4:18-19).
Instead of burnishing our crowns,
let us refine our fishing skills.
Let us bait our hooks with the radical love
of God.
Let us perfect our mission as fishers of men.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00237 Updated: 02_07_2024]
What does Jesus do in the most Holy Eucharist?
(00240)
How did Jesus harness the most Holy Eucharist
to project the radical love of God to the children
of Adam and Eve here and now?
It is conceded that Jesus is present in the
most Holy Eucharist. But, pray tell,
what does he do there?
Nothing? Something? Anything? Is he just there?
Or is he doing something there? Are you privy to
what Jesus does in the most Holy Eucharist? Can
you articulate what he does? Do you have the words?
Can you tell us? Please?
Answer: The most Holy Eucharist rebroadcasts
the radical love of God that Jesus
revealed to us in the gruesome experiment that
we cruelly administered to him in
the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
The most Holy Eucharist is a relay station that
takes the radical love of God from the
point and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history
and geography, and propagates it to
the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
To share this blurb, copy and share this
link:
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00240
Go to the Table of Contents
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[¶ 00240 Updated: 02_07_2024]
Singers are known by their songs;
artists are known by their art;
trees are known by their fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8);
and storytellers by their stories -
not by their presence.
We go to a concert to hear a singer sing or
a band play not to see them standing mute on a stage.
Their performance, not their presence, draws us
to them.
So, too, it is with Jesus.
Jesus is no different.
Jesus, the Word of God
(John 1:1),
the consumate storyteller, tells us the story of his
glorious victory and his ignominious defeat
in the most Holy Eucharist.
Ignominious defeat yielded to glorious victory.
Glorious victory erupted from it as the dawn erupts
from the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00035 Updated: 02_06_2024]
The message of Jesus in
The most Holy Eucharist is so important that
it bears repeating until it sinks in and
after it sinks in to encourage us
(00244)
Repetition of the radical love of God is
the reason for the most Holy Eucharist.
The most Holy Eucharist is the sledgehammer that
pounds the message of God's radical love home.
Jesus says only one thing in
the most Holy Eucharist.
In the most Holy Eucharist, the Word of God
(John 1:1)
expresses the radical love of God as
he revealed it
in the gruesome experiment that
we cruelly administered to him in
the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
What the most Holy Eucharist is saying
is not open to interpretation. It does
not vary from person to person. It is
not a matter of opinion. Jesus repeats
what he is saying with the most Holy
Eucharist over and over again. He drones
on like a broken record stuck in the same
groove. He does so because his message is
vital. The radical love of God is the Good News
of Great Joy. Let it sink in!
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00244 Updated: 02_08_2024c]
The most Holy Eucharist is the vehicle that
Jesus designed and built to propagate
the radical love of God
(00243)
Jesus harnessed the most Holy Eucharist to
project the radical love of God to the children
of Adam and Eve here and now.
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
had originally expressed the radical love of God
in the gruesome experiment that
we cruelly administered to him in
the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
The gruesome experiment, however, took place
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space.
Our God needed a vehicle to propagate
the expression of the radical love of God
from the
point and place of its obscure origin,
across history
and geography, to
the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
The most Holy Eucharist is the vehicle of
propagation. Bt virtue of the most Holy Eucharist,
the radical love of God is repeated for the
current audience.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00243 Updated: 02_07_2024]
Problems arise when we focus on the wrong truth
(00241)
Our focus on his presence in the most Holy Eucharist
eclipses how Jesus harnessed the most Holy Eucharist
to project the radical love of God.
Leadership's tunnel vision about and focus on
Jesus' presence in the most
Holy Eucharist has blinded them to what Jesus is doing
in the most Holy Eucharist. Their blindness is
self-inflicted. It is handed down from generation to
generation in a risible procession of skewed tradition.
Leadership are the blind leading the
blind
(Matthew 15:14).
They have fallen into the pit of
presence that they have dug for themselves
and do not know how to climb out
(Psalm 9:15).
Deep is
the pit of presence and steep are its sides.
From within it, leadership does not see Jesus
proclaiming the radical love of God in the
most Holy Eucharist. To leadership, Jesus is
there but they are blind to what he is doing
there.
Let us lift our eyes from the presence of Jesus
in the most Holy Eucharist to what Jesus is doing
there. Let us lift them to a higher truth.
Let us elevate them from his presence to
his performance. No change in doctrine. Just a change
in emphasis. A tweak, nothing more.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00241 Updated: 02_08_2024]
How does Catholicism dangle the bait?
(00238)
How does Catholicism dangle the bait?
The making, giving and taking of the most Holy
Eucharist at Mass is how Catholics dangle the
bait.
Unfortunately, too few Catholics can explain
how the most Holy Eucharist is the bait
that God uses
today to fish for the children of Adam and Eve.
They do not understand that the most Holy Eucharist is
more than mere presence - much more.
Presence does not tell a story. It has no tongue.
It is mute.
The leadership of the Church does not understand the
power that God put into their hands.
Their power is their knowledge of the radical love
of God that Jesus revealed to us in the gruesome
experiment that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
The most Holy Eucharist is the expression of
the knowledge of the radical love of God.
It is Jesus revealing the radical love of God not
Jesus merely being present for us.
Leadership
has dumbed down the most Holy Eucharist from bait
to presence.
Leadership has made the most Holy Eucharist inert.
Leadership has buried the radical love of God
in the graveyard of obscurity
under the pall of presence.
They have stripped the most Holy Eucharist of the
story that it tells. In so doing, they have robbed
the most Holy Eucharist of its vitality.
In short, leadership is doing a poor job at
fishing for the children of Adam and Eve
(Matthew 4:18-19) -
a very poor job.
They are not catching fish. Furthermore,
they are not keeping the
fish that were caught.
God is not dead. Indeed, God is very much alive.
However, the conversation about God is dead.
Killing the conversation about God is tantamount
to killing God.
The enemies of the Church know this.
The Church does not.
Allowing the conversation about God to go silent
poses an existential threat to Christianity.
The most Holy Holy Eucharist is the bait that God uses
today to fish for the children of Adam and Eve
(Matthew 4:18-19).
It is the bait because it tells the story of the
radical love of God. It demonstrates it.
Presence alone does not tell the story of the radical
love of God.
Jesus demonstrated
the radical love of God by saying and doing things
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
Things happened in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
The most Holy Eucharist is a reflection of what
happened in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
The most Holy Eucharist is not trying to reflect
Jesus' presence. It has more important
things to do. It is trying to tell the story
of the radical love of God.
Is there a better, more persuasive
way for the Word of God
(John 1:1)
to express the radical love of God
to the children of Adam and Eve than by
prodigally spending the coin of his flesh and blood
- all of it -
to purchase a meal of bread and wine
for his unrepentant
enemies who
still had his flesh in their
mouths and his blood on their
hands?
Jesus invites his enemies to take a seat with him
at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort of the family tent
(John 6:53).
Jesus satisfies our hunger with bread,
quenches our thirst with wine
and fills our bellies with fellowship
(Isaiah 55:1-2)
(See also, John 6:48-58).
Jesus does not wait for our conversion
to feed us.
He feeds to bring
about our conversion.
It is important to get the sequence of
salvation right.
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Jesus took the initiative.
He was audacious.
He was the aggressor.
He fired the first shot.
He landed the first blow.
Why?
Jesus understands that
Only love begets love.
Do we?
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00238 Updated: 02_06_2024b]
Is there a better, more persuasive
way for the Word of God
(John 1:1)
to express the radical love of God
to the children of Adam and Eve than by
prodigally spending the coin of his flesh and blood
- all of it -
to purchase the benefit of forgiveness
for his unrepentant
enemies who
still had his flesh in their
mouths and his blood on their
hands?
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00229 Updated: 02_04_2024]
The King of Love (00218)
“O Jesus, King of Love, I trust in Thy loving mercy”
(From Jesus to Mother Yvonne-Aimée de Jésus).
"Thy loving mercy", a/k/a the radical love of God, is the
rock
(Matthew 7:24-27)
- i.e., the robust foundation -
on which the wise build their lives.
It is the mast to which Christians
bind themselves as we make our escape
in the company of the new Exodus
(Exodus 13: 17-18),
through our dire predicament
in the hostile desert of godlessness
between Scylla & Charybdis,
across the Red Sea of death
(1 Corinthians 15:26),
over the finish line
(2 Timothy 4:7),
and into the promised land
flowing with milk and honey
(Numbers 13:27)
hand-in-hand, arm-in-arm,
together as one family to
the rhythmic beat of the loving heart
of our living God.
Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he
shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on
the Lord
(Psalm 27:14)
(Isaiah 40:28-31)
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: King (00219)
(2) Index: The Rock (00220)
(3) Index: The Mast (00221)
(4) Index: The Escape (00086)
(5) Index: The New Exodus (00224)
[¶ 00218 Updated: 02_02_2024]
Background and Foreground: The Two Layers of
a Single Unit of Apocalyptic Revelation
(00217)
The story of our salvation was presented to us on
two 'screens', a/k/a layers, not one: a
background
and a
foreground. The background and the forground are
different layers of reality that overlap.
Hence, reality is not thin. It is thick.
It is thick because it does not consist of a single
layer. Multiple layers give reality its thickness.
They form a stack. Furthermore, different stories
unfold on the different layers of reality.
Each layer of reality is the substrate for its own
story.
The
background projects the evils that we did to
Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
We put Jesus
to the test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
In the laboratory of the Crucifixion, we cruelly
administered a gruesome experiment to Jesus.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
The evils that we did to Jesus thrust him into
the position of prominence on the flagpole of
Christianity.
They arrested Jesus and unceremoniously
marched him to the center of
the stage.
The evils pushed the extraordinary
spectacle of a suffering
and dying God into the spotlight.
They brought the suffering and dying God -
the Creator tortured and executed by his creatures -
into the bullseye of the frame of our focus.
Jesus was more than merely present
in the spotlight at the center of the stage
of the story of salvation.
Something special was taking place there.
Something special was being said and being done.
To discover what happened, we must
travel to
a different but overlapping layer of reality.
We must shift our focus
from the background to the foreground
of the story of salvation.
The
foreground
projects Jesus' answer to the evils
that we did to him in the laboratory of the Crucixion.
His answer surprised us. What was surprising about
his answer was its asymmetry
(1 Kings 19:11-13).
If we zoom in and drill down, we discover that
its punch comes from the radicalness of its asymmetry.
The impact of the radical asymmetry of his answer
gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
Conventional biblical wisdom created the expectation
of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on
its head.
He upset the apple cart
(Matthew 21:12).
He shifted the paradigm.
He did the revolutionary.
Instead of punishing us for taking from him his
flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
He substituted
forgiveness for punishment. By substitution,
Jesus revealed God to us.
Unexpected substitution illuminated the darkness
of our understanding of God in a glorious burst
of apocalyptic epiphany.
It filled the earth with
the knowledge of God as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
God joined together
background and
foreground
to
project the story of salvation. Both layers of
reality are needed to accurately tell the story.
To understand the story of salvation in its fullness,
one must look at the stories that unfolded on both
layers of reality - the
background
and the
foreground.
Doing otherwise, distorts the story
of salvation.
The background and the foreground constitute two
layers of a single unit of apocalyptic revelation.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00217 Updated: 02_05_2024]
The sharp teeth and sharp tongues of our crosses chew
us up into bits and pieces.
They put us through hell.
We pray that God would rescue us from our crosses.
God's notion of rescue, however, is different than ours.
God wants us to learn how to rescue
ourselves. God dispatched his Son from heaven
to earth, not to tell us, but to show us how
it is done
(John 14:6).
To show us, Jesus doffed his invincible
armor of divinity and donned
our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He became
one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner
with us in our suffering. Dressed like us, he entered
the scrum at the line of scrimmage
in the war against evils, cheek to jowl with us,
toe to hoof against his enemies
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16).
The evils that we did to Jesus thrust him into
the position of prominence on the flagpole of
Christianity. The evils were the center of the stage.
Jesus
put on a demonstration of how
to pick up and carry our crosses by
picking up and carrying his.
(Matthew 16:25)
(Matthew 5:38-48).
With his own Cross and by his own example, he showed us.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00214 Updated: 02_01_2024]
Where did Jesus find the strength to pick up and carry
his Cross
(Matthew 16:25)
(Matthew 5:38-48)?
It did not come from his unlimited divine resources.
It came from his limited human resources. Otherwise,
we who lack unlimited divine resources
could not duplicate the feat. Picking up and
carrying our crosses would be an exploit beyond
our capabilities. Jesus showed us our potential by
fulfilling his. He did not hold the evils that we did
to him against us. He did not develop a grudge.
He forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
A heart capable of forgiveness is a heart capable
of picking up and carrying a Cross
(Matthew 16:25)
(Matthew 5:38-48).
The strength that can do the former is the strength
that can do the latter. It is heroic strength.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00216 Updated: 01_31_2024]
Jesus led by example (00210)
Progress cannot be made on the escape route from
godlessness to God until we learn
how
to pick up
our crosses and carry them
(Matthew 16:25)
(Matthew 5:38-48).
Jesus did not merely tell us how to hang from
our crosses; he showed us how.
Jesus led by example.
He donned the jet pack of love and flew to show us
that we, too, can fly.
What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was!
In so doing, Jesus showed us our potential.
We, too, can fly
(Colossians 1:24)!
When we hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung,
hold tight and refuse to let go of love.
Love is inexorable evil's implaccable foe.
Jesus blazed the trail
(John 14:6)
from the starting line to the finish line.
Follow him. Do as he did. Hang as he hung.
Evils are the weeds of life. Don't get bogged
down in the weeds. Don't allow the weeds to
stymie your progress on the esacape route.
Pull them out by their roots.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00210 Updated: 01_30_2024]
How to become a Christian (00213)
We become Christians when we learn how to pick
up our crosses and carry them
(Matthew 16:25)
(Matthew 5:38-48).
To learn, we need to go through the process. We need
to go through the gauntlet of crosses - the minefield
of crosses.
No crosses; no learning; no deification.
Each of us is the pilot of our own soul.
We cannot subcontract the job to another.
We cannot delegate it.
No one else can do it for us not even our Church.
It cannot be done vicariously.
Seeking God is a unique, idiosyncratic,
personal experience.
There is no substitute for going through it. Why?
In the process of seeking God, we learn to
how to pick up and carry our crosses
(Matthew 16:25)
(Matthew 5:38-48).
God transforms us.
Unless we go through the process ourselves,
we cannot be transformed.
Our superpower is the ability to pick up
and carry our crosses. To develop our superpower,
we need to practice it. Life is the opportunity
to develop our superpower. In life, we are
given plenty of practice. In life, we are
given many ways to learn. Life is a cornucopia
of learning opportunities. If we don't learn one
way, we surely will be presented with another way,
over and over again. Death is our final
learning opportunity. The technology of love
is so powerful that it enables us to pick
up and carry death itself over the finish line
and into the promised land. So let us embrace
the technology of love as Jesus embrased it
in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to him in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion. Let us do as he did. Let us hang
as he hung. Let us cling as he clung to love -
inexorable evil's implacable foe.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00213 Updated: 01_30_2024]
Can you put your finger on the Treasure of Christianty?
Can you point to it? (00204)
When you are asked for directions
(Matthew 2:1-2)
- when
you are asked to point to the treasure of
Christianity - to what do you point?
This is not a question with multiple answers.
There is only one treasure and it is not
Jesus in general - it is not
the entire gospel - it is not everything
that bears the Christian logo -
it is not everything
that sports the Christian brand.
It is not an opinion that varies from person to
person.
There is only one treasure that is the gravamen of
Christianity - superior to everything else.
Everything else is obiter
dicta, important and interesting but not the crux.
Pray tell, to what do you point?
Are you pointing in the right direction?
Hint: Where did Jesus make his biggest investment?
The location of his biggest investment is a good clue
about where to point.
Where did Jesus deposit the knowledge of God
in the highest concentration?
If you cannot pinpoint the
precise circumstances of his biggest investment
- if you are not privy to these particular
details about Jesus,
you do not yet understand Christianity.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Pointing to the Treasure
of Christianity (00203)
(2) Index: The Treasure of Christianity (00202)
(3) Index: Counterfeit Christianity (00200)
[¶ 00204 Updated: 01_28_2024]
The Highest Concentration of
the Knowledge of God (00205)
Jesus dumped the highest concentration of the
knowledge of God into the gruesome
experiment that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00205 Updated: 01_29_2024]
The Weaponization of the Knowledge of God (00206)
The armory into which Jesus deposited the
knowledge of God was the gruesome
experiment that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
The knowledge of God is the weapon that Jesus
provided to us to fortify and defend ourselves
in the war against evils
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16).
To war! To war! Get thyself to the armory and
familiarize thyself with the weapon! Arm thyself!
It is how we take the war against evils to the
enemy. It is the only way for a Christian to
become the aggressor.
Let us hang from our crosses as Jesus hung from his
(Matthew 5:38-48).
Jesus did not merely tell us how to hang from
our crosses; he showed us how.
Jesus led by example.
He donned the jet pack of love and flew to show us
that we, too, can fly.
What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was!
In so doing, Jesus showed us our potential.
We, too, can fly
(Colossians 1:24)!
When we hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung,
hold tight and refuse to let go of love.
Love is inexorable evil's implaccable foe.
Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for
mine help. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way
against them that persecute me: say unto my soul,
I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put
to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned
back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt
(Psalm 35:2-4).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00206 Updated: 01_29_2024]
In the Library of Christianty, one book stands out
head over heels above the rest (00207)
In the Library of Christianty, one book stands out
head over heels above the rest, to wit,
the book about the gruesome
experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
In the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19),
Jesus answered the atrocities that we did to him
during the Crucifixion.
Both his answer and the gruesome circumstances
in which he gave his answer make the book stand out.
Together they generate the fireworks of Christianity.
Together they constitute the odd couple of
apopylyptic epiphany.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
The book is about the robust foundation of
Christianity.
It contains the origin story.
It is the literary masterpiece that the Word of God
(John 1:1)
wrote for us not in words but in an
apocalyptic interaction
between humanity and divinity.
Are you privy to the masterpiece?
Is it on your reading list?
Has your book club taken it up?
Have you read it?
Do you understand it and appreciate the
knowledge of God that it reveals to us?
To share this blurb, copy and share this
link:
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00207
Go to the Table of Contents
(Table of Contents)
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00207 Updated: 06_08_2024]
The Gravity of Christianty (00209)
We came for his flesh and blood; we left with bread
and wine.
We wanted to satisfy our hunger and quench our thirst
with his flesh and blood. Jesus, however, had
a different idea.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Jesus invited his enemies to take a seat with him
at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort of the family tent
(John 6:53).
Jesus satisfied our hunger with bread,
quenched our thirst with wine
and filled our bellies with fellowship.
Jesus served a meal to the
enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and
his blood on their hands.
Why?
Doesn't this make the abstract concept of
forgiveness concrete - tangible?
Doesn't this make the abstract concept of God real?
Is there a better way to express the radical nature
of the love of God than by including not just friends
and family within the scope of one's love but enemies
as well?
Jesus forgave his enemies for the evils that
we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
He turned his executioners into dinner companions.
Isn't forgiveness one of the sweet fruits of love?
Is not a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
Radical forgiveness was the vehicle that Jesus
used to express God's radical love for us.
The reality of a God who loves us is the
gravity of Christianity.
Who would want to miss such
a delightful reality?
The reality of a God who loves us pulls us into
a centripetal orbit around Jesus.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00209 Updated: 01_29_2024]
A Counterfeit Christianty (00199)
Are we pointing to the treasure of Christianity?
If what we are doing
does not point to the treasure,
we are not doing Christianity. It is something else
disguised as Christianity but not Christianity. It
is a masquerade - a charade -
a counterfeit Christianity
(Matthew 7:15).
True Christianity - Christianity done right -
points to the treasure as Jesus pointed to
the treasure.
If the leadership of Christianity
has not found the treasure themselves, isn't it
foolish to expect them to point us
to it?
Therefore, to become able to point to the
treasure, we must first
discover the treasure of Christianity for ourselves -
its details including
its origin, nature, location, purpose, etc.
Christians are treasure hunters engaged in
a treasure hunt who use the treasure
map of Christianity to locate and discover
the treasure.
The answer to the question,
'Who is God?
Identify yourself! Friend or foe?',
is the
treasure of Christianity. It is the treasure
because it is the knowledge of God that brings our
destruction to an end
(Hosea 4:6).
Jesus buried the treasure in the
gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to
him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Daniel 3:8-25).
Therefore, grab your shovel. Make your way to where
Jesus buried the treasure.
Dig it up
for yourself.
Upgrade your understanding
of God.
Make yourself rich!
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(Matthew 13:44-46).
God declared,
"... they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing"
(Psalm 34:10).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(The Wrong Way of Doing Christianity)
(1) Index: Counterfeit Christianity (00200)
(2) Index: Crayon Christianity (00201)
(3) Index: The Treasure of Christianity (00202)
(4) Index: Pointing to the Treasure
of Christianity (00203)
Coloring Book Christianity (00188)
Have you joined Jesus in the great firewall of
Christianity?
Those who do Coloring Book Christianity put crayons and
coloring books, whose drawings are divided into parts
and numbered, into the hands of the children of
Adam and Eve together with the admonition to follow
the numbers, color within the lines or go to hell.
It is Christianity for infants.
Coloring Book Christianity turns Christianity
into a trivial child’s game.
True Christianity is a much bigger adventure than
Coloring Book Christianity. It is a place for heroes -
for people who 1) do good and 2) absorb evil -
who stop evil from reproducing.
In this way, we take our place beside Jesus -
stand by his side - cheek to jowl - shoulder to
shoulder - as comrades-in-arms
in the great firewall of Christianity.
Unless we stand with Jesus, the contagion of evil
will reproduce, spread and consume the world.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(The Wrong Way of Doing Christianity)
The greatest sin is to make
Christianity dull (00697)
(1) Index: Crayon Christianity (00201)
(2) Index: Counterfeit Christianity (00200)
Decapitating the Head from the Body of Christ (00472)
[¶ 00188 Updated: 09_23_2024]
The Model of God that Jesus Made by splicing together
the evils that we did to him and his asymmetric
answer to them (00157)
Blessed are the carpenters who build models of God
as Jesus did.
Jesus made a model of God in the laboratory
of the Crucifixion from the evils that we did
to him and his asymmetric answer to them.
"[Was] he not the carpenter"
(Mark 6:3)?
A carpenter builds things
(Mark 6:3).
Jesus leveraged our familiarity with the
symbiotic structure of question and answer
to build his model of God.
The symbiotic structure of question and answer
conveys its own meaning above and beyond
the details that it contains.
By following the well-understood pattern
of question and answer, Jesus welded
the evils that we did to him and
his asymmetric answer to them into two parts of
a single unit of apocalyptic revelation.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
The model of God that Jesus built in the laboratory
of the Crucifixion is a fair and accurate
substitution for God. It is a proxy for God -
a surrogate for him.
Jesus made the model to upgrade our understanding
of God.
It revealed that God's love for us is radical
in all dimensions - radical in size - radical in
scope - and radical in intransigence.
It filled the earth with
the knowledge of God as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Are you privy to the model of God that Jesus built in
the laboratory of the Crucifixion?
Do you understand it and appreciate its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17)?
Christianity's main job is to propagate th
model of God that Jesus made from the
point and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history
and geography, to you here and now.
Is Christianity doing its job?
Jesus wants confirmation from us that we understand
the model of God that he built. What is confirmation?
We confirm that we understand the model of God that
Jesus built when we build, with our own hands,
models of God ourselves - when we become model
makers as Jesus was.
Christians engage in experimental
theology. They do not merely speculate doing
theoretical theology.
Christians fill up
what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ
(Colossians 1:24).
Christians deal with their afflictions
as Jesus dealt with his.
Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to
hang from our crosses.
Therefore, do as Jesus did.
When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung.
Cling to love, hold tight and refuse to let go.
Love is inexorable evil's implaccable foe.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Model of God (00161)
(2) Index: The Proxy for God (00165)
(3) Index: The Laboratory of the Crucifixion
(00102)
(4) Index: Upgrading Our Understanding of God
(00166)
(5) Index: Confirmation of Our Understanding of God
(00170)
(6) Index: The Radical Love of God
(00167)
(7) Index: Propagation
(00169)
(8) Index: The Job of Christianity
(00168)
(9) Index: Modelmakers
(00171)
(10) Index: Dealing with our Afflictions as Jesus
dealt with His
(00172)
(11) Index: Hanging as Jesus Hung
(00173)
(12) Index: Inexorable Evil's Inplacable Foe
(00174)
(13) Index: A Carpenter Builds Things
(00175)
(14) Index: Theology
(00176)
[¶ 00157 Updated: 01_29_2024]
The irrefutable verification of the radical love
of God (00135)
In the laboratory of the Crucifixion, we put Jesus
to the test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
In the gruesome experiment is found the answer -
an asymmetric answer - an answer whose radical asymmetry
flabbergasts us.
The impact of the radical asymmetry of his answer
gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
When we become privy to the gruesome experiment
and discover the asymmetric answer,
we have hit the jackpot of Christianity.
We have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
We have won the lottery.
The edifice of Christianity is built upon the
gruesome experiment. The gruesome experiment
is the irrefutable verification of the radical
love of God. It is the
gravamen of Christianity. Everything else is
obiter dicta.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Answer to the Question,
'Who is God?' (00192)
(2) Index: The Verification of the Radical
Love of God (00193)
(3) Index: The Radical Love of God
(00167)
(4) Index: The Treasure Hunt (00134)
(5) Index: Destruction Ending Knowledge
(00194)
(6) Index: The Laboratory of the Crucifixion
(00102)
(7) Index: The Gruesome Experiment (00101)
(8) Index: The Edifice of Christianity (00195)
(9) Index: The Gravamen of Christianity
and Obiter Dicta (00196)
[¶ 00135 Updated: 01_28_2024]
In the darkness of the ruins of Eden,
Jesus ignited the light of forgiveness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Juxtaposition
(00159)
(2) Index: Scavenging for Scraps
(00088)
[¶ 00008 Updated: 01_27_2024]
The seeds of evil do not grow in the soil of love.
Love is toxic to evil. Love smothers evil as water
smothers fire. Build a firewall against evil with
the building blocks of love.
To the scrum at the line of scrimmage
in the war against evil, bring love.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Seed of Evils
(00197)
(2) Index: The Soil of Love
(00198)
[¶ 00190 Updated: 01_29_2024]
Exogenous Evils (00191)
How should we deal with exogenous evils, that is,
the evils outside of us - evils that attack us
and do harm to us as
we make our escape through them to the promised land?
How do we handle the evils that are not bound by
Christianity's rules of the road - who routinely
disregard them - who pay no attention to them?
Jesus shared with us his solution as he hung
from the flagpole of Christianity. Jesus hung
from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our
crosses. Love. Fill your hearts to the brim with
love. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus
clung to love, hold tight and refuse to let go.
Love is inexorable evils implacable foe. P.S.
love is also the solution to endogenous evils.
"Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many,
are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom
little is forgiven, the same loveth little"
(Luke 7:47).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00191 Updated: 01_27_2024]
The Great Firewall of Christianity (00189)
The great firewall of Christianity decouples the fuse
and the bomb. It turns the bomb into a dud.
As we make our escape through the hostile desert of
godlessness on the trail that Jesus blazed, evils
challenge us. Jesus showed how to handle them. He
built a firewall between himself and them from
the building blocks of love. The firewall stopped
the evils that we did to him from accomplishing
their mission. They did not extinguish the bonfire
of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart
or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree.
When the fuse is lit, the bomb ordinarilly explodes.
Not so with our God. Not so. The firewall of love
disconnected the fuse from the bomb. Love turned
the bomb into a dud. Jesus wants us to take our place
beside him - cheek to jowl - shoulder to
shoulder - as comrades-in-arms
in the great firewall of Christianity. By doing so,
we stop the contagion of evil dead in its tracks.
It cannot reproduce, spread and consume the world.
Do you have the courage to be a hero?
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: King (00219)
(2) Index: The Regulation of Conduct (00075)
[¶ 00189 Updated: 01_26_2024]
Jesus broke the mold for kingship (00187)
He is not the king who rules us; he is the king who
loves us
The leadership of the Church tries to lock
the children of Adam and Eve into a Procrustean
straight jacket of rules,
regulations, red tape and rigmarole
by means of vigorous enforcement.
No leeway is given.
The straight jacket is never relaxed.
Leadership deputizes sherrifs to enforce their
rules of the Christian road
to make sure that the straight jacket is worn.
Their deputized sherrifs constitute the police
force of their loveless brand of Christianity.
Uncoupled from love, their loveless brand of
Christianity has become
"irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid"
[Abraham
Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man, A Philosophy
of Judaism (New York: The Noonday Press, 1955) in
the amen effect by sharon brous].
The deputized sheriffs issue tickets in various guises
for violations
of Christianity's rules of the road. Everyone
who is not a fully fledged Christians with no
Christian feathers missing and none out of place
gets a ticket.
Through vigorous enforcement, leadership
tries to churn out
cloned robots with CPUs that slavishly
follow the algorithms of supposed orthodoxy -
homogeneous, lobotomized, conforming, superficial,
spiritless and perfunctory.
Leadership expects unquestioning compliance and
homogeneous conformity. Leadership, however,
does not understand how Christianity, when done
right, is supposed to work.
Compliance is not
conversion. Enforcement is no substitute
for love because only love begets love - only
love begets conversion.
In their clerical arrogance, leadership annoints
themselves kings who rule us.
Indeed, Jesus is our king
(Matthew 21:5).
The leadership of the Church, however, is not.
Moreover, Jesus did not come to rule us as a
typical king rules us
(Matthew 20:25-28)
(John 18:37).
Jesus' brand of Christianity does not have a police
force. It does not need one. It has rules of
the road but does not
issue tickets to violators.
Typical kings appoint deputies to enforce their
rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole.
Jesus, however, is not the typical king and
his kingdom is not the typical kingdom.
Jesus broke the mold for kingship.
He is the king who loves us.
In place of a police force to enforce
the Christian rules of the road,
the means by which Jesus governs us is love.
When we become privy to the revelation that
Jesus released into the world in the gruesome
experiment that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion and, thereby,
discover the radicalness of the love of God,
Christians become self-regulating.
In the kingdom of the king who loves us
even though we tortured and killed him,
the citizens govern themselves.
We desire to please him.
We trip all over ourselves in our eagerness
to please him
(John 18:36).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: King (00219)
(2) Index: The Regulation of Conduct (00075)
[¶ 00187 Updated: 01_26_2024]
Enforcing Christianity's Rules of The Road (00186)
Christianity, when done right,
does not deputize us to serve in
the posse that issues violations to sinners
who disobey Christianity's rules of the road
(Matthew 7:3-5)
(Matthew 7:1).
Because Christianity is not a government, it does
not have a police department. It does have
a byzantine
codex of rules, regulation, red tape and rigmarole but
compliance is, by and large, voluntary.
Compliance is only enforced by God.
Those who want more than a self-regulating
Christianity - who want a draconian police department
and
effective law enforcement - do not yet understand
how Christianity works. They themselves
have not yet squirmed under the weight
of the radical love of God.
They have not yet been gobsmacked by it.
They have not yet been knocked off
their horse by the radical love of God
(Acts 9:4-6).
They are not yet privy to the revelation about God
that Jesus released into the world by the gruesome
experiment that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
In the gruesome experiment, Jesus deposited
the treasure of Christianity.
The treasure of Christianity is the answer to
the question, 'Who is God? Friend or foe?'.
When we become privy to the gruesome experiment
and so discover the radicalness of the love of God,
Christians become self-regulating.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Regulation of Conduct (00075)
[¶ 00186 Updated: 01_26_2024]
Have you appointed yourself as a sheriff who issues tickets to violators to enforce Christianity's rules of the road? Christianity's rules of the road are like a kiss. Imposed by force against the will of their recipient, they become an abomination.
It is irrational to expect the children of Adam and
Eve to
behave as a Christian behaves
and to
believe as a Christian believes
until
after they have become
a Christian. Becoming a Christian is the cause of
believing and behaving as a Christian.
Believing and behaving are the effect of becoming.
Let us not confuse cause and effect.
We become Christians when we become privy
to the revelation that Jesus released
into the world in the gruesome experiment
that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
Only close encounters with the gruesome
experiment make us privy to it.
Unlike coffee, there is no such thing as an instant
Catholic. It takes time to make a Catholic.
We do not become Catholic overnight.
A human being develops from a baby in the womb
through other stages of life including infancy,
childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age.
A similar framework of development takes place
in the thinking of Catholics.
A Catholic whose thinking is not quite up to speed
with the thinking of the self-styled orthodox
Catholics is still a Catholic for the same reason
that a baby in the womb is still a human being.
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(00517)
[¶ 00518 Updated: 07_04_2024a]
The Definition of a Christian (00136)
Christians are a subset of the children of Adam and
Eve who understand that
the radical love of God is the treasure
and they seek it
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(Matthew 13:44-46).
They go on safari to hunt for the treasure
(Matthew 13:44-46).
They possess an upgraded understanding of the nature
of God that drives them to pursue him.
The radical love of God is the ingredient that
makes paradise sweet.
Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise
(and flee the sourness of godlessness).
It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise.
It is crazy to do otherwise.
We are disobedient not irrational.
Like bloodhounds, Christians follow the fragrant
scent of
the radical love of God
on the trail to paradise.
Meanwhile, those who do not yet understand are
abjectly scavenging for scraps in cutthroat competition
with the other loveless beasts in utter poverty
in the squalid ruins of Eden.
They are treading water.
They are going nowhere.
They are stuck in their dire predicament.
They have not yet been hired
(Matthew 20:6-7).
Isn't it the moment to give the scavengers
the opportunity
to understand? Isn't it time to share with them
the knowledge of God that Jesus shared with us
during the demonstration of forgiveness that took place
from the position of prominence on the flagpole
of Christianity? Instead of telling them what we found,
isn't it the moment to show them where to look so
they can discover the treasure for themselves?
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: What is the definition of a Christian?
(00137)
(2) Index: The Treasure Hunt (00134)
(3) Index: An Upgraded Understanding
of God (00143)
(4) Index: Paradise: the Land of Milk
and Honey (00089)
(5) Index: Scavenging for Scraps
(00088)
(6) Index: Rationality
(000121)
(7) Index: Evangelization (00139)
(8) Index: The Flagpole of Christianity (00144)
(9) Index: The Demonstration of Forgiveness (00145)
(10) Index: Don't tell us what you found;
show us where to look (00117)
(11) Index: The Pursuit of the Radical Love
of God (00132)
(12) Index: Safari (00146)
[¶ 00136 Updated: 01_21_2024]
The announcement that Jesus made over the
Loudspeaker of the Cross
(00183)
From the position of prominence on the flagpole
of Christianity, Jesus made an announcement whose
impact gobsmacked us.
It knocked us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
Jesus announced the radical love of God for
the children of Adam and Eve.
The announcement filled the Cross of Christ
with meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
and the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Rally 'round the Cross!
The announcement came in the form of forgiveness
for the evils that we had done to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Is there a better, more persuasive
way for the Word of God
(John 1:1)
to express the radical love of God than by
prodigally spending all of his flesh and blood
to purchase the benefit of forgiveness
for his unrepentant
enemies who
still had his flesh in their
mouths and his blood on their
hands?
Can the size of his love
get any more radical than by spending all of
his limited human resources
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24)?
He kept not
a penny of them in the bank in reserve for
himself. He has never spent more for anything
else.
Can the scope of forgiveness
get any more radical than by including
unrepentant
(Matthew 22:10)
enemies
(Romans 5:8)
(Matthew 7:6)
within it?
Can the intransigence of his love for us
get any more radical than by it persisting despite
the evils that we did to him.
The dial that controls God's love for us
is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the
highest degree and is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to the flesh
and blood of the Son of God
could budge it.
The announcement is the God News of Great Joy.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(00499)
(1) Index: The Flagpole of Christianity (00144)
[¶ 00183 Updated: 06_19_2024]
Jesus exploited the evils that we did to him
and used them to express the radical love of God
(00158)
Evils were the tongue that the mouth of God used to
Express the radical love of God. They enabled
the articulation of the revelation.
The evils that we did to Jesus were a miscalculation
on the part of the serpent. Jesus exploited the
miscalculation to reveal God to the children of Adam
and Eve.
Jesus commandeered a Cross, the instrument of our woes,
and repurposed it
to express to the children of Adam and Eve,
as only the Word of God
(John 1:1)
had sufficient credibility
to express
(Matthew 11:27)
(John 3:11-13),
the radical love of God.
The extraordinary event - Jesus' turning of the
tables on evil - neutralizes the serpent's
anti-God propaganda. Evil was double-crossed.
Ignominious defeat yielded to glorious victory.
Glorious victory erupted from it as the dawn erupts
from the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Exploiting Evil
(00178)
(2) Index: The Expression of the Radical Love
of God
(00179)
(3) Index: The Mouth of God
(00180)
(4) Index: The Serpent's Miscalculation
(00181)
[¶ 00158 Updated: 01_24_2024]
Like Ulysses, the mast to which Christians
anchor themselves as they pass between
Scylla & Charybdis is the revelation that
Jesus released into the world by participating
in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to him in the laboratory of
the Crucifixion.
The gruesome experiment verified that the Love
Note that God had sent us in the Incarnation
was genuine and that
God's love for us is radical in all dimensions
- radical in size,
radical in scope and radical in intransigence.
The dial that controls God's love for us
is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the
highest degree and is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to the flesh
and blood of the Son of God
could budge it.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Mast (00221)
(2) Index: The Dial (00222)
[¶ 00152 Updated: 02_02_2024]
Jesus showed us our superpower (00497)
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to put on
a flamboyant demonstration of our superpower.
The Son of God became a superstar - a giant of love -
to show us - not to merely tell us - that we, too,
ordinary humans, can become godlike superstars.
Like God, we can become creators of
the sweet fruits of love.
Creating the sweet fruits of love is the superpower
that we have in common with our God.
We can become
prolific factories that dynamically mass produce
the sweet fruits of love
"out of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]"
(Luke 6:45)
"... some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some an hundred"
(Mark 4:20).
Christianity is creative. Jesus created a Masterpiece
of Love on the canvas of
life in the midst of adversity. By spending
the coin of his flesh and blood - all of his limited
human resources - Jesus became a heroic
artist of love.
We can too.
Jesus came to liberalize us (00638)
At our incarnation, we are endowed with limited
human resources
(Matthew 25:14-29).
Our instinct for self-preservation
makes us naturally conservative.
We are hardwired to conserve our limited human
resources.
Conserving our limited human resources, however,
is contrary to our self-interest.
When we place limits on the size of our love,
the scope of our love and the duration of our love,
we do injury to ourselves.
Jesus came to liberalize us.
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[¶ 00638 Updated: 08_25_2024]
Jesus deciphered the enigma of God (00154)
The Word of God expressed a proxy for God that is
the equivalent of God.
God was
"[a] riddle wrapped in a mystery
inside an enigma" [Winston Churchill].
Jesus deciphered the riddle, mystery and
enigma for us.
He did so by giving birth to a high fidelity
avatar of God in the laboratory of the Crucifixion -
a living and breathing proxy for God - a high fidelity,
first class representation of the reality of God.
What was it? How did Jesus show us God?
Jesus prodigally spent all of his flesh and blood
to purchase the gift of forgiveness
for his unrepentant
enemies who tortured and killed him and who
still had his flesh in their mouths and his
blood on their hands.
This is how
the Word of God
(John 1:1)
expressed the reality of God to us.
In Jesus' mind, his expression was the
equivalent of God - a fair and accurate substitution.
Jesus' radically asymmetric answer to the evils
that we did to him cracked open the enigmatic
black box in which God was hiding
(Isaiah 45:15)
and filled the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Radical forgiveness is the intrusion of divinity
into our godless world.
Radical
forgiveness is the reflection of
the radical love of God.
Jesus made God transparent.
Radical forgiveness was the means that Jesus used
to bring transparency to God.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Model of God (00161)
[¶ 00154 Updated: 01_23_2024]
By running the Race from the starting line to the
finish line, Jesus gave us the Revelation (00140)
The race that Jesus ran was the vehicle that
transported the knowledge of God to the children
of Adam and Eve.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6),
our God lamented --- but
not anymore. Not since Jesus ran the race.
By running the race, Jesus ended our destruction.
Jesus 'ran the race' from the starting line to the
finish line. He did so to give us the
knowledge of the truth about God
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4).
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32).
Christians follow Jesus.
Christians are fanatics of the race that Jesus ran.
They are more zealous about the race that Jesus ran
than rabid soccer fans.
Christians bear witness to Jesus
at the starting line.
They root for Jesus along the course
of the race.
And they cheer his glorious victory at
the finish line.
Christians understand the significance of the
race that Jesus ran and appreciate the revelation
about God that it gave them
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4).
The 'race that Jesus ran' revealed
the radical love of God.
Christians understand that the radical love of God
that Jesus revealed by 'running the race'
is the treasure and they seek it
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(Matthew 13:44-46).
The 'race that Jesus ran' becomes the rock
(Matthew 7:24-27)
on which they rest their understanding of God
and the robust foundation on which they
build their lives
The
starting line
is
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to Jesus in the laboratory
of the Crucifixion.
In the laboratory of the Crucifixion, we put Jesus
to the test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
During the
course of the race,
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him.
His answer to them was asymmetric. While we
still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood on
our hands, he forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
The
finish line
is the
radical love of God - radical in size, radical
in scope and radical in intransigence.
Is there a better, more persuasive
way for the Word of God
(John 1:1)
to express the radical love of God than by
prodigally spending all of his flesh and blood
to purchase a benefit for the unrepentant
enemies who tortured and killed him?
Radical forgiveness of his enemies is a reflection
of the radical love of God.
At the
starting line
is Jesus' ignominious defeat.
It is the foil for the jewel.
At the
finish line is his glorious victory.
Both the starting line and the finish line -
the ignominious defeat and the glorious victory - are
necessary to convey the revelation that
revealed the truth about God
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4).
They are two parts of a single unit
of apocalyptic revelation. They are the
odd couple of epiphany.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
By running the race, we win the prize.
The prize is an upgraded understanding of God
(John 8:32)
(1 Timothy 2:4).
Running the race is the only way to upgrade
our understanding of God.
Are you a fan?
Have you run the race with Jesus?
Are you a Christian?
Note: We revisit the race that Jesus ran in the
taking, making, and giving of the most Holy Eucharist
at Mass.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: What is the definition of a Christian?
(00137)
(2) Index: The Treasure Hunt (00134)
(3) Index: Running the Race that Jesus wants us
to run (00140)
[¶ 00140 Updated: 01_22_2024]
Forgiveness gave Jesus' enemies a mulligan - a do-over - a second chance - a fresh start - a clean slate (Matthew 18:21-22). His enemies had made themselves inelegible for forgiveness on account of the evils that they did to Jesus. They had disqualified themselves. They were unworthy of forgiveness. Yet, Jesus did not care. He forgave them nonetheless. Now, the ball is in our court. Do we take advantage of the blessing of forgiveness - or not (Matthew 22: 11-13)?
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Forgiveness came first. Forgiveness invites repentence.
Get the sequence right. Don't mix it up.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
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[¶ 00702 Updated: 09_25_2024]
Botching Christianity (00041)
Many botch the job of Christianity
by getting the sequence of salvation backwards.
The sequence is not repentance -> forgiveness.
The sequence is forgiveness -> repentance.
Jesus struck the first blow with forgiveness.
He initiated the process of our conversion.
Forgiveness was the catalyst.
Jesus did not wait for the conversion of his enemies
to serve them a meal.
Jesus was audacious.
Even though his enemies still had his flesh in their
mouths and his blood on their hands, Jesus
served them the bread and wine of forgiveness
to bring about their conversion.
Let's get it right!
Let us keep cause and effect in their proper order!
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to blurbs that belong to
the framework dealing with
Getting Christianity wrong
[¶ 00041 Update: 01_21_2024]
Paying the cost of love (00066)
What is the most accurate measure of love?
Shall we measure love by the benefit to the
beneficiary?
No. The most accurate measure of love is the cost
to the benefactor.
Love is a function of cost
(Luke 21:1-4 - The widow paid the cost)
(Luke 10:30-37 - The Samaritan paid the cost
but the priest and Levite refused)
(Mark 10:17-31 - The rich, young man was
unwilling to pay the cost)
(John 15:13 - Jesus paid the cost).
The payment of the cost verifies the genuineness
of love.
The greater is the payment, the greater is the
love.
Jesus paid all of his flesh and blood
to purchase for us the gift of sweet forgiveness.
He kept not a penny of his flesh and blood
in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never
paid more for anything else.
Is there a better, more persuasive
way for the Word of God
(John 1:1)
to express the radical love of God than by
prodigally spending all of his flesh and blood
to purchase a benefit for the unrepentant
enemies who tortured and killed him?
The cost was not trivial.
Yet, Jesus did not pay it by drawing
from his unlimited divine resources.
He paid the cost by drawing from his
limited human resources.
To pay the cost of the blessing of
sweet forgiveness,
Jesus sacrificed
his flesh and blood in the crucible of
the Crucifixion.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs: Paying the cost of love.
[¶ 00066 Updated: 01_21_2024]
More Historian than Magician (00582)
Catholic clerics are not primarily
magicians who, by virtue
of mysterious ontological hokus-pokus,
astonish us
by pulling the invisible rabit of Jesus
(a/k/a Harvey)
out of their magical hat
(The Emperor's New Clothes).
Catholic clergy are primarily
historians.
They are
tour guides
who help us explore and discover
for ourselves the mystery, majesty, and magnificence
of God. They are the
ushers
who show us to our seats
so Jesus can put on the show. Jesus is the star of the
show. The Christian religion goes off the rails
when the ushers think that they are the stars of the show.
They have a specialty - a particular area of focus
and, hopefully, some expertise. Their speciality
is the gruesome experiment that took place in the
laboratory of the Crucifixion and its result.
Like Jesus, they are
witnesses
who testify about it.
Their
job is preserve and propagate the Magnum Opus that
Jesus created on the canvas of the
Crucifixion with the gentle brush of
forgiveness.
They are the
custodians, guardians and curators
of the glorious victory that
Jesus won in mortal combat with the
monster of the Crucifixion. Into the foil of evils,
Jesus poured, through his bloody wounds,
the sweet syrup of forgiveness.
The sweet syrup of forgiveness
diluted the toxicity of the evils that we did to him
in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the
bitterness of a cup of bad coffee.
Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evils.
As historians, Catholic clerics retell
the tale of Jesus' Magnum Opus with the instruments
of flesh, blood, bread and wine, imagery that Jesus
created for them and taught them how to use
at the Last Supper.
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[¶ 00582 Updated: 07_30_2024]
More of the radical love of God; never less. Always.
No Exceptions (00067)
The radical love of God was revealed to us
in a gruesome experiment that took place in
the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
Our job is to propagate it from the
point and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history
and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve
here and now.
Propagation is all we have to do.
Get them to the starting point of evangelization
and let their curiosity take over.
From the starting point, they can
figure out this thing called God
for themselves.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32).
The radical love of God is the liberating truth.
It is the Good News of Great Joy.
The radical love of God is the agent that does
the work in Christianity.
It does the heavy lifting.
The radical love of God
is the catalyst of our conversion.
The gravity of the radical love of God pulls us
into the vortex of divinity. It is the most powerful
force in heaven and on earth.
The radical love of God gives Christianity its
magic, Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and
evangelists, who exclusively devote themselves to
propagating it, the power to change the world.
When the gravity
of the radical love of God captures us, we have hit
the jackpot of Christianity. We have found the
pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
We have won the lottery.
Therefore, more
of the radical love of God; not less. Always. No
exceptions.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Right and Wrong Methodology.
[¶ 00067: Updated: 01_19_2024]
The radical love of God is the rock
(Matthew 7:24-27)
on which Christians
build their lives
The reality of the radical love of God
was proven beyond any doubt
in the gruesome experiment
that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the
laboratory of the Crucifixion.
The gruesome experiment
verified the radical love of God.
Christians rest their understanding of God on
the revelation that Jesus released into the
world in the gruesome experiment.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00141 Updated: 01_21_2024]
Politics and Christianity (00163)
Political Christianity is an oxymoron.
"Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto
Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto
God the things that are God's"
(Matthew 22:21).
When we are busy doing politics, we have no time
to do religion.
Christianity's main job is to propagate
the gruesome experiment that we administered to
Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
from the
point and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history
and geography, to the children of Adam and
Eve here and now. In this way, Christianity
helps the children of Adam and Eve to figure out for
themselves this thing called God and provides them
with a pathway to pursue him.
How much propagation are we going
to get done while we are doing politics?
Chrisianity informs politics but Christianity has too
much on its plate to embroil itself in politics.
Get the religion right and the politics will take
care of itself.
Let the politicians do politics and the clergy do
religion.
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate
the one, and love the other; or else he will hold
to the one, and despise the other.
Ye cannot serve God and mammon"
(Matthew 6:24).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Politics and Religion (00164)
[¶ 00163 Updated: 01_23_2024]
The Professionals of Christianity cannot find their
way to the starting line of evangelization (00138)
"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in
the desert a highway for our God"
(Isaiah 40:3-8).
Nearly all of the professionals who 'do' Christianity
cannot find their way to the starting line of
evangelization.
Hence, they never arrive at the finish
line.
They haven't a clue about where the location
of the starting line is and the race that Jesus wants
us to run from starting line to finish line.
If they cannot find the starting line, isn't it
foolish to expect them to take us there?
Incompetancy and malpractice are rife.
This is not an exageration.
This is not hyperbole.
Incompetancy and malpractice are everywhere -
endemic to evangelization.
Moreover, the professionals who do stumble upon
the starting line dilute it, i.e. water it down,
with obiter dicta. They deflate its importance.
They undervalue it.
Note: The starting line of evangelization is the
gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered
to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
The finish line is the radical love of God - radical
in size - radical in scope - and radical in
intransigence. Jesus created the starting line so
we can get to the finish line.
Jesus blazed the trail
(John 14:6)
from the starting line to the finish line
so we could follow him to the revelation.
Therefore, let us find the
starting line for ourselves and run the
right race. We cannot
"persevere in running the race that lies before us"
(Hebrews 12:1-2)
unless we first find the starting line.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Evangelization (00139)
(2) Index: The Race that Jesus wants us to run to
the Revelation (00140)
[¶ 00138 Updated: 01_19_2024]
The Professionals of Christianity have
mismanaged Christianity's portfolio (00520)
The Professionals of Christianity
have mismanaged Christianity's portfolio.
It is out of balance.
The Professionals have invested too much into
the nitty-gritty of Christianity and not enough
into its pizzazz.
They have allowed Christianity to
become hackneyed - trite.
They have allowed the ratio between the
nitty-gritty and the pizzazz to get out of whack.
The ratio is lopsided. The Professionals need to
rebalance Christianity's portfolio.
They need to get the
ratio under control.
Christianity has a big problem.
The thermometer that gauges the temperature of the
body of Christ is the practice of Christianity.
By this measure, the patient is moribund -
a few breaths away from death.
Fewer and fewer Christians are practicing Christianity.
Moreover, the practice of those who do
has become perfunctory - cursory.
They just go through the motions.
They practice, but, they no longer know why
they practice.
What was once inspired has become a meaningless,
trite routine.
The inspiration that generates the
the practice of Christianity is fading from our
understanding. No inspiration; no practice.
The blame belongs to the Professionals
of Christianity. They have let us down.
They have allowed the nitty-gritty of Christianity
to dilute its pizzazz.
What is the pizzazz of Christianity?
The pizzazz is found in the
answer to the compound question,
'Who is God and how do we
know it?'.
Therefore, please introduce us to your God -
not to your Church -
not to your byzantine codex of rules, regulations,
red tape and rigmarole.
First, introduce us to the God who revealed himself
to us in a demonstration of forgiveness from
the position of prominence on the flagpole
of Christianity, to wit, the Cross -
to the God who loves us even
though we tortured and killed him.
Tell us about him. Give us the details.
'Who are you, God? Identify yourself.
Friend or foe?'
Then, together, we can figure out the best way
to pursue him.
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(00517)
[¶ 00520 Updated: 07_05_2024a]
The pursuit of God is the train of salvation. Christianity is the tracks. The gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20) is the locomotive.
The transfer of the knowledge of God from Jesus
to us sizzles (00051)
Jesus' radically asymmetric answer to the evils that
we did to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
gives Christianity its sizzle.
It gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6),
our God lamented --- but
not anymore.
By his answer, Jesus transferred the knowledge of God
to us.
Jesus had said,
"...he that hath seen me hath seen
the Father..."
(John 14:9).
When the children of Adam and Eve
discover the sweetness of paradise, we pursue it.
We are disobedient not irrational.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(Matthew 13:44-46).
The only way to evangelize the children of Adam
and Eve is to help
them discover for themselves
the sweetness of paradise then get out of the way and
let God go to work!
Don't tell them what you found.
Show them where to look.
Point them to
Jesus' radically asymmetric answer.
Their rationality will do the rest.
From the starting point of
Jesus' radically asymmetric answer, they
will figure this thing called God out
for themselves. Just get them to
the starting point. This is all you have to do.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index:Transferring the knowledge of
God from Divinity to Humanity.
[¶ 00051 Updated: 01_18_2024]
The Treasure Hunt (00133)
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
CHRISTIANITY IS A TREASURE MAP
FOR TREASURE HUNTERS
ENGAGED IN A TREASURE HUNT
(Matthew 6:19-21)
(Luke 17:20-21).
The radical love of God is the treasure
(Matthew 6:21).
Jesus is the treasure chest that holds, conveys
and presents the radical
love of God to the children of Adam and Eve
(Matthew 13:44).
On the map, an 'X' marks the spot
of the treasure.
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
At the 'X' on the treasure map stands the flagpole
of Christianity, the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
There, the radical love of God
was put to the test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
“LET US TEST HIM WITH INSULT AND TORTURE, THAT WE MAY
FIND OUT HOW GENTLE HE IS AND MAKE TRIAL OF HIS
FORBEARANCE"
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
The test irreutably verified the genuineness of
the love of
God and proved, beyond all doubt, that the love
of God is
radical in the extreme -
radical in size,
radical in scope and
radical in intransigence.
Christianity, done right, makes us squirm under
the overwhelming weight of the radical
love of God.
Who can weather the intensity of the
radical love of God when
it is focused on us?
If we are not preaching the treasure hunt -
if we are not
confronting the children of Adam and Eve
with the radical love of God -
if the children of Adam and Eve do not
understand that the Cross is the verification
of the radical love of God -
if we are
pathologically obsessed with trying to
govern the behavior of the children
of Adam and Eve to the exclusion of
everything else -,
we are not doing Christianity.
'Tis better and more effective to be prophets
of the revelation of the radical love of God
than kings of regulation of our behavior. Can we
devote at least 50% of our time to being prophets?
Is 50% too much to ask?
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Treasure Hunt (00134)
(00541)
[¶ 00133 Updated: 07_14_2024]
Everyone is invited to The Pursuit of God
"Please, may the Church not have a “border control”
to select who enters and who does not. No. Everyone,
everyone. Entry is free. And then, may each person
feel Jesus’ invitation to follow Him, to see how one
feels before God; and for this path there are the
teachings and the Sacraments. Let us remember
the Gospel: when the master of the banquet
sends people out to the crossroads, saying:
Go and invite everyone” (cf. Mt 22:9).
Do not forget this word: everyone. The Church is
for everyone: young and old, healthy and sick,
the righteous and sinners. This is what Jesus meant:
everyone, everyone, everyone."
(Pope Francis, 25 August 2023)
!
Jesus is the flame that reignited The Love Affair
between divinity and humanity (00084)
Christianity is a love affair (often unrequited) not
a system of government
Jesus is the flame that reignited the Love Affair
between divinity and humanity
“I have come to set the earth on fire
[with the love of God]
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
Jesus did not bring a 'system of government'
from heaven to earth
organized according to a well-defined codex of
rules, regulations,
red tape and rigmarole. Jesus, the Love Note
that God had sent us, brought a love affair.
He reignited a passionate love affair between
divinity and humanity.
Christianity began with a Love Note.
Jesus is the Love Note that God sent to us.
God thought
that sending us a Love Note was the best way to
answer the question, 'Who is God?'
and, at the same time, to show us our potential.
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's radical love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: What did Jesus bring - and
did not bring - from heaven to earth? (00083)
(2) Index: The radical love of God is the match that is
setting the earth on fire (00090)
(3) Index: The Love Note (00093)
Index: The Origin of Christianity
Index: The answer to the question, 'Who is God?'.'
Index: The Word of God is the tangible expression
of God's radical love for us
Index: Christianity is a love affair not a system
of government
Index: Jesus showed us our potential
[¶ 00084 Updated: 01_06_2024]
Christians are treasure hunters in hot pursuit of the treasure. The treasure of Christianity is the radical love of God. The treasure is not compliance with a byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Compliance is not conversion. Conversion happens during the pursuit of God. Conversion is the fruit of close encounters with the radical love of God. Only close encounters with the radical love of God make a Christian - nothing else. Love begets love - only love begets love. So, Jesus loved us first. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). In the process of seeking God, God transforms us. We do not transform ourselves. Our Church does not transform us. Only God transforms us and he does so as we seek him. No seeking; no transformation. Therefore, let no man stand between a child of Adam and Eve who is seeking God and the love of God (Isaiah 57:14)! Let no man interfere (Luke 17:2)! Only the process of seeking God produces results. "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2). (1 Chronicles 16:10-12) (Isaiah 55:6-7). Jesus blazed the escape route through the hostile desert of godlessness, defined it with holy places, made a map of them, established a Church, entrusted the map to the Church and gave the leadership of the Church a mission. The mission is to facilitate our escape - not to frustrate it, not to filter it and not to foul it up. The pursuit of the radical love of God is primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect. Like bloodhounds, Christians follow the scent of the radical love of God on the trail to paradise.
Christianity succeeds when its focus is trying to
help us figure out for ourselves this thing called
God. Christianity fails to the extent that it deviates
from a focus on revelation. When Christianity
pathologically obsesses over morality and
eschews revelation, it sets itself up for failure.
It ties it shoelaces together.
The byproduct of an upgrade in our understanding of
God is an upgraded morality. To 'do' morality, one
must first upgrade our understanding of God.
No upgrade in our understanding of God; no upgrade
in our behavior.
More of the radical love of God; never less.
More revelation; less regulation.
More theology; less morality.
Always. No exceptions.
When you 'do' religion, do you subscribe to this
philosophy:
If you do not, why not?
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(00537)
[¶ 00542 Updated: 07_14_2024]
Participation in the New Exodus - the escape through the Valley of Tears (Salve Regina) from godlessness to God - is the job of the Church. The job of the Church is to turn settlers into pilgrims. Transformation is the job of God. The job of God is to transform sinners into saints. The work of salvation goes off the rails when the Church tries to do God’s job.
We do not transform ourselves. Our Church does not transform us. Only God transforms us and transformation takes place during our pursuit of him.
Compliance and non-compliance with A byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole ought not interefere with the pursuit of God. It ought not get in the way. Compliance is not coversion. Conversion results from the pursuit of God. Only close encounters with the love of God make a Christian - nothing else. Love begets love - only love begets love. So, Jesus loved us first. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). In the process of seeking God, God transforms us. We do not transform ourselves. Our Church does not transform us. Only God transforms us and he does so as we seek him. No seeking; no transformation. Therefore, let no man stand between a child of Adam and Eve who is seeking God and the love of God (Isaiah 57:14)! Let no man interfere (Luke 17:2)! Only the process of seeking God produces results.
The Cycle of Forgiveness / Repentance (00124)
Forgiveness is a life preserver. The victim of evildoing
throws it to drowning evildoers.
Repentance occurs when
drowning evildoers accept the assistance of
their victim, grab the life preserver, hold tight
and refuse to let go.
The cycle of Forgiveness / Repentance is the heartbeat
of a healthy and holy world.
The life preserver of forgiveness brings to life a
paradox. It saves both the drowning evildoers who
accept its assistance and grab on to it and the victims
who throw it. As Shakespeare said, it is twice blessed.
When the victim of evildoing is our Creator and
the culprits are his creatures, the throwing of the
life preserver of forgiveness takes on a whole new
level of significance.
Jesus threw the life preserver of forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63)
to the
children of Adam and Eve while forlornly hanging
from the
position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity.
The throwing of the life preserver of forgiveness
is the glorious victory that Jesus won in the midst
of ignominious defeat.
Rally 'round the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
"The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon
the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him
that gives and him that takes"
(Portia in William Shakespeare's
The Merchant of Venice (Act 4, Scene 1).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Forgiveness and Repentance (00082)
[¶ 00124 Updated: 01_12_2024]
Antiphony (00039)
The path to salvation starts at forgiveness and
ends with repentance.
Through the performance of an act of
forgiveness, Jesus published the
radical love of God to the children
of Adam and Eve.
Forgiveness is God's call to sinners.
"... I am not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance"
(Matthew 9:10-13).
Are you listening? Do you hear God's call
(Matthew 13:9)?
Repentance is how we ought to
respond to God's call.
It is how we answer it.
"Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance..."
(Luke 3:8).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Forgiveness and Repentance (00082)
[¶ 00039 Updated: 01_12_2024]
The dowry of the new covenant (00104)
The bridegroom - not the bride - brought the
dowry to the marriage and the bridegroom spent it
on a gift for his beloved Bride.
The children of Adam and Eve could not afford
a dowry. They were broke. They were penniless
scavengers.
In the squalid ruins of Eden, they abjectly scavenged for
scraps in cutthroat competition with the other
loveless beasts in utter poverty. So the bridegroom brought
the dowry
(Matthew 3:13-17).
In the Incarnation, God,
the Father, endowed Jesus with the coin of
flesh and blood. The coin of
flesh and blood was the dowry of the new
covenant.
It is a gross understatement to say that
the New Covenant got off to a rocky start.
It was tempestuous. The bride was challenging -
to say the least. She was a handfull.
The bride tested the bridegroom with insult and
torture to find out for herself exactly what
made him tick.
"Let us test him with insult and torture, that
we may find out how gentle he is and make trial of
his forbearance"
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
The bride tortured and killed the bridegroom.
She made him suffer and die.
She impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
What a nasty bitch! What did the bridegroom see in
his beloved bride?
[More importantly, what did
the bride discover?]
"Better a dry crust with quiet
than a house full of feasting with strife"
(Proverbs 17:1).
Despite the evils that the bride had done to
the bridegroom in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 17-20),
the bridegroom did not take the dowry,
abandon his bride,
give up on the marriage and go home.
The bridegroom persisted in the courtship of
his beloved bride.
He was intransigent in his pursuit of her.
In fact, he spent the dowry that his Father
had given him in the Incarnation to purchase a
wedding gift for his beloved bride.
He spent the entire dowry on a gift for her. He kept
not a penny of the dowry in the bank in reserve
for himself.
While the bride still had his flesh in her mouth and
his blood on her hands, the bridegroom forgave her.
The wedding gift that the bridegroom purchased for
his bride with the dowry was the gift of forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
The greater were the evils that
the bride did to the bridegroom,
the more astonishing it is that the bridegroom
presented his bride with
the wedding gift - right?
Furthermore, despite the inauspicious start to
their marriage, the unexpected
wedding gift - the surprising substitution of
forgiveness for the punishment that the bride
deserved for taking from the bridegroom his
flesh and blood -
signaled that the bridegroom planned
to continue with the marriage.
The honeymoon was not cancelled.
The bridegroom's pursuit of his beloved bride was
not discontinued. All was not lost. It was not over.
The bridegroom's vision was to live happily
ever after with his beloved but recalcitrant bride.
Is the love of the bridegroom for his murderous
bride not radical? The dial that controls his love
is in the hands of the bridegroom not his murderous
bride. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and
is locked in place. Not even the evils that the bride
did to the bridegroom could budge it. Beware the cleric
who attempts to pull back on the radical love of God -
to put limitations on it - to carve exceptions to it -
to reduce or diminish it.
The murderous bride failed to extinguish the bonfire of
love that burns for her in the most Sacred Heart of the
bridegroom or reduce its intensity by even the slightest
degree. Likewise will fail the cleric.
P.S. The whole exercise was staged -
choreographed - to fill the earth with the
knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
It illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God
in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
God designed, orchestrated and produced the exercise
in revelation to be a learning
experience for the bride.
Jesus wanted his murderous bride to know his Father.
So he showed him to her. He introduced him to her
in the most dramatic fashion. He gave his Father
a flamboyant introduction.
Jesus had said.
"...he that hath seen me hath seen
the Father..."
(John 14:9).
So Jesus introduced his bride to
the radical love of God in a
flamboyant personal display of affection
from the posi!tion of
prominence on the flagpole of Christianity!
Rally 'round the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Bridegroom and the Bride (00105)
(2) Index: The Dowry (00106)
(3) Index: Scavenging for Scraps (00088)
(4) Index: The Incarnation (00107)
(5) Index: The Evils that We did to Jesus (00108)
(6) Index: The New Covenant (00109)
(7) Index: Putting Jesus to the Test (00100)
(8) Index: Jesus did not Abandon Us (00112)
(9) Index: Paying the Cost of Love (00064)
(10) Index: The Substitution of Forgiveness
for Punishment (00113)
(11) Index: Living Happily Ever After (00114)
[¶ 00104 Updated: 01_11_2024]
Pollination
Love rubs off on whomever it touches
Love begets love. Only love begets love.
So,
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
We love him because he loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Love pollinates everyone it touches.
Jesus was a pollinator.
The Transparency and Completeness
of the Thought Process (00118)
My thought process is transparent - at least it
tries to be. Is yours?
Moreover, tt has a beginning, middle and end.
It shows the complete pathway from start to finish.
Does yours? Can we follow it as we can follow
a bouncing ball passing over the lyrics of
a children's song? Or is something missing - hidden?
Transparent and complete are the hallmarks of
a successful thought process. It makes itself amenable
to feedback. Feedback is the flint that
sharpens the blade.
Unless sharpened, the edge of the sword of persuasion
becomes dull. A dull blade does not cut.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Transparency of the Thought Process
(00119)
(1) Index: Feedback
(00120)
[¶ 00118 Updated: 01_11_2024]
We are thinking machines (00110)
Don't tell us what you found.
Show us where to look.
We are thinking machines.
God endowed us
with the gift of rationality so we can process
the truth.
The truth is the fuel of our rationality.
When fueled by the the truth, our rationality steers
us in the right direction. When the fuel of truth is
fouled by a lie, our rationality leads us
astray.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32).
We who read, write and think for ourselves
reserve to ourselves the sovereignty of the
thinking process. We refuse to surrender our
intellectual independence to others.
In the domain of our own minds, each of us is
king.
Our community is a community of mutual respect.
We respect the sovreignty of others and
insist that others respect our
sovreignty as well.
The methodology of Christianity, when done right,
is not indoctrination but exploration.
The appeal of Christianity is not to our faculty of
obedience but to our faculty of rationality.
Our faculty of obedience is broken and
has been broken since the
age of Adam and Eve.
Appeals to it seldom work.
We are disobedient; however, we are not irrational.
The appeal must be to our rationality.
We must be persuaded.
This dismays the medievalists.
It discombobulates them. It makes them apoplectic.
The modernists, however, are up for the challenge.
In fact, they think an appeal to our rationality
is the best way to go.
What instills the truth into your 'facts'? Authority?
The Evidence? Opinions? Speculation? The truth
must be vetted. Only the evidence vets the truth.
When the truth is handed to us on
a silver platter (Mark 6:28), we are not persuaded.
The difference between being handed the truth
and discovering the truth for ourselves is the same
as
the difference between the lightning bug
and the lightning (Mark Twain).
Putting our fingers in the flames is much more
persuasive than a warning that the fire
is hot.
Therefore, don't tell us what you found; show us
where to look.
The best persuasion comes when we discover the truth
for ourselves. When we discover the truth for
ourselves, we take ownership of it.
The discovery of the truth for ourselves packs
the strongest persuasive punch.
It gives our rationality a powerful wallop.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Truth (00115)
(2) Index: Thinking Machines (00116)
(3) Index: Our Faculty of Rationality (00121)
[¶ 00110 Updated: 01_11_2024]
The Christian Church starts to die when it closes
the books on thinking (00579)
Unlike a Christian, the Christian Church does not
start from scratch. It has a head start - a leg up.
It has more than two thousand years of
experience of trying to figure this thing called
God out.
Its experience gets in the way, however, when it
refuses to allow the present generation of
the followers of Jesus to figure things out for
themselves.
The Church starts
to fail when it stops thinking. When it closes the
book on thinking, it becomes moribund.
A Church that only
points to the past merely claiming this is the
way it was done and fails to address
modern challenges with contemporary arguments
is a dead Church. Go get a priest to give it
Last Rites.
Debates are never settled.
A settled debate is an oxymoron.
The same wars are fought again and again,
over and over. Only the victors of the last war
delude themselves in thinking that the combat is over.
Resting on the claim that 'We won! We won!'
is the basis of future defeat.
The issues are immortal.
The cycle of conflict does not end.
Only out of the vortex of vigorous debate
does the truth emerge. And it must emerge anew for
each generation and for each child of Adam and Eve.
We must rediscover the answers for ourselves.
When the truth is handed to us on
a silver platter (Mark 6:28), we are not persuaded.
The difference between being handed the truth
and discovering the truth for ourselves is the same
as
the difference between the lightning bug
and the lightning (Mark Twain).
Putting our fingers in the flames is much more
persuasive than a warning that the fire
is hot.
The best persuasion comes when we discover the truth
for ourselves. When we discover the truth for
ourselves, we take ownership of it.
The discovery of the truth for ourselves packs
the strongest persuasive punch.
It gives our rationality a powerful wallop.
Pope John Paul II called for new Evangelization.
'In 1983, he addressed the Catholic bishops of
Latin America in Haiti and called for a
New Evangelization:
“The commemoration of the half millennium of
evangelization will gain its full energy if
it is a commitment, not to re-evangelize but
to a New Evangelization, new in its ardor,
methods and expression”''
(USCCB Disciples Called To Witness: Part II).
The same old stuff just doesn't work. It loses its
effectiveness. Unless sharpened, the edge of the
sword of persuasion becomes dull. It doesn't cut.
The children of Adam and Eve do not inherit
Christianity. They rediscover it for themselves.
They cherish and take pride in their ability
to read, write and think for themselves. God respects
their ability so must we.
Therefore, don't tell them what you found.
Show them where
to look. Let them discover the truths of Christianity
for themselves.
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Go to the Table of Contents
(Table of Contents)
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00579 Updated: 07_30_2024]
What is the truth that the Word of God expressed
about God and where did he express it?
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
expressed a truth about God
in the gruesome experiment
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
to which we
subjected him in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture, that
we may find out how gentle he is and make trial of
his forbearance"
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
What was the truth expressed?
Are you privy to it?
Can you articulate it?
Do you have the words?
“And ye shall know the truth [about your God],
and the truth shall make you free”
(John 8:32).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Expression of the Truth about
God (00095)
[¶ 00096 Updated: 01_07_2024]
The Gravamen of Christianity and how it was communicated
to the children of Adam and Eve (00103)
What is the gravamen of Christianity and how was it
communicated to the children of Adam and Eve?
The gravamen of Christianity is not found in the words
that Jesus said. If you look for the gravamen of
Christianity in Jesus' words, you won't find it.
His words are obiter dicta - important but not the crux.
The gravamen of Christianity is found
in a deed that Jesus did.
The deed that Jesus did filled the flagpole
of Christianity with meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
With a deed, the Word of God
(John 1:1)
spoke to the
children of Adam and Eve.
"Is he not the carpenter"
(Mark 6:3)
who does rather than an author who speaks?
The vehicle that the
Word of God
(John 1:1)
used to communicate the gravamen of Christianity
was a performance of the act of forgiveness
during a gruesome experiment that we administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture, that
we may find out how gentle he is and make trial of
his forbearance"
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
His performance was his Magnum Opus - his greatest
achievement. It was the glorious victory
that emerged from his ignominious defeat as
the dawn emerges from the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
To give a performance of the act of forgiveness
during a gruesome experiment that we administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion, the Father,
in the Incarnation, endowed Jesus with the coin of
flesh and blood. It was the dowry of the new
covenant
(Matthew 3:13-17).
Jesus spent the coin of his flesh and
blood to purchase for the
children of Adam and Eve the gift of forgiveness.
Jesus spent all of it. He kept not a penny in the
bank in reserve for himself. He has never spent more
for anuthing else. Doesn't the size of his spending
tell us about the size of his love for us? Does
not his prodigal spending tell us that his love for
us is radical?
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Expression of the Truth about
God (00095)
[¶ 00103 Updated: 01_08_2024]
A Proxy for a Proxy
The Two Surrogates that stand in for the Radical
love of God.
1) Radical forgiveness is the proxy for the radical
love of God.
2) Serving a Meal to Enemies is a Proxy for
Radical forgiveness.
Radical forgiveness is the proxy for the radical
love of God. It makes the abstract concept of the
radical love of God concrete.
The next step in the expression of the radical love
of God is to make the abstract concept of
forgiveness concrete. How? A meal. Instead of
punishing the enemies of Jesus for taking from him
his flesh and blood, serve them a meal.
Satisfy their hunger with bread, slake
their thirst with wine and fill their bellies
with companionship. Engage them while they still
have Jesus' flesh in their mouths and his blood on
their hands. Wow! Wouldn't that be radical?
Wouldn't that be audacious. The greater were
the evils thay we did to Jesus, the more
audacious is his performance of the act of
forgiveness.
Radical forgiveness was the tangible expression of the radical love of God - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45). Radical forgiveness reflected and confirmed God's radical love for the children of Adam and Eve. Radical forgiveness for the evils that we did to the Love Note verified that the Love Note was genuine.
The overwhelming weight of the radical love of God
bends every knee
(00091)
"For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord,
every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue
shall confess to God"
(Romans 14:11).
How?
The overwhelming weight of the radical
love of God bends our knees!
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
The overwhelming weight of the radical love of God
gobsmacks us. It takes our breath away.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
We do not bend our knees to the overwhelming power
of our God. We bend our knees to the overwhelming
love of our God.
We bend our knees, not in submission, but in awe.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00091 Updated: 01_06_2024]
God’s power built paradise for us. God’s radical love for us, however, is the ingredient that makes paradise sweet. Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise (and flee the sourness of godlessness). It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise. It is crazy to do otherwise. We are disobedient not irrational. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).
How do we impress God?
The size of the pile of scraps that we accumulate
as we pass
through the ruins of Eden does not impress God.
What impresses God is the size of the love
in our hearts. We make an impression on God as
we fill our hearts to the brim with love
(Luke 7:47).
The greater is the love, the greater is the impression.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(For the Treasure Hunt, click here)
[¶ 00017 Updated: 11_05_2024]
Viva la revolución (00447)
Jesus presented a different scorecard to measure
success in life
Jesus was a revolutionary.
He wanted to overturn the system.
He wanted to upset the status quo
(Matthew 21:12).
His aim was to measure
success in life by a different scorecard.
Only by producing the sweet fruits of love
"out of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]"
(Luke 6:45)
"... some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some an hundred"
(Mark 4:20)
do we score points in life.
A Christian is known by his fruits
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)
as are all of the children of Adam and Eve.
What scorecard are you using?
Are you keeping score with the world's scorecard
or with Jesus'?
To share this blurb, copy and share this
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In doing Christianity, in what direction do we point?
North? South? East? Or West? (00446)
[¶ 00447 Updated: 05_17_2024]
The norm that measures success in life (00608)
God set the norm that measures success in life -
and failure - to love.
Life is the opportunity that God gives us to love.
According to our God,
the highest and best use of life is to love.
(1 Corinthians 13:13)
(Matthew 22:35-40).
"In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on
our earthly possessions and human success,
but rather on how much we have loved"
(John of the Cross)
(Luke 7:47).
A life without love is salt without flavor
(Matthew 5:13).
Love is life in abundance
(John 10:10).
Love embellishes life.
Love is the treasure of Christianity.
In the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the
war against evils,
Jesus showed us how high divinity
soars above the norm and how low humanity sinks
below it
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
The delta between the high and the low
gobsmacks us. It takes our breath away.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
To share this blurb, copy and share this
link:
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00608
Go to the Table of Contents
(Table of Contents)
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00608 Updated: 08_10_2024]
On the stage of the Crucifixion in the theater
of forgiveness, Jesus performed his Magnum Opus.
His performance was bravura.
Conventional biblical wisdom created the expectation
of
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on
its head.
He upset the apple cart
(Matthew 21:12).
He shifted the paradigm.
He did the revolutionary.
Instead of punishing us for taking from him his
flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us. He substituted
forgiveness for punishment.
By substitution, Jesus revealed God to us.
He transferred to us the knowledge of God.
He filled the earth with the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
"...he that hath seen me hath seen
the Father..."
(John 14:9),
Jesus had said.
The substitution is
the glorious victory that emerged from his
ignominious defeat as the dawn emerges from
the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
The substitution is the
Good News of Great Joy.
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00080 Updated: 01_03_2024]
a peek behind the curtain
To span the pit of sin, Jesus erected
the bridge of forgiveness
Humanity had fallen into a squalid pit that we
had dug for ourselves. By our own hands, we had
dug a pit of sin in our relationship with our God -
a dark, nasty and loveless abyss.
We were trapped at the
level of the loveless beasts who scavenge for scraps
in cutthroat competion against each other in utter
poverty among the ruins of Eden.
Our lovelessness was our utter poverty.
Lovelessness made us poor.
It ruined Eden and made it squalid.
Our fall amongst the loveless beasts
was a catastrophe.
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth
on a rescue mission. He was sent to help us escape
our dire predicament.
To facilitate our escape, Jesus undertook
a construction project.
"Is he not the carpenter"
(Mark 6:3)?
To span the pit of sin, Jesus erected
the bridge of forgiveness
(John 14:6).
Upon the bridge of forgiveness,
we could escape the
squalid pit and journey to the sublime
level of our loving God.
Paradise is found not at the bottom of the pit
but at the far side of the bridge.
Our job is to stop digging the pit and
to start crossing the bridge.
Repentance is the vehicle that
transports us out of the pit and
across the bridge
(Matthew 22: 11-13).
"Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance..."
(Luke 3:8).
To incentivize our escape, Jesus gave us
a peek behind the curtain.
Jesus gave us a glimpse of the sweetness of paradise.
He gave us a taste of the veiled reality.
"Taste and see"
(Psalm 34:8)
the sweetness of paradise!
What, exactly, did Jesus show us?
Jesus participated in a demonstration of forgiveness
that unfolded in the gruesome experiment that we
cruelly
administered to him in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture, that
we may find out how gentle he is and make trial of
his forbearance"
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
Jesus was the star of the demonstration.
Humanity was his antagonist.
We tortured and killed Jesus. We made him suffer and
die. We impaled him on the flagpole of
Christianity where he hung until death.
He answered the evils that we did to him.
However, he did not answer them in kind.
He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did not require
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
His answer
was asymmetric to them - radically asymmetric.
He forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
In reference to the demonstration of forgiveness,
Jesus said,
"...he that hath seen me hath seen
the Father..."
(John 14:9).
The demonstration was designed to give the
children of Adam and Eve unparalleled insight
into the nature of God. It upgraded our understanding
of God. It illuminated the darkness of our
understanding of
God in a glorious burst of apocalypic epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
[¶ 00002 Updated: 01_03_2024]
The God who fashioned us out of the mud
with his hands put himself into the hands of the mud
to leaven the mud with the yeast of divinity.
The yeast of divinity is the radical love
of God
(Matthew 13:33).
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00064 Updated: 01_04_2024]
Index to blurbs about Transferring the knowledge of
God from Divinity to Humanity
For more, click on the link[s] below
Click here to go to the Indices Page
(1) How did Jesus transfer the knowledge of God
to the children of Adam and Eve?
(2) The transfer of the knowledge of God
from divinity to humanity sizzles.
(3) The most Holy Eucharist is more than an
enigmatic black
box that holds the real presence - much more
(4) What did Jesus do and why did he do it?
(5) The mute presence of a speaker does not transfer
knowledge
(6) Osmosis does not work to transfer the knowledge
of God.
(7) The horse talks. Wow! Like Moses,
let us turn aside to see the great sight.
(8) What was Jesus' answer to the evils that
we did to him?
[¶ 00058:12_31_2023]
How did Jesus transfer the knowledge of God
to the children of Adam and Eve?
Jesus filled the earth with the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
How?
Did Jesus transfer the knowledge of God from him to us
by promulgating a stultifying codex of rules,
regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole? No.
So how?
From his heart, our hearts received a transfusion of
love
(Romans 5:5).
The transfusion of the radical love of God from his
heart to our hearts is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
The transfer of love from his heart
to our hearts was the vehicle that transferred
the knowledge of God to us.
Love was the means of conveyance.
Love was the conduit.
Love was the wave that carried the knowledge of God.
[Note: Tune into the wave to tune into God.]
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Why? Doing so fulfilled his mission of transferring
the knowledge of God.
Jesus had said,
"...he that hath seen me hath seen
the Father..."
(John 14:9).
By loving us, Jesus informed us about his Father.
By loving us, Jesus begat the knowledge of God.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to blurbs about Transferring the knowledge of
God from Divinity to Humanity.
[¶ 00057:12_31_2023]
Ignominious defeat is the foil in which Jesus set
the jewel of his glorious victory.
The foil highlighted and emphasized and intensified
and
magnified and amplified and accentuated and
underlined the jewel of glorious victory.
Instead of giving us the punishment that we deserved
for taking from Jesus his flesh and blood, Jesus
forgave us.
In lieu of punishment, Jesus served us the bread and
wine of forgiveness.
He satisfies the hunger of his enemies with bread,
slakes their thirst with wine and
fills their bellies with companonship.
He invites us, his enemies, to
sup with him at the family table, out of the sun
and the rain, under the comfort and joy of the
family tent.
The greater were the evils that we did
to him to bring about his ignominious defeat,
the sweeter is his glorious victory.
glorious victory erupted from
ignominious defeat as the dawn erupts from
the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
The combination of ignominious
defeat and glorious victory illuminated the darkness
of our understanding of God in a glorious burst
of apocalyptic epiphany. They revealed God to us.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to blurbs about Foil and Jewel
[¶ 00043:12_29_2023]
Index to blurbs that belong to
the framework Dealing with
Getting Christianity wrong
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Go to the Indices Page
(2) Botching Christianity
[¶ 00079 Updated: 01_03_2024]
Jesus' Magnum Opus
Jesus is the artist who created a Masterpiece of Love
on the canvas of life in the
gruesome adversity of the Crucifixion.
In lieu of delivering the punishment to us that
we deserved,
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Embellishing the canvas of life with love
in the midst of adversity was Jesus' magnum opus
- his greatest achievement.
Rally 'round the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00040:12_28_2023]
Jesus hung from his Cross to show us how to hang from
our crosses
Let us hang from our crosses as Jesus hung from his
(Matthew 5:38-48).
Jesus did not merely tell us how to hang from
our crosses; he showed us how.
He showed us our potential.
Jesus led by example.
He donned the jet pack of love and flew to show us
that we, too, can fly.
What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was!
We, too, can show our brothers and sisters
how to fly
(Colossians 1:24)!
When we hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung,
hold tight and refuse to let go of love.
To love is in our self-interest.
Love is our defense against evils.
Incoming! Shields up!
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Jesus' Magnum Opus
[¶ 00025:12_27_2023]
Index to blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
For more, click on the link[s] below
Go to the Indices Page
(1) What is the extent of Jesus' participation
in the most Holy Eucharist?
(2) The most Holy Eucharist is the Mouth of
God.
(3) The location of his presence versus
the presentation of the wonderful deed that
Jesus did.
(4) We came for his flesh and blood; we left with his
bread and wine.
(5) The exorbitant cost of the meal of bread
and wine that
Jesus served to his enemies was paid for in
the precious coin of his flesh and blood.
(6) The rotating beacon of the
lighthouse of the most Holy Eucharist.
(7) The most Holy Eucharist is Advanced, Alien
Technology.
(8) What is the best way to make the abstract
concept of forgiveness concrete?
(9) The most Holy Eucharist captures Jesus
in the performance of the act of forgiveness -
his Magnum Opus.
(10) What does Christianity do?
(11) Singers are known by their songs;
artists are known by their art;
trees are known by their fruit
and storytellers by their stories -
not by their presence.
(12) The most Holy Eucharist is more than a
pied-à-terre for
the fleshified Son of God - much more.
(13) Limited human resources gave
the Word of God the vocabulary in which to
express to us the radicalness
of God's love.
(14) Consumption is essential to the revelation
of the most Holy Eucharist.
(15) The most Holy Eucharist is the dynamic
expression of the
radical love of God not merely the static
domicile of God's presence.
(16) The making, giving and taking
of the most Holy Eucharist.
(17) Worthy reception
of the most Holy Eucharist.
(18) The most Holy Eucharist is more than an
enigmatic black box that holds the real presence -
much more.
(19) The sizzle of the most Holy Eucharist mimics the
sizzle of the radical love of God as it flows
from his heart to our hearts.
(19) The flow of the most Holy Eucharist is
an onomatopoetic-like reflection of
the flow of the radical love of God from his
heart to our hearts.
(20) More message; less presence. Focus
on the big deal.
(21) The most Holy Eucharist articulates
the truth that Jesus substituted forgiveness
for punishment.
(22) An edible Jack-in-the-box is not the
best argument for Christianity.
We came for his flesh and blood; we left with his bread
and wine.
We came for a homocide; we left with a
meal.
Praise and thanksgiving to the propitious substitution
that wiped our slates clean!
[¶ 00042:12_29_2023]
What is the extent of Jesus' presence in the most Holy
Eucharist? Silent Presence or Speaking Presence?
The Son of God participates in the most Holy Eucharist.
What is the extent of his participation?
Is it limited to a silent presence?
Is it limited to flesh, blood, soul and divinity?
Or is it more than a mere silent
presence - much more?
If a speaking presence, what is the most Holy Eucharist
telling us? Can you articulate its message?
Do you have the words?
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00022:12_30_2023]
The most Holy Eucharist is more than an enigmatic black
box that holds the real presence - much more
Many misunderstand the most Holy Eucharist.
They think that it is just an inert container
that holds the enigmatic presence of God - a
temporary parking spot for his flesh, blood,
soul and divinity.
However, it is so much more than a container.
The cycle that revolves from the making of
the most Holy Eucharist through its giving and taking
gives us an apocalyptic
revelation about the nature of God. It extracts
the nature of God from the enigmatic
black box in which it was hiding
(Isaiah 45:15).
and spills its contents all over the Valley of Tears
for people to see.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6),
our God lamented.
Not anymore.
Jesus put an end to our destruction.
With the most Holy Eucharist,
Jesus fills the earth with the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
(1) Index to blurbs about Transferring the knowledge of
God from Divinity to Humanity.
[¶ 00049:12_30_2023]
What is the big deal about the most Holy Eucharist?
The big deal about the most Holy Eucharist is not
its function as a container that holds the real
presence of Jesus. The big deal is its function
of conveying Jesus' message about God.
The most Holy Eucharist
captures and conveys
from Jesus to the children of Adam and Eve
the radical love of God.
The salespeople of Christianity need to start focusing
on the big deal.
The message makes Christianity thrive -
not the presence.
More message; less presence.
Note: It is not being said that his presence is not
real. It is being said that message is more important
than presence.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00054:12_30_2023]
The most Holy Eucharist are the words that
proceed from the Mouth of God (00045)
Jesus expresses the Words of God
(John 1:1).
The most Holy Eucharist are the words that
proceed from his mouth
(Matthew 4:4).
What is the most Holy Eucharist trying to tell us?
The most Holy Eucharist is the tangible articulation -
the dynamic expression - of the radical love of God.
"Man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God"
(Matthew 4:4).
It is a stultifying fallacy to think that the most
Holy Eucharist is merely a mute presence - that Jesus
is nothing more than a silent occupant of it.
Can you translate the most Holy Eucharist for us?
How does it say what it says? It uses the vocabulary
of flesh, blood, bread and wine. How does its
vocabulary articulate the radical love of God?
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
To share this blurb, copy and share this
link:
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00045
For more, click on the link[s] below
Paradise Lost; Epiphany Postponed
(00450)
[¶ 00045 Updated: 05_19_2024]
Is the most Holy Eucharist a story about where God is
or a story about what God did?
While Jesus is present in the most Holy Eucharist,
what is he saying to us with the most Holy Eucharist?
Nothing? Something? Something important?
The most Holy Eucharist is a communication device.
It is how God keeps in touch with us. It is the
dynamic memorial that Jesus erected to celebrate
the glorious victory that erupted from his ignominious
defeat as the dawn erupts from the darkness.
It is not mute.
It speaks.
it is the mouth of God
(Matthew 4:4).
It tells us the Good News of Great joy.
Hint: From what God did we know who God is.
His deeds reveal to us the nature of God.
Is not a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
Can we not reverse engineer from the fruit to the
tree? Can we not extrapolate?
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00018:12_28_2023]
We came for his flesh and blood; we left with his bread
and wine.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00038:12_28_2023]
Jesus served a meal of bread
and wine to God's enemies who still had his flesh
in their mouths and his blood on their hands.
He paid the exorbitant cost of the meal with
the coin of his flesh and blood.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00026:12_27_2023]
Limited human resources gave the Word of God
(John 1:1)
the vocabulary in which to express to us the radicalness
of God's love.
God thought
that the best way to express his radical love for the
children of Adam and Eve was to send them a Love
Note with the ability to purchase for them
the blessing of
forgiveness by spending the coin of
his flesh and blood - by spending prodigally.
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
We know this because Jesus paid the cost of love
out of his own pockets by the sacrifice of his
flesh and blood.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00046:12_29_2023]
The Beacon of the Lighthouse of the most Holy Eucharist
rotates over and over dynamically expressing
the radical love of God
The most Holy Eucharist is the lighthouse
- a dynamic monument - that
Jesus erected to repeatedly express
across history and geography the radical love
of God.
It works as the rotating beacon of a lighthouse
works. The lighthouse of the most Holy Eucharist is
not merely the temporary residence of the Son of God.
It is much more than mere housing - much more than
the earthly palace of the King.
The lighthouse of the most Holy Eucharist tells
the story of heroic love. It tells
the story of Jesus' glorious victory that erupted from
his ignominious defeat as the dawn erupts from the
darkness.
The story is the Good News of Great Joy.
Jesus' enemies had taken from him
his flesh and blood.
Jesus, the protagonist of the
story, forgave his enemies who still had his flesh
in their mouths and his blood on their hands.
The greater were
the evils that his enemies did to him, the more
astonishing is Jesus' performance of the act of
forgiveness. Jesus' performance of the act of
forgiveness is the glorious victory - his Magnum
Opus - his greatest achievement.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00033:12_29_2023]
The most Holy Eucharist is advanced, alien technology
In the laboratory of the Crucifixion we put Jesus
to the test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
by subjecting him to gruesome experiments.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We tortured and killed Jesus.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
The result of the test was that Jesus forgave us for
the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
The result of the test is Jesus' Magnum Opus - his
greatest achievement. The problem, however,
was that his Magnum Opus took place
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space.
So, after his death, Jesus left
behind advanced, alien technology so we
could propagate it from the point and place of
its obscure origin, across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here
and now. This advanced, alien
technology is the most Holy Eucharist.
The most Holy Eucharist is multifunctional
technology.
It is a video camera that captured for replay Jesus'
performance of the act of forgiveness in the laboratory
of the Crucifixion.
It is the amber in which Jesus' performance is
preserved.
It is the vehicle that propagates his performance.
It is a communication device through which Jesus
repeatedly expresses the radical love of God to us.
The advanced, alien technology is truly an amazing
invention.
It is technology that allows us to
stay in touch with Jesus and Jesus with us.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00032:12_28_2023]
"And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name".
(Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5, Scene 1)
What is the best way to make the abstract idea of
forgiveness concrete?
God took a stab at it. He decided that the best way
to do it was
to have forgiveness coalesce into a meal of
bread and wine and serve it to the enemies who
still had his Son's flesh in their mouths and his
Son's blood on their hands. This would be the most
concrete expression of forgiveness imaginable, no?
Forgiveness became tangible - comestible.
As bread and wine, we can touch forgiveness,
drink it and eat it. It fills our bellies.
It is no longer abstract.
It is real.
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life:
he that cometh to me shall never hunger;
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst"
(John 6:25-59).
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00029:12_27_2023]
Are you a message denier?
Are you a message denier?
Do you deny that the most Holy Eucharist holds
both the presence of Jesus and conveys a message
from Jesus?
Do you take the position that Jesus did not put
a message of any sort into
the flesh, blood, bread and wine of
the most Holy Eucharist?
Is it your position that the most Holy Eucharist is
all about Jesus' presence and nothing more?
May I suggest that you are wrong - tragically wrong.
In the most Holy Eucharist are a presence and a message.
Both are real.
In fact, Jesus is present in the most Holy Eucharist
precisely because he has something important to say
to us about the nature of God. Moreover, the message
is so important that Jesus delivered it himself
and did not delegate its delivery to a subordinate.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(For the Treasure Hunt, click here)
[¶ 00034:12_28_2023]
The most Holy Eucharist is more than a pied-à-terre for
the fleshified Son of God - much more
God did not invent the most Holy Eucharist so the
fleshified Son of God would have a special place to be
present upon the earth - a home away from home, so
to speak.
God invented the most
Holy Eucharist to capture Jesus in the performance
of the act of forgiveness and to convey it across
history and geography to us here and now.
It makes the abstract concept of radical
forgiveness concrete. The most
Holy Eucharist is the dynamic
expression of radical love of God -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life:
he that cometh to me shall never hunger;
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst"
(John 6:25-59).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00031:12_27_2023]
The most Holy Eucharist is the dynamic expression of the
radical love of God not merely the static
domicile of God's presence (00047)
Priest, you hold in your hands more than you have been
taught - much more
The most Holy Eucharist tells the story about what
we took from Jesus and what Jesus gave us not merely
about the domicile of his presence upon the earth.
The give and take is the gist of the most Holy
Eucharist. Everything else is obiter dicta.
We approached the altar of God to take from Jesus
his flesh and blood. We left the altar with his bread
and wine.
We came for a homocide; we left with a
meal. We came as killers but, in his mercy,
our innocent victim whom we impaled to the flagpole
of Christianity served to us the bread and wine of
forgiveness.
The asymmetry between what we took and what he gave us
is radical. The greater was the asymmetry, the more
astonishing is what took place. Jesus is ascendant.
His mercy is incandescent.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
The most Holy Eucharist is the dynamic expression of
the radical love of God not just the static domicile
for the presence of God.
The most Holy Eucharist is about 'I am who does'
not merely about 'I am who am'
(Exodus 3:14) - about what God did not
where God is.
Let us start to better explain the agency of the
most Holy Eucharist
To share this blurb, copy and share this
link:
https://www.goodnewsgreatjoy.com/#00047
Go to the Table of Contents
(Table of Contents)
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
(2) The purpose of Christianity
(3) the Making, Giving,
and taking of the most Holy Eucharist.
(4) What did Jesus do and why did he do
it?
[¶ 00047 Updated: 09_09_2024]
The making, giving and taking of the most Holy Eucharist
(00019)
The presentation of the most Holy Eucharist that
takes place at Mass unfolds in three stages:
1) the making of the most Holy Eucharist,
2) the giving of the most Holy Eucharist, and
3) the taking of the most Holy Eucharist.
Our Church emphasizes the
making of the most Holy Eucharist and gives short
shrift to the giving and the taking.
Yet, the giving and the taking of the most Holy
Eucharist are equal to the making in importance.
The giving and the taking are the reason for
the merger of flesh, blood, bread and wine
into the most Holy Eucharist - a single unit
of apocalyptic revelation
Jesus integrated his flesh, blood, bread and wine
into the most Holy Eucharist to make his
mysterious, ghostly, static, inert, real presence
dynamic.
Instead of 'I am who am'
(Exodus 3:14),
the giving and the
taking of the most Holy Eucharist showcase God
as 'I am who does' -
an active God who does, not merely a passive
God who is.
Without the giving and the taking, there is no reason
for the merger - no reason for Holy Thursday.
In the making
stage, the most Holy Eucharist becomes the hybrid of
divinity and humanity. Here the merger of flesh, blood,
bread, and wine takes place. Here they are integrated
and the real presence is called into being. For many,
the most Holy Eucharist stops here. It achieves its
acme.
The most
Holy Eucharist, however, is more than the real
presence - much more. The most Holy Eucharist climbs
higher. It is not inert. It is dynamic.
The dynanism of the most Holy
Eucharist comes from its giving and taking.
In the taking of the most Holy Eucharist, we approach
the altar to take from Jesus his flesh and blood.
We approach Jesus as his torturers and executioners.
We leave him, however, as his dinner companions.
Jesus does not give us exactly what we try to take. He
makes a substitution. The substitution is the agent
of apocalyptic revelation. It opens our eyes to
the nature of our God. The substitution illuminates
the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious
burst of apocalyptic revelation.
glorious victory erupted from
ignominious defeat as the dawn erupts from
the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Instead of giving his enemies the punishment that they
justly deserved for taking his flesh and blood,
Jesus blessed them with the priceless gift
of forgiveness.
His enemies did not deserve it, but Jesus gave the
gift of forgiveness to them anyway.
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Behold and be astonished at what Jesus substituted
for the flesh and blood we tried to take from him!
We got more than we bargained for - much more!
In the giving of the most Holy Eucharist, we leave
the altar with food and drink. Jesus satisfies
our hunger with bread, quenches our thirst with wine
and fills our bellies with companionship.
Jesus served a meal to the
enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and
his blood on their hands.
Jesus had invited his enemies to take a seat with him
at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort of the family tent
(John 6:53)
(John 6:25-35)
If this doesn't make forgiveness tangible and
God real, nothing does.
If this is not the best expression of the radical
love of God for the children of Adam and Eve,
nothing is.
Is there a better more persuasive way to persuade
the children of Adam and Eve to engage in the
pursuit of God than by confronting them with
the love of God - by challenging them to come to
grips with it?
If the give and take stages of the presentation of
the most Holy Eucharist at Mass are under-emphasized,
the
most Holy Eucharist is not properly understood.
Its meaning is lost.
We came for his flesh and blood; we left with his bread
and wine.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00019:12_25_2023]
The sizzle of the most Holy Eucharist mimics the
sizzle of the radical love of God as it flows
from his heart to our hearts
Can you not feel the sizzle
as the radical love of God rushes from his heart to our
hearts
(Romans 5:5)
in the making, giving and taking of
the most Holy Eucharist?
It pulsates with life in abundance
(John 10:10).
The transfusion of the radical love of God from his
heart to our hearts is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
The making, giving and taking of the most Holy Eucharist
captures the rushing flow of the radical love
of God in a gripping, onomatopoetic-like embrace.
The making of the most Holy Eucharist alone without
the giving and taking - not so much. There is no
onomatopoetic-like capture of the
rushing flow of the radical love of God in the making
alone. It is a journey without an origin or a
destination. It is a torso without extremities.
It is a three act play with the first act and
the last act expurgated.
It is a stagnant dead pool
instead of a living, flowing river. It is incomplete.
In the
making of the most Holy Eucharist alone, there is no
sizzle.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00051:12_30_2023]
Flesh, blood, soul and divinity are stagnant.
They do not do anything.
The formula is static not dynamic.
It captures 'I am who am'
(Exodus 3:14)
not 'I am who does' - where God is not
what God did.
Meanwhile, the knowledge
of God flowed from Jesus to the children of Adam
and Eve - from his heart to our hearts.
The most Holy Eucharist captures the flow. It captures
the dynamism - the action. It mimics the flow of
the knowledge of God.
The flow of the most Holy Eucharist is an onomatopoetic-like
reflection of the flow of the radical love of God from
his heart to our hearts. It sizzles.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
(2) 'I am who am' is God being modest
[¶ 00052:12_30_2023]
An edible Jack-in-the-box is not the best argument
for Christianity
An edible Jack-in-the-box is not the best argument
for Christianity. We offer you God in a box whom
you can eat is not Christianity's best sales pitch.
In fact, it is a dumbing down of Christianity.
It does not explain why Jesus turned his flesh
and blood into a meal of bread and wine.
Christianity's best sales pitch is the substitution
of forgiveness for punishment.
We came for his flesh and blood. We left with his bread
and wine.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
(2) The most Holy Eucharist articulates
the truth that Jesus substituted forgiveness
for punishment.
[¶ 00056:12_30_2023]
What Jesus did and why he did it
What did Jesus do and why did he do it?
Jesus translated the abstract concept of forgiveness
into the concrete act of serving a meal of bread
and wine to God's enemies who still had his flesh
in their mouths and his blood on their hands.
The concrete act of serving a meal of bread
and wine to God's enemies is a tangible synonym for
forgiveness - forgiveness' incarnate articulation.
The purpose of the translation was to transport
the knowledge of God from heaven to the children of
Adam and Eve here on earth.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6),
our God lamented --- but
not since we have received the knowledge
revealed to us by Jesus.
The translation
illuminated the darkness of our understanding of
God in a glorious burst of apocalypic epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Give thanks to our forgiving God and give praise to
his Son who transported, at an exorbitant cost to
himself, the knowledge of God to us here
on earth!
Jesus paid for the revelation by spending the coin
of his flesh and blood - all of his limited human
resources. He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve
for himself. He has never spent more for anything else!
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to blurbs about Transferring the knowledge of
God from Divinity to Humanity.
(2) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00021:12_26_2023]
What did Jesus do as he passed through the gruesome
adversity of the Crucifixion?
Jesus passed through the gruesome adversity of the
Crucifixion embellishing the canvas of life with love.
[¶ 00005:12_23_2023]
The miracle that emerged from the toxic dung of evils
We fertilized the tree of love with
the toxic dung of evil.
Yet, despite our ill treatment of it,
the tree of love still bore forth
the sweet fruit of forgiveness.
The more toxic was the dung, the sweeter was
the fruit.
[¶ 00012:12_24_2023]
Love in the form of forgiveness germinated,
sprouted and grew in the toxic soil of
godlessness
Love does not grow in the toxic soil of
godlessness.
It is a sterile matrix - utterly barren -
hostile in the extreme. So when love in the form of
forgiveness germinated, sprouted and grew,
we beheld a miracle. It was completely unexpected.
The greater were the evils that we did to Jesus,
the more glorious is the miracle.
Note: Jesus hung from his Cross to show us how
to hang from our crosses. We have the potential to
make the same miracle as Jesus made. When we
hang as Jesus hung, we can cling as Jesus clung to
love. We can hold tight to love and not let go.
[¶ 00014:12_24_2023]
Belief begets behavior (00016)
Politics regulates behavior directly; religion does the
same but indirectly. Because belief begets behavior,
religion tries to shape belief. When it ventures
directly into the politics of regulating behavior, it
dirties its hands and ruins its credibility.
“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst
of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as
doves
(Matthew 10:16).
Whenever religion tries to take
the shortcut of politics, it gets lost. It
shoots itself in the foot.
Therefore,
more revelation, less regulation; more prophet,
less king; Always more; never less. No exceptions.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Regulation of Conduct (00075)
[¶ 00016 Updated: 01_25_2024]
Conflating Comportmant and Pursuit (00077)
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
Coloring book Christians conflate comportment and
pursuit. They use comportment to filter the
pursuit of God. They exclude from the pursuit of
God anyone whose comportmant falls below the
standards that they set.
Only fully fledged Christians with no Christian
feathers missing and none out of place are welcomed
to pursue God with them. They excude everyone else.
They delight in excluding everyone else.They say they
don't but they do. They feel that it is their
responsibility to protect God from sinners. They
exclude sinners from the pursuit of God with them
fearing that allowing them will normalize thei
sins and dilute their rulebook of comportment.
Sinners, however, are allowed to pursue God as well
as saints. Their sins do not make them
ineligible to engage in the pursuit of God. Sinners
do not need to pre-qualify for the pursuit of God.
Jesus did not wait for his enemies to convert before
he forgave them. He forgave them to bring about their
conversion. He forgave them while they still had
his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands.
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Jesus took the initiative.
He was the aggressor.
He fired the first shot.
He landed the first blow.
Why?
Only love begets love.
The Pharisees a/k/a Coloring book Christians
neither understand nor approve of Jesus'
audacious methodology
(Matthew 9:10-12).
They have the sequence of salvation backwards.
The sequence is not repentance --> forgiveness.
The sequence is forgiveness --> repentance.
Jesus was audacious. Shouldn't we be too?
It is anti-Christian to get in the way of a sinner
who desires to pursue God. The sacraments and other
blessings of Christianity are access points
to the radical love of God.
Exposure to the radical love of God at the access points
does the heavy lifting in Christianity. Only
close encounters with the radical love of God catalyze
our conversion.
Jesus considered the issue of close encounters
between sinners and God and come down on
the side of engagement not disengagement,
saying
"They that be whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick"
(Matthew 9:10-13).
To exclude sinners from the
access points robs them of their salvation.
Therefore,
inclusion in the pursuit of God; never exclusion.
Always. No exceptions.
Comportment is not a leading indicator, but a trailing
indicator, of an understanding of God. Comportant is
the tail not the dog. An understanding of God is the dog.
In other words,
an upgraded understanding of God begets
an upgrade in comportment.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Regulation of Conduct (00075)
[¶ 00077 Updated: 01_25_2024]
Concatenation (00009)
Two ideas are concatenated when both
are needed to understand the meaning of each. We
use concatenation when we say that the evils that
we did to Jesus and his radically asymmetric answer
that he gave to them are two parts of a single unit
of apocalyptic revelation. Both parties to the
concatenation are needed to avoid distortion.
In this case, the odd couple of epiphany work
together as a team to give a single significance
to each other.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Juxtaposition
(00159)
[¶ 00009 Updated: 01_27_2024]
Foil and Jewel: Explanation of how
they work together (00015)
A foil highlights and emphasizes
and intensifieds and magnifies and amplifies and
accentuates and underlines the jewel against which
it is set.
Foil and jewel have a symbiotic relationship.
Lackluster is the jewel without a foil.
Meaningless is the foil without its jewel. Together,
they form a single unit for the conveyance of meaning.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Juxtaposition
(00159)
[¶ 00015 Updated: 01_27_2024]
Into the bitter foil of evils that we did to him,
Jesus poured the sweet syrup of forgiveness.
The bitter foil of evils highlighted and emphasized
and intensified and magnified and amplified and
accentuated and underlined the sweet syrup
of forgiveness.
The greater were the evils, the sweeter is
the forgiveness.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Juxtaposition
(00159)
[¶ 00010 Updated: 01_27_2024]
Jesus is the Source of love.
He is trying to fill our loveless hearts
to the brim with love.
From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of
love
(Romans 5:5).
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
The Magnum Opus of Love that Jesus created
on the canvas of life in the midst of
gruesome adversity
depetrifies our stony hearts
and fleshifies them
(Ezekiel 36:26).
By loving us first
(1 John 4:19),
Jesus jump-started our
transformation into children of God
(1 John 3:1).
(For Becoming a Hero of Love, click here)
[¶ 00011:12_23_2023]
The package into which Jesus wrapped
the knowledge of God
Unwrap the package to upgrade your understanding
of God
Our God lamented:
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
To save us from destruction,
Jesus put the knowledge of God into a package to
transport it from heaven to earth.
The package that conveyed the knowledge of God,
however, was not a package of words.
The package was
a demonstration in which Jesus engaged in mortal
combat. He battled the monster
of the Crucifixion. In the battle that took place
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)!
in
the boondocks of space and time, Jesus drew the
sharp sword of sweet forgiveness from his scabbard
of prodigious love to slay the monster.
Forgiveness killed the monster dead
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Our job is to propagate the package that holds
the prodigious love of God from the
point and place of its obscure origin,
across time and space, to the children of
Adam and Eve here and now. Then we get out of the
way so God can go to work.
(For the treasure chest,
click here)
[¶ 00006:12_24_2023]
The Treasure Hunt
CHRISTIANITY IS A TREASURE MAP
FOR TREASURE HUNTERS
ENGAGED IN A TREASURE HUNT
(Matthew 6:19-21)
(Luke 17:20-21).
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
Seeking God is the train of salvation.
Christianity is the tracks.
The radical love of God is the treasure
(Matthew 6:21).
Jesus is the treasure chest that holds, conveys
and presents the radical
love of God to the children of Adam and Eve
(Matthew 13:44).
On the map, an 'X' marks the spot
of the treasure.
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
At the 'X' on the treasure map stands the flagpole
of Christianity, the Cross.
There, the radical love of God
was put to the test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
“LET US TEST HIM WITH INSULT AND TORTURE, THAT WE MAY
FIND OUT HOW GENTLE HE IS AND MAKE TRIAL OF HIS
FORBEARANCE"
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
The test irreutably verified the genuineness of
the love of
God and proved, beyond all doubt, that the love
of God was
radical in the extreme -
radical in size,
radical in scope and
radical in intransigence.
Jesus did not merely tell us about the love of God
as a priest would deliver a homily from the sidelines
out of the fray
before a friendly crowd from the safety of an ambo.
Jesus showed us the love of God in front of a hostile
audience in the scrum at the line of scrimmage
in the war against evils, cheek to jowl with us,
toe to
hoof against his enemies. To a hostile audience,
Jesus presented a magnanimous
personal display of affection. He forgave us
for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Understanding the value of the treasure,
treasure hunters put themselves in hot pursuit
of it. Treasure hunters are the children
of Adam and Eve who ask, seek and knock
(Matthew 7:7-8).
They are persistent in the pursuit of God -
implacably persistent.
They have hitched their wagons to the love of God.
They are locked on to the love of God.
They have set their sights on it.
It is the only blip on their radar.
God declared,
"... they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing"
(Psalm 34:10).
Therefore, grab your shovel. Make your way to where
Jesus buried the treasure.
Dig it up
for yourself.
Upgrade your understanding
of God.
Make yourself rich!
(Unwrap the package that holds the knowledge
of God,
click here)
[¶ 00007:12_23_2023]
The near extinction of the knowledge of God
Extinction threatened more than just the dinosaurs.
Also in dire jeopardy was the answer to the question,
'Who is God?' (Hosea 4:6). Since Eden, our
understanding of God had faded with the passage of
time. God had become a stranger to us (John 10:5)
(Psalm 69:8) (Exodus 2:22).
“And a stranger will they
not follow, but will flee from him: for they know
not the voice of strangers” (John 10:5). "Men have
forgotten God" Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn complained
(1983 Templeton Address). The entrance into the mind
of God was forgotten. The way was lost (John 14:6).
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6). However, in one place, the answer
to the question, 'Who is God?', survived extinction.
It clung to life among a small, wandering tribe of
desert nomads known as the Jews. God had stashed the
answer with them for safekeeping. They were its
guardians. God had appointed them as the
trustees of our understanding of God in the Valley
of Tears. They were the pilot light that kept the
flame of understanding burning for God's future
use (Isaiah 11:1). In the fullness of time,
Jesus came to turn the pilot light into an inferno
of understanding (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14).
"I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing"
(Luke 12:49)!
GOD DECIDED TO RESURRECT OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GOD
FROM THE DEAD AND SHARE IT WITH ALL OF THE
CHILDREN OF ADAM AND EVE (Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14).
[¶ 00013:12_23_2023]
Jesus dissipated the mighty force of our hostility
to him by smothering it under a blast blanket
of forgiveness.
[¶ 00023:12_26_2023]
In the Incarnation, God endowed Jesus with the coin of flesh and blood. Without the endowment, Jesus would have been unable to participate in the demonstration of forgiveness. There would be nothing to forgive unless the coin of his flesh and blood was spent. The Incarnation set Jesus up for the demonstration. It set the stage. No endowment, no spending; no forgiveness; no peek behind the curtain.
God is a Philanthropist
God is a philanthropist not a misanthrope.
God plans to deliver the gift of paradise to us
just as he delivered the gift of paradise
to Adam and Eve.
God will not be less generous with us
than he was with them.
Adam and Eve were the first beneficiaries of
God’s radical love for us. They were not the last.
God’s philanthropy did not end with Adam and Eve;
God’s philanthropy began with them.
"… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts,
And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven
for you, and pour down upon you
blessing without measure!"
(Malachi 3:10).
The tool that Jesus used to reintroduce God to
the children of Adam and Eve
Jesus reintroduced God to the children of Adam and Eve.
To make the reintroduction, Jesus used a specific,
well-defined tool.
The tool was a
demonstration of forgiveness.
Jesus was the star of the demonstration.
Humanity was his antagonist.
The demonstration was designed to give the
children of Adam and Eve
unparalleled insight into the nature of God.
The demonstration of forgiveness unfolded in
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion.
"Let us test him with insult and torture, that
we may find out how gentle he is and make trial of
his forbearance"
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
The demonstration of forgiveness was presented to
the children of Adam and Eve in two stages that,
in combination,
formed a single unit of apocalyptic revelation.
Both stages were necessary in order to make
the revelation.
The first stage was the
evils that we did to Jesus. The second stage was the
asymmetric answer that Jesus gave to them.
Into the toxic foil of evils that we did to him,
Jesus poured the sweet syrup of forgiveness.
The toxic foil of evils highlighted and emphasized
and intensified and magnified and amplified and
accentuated and underlined the sweet syrup
of forgiveness.
The greater were the evils, the sweeter is
the forgiveness.
Understand the two stages of the demonstration of
forgiveness in order to upgrade your understanding
of God.
The demonstration of forgiveness is the ladder
(John 1:51)
(Genesis 28:12)
that Jesus brought from heaven to the
children of Adam and Eve here on earth so we could
climb out of the pit of our dire predicament
in the
ruins of Eden and
ascend to a high fidelity understanding of God.
Our God lamented
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
To avoid destruction, climb the ladder that Jesus
provided. Climb and never stop climbing
(Genesis 19:26).
The 'Rescue' Misunderstanding
After the catastrophe of Adam and Eve, their children
were left to scavenge for scraps
in cutthroat competition with the other loveless
beasts in utter poverty among the ruins of Eden.
We want to escape our dire predicament.
God wants us to escape as well.
However, our conception of rescue is different
than God's conception of rescue
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
There is a misunderstanding.
We want God to rescue us.
God, however, wants us to rescue ourselves.
We want God to transform the loveless desert of
godlessness into a kinder, gentler and more
hospitable place for godless people to live.
We want God to transform our circumstances.
God, however, wants us to transform our hearts
(Luke 17:20-21)
(Matthew 25:29).
He wants us to depetrify our stony hearts in order to
increase our resemblance to him
(Ezekiel 36:26).
He wants the People of God with depetrified hearts to
change their own circumstances
(Matthew 6:33).
God is not interested in making godlessness
a better, more hospitable place for godless people
to live.
God wants to transform godless people
into People of God.
For this to happen, the children of Adam and Eve
must take responsibility for their own salvation.
God will not carry us to our salvation.
God provides the ladder.
We must climb the ladder of salvation that
God provides ourselves.
We must work out our own salvation
with fear and trembling
(Philippians 2:12).
Love is the ladder of our salvation.
On the ladder
of love we climb out of the ruins of Eden
and up to the level of our loving God.
Love has the property of buoyancy.
It is a flotation device that lifts us up from
and out of our dire predicament
in the Valley of Tears.
Love brings us home.
What catastrophe is Jesus trying
to reverse?
The catastrophe that Jesus is trying
to reverse is us having become loveless beasts.
As we pass through the Valley of Tears,
evils try to knock us off
the sublime level of our loving God.
They try to cast us down
onto the squalid level of the loveless beasts
who scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition
with the other loveless beasts among the ruins of Eden.
Jesus wants us to reject the demotion.
He wants us to refuse a reduction in our dignity
(Matthew 5:38-48).
He wants us to abide with him in the penthouse
of the kingdom of God not in its basement
(Luke 17:20-21).
What takes place on the sublime level of our
loving God?
" For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat:
I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick,
and ye visited me: I was in prison,
and ye came unto me"
(Matthew 25:35-40)
It is a place of blessings without measure
(Malachi 3:10).
It is where the fruits of love are generated and
shared.
It is civilization. A life lived in civilization
is much more attractive than a life lived in
dilapidation.
Jesus included the enemies of Holy Thursday,
Good Friday and thereafter within the scope
of his love
On Holy Thursday, the first time the most
Holy Eucharist was served, only one enemy partook,
the apostle Judas.
"Now when the even was come, he sat down with
the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I
say unto you, that one of you shall betray me"
(Matthew 26:20-21).
On Good Friday, the next time
the most Holy Eucharist was served, many more
enemies were present.
They tortured and killed him.
They made him suffer and die.
They impaled him at the position of prominence
on the flagpole of
Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
Yet, even though his enemies still
had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on
their hands, Jesus served them a meal of bread and
wine
(Matthew 9:10-13).
Jesus satisfied their hunger with bread,
quenched their thirst with wine and
filled their bellies with companionship.
He welcomed them to sit with him at the family table,
out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort of
the family tent.
Can the scope of forgiveness
get any more radical than including unrepentant
(Matthew 22:10)
enemies
(Romans 5:8)
(Matthew 7:6)
within it?
Jesus did not delay. He did not wait for their
conversion to serve them a meal.
He served them the bread and wine
of forgiveness to bring about their conversion.
Jesus
took the initiative. He landed the first blow. He
was the aggressor.
He loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Why?
Only love begets love.
Failed Religious Speech is speech that does not give
us a ladder to climb up to a better understanding
of God
Nearly all homilies are failures
Always look up and ask,
'What does this tell us about
our God?' Always and forever.
'How does this upgrade
our understanding of God?'
Giving us recommendations
on how to behave - what to do and not to do - is
failed religious speech. Most homilies are failures.
They do not tell us anything that upgrades
our understanding of God. They do not give us
a ladder on which we can climb up to God.
Hey, preacher, did you bring a ladder?
What is the extent of the Son of God's participation in the most Holy Eucharist? He is all in. He bet the farm. He kept no chips on the table in reserve for himself. He sacrificed all of his flesh and blood - all of his limited human resources. No half measures for him. His commitment to the most Holy Eucharist is total. His participation is with everything he had.
To verify the truth of the revelation that our God has forgiven us (Ezekiel 16:62-63) - we are back on good terms with our loving God -, required the payment of an exorbitant cost. The Son of God paid the cost out of his own pocket with the coin of his flesh and blood. The participation of the Son of God in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion is the verification of the truth of the revelation.The size of his participation - he was not a bit player but the star - is the verification of its radicalness. The greater was the size of his participation, the greater is the radicalness.
The sacrifice of flesh and blood was the payment that Jesus made to cover the cost of the revelation about the nature of God that he released into the hostile desert of godlessness.
Is there a better more persuasive way to verify the truth of the revelation that our God has forgiven us than by having the Son of God himself participate in a demonstration of forgiveness? What does his participation in a demonstration of forgiveness tell us about our God? What does it say? Jesus served a meal of bread and wine to God's enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood still on their hands. Forgiveness does not get more radical - more extreme - more utter - than this, right (Ezekiel 16:62-63)?
Jesus wants to suck us into the vortex of God. How? He demonstrated the radical love of God in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. The gravity of the radical love of God pulls us into the vortex. It is the most powerful force in heaven and on earth. The radical love of God gives Christianity its magic, Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists, who exclusively devote themselves to it, the power to change the world. When the gravity of the love of God captures us, we have hit the jackpot of Christianity. We have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We have won the lottery.
The laboratory of the Crucifixion is the
high-energy reactor in which the radical contradiction
between divinity and humanity collided
The laboratory of the Crucifixion is the high-energy
reactor in which the radical contradiction
between divinity and humanity collided with
the same explosive force as a collision between
matter and anti-matter.
The collision showcased the difference
between humanity and divinity.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Jesus and the evils that we did to him were loaded
into the core of the reactor.
The reactor was started.
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him to the position of prominence
on the flagpole of
Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
What was the byproduct of the reaction? The
byproduct of the reaction was forgiveness.
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Jesus dissipated the mighty force of our hostility
to him by smothering it under a blast blanket
of forgiveness.
The reaction was incandescent.
The incandescence
of the reaction
illuminated the darkness of our understanding of
God in a glorious burst of apocalypic epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Jesus erected the Mountain of Forgiveness by his radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him. Jesus forgave his enemies for the evils that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). He forgave his enemies even though we still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood on our hands. Who does this? What does this tell us about our God? The greater was the asymmetry (1 Kings 19:11-13), the higher the Mountain of Forgiveness became! "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). The radical asymmetry of his answer is a fair and accurate reflection - a tangible articulation - the best evidence - of his radical love for the children of Adam and Eve. "[O]ut of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]" (Luke 6:45) we produce the sweet fruits of love "... some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred" (Mark 4:20). Jesus does too.
The scope of his love is radical
Is forgiving enemies who still had his flesh
in their mouths and his blood on their hands
not a demonstration that the
scope of his love is radical?
The size of his love is radical
Is spending all of the coin of his flesh
and blood - all of his limited human resources -
to purchase the gift of forgiveness
for his enemies -
keeping not a penny in the bank in reserve for
himself - not irrefutable proof
that the size of his love is radical?
The duration of his love is radical
Is the ineffectiveness of the evils that we did to
Jesus
to extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for
his enemies
in his most Sacred Heart or to reduce its intensity by
even the slightest degree not
incontrovertible evidence that the duration
of his love is radical - radically intransigent?
Is there anything so important to us that we become
willing to spend the coin of our flesh and blood
to purchase it?
"For where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also"
(Matthew 6:19-21).
To transfer the knowledge of God requires more than
the mute presence of a speaker. It requires
speaking - the active Word of God
(John 1:1).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to blurbs about Transferring the knowledge of
God from Divinity to Humanity.
[¶ 00059:12_31_2023]
Osmosis does not work (00060)
Close proximity to the real presence of God does not
transfer the knowledge of God to us.
To transfer the knowledge of God to us,
the performance of the act of forgiveness that
Jesus originally performed in
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to him in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion
must be repeated in the celebration of the most Holy
Eucharist. The performance of the act of
forgiveness must be explained and understood.
What does the performance of the act of forgiveness
tell us about our God?
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For more, click on the link[s] below
(The Most Holy Eucharist)
(The Juxtaposition of Heaven and Hell)
(The Transmission of the Knowledge
of God)
(1) Index to blurbs about Transferring the knowledge of
God from Divinity to Humanity.
[¶ 00060 Updated: 09_11_2024]
The horse talks. Wow!
Like Moses, let us turn aside to see the great sight
(Exodus 3:1-3).
And it tells us about
the nature of God.
In the most Holy Eucharist, the Word
of God
(John 1:1)
is articulate. He is more than a mute presence.
He performs the act of forgiveness.
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life:
he that cometh to me shall never hunger;
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst"
(John 6:25-59).
"Man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God"
(Matthew 4:4).
Then from the cloud came a voice that said,
“This is my chosen Son; listen to him”
(Luke 9:35).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to blurbs about Transferring the knowledge of
God from Divinity to Humanity.
[¶ 00061:12_31_2023]
Is Jesus just hanging out in the most Holy Eucharist
or is he there to do something?
Is the God of the most Holy Eucharist
'I am who am'
(Exodus 3:14)
or is he 'I am who does'? Answer: Does not is.
The question whether or not Jesus is present in the most
Holy Eucharist is not very interesting. What is
interesting is this: Assume that he is present,
what is he doing? Is he just hanging out or is he
doing something? Hint: he is doing something. What is
it that he is doing?
The exorbitant cost of making the abstract concept of
forgiveness concrete
What did it cost Jesus to turn the abstract
concept of forgiveness into a flesh and blood avatar?
The cost to make the abstract concept of forgiveness
concrete was exorbitant. Yet, Jesus paid for it.
Out of his own pocket, Jesus paid for it.
He paid for it by spending the coin of his
flesh and blood.
He spent all of the coin of his flesh and blood -
all of his limited human resources. He kept not a penny
in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never
spent more for anything else! Is there anything so
important to us that we become willing to spend
the coin of our flesh and blood to purchase it?
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs: Paying the cost of love.
[¶ 00065: Updated: 01_04_2024]
"Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is and make trial of his forbearance" (Wisdom 2: 17-20). In the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion, we burned the container that held the radical love of God, but the radical love of God was not consumed. Jesus did not stay dead and did not stop loving us! Hallelujah! This was foretold in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:1-3). The burning bush was the herald of the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. The bush burns but it is not consumed (Exodus 3:1-3). The dial that controls the radical love of God is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we did to the flesh and blood of the Son of God could budge it.
Squeezing through the narrow gate (00533)
You can't take the scraps you have accumulated with you
In the valley of repentance is the threshold of the
kingdom of God. Through the narrow gate, we pass from
the valley of repentance into the kingdom of God.
Jesus is the narrow gate
(Matthew 7:13-14).
We make our escape by squeezing
through the narrow gate
(Matthew 7:13-14).
The scraps that we have scavenged in cutthroat
competition with the other loveless beasts in utter
poverty among the ruins of Eden, however, do not fit
through it.
We get stuck trying to take our scraps with us
(Matthew 19:24).
Love is the grease that lubricates our
passage through the narrow gate.
Love enables us to slip through.
In the twilight of life, God will not judge us
on our earthly possessions and human success,
but rather on how much we have loved (John of
the Cross).
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[¶ 00533 Updated: 07_11_2024]
Jesus forgave his enemies for taking from him his flesh and blood (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). He forgave them even though they still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands. Who does this? What does this tell us about our God? Radical forgiveness reflected and confirmed God's radical love for the children of Adam and Eve. Radical forgiveness verified that the Love Note was genuine. God's love for the children of Adam and Eve is real and is radical - love to the extreme - a love without limits.
Turning our giant God into a pygmy (00555)
The greater were the evils that we did to him,
the greater is our astonishment at the size, scope and
duration of his love for us.
Are there any limits to his love for us?
Ours is not a God who loves us just a little bit.
Ours is not a God who loves us for just a lttle while.
Ours is not a God who loves just a few of us.
Our God is a giant of love - a superstar.
Beware the cleric who is fond of pointing out
the limits
to the love of God - who tries to reduce
the love of God in size, scope and duration
- who miniaturizes our God - who makes our God a pygmy.
He doesn't know
what he is talking about.
Run from him. Run fast and run far.
Even worse is the cleric who is unsure of the size,
scope, and duration of God's love for us.
His uncertainity tells us that he has no clue.
His uncertainty sabotages our confidence in
the size, scope and duration of God's love for us.
Beware the saboteurs who infect the minds of the
children of Adam and Eve with doubts about the nature
of God. They do the serpent's work.
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[¶ 00555 Updated: 07_16_2024]
Can you reconcile the radical love of God for the children of Adam and Eve and the evils that harass us was we proceed through our dire predicament in the hostile desert of godlessness from the Mountain of Forgiveness to the valley of repentance? Isn't this the million dollar question?
Jesus poured the sweet syrup of forgiveness into the toxic foil of the evils that we did to him.
Jesus showed us our potential by fulfilling his (Colossians 1:24). Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses.
The strength that the Christian God appreciates is the strength of forgiveness. Few have it. Adversity tends to knock us off the sublime level of our loving God and reduces us to the squalid level of the loveless beasts who scavenge for scraps in cuttthroat competition with one another in utter poverty among the ruins of Eden.
The Gruesome Experiment
Are you privy to
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion?
"Let us test him with insult and torture, that
we may find out how gentle he is and make trial of
his forbearance"
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
Only on the rock of the gruesome experiment
can a first-class, high fidelity understanding
of God be built
(Matthew 7:24-27).
The gruesome experiment is the foundation of
the Christian understanding of God.
Is an understanding of it yours?
Have you captured it in your mind and
do you grok its significance?
What role does it play in the context of our salvation?
Can you articulate it?
Can you put it into words?
Come on. Give us the details!
Spill the beans!
What good is a test (Wisdom 2: 19) if its result stays a secret? We administered a test to Jesus (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20) and discovered its result in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of space and time. The job of Christianity is to propagate the test and its result from the point and place of its obscure origin, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. Logistics is the job of his Church.
The Incarnation and the Gruesome Experiment (00526)
Without the Incarnation in which God endowed
his Son with flesh and blood,
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion could not have taken place.
It would not have worked.
There would have been nothing for us to fuel
the fire of the Crucifixion.
Flesh and blood made a test of the Son of God possible.
No incarnation, no gruesome experiment; no revelation
about the nature of God, that is, about the radical
love of God.
In the Incarnation, Jesus
doffed his invincible armor of divinity and
donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood. Jesus
made himself weak.
He disarmed.
He defortified himself
(Matthew 26:53).
In the Incarnation, Jesus became one of us -
an equal to us in our humanity -
a partner with us in our suffering.
Dressed like us in his divinity depleted state,
Jesus put himself in harm's way.
He entered the scrum at the line of
scrimmage in the war against evils.
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
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[¶ 00526 Updated: 07_07_2024a]
The Gruesome Experiment is the Verification of the
Love Note
The verification of the Love Note
that God had sent to us
in the Incarnation
in the gruesome
experiment
is the gravamen of Christianity.
Everything else is obiter dicta -
beside the point.
The verification was Jesus' answer to the evils
that we did to him.
He did not deliver to us the just punishment that we
deserved for taking from him his flesh and blood.
He forgave us. Forgiveness is the verification.
The point of the gruesome experiment is that Jesus dealt with his enemies
differently than they dealt with him
Radically asymmetrical was
the difference in treatment
"Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him;
if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing
thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head"
(Romans 12:20).
Bloodthirsty monsters approach
the altar of sacrifice to
take from Jesus his flesh and blood. Jesus, however,
does not give the monsters exactly what they try
to take from him. He makes a substitution.
He pulls a switcheroo.
In the giving of the most Holy Eucharist, we leave
the altar not just with flesh and blood but
with flesh and blood transubstantiated into
food and drink
(Luke 22:14-20).
Jesus satisfies
our hunger with bread, quenches our thirst with wine
and fills our bellies with companionship.
Jesus served a meal to the
enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and
his blood on their hands.
Jesus had invited his enemies to take a seat with him
at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort of the family tent
(John 6:53)
(John 6:25-35)
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life:
he that cometh to me shall never hunger;
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst"
(John 6:25-59).
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than
your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
How do the wildebeests travel on the plains of Africa
to minimize the danger?
Fools pass through the hostile desert of godlessness
without God and alone
(Deuteronomy 31:17).
The wise pass through it with God and in a pack.
Safety is with the pack.
Our pack is our Church.
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[¶ 00527 Updated: 07_07_2024a]
Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. Jesus led by example. He donned the jet pack of love and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was! Jesus transported the technology of love from heaven to earth and demonstrated that it works by putting the technology to the test in mortal combat with the monster of the Crucifixion. From the scabbard of his love for us in his most Sacred Heart, Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness. With it, he slayed the monster. Forgiveness killed the monster of the Crucifixion dead (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Matthew 5:38-48). When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, hold tight and refuse to let go of love. Love is advanced, alien technology. It is the operating system of the kingdom of God. It is not pie-in-the-sky, head-in-the-clouds technology. Jesus transported and demonstrated down-to-earth, practical technology. We can use it today, not just tomorrow, profitably. The technology of love is relevant to this world not just to the next.
The radical love of God is not an abstraction
The radical love of God is not a pie-in-the-sky,
head-in-the-clouds abstraction.
Jesus is the tangible expression
(John 1:1)
of the radical love of God -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
Jesus himself peronally verified the radical
love of God
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion where
we tested him
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
in a gruesome experiment.
The result of
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion
is the verification.
Is there a better more persuasive way for Jesus, the Word of God, (John 1:1), to express to us the radical love of God than by spending all of the coin of his flesh and blood to purchase for us one of the sweet fruits of love, that is, forgiveness. He did not have to invest all of his limited human resources into the purchase. Yet, he did. He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never spent more for anything else!
When you 'do' religion, do you subscribe to this philosophy: More of the radical love of God; never less. More revelation; less regulation. More theology; less morality. Always. No exceptions. If you do not, why not?
Figuring out for ourselves this thing called God
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32).
We are intrepid explorers not docile vessels of
indoctrination.
We want to figure out this thing called God for
ourselves. As rational creatures,
we don't want you to figure God
out for us.
We do not want you to investigate God for us.
We want to do our own investigation.
We want to examine the evidence for ourselves
and come to our own conclusions.
Perhaps our conclusions about God
will be your conclusions;
perhaps not. The exercise of our rationality is a
risk but it is a valuable exercise and a healthy risk.
We who read, write and think for ourselves
reserve to ourselves the sovereignty of the
thinking process. We refuse to surrender our
intellectual independence to others.
In the domain of our own minds, each of us is king.
Therefore, don't tell us what you found.
Show us where to look.
Don't carry us to our destination. Just
point us in the right direction. Let us get
there ourselves. God does not 'stick' unless we
cover the ground and make the discovery
of God for ourselves.
When we discover the truth for ourselves,
we take ownership of it.
The discovery of the truth for ourselves packs
the strongest persuasive punch.
It gives our rationality a powerful wallop.
Point us to
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion
and tell us
that here we will discover the nature of God - only
here.
Note: Stop trying to jam doctrine down our throats
against our wills by dint of authority.
Before we learned to read, write and
think for ourselves, we docilely swallowed whatever
the Church jammed down our throats. Times have changed.
Now, the Church's tactic triggers
our gag reflex. We regurgitate it.
Our clerics are the USHERS who show us to our seats
so Jesus can put on the show.
Jesus is the star of the show.
The Christian religion goes off the rails
when the ushers think that they are the stars of
the show.
Christianity's Powerful Recruitment and Retention Tool
God endowed Christianity with a significant
advantage - a
powerful recruitment and retention tool.
God gave Christianity an edge.
What is Christianity's edge?
In Christianity, the radical love of God
was tested in mortal conflict
with the monster of the Crucifixion
and its veracity was verified with Jesus'
glorious
victory and the monster's utter, abject and total
defeat. From the scabbard of love in his most
Sacred Heart, Jesus drew
the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness to slay
the monster of the Crucifixion. Forgiveness killed
the monster dead.
The verification of the radical love of God
is the advantage of Christianity.
What genre of literature is the Word of God
(John 1:1)?
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
is a Love Note -
a Love Note from God to us.
The Love Note transported the knowledge of
the radical love of God from God in heaven
to the children of Adam and Eve here on earth.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6),
our God lamented --- but
not since we have received the knowledge
revealed to us by the Love Note.
A new simplification for the new evangelization
(00592)
Jesus made the machine of Christianity simple with
the radical love of God as its only moving part.
Over time, since
the creation of Christianity, Jesus'
Church has
transmogrified his simple machine into a
Rube Goldberg - a complex
machine with a plethora of moving parts -
too many to count -
encumbered by a stultifying user's manual of rules,
regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole.
Christianity has become complicated.
The complications
have made the machine of Christianity
clapped-out. It is impossible to maintain and
to keep working.
It breaks down.
It crashes too often.
The unreliability of the machine is the cause of
massive disaffection.
The new evangelization requires a new simplification
based on the model of the simple machine designed
by Jesus himself.
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[¶ 00592 Updated: 08_04_2024]
Why did Jesus initiate the war against evil with
forgiveness? (00609)
Only love begets love.
So, Jesus did not regulate us first. He loved us
first.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19)
(Matthew 22:37-39).
Jesus used his best punch to fight against evil. The
war against evil is waged and won
by adopting his methodology.
Freedom fighters who fight as Jesus fought are
the type of people
that Jesus wants with him in the kingdom of God.
Wimps, however, lack the courage to fight as
Jesus fought.
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[¶ 00609 Updated: 08_11_2024]
More up; less sideways
More of the radical love of God; never less.
More revelation; less regulation.
More theology; less morality.
Always. No exceptions.
We spend too much time on morality / regulation and
too little time on revelation / theology.
We spend too much of our resources trying to answer
the question, 'How ought we to conduct ourselves?' and
to little of our resources trying to answer
the question, 'What does this tell us about our God?'
The direction of our gaze ought to be
up to God and not sideways
to our behavior
(Matthew 7:1-5)
When we look up and
understand the radicalness of the love of God,
we become self-regulating.
In the kingdom of the king who loves us,
the citizens govern themselves.
We desire to please him.
We trip all over ourselves in our eagerness
to please him
(John 18:36)
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(00537)
[¶ 00543 Updated: 07_14_2024]
What is Christianity's best punch? (00544)
What is Christian evangelism's best punch?
Its best, most powerful punch - the knockout
blow -
the coup de grâce - is
the
Masterpiece of Love that Jesus, the artist, created on
the canvas of life in the
gruesome adversity of the Crucifixion.
Embellishing the canvas of life with love
in the midst of adversity was Jesus' magnum opus
- his greatest achievement.
Rally 'round the Cross!
Jesus' radically asymmetric
answer to the evils that we did to him -
he forgave his enemies -
fills the Cross of Christ with meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
The God who fashioned us out of the mud
with his hands put himself into the hands of the mud
to leaven the mud with the yeast of divinity.
The yeast of divinity is the radical love
of Go
(Matthew 13:33).
Love is life in abundance
(John 10:10).
Love is the living water of life -
a well of water springing up into everlasting life
(John 4: 1-26).
Love supercharges life.
A life without love is a tabula rasa.
It is salt without flavor
(Matthew 5:13).
Because only love begets love,
Jesus boldly initiated the process of our evolution.
Our God was audacious.
He set the ball rolling.
He took the first step of forgiveness in the hope
that we would take the second step of repentance.
He did not wait for our conversion to forgive us;
he forgave us to bring about our conversion.
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Jesus is the Source of love.
He is trying to fill our loveless hearts
to the brim with love.
From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of
love
(Romans 5:5).
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
Jesus' magnum opus depetrifies our stony hearts
and fleshifies them
(Ezekiel 36:26).
By loving us first, Jesus jump-started our
transformation into children of God
(1 John 3:1).
His love for us begets new creations
(2 Corinthians 5:17).
The glorious beauty of the divine art of Jesus
gobsmacks us.
It kicks like a mule.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
It is the most powerful force in heaven and
on earth. It gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to it,
the power to change the world.
Christianity, done right, confronts us with
the love of God.
We squirm under the weight of the love of God.
The love of God challenges us to come
to grips with it - to
reconcile ourselves to it.
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(00537)
[¶ 00544 Updated: 07_14_2024]
While we were unrepentant (Matthew 22:10) sinners (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6), Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19). Why? Only love begets love. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). He did not wait for our conversion to love us; he loved us to bring about our conversion. Jesus took the first step of forgiveness in the hope that we would take the second step of repentance. The radical love of God initiated the process of our conversion. It is the agent that has caused the conversion of humanity to go viral.
What was Jesus' Greatest Investment? (00547)
Jesus blessed us with many gifts that he paid for
by drawing
from his unlimited divine resources
(Luke 7:22).
Jesus blessed us with only one gift, however, that
he paid for by drawing from his limited human
resources.
He spent all of his limited human resources
to purchase the gift of sweet forgiveness.
He emptied his treasury of all the coin of
his flesh and blood.
He kept not a penny in the bank
in reserve for himself.
He has never spent more for anything else.
His purchase of the gift of sweet
forgiveness with the coin of his flesh and blood
was Jesus' greatest investment.
It was said:
"Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13) (John 12:24).
Prima facie, this sounds right.
However, it is not quite accurate.
It is merely a restatement of
the conventional wisdom.
Jesus, however, upended the conventional wisdom.
He turned conventional wisdom on its head
(Luke 6:27-36).
Jesus showed us a love that was more radical -
more extreme - than a love that only encompasses
family and friends.
Jesus included his enemies within
the sope of his love.
Now, that's radical love!
That is love without limits!
Jesus showed us the Triple Crown of Divinity.
The size, scope and duration of his love for
us are without limits - love
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
immortal in duration.
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(00177)
[¶ 00547 Updated: 07_15_2024]
More of the radical love of God; never less. More revelation; less regulation. More theology; less morality. Always. No exceptions. Yet, typically, the leadership of Christianity and their minions prefer regulation over revelation. They tend to skip revelation. They do not even relegate revelation to a footnote. Listen to their sermons. Their sermons try to regulate us - to get us to behave in a certain way. Few sermons try to reveal the details about our God to us. It is as if they do not know him - that they don't have a clue about him. Just listen to their sermons to confirm their preference for regulation. Keep track of the number of times that they speak about regulation and the number of times that they speak about revelation. It isn't a contest. Regulation wins hands down. Indeed, Jesus is our king (Matthew 21:5). The leadership of the Church, however, is not. It is clericalism at its worst for them to think so. Moreover, Jesus did not come to rule us as a typical king rules us (Matthew 20:25-28) (John 18:37). Typical kings beget rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Jesus is not the typical king and his kingdom is not the typical kingdom. Jesus broke the mold for kingship. He is the king who loves us. In place of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole, the means by which Jesus governs us is love (John 18:36).
Index to blurbs about Creative Christianity
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Click here to go to the Indices Page
(1) Coloring Book Christianity versus Creative
Christianity.
[¶ 00074:01_01_2024]
Creative Christianity versus Coloring Book
Christianity
Coloring book Christianity gives us crayons and a
coloring book whose drawings are divided into parts
and numbered. They admonishes us to follow the numbers,
to color within the lines,
or, to go to hell.
Coloring book Christians grow apoplectic when we
color outside the lines or use a crayon that
does not match the number on
their infantile picture of Christianity.
Christianity, however, is not coloring book.
Christianity is creative.
Like God, we can become creators of
the sweet fruits of love.
Creating the sweet fruits of love is the superpower
that we have in common with our God.
We can become
prolific factories that dynamically mass produce
the sweet fruits of love
"out of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]"
(Luke 6:45)
"... some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some an hundred"
(Mark 4:20).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs: Right and Wrong
Methodologies.
(2) Index to Blurbs about Creative Christianity.
[¶ 00073:01_01_2024]
Plowing straight and narrow furrows of conduct
Coloring book Christians use the plow of rules,
regulations, red tape and rigmarole to cut straight and
narrow furrows of conduct into the field of life.
They try to plant us in them. Grow anywhere else
outside their furrows and
risk being labeled and demeaned as a weed.
They insist on
strict conformance to their furrows.
No variations.
No deviations.
Stay in their furrows and don't come out.
They create a disturbing, rigid, geometric
monotony of rows and
furrows whose artificial regularity mars
the landscape of the meadows,
the glades and the forests.
They appreciate only well-ordered lives.
They don't do wild.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs: Right and Wrong Methodologies.
[¶ 00076 Updated: 01_04_2024]
The authority of God derives from God's love of us
The authority of God does not derive from our lowly
status compared to God's exalted status
in the Creator - creatures relationship.
The authority of God derives from God's love of us
in the same way that the authority of a parent
derives from his
love for his children.
The greater is the love, the
greater is the authority.
The payload of Christianity is the radical love of God. It weighs no more than a feather (Matthew 11:28-30). Yet, paradoxically, its weight gobsmacks us (1 Kings 19:11-13). It kicks us like a mule. It takes our breath away. It buckles the knees. It knocks us off of our horses (Acts 9:4-6). The weight of the radical love of God forces us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves to it. We squirm under the weight of the radical love of God. The radical love of God, however, was not self-propelled. It did not deliver itself. It had no legs. It needed to be carried. So a vehicle was built to carry it to us - a royal palanquin to carry its sublime payload. The vehicle that carried the sublime payload of Christianity from God in heaven to us on earth was the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. “LET US TEST HIM WITH INSULT AND TORTURE, THAT WE MAY FIND OUT HOW GENTLE HE IS AND MAKE TRIAL OF HIS FORBEARANCE" (Wisdom 2: 17-20). Both humanity and divinity contributed to the construction of the vehicle. It was a collaboration - a joint venture. We contributed the evils that we inflicted upon the Son of God while he was human, alive, tender, vulnerable and our guest upon the earth. Our God's contribution was Jesus' answer to them. Radical asymmetry was the hallmark of the vehicle's construction. The radical asymmetry of the contributions mimiced and reflected the radical asymmetry of humanity and divinity. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9). Radical asymmetry was the royal palanquin that conveyed to us the sublime payload of Christianity. It loaded the vehicle that humanity and divinity cobbled together with meaning.
The options of Jesus were the punishment that we
deserved versus the forgiveness we didn't
The greater were the evils that we did to Jesus,
the greater is our astonishment at the radical
asymmetry of his answer to them. He did not give
us the punishment that we deserved. Instead,
He forgave us.
He forgave us even though we still had his flesh
in our mouths and his blood on our hands.
He did not flinch.
He did not hesitate.
He did not delay.
He had no second thoughts or regrets.
The options before him were punishment or forgiveness.
He chose forgiveness.
Jesus stuffed forgiveness down
the throats of his enemies.
In doing so, He gave them
a limited choice. Their options are to
swallow it, repent and give thanks for their
clean slate - their fresh start -
or to regurgitate it and obstinately
persist unchanged in their heinous state of sin.
Wow! Brutally merciful is our God!
While we were unrepentant
(Matthew 22:10)
sinners
(Romans 5:8)
(Matthew 7:6),
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Why? Only love begets love.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
He did not wait for our conversion to love us; he loved
us to bring about our conversion.
Jesus took the first step of forgiveness in the hope
that we would take the second step of repentance.
The radical love of God initiated the process of
our conversion.
It is the agent that has caused the conversion of
humanity to go viral.
"I am who am" is God being modest
"I am who am"
(Exodus 3:14)
is God being modest. God is more than "I am who am" -
much more.
He is
"I am who does". Do not let God's
modesty distort your understanding of him.
God is
an active God who does, not merely a passive
God who is.
He is dynamic not static - a productive agent not
a mere inert presence.
God is not asleep. He is awake and
is working in our world.
"The Lord hath done great things for us;
whereof we are glad."
(Psalm 126:3).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) The flow of the knowledge of God is
captured by the most Holy Eucharist.
[¶ 00053:12_30_2023]
Torture and death on a cross did
not mark the end of the story
What is the Good News of Great Joy?
Are you privy to
it? Can you articulate it? Often, we lack the words.
Here are the words.
Torture and death on a cross did
not mark the end of the story. Our God did not stay
dead and he did not stop loving us. He continued
to live and continued to love us nonetheless.
Isn't this the biggest deal in Christianity?
Does the Good News get any better than this?
The radical love of God is the jolt of joy that makes
us giddy. It gobsmacks us.
It kicks us like a mule.
It takes our breath away.
It buckles the knees.
It knocks us off of our
horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Christianity, done right, is the religion that
challenges us, as Jesus did, to
come to grips with the radical love of God.
Christianity, done right, confronts us with it.
Christianity, done right, clobbers us over the head
and about
the body with the radical love of God -
a magnum opus of love
tested and verified in the gruesome maelstrom
of extreme adversity
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
His radical love for us is the most powerful force
in heaven and on earth.
It gobsmacks us.
It kicks us like a mule.
It takes our breath away.
It makes our knees buckle.
It knocks us off of our
horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Christianity, done right, makes us squirm under
the weight of the radical love of God.
The radical love of God gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to it,
the power to change the world.
Who can weather the intensity of the radical
love of God when it is focused on us?
If we are not confronting the children of Adam and Eve
with the radical love of God -
if we are not challenging them
to come to grips with it -,
we are not doing Christianity.
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[¶ 00586 Updated: 08_01_2024]
How do we propagate the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of space and time, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now? For the purpose of propagation, God gave us the most Holy Eucharist of the Mass. The most Holy Eucharist of the Mass is the vehicle for the vehicle that carries the payload of Christianity.
The rebar that strengthens our faith (00438)
To reinforce our faith, God added the rebar of
the gruesome experiment that we cruelly
administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion to the wet concrete of our
understanding of God.
The gruesome experiment is the rock on which the wise
build a first-class, high fidelity understanding
of God
(Matthew 7:24-27).
Trustworthy is the message that the gruesome experiment
conveyed to us.
The gruesome experiment is the only reliable thing
in an absurdly unreliable world.
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[Is our God reliable (00437)]
[¶ 00438 Updated: 05_10_2024]
In the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion, the Love Note that God had sent us in the Incarnation was verified. We received irrefutable confirmation that God's love for us is true.
In the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion, Jesus transmuted the flesh and blood of sacrifice into the bread and wine of forgiveness. He turned a sacrifice into a banquet, his enemies into his dinner companions. The transmutation illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany, i.e., it revealed God to us. The transmutation opened the book of God for the children of Adam and Eve to read. It put the book of God into the public domain.
The greatest flaw in evangelization is telling us
what you found instead of showing us where to look.
The only way to evangelize is to help
the children of Adam and Eve discover for themselves
the sweetness of paradise then get out of the way and
let the sweetness of paradise go to work!
We are disobedient not irrational.
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[¶ 00593 Updated: 08_04_2024]
Paradise is not a prison; God is not our warden; we are not his prisoners. A cage is still a cage no matter how gilded. By distorting our perception of reality, the serpent seduced Adam and Eve to run away from the comfort of their home with God in Eden. And they took their children with them. Paradise was lost. Our hapless adventure in the loveless desert of godlessness had begun. There, in our reduced state, we scavenge for scraps among the ruins of Eden in cutthroat competition with the other loveless beasts. The loveless desert of godlessness is hostile territory. In hostile territory, a long gauntlet of monsters with sharp teeth chew us up into bits and pieces. Moreover, the tongues of the monsters are as sharp as their teeth. Into every nook and cranny of the Valley of Tears, their tongues incessantly spew virulent anti-God propaganda. Life ain't easy for the children of Adam and Eve in the Valley of Tears. The defining characteristic of our escape through the Valley of Tears is hardship. Our predicament is dire.
Eucharistic adoration outside the context
of its adoration at Mass
is the cradle of clericalism. Why? It emphasizes the
making of the most Holy Eucharist but gives short
shrift to its giving and taking. It silences the story
of Jesus' glorious victory. It makes God mute. It clips
the wings of the most Holy Eucharist. It removes its
moving parts. It makes the most Holy Eucharist static
instead of dynamic.
It steals our focus from the performance of God to
his presence.
It turns
'I am who does'
into
'I am who am'
(Exodus 3:14).
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(00672)
[¶ 00674 Updated: 09_08_2024]
Jesus did not give us exactly what we tried to take. He made a substitution. The substitution is the agent of apocalyptic revelation. It opens our eyes to the nature of our God. The substitution illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic revelation. glorious victory erupted from ignominious defeat as the dawn erupts from the darkness. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3). Instead of giving his enemies the punishment that they justly deserved for taking from him his flesh and blood, Jesus blessed them with the priceless gift of forgiveness. His enemies did not deserve it, but Jesus gave the gift of forgiveness to them anyway. Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). Behold and be astonished at what Jesus substituted for the flesh and blood we tried to take from him! We got more than we bargained for - much more!
We are sovereigns over our own spaces - owners of them.
God granted us sovereignty over our own space - ownership
of it. What we fill it with matters. When we fill it
with good things, it expands. When we don't, it
contracts. God will judge us on how we govern our
own space.
For unto every one that hath shall be given,
and he shall have abundance: but from him
that hath not shall be taken away even that
which he hath
(Matthew 25:14-30)
Jesus is the pommel between divinity and humanity. Only on the pommel, can humanity hold onto divinity. Hold tightly and prepare yourself for a wild ride!
Blessed is the radical love of God who intruded from heaven into our world to demonstrate it in a flamboyant personal display of affection from the posi!tion of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity! Rally 'round the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17)!
Stop trying to hold your breath!
The love of God is the air we breathe
(Genesis 2:7)
(Ezekiel 37:5)
(John 20:22).
It resuscitates us
(John 3:8).
It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
Trying to distance ourselves from the love of God is
like trying to hold our breath.
It is a short-lived activity.
God designed us to breathe not to hold our breath.
Suffocation is not God's plan.
Our God
looks down at a world of recalitrant children
trying to hold their breath and laughs
at our ridiculousness.
He wants us to stop the foolishness of holding
our breath.
He wants us to fill our lungs to the brim with
the love of God.
Breathe, he tells us. Inhale. Exhale.
Delight in the breath of life.
In two stages, God launched a battering ram
against the gates of hell to knock them
down and open the
way for the 'intrusion' into our space of the
radical love of God (00587)
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6),
our God lamented --- but
not anymore.
A battering ram consisting of two stages
knocks down the gates of hell
(Matthew 16:18) so the radical love of God,
that is,
the payload of Christianity, can be planted
in the understanding of
the children of Adam and Eve here on earth
(Ezekiel 36:26):
The first stage was the Love Note.
God sent the children of Adam and Eve a Love Note.
And the Love Note lived and breathed.
Incredible, right?
Our God is the God who loves us.
And he wasn't tight-lipped about it.
He expressed his love for us.
Jesus is the tangible, frank and unreserved expression
(John 1:1)
of God's love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
Who could imagine a Love Note from
our God to us! Wow!
So, what genre of literature is the Word of God
(John 1:1)?
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
is a Love Note -
a Love Note from God to us.
What a sweet blessing!
The second stage was the Verification of
the Love Note.
Our God sent his Son to verify it.
Moreover, in the Incarnation, our God endowed his Son
with the coin of flesh and blood with which to pay
the exorbitant cost of the Verification.
The verification was the irrefutable
certificate of authenticity
of the Love Note.
Jesus himself personally verified that the Love Note
was genuine - the real McCoy. How?
By the radically asymmetric answer he gave to
the evils that we had done to him.
His answer is the verification.
If his love for us were counterfeit, it would
have faded as we tortured him and died when we killed
him. But it did not. His love for us
survived the evils that we did to him.
We discovered from our gruesome baptism of Jesus that
the dial that controls God's love for us is in his
hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest
degree and is locked in place. Not even the evils
that we did to the Son of God could budge it
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
The verification of the Love Note is the gravamen of
Christianity.
Everything else is obiter dicta.
The payload that the two stages transported was the
Good News of Great Joy that our God is head-over-heals
in love with us.
Christianity, done right, is the religion that
challenges us, as Jesus did, to
come to grips with the love of God.
Christianity, done right, clobbers us over the head
and about
the body with the love of God - a love
tested and verified in the gruesome maelstrom
of extreme adversity
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
Christianity, done right, confronts us with it.
It challenges us to come to grips
with it - to reconcile our lives to it.
His love for us is the most powerful force in heaven
and on earth.
It gobsmacks us.
It kicks like a mule.
It takes our breath away.
It knocks us off of our
horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Christianity, done right, makes us squirm under
the weight of the love of God.
The love of God gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to it,
the power to change the world.
Who can weather the intensity of the love of God when
it is focused on us?
If you are not confronting the children of Adam and Eve
with the love of God - if you are not challenging them
to come to grips with it -,
you are not doing Christianity.
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[¶ 00587 Updated: 08_01_2024]
Christianity's only and most powerful weapon is the battering ram of love.
The enemy is external. The weapon that defeats the enemy is internal (Luke 17:20-21). Love is the weapon - a heart filled to the brim with love. Take note: only love begets love.
Official Cristianity has regressed so much that it no longer
can do the simple arithmetic of salvation
A + B = C. A = Sacrifice. B = Forgiveness. Solve for C.
Sacrifice + Forgiveness = the apocalyptic revelation that
is the answer to the question, Who is God?.
Official Christianity has forgotten this
simple formula. It is in such decline that it no
longer does this simple arithmetic. This
formula is the gravamen of Christianity.
Jesus himself put the formula into the position
of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity.
Sacrifice + Forgiveness are the two parts
of the single unit of apocalyptic revelation
about the nature of God that Jesus released
into the Valley of Tears.
Yoked together into a team, sacrifice and forgiveness
illuminate the darkness of our understanding of
God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
The formula
fills the Cross of Christ with meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Yet, official Christianity is so bogged down in the
obiter dicta of Christianity that the gravamen
eludes its grasp. Official Christianity has emptied
the Cross of Christ of its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Official Christianity - the professionals who claim
expertise in Christianity - is running Christianity
into the ground.
Upgrade your understanding of God
On the squalid level of the ruins of Eden,
we scavenge for scraps in endless poverty
in cutthroat competition against the other
loveless beasts.
True wealth is a first-class, high fidelity
understanding of God!
Upgrade your understanding of God.
Make yourself rich!
Jesus brought to life and into vivid focus
the stark contrast between humanity and divinity
(00646)
"Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves,
the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God
the energies of love, and then, for a second time
in the history of the world, man will have
discovered fire."
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Jesus set the bright jewel of forgiveness against the
dark foil of the evils that we did to him.
Once again, as he did during the Creation of the world,
Jesus set the dawn against the darkness
(Genesis 1:2-5).
He ignited the light of forgiveness in the darkness
of evils.
“The people which sat in darkness
saw great light; and to them which sat
in the region and shadow of death
light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Jesus hijacked the foil of evils that we did to him
and exploited it for his own purpose.
The foil highlighted
and emphasized and
intensified and magnified and amplified and
accentuated and underlined the scintillating
incandescence of the jewel.
Jesus had access to unlimited divine resources
(Matthew 26:53)
for his defense against the evils that we did to him.
Yet, he did not defend himself with them.
He did not answer the evils that we did to him in kind.
He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did not require
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
He did not release the three-headed monster of
revenge, retaliation and retribution from
the dungeon of his broken heart to devour us.
Jesus gave us a gentle answer to the sharp questions
that we put to him.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).
The striking incongruity of the arrangement
-
the radical asymmetry of the sharp evils that we did to him
and his gentle answer to them
(1 Kings 19:11-13)
-
illuminated the darkness of our
understanding of God in a glorious burst of
apocalyptic epiphany.
Humanity contributed the foil; Divinity contributed
the jewel. Together, the two contributions form a
single unit of apocalyptic revelation about the
nature of God.
Foil + Jewel = Answer to the question, 'Who is God?'.
Foil and jewel are the odd couple of epiphany.
If we uncouple them, we distort the apocalyptic
revelation. We empty the Cross of Christ of its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
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[¶ 00646 Updated: 08_29_2024]
Jesus blessed us with Forgiveness in lieu of the
just punishment that we deserved
Justice required
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48) -
a tit for a tat.
We deserved punishment for taking from Jesus his
flesh and blood.
They were his to keep not ours to take.
Despite the evils that we did to him,
in lieu of punishment, Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
Forgiveness, not punishment, was his answer to the
evils that we did to him.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Does the Good News of Great Joy get
any better than this?
The Incarnation endowed Jesus with the means
to pay for the jewel of forgiveness (00632)
The purchase price of the jewel of forgiveness
was exorbitant. Jesus paid all of his limited
human resources for it. He spent all of the coin
of his flesh and blood. He emptied his treasury.
He kept not a penny in the
bank in reserve for himself.
In the Incarnation, Jesus
doffed his invincible armor of divinity and donned our
frail uniform of flesh and blood. Jesus
made himself weak.
He disarmed.
He defortified himself.
He mothballed his unlimited divine resources
(Matthew 26:53).
Dressed like us in his divinity depleted state,
Jesus entered the scrum at the line of
scrimmage in the war against evil, cheek to jowl
with us, toe to hoof against evil.
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
In the Incarnation, Jesus became one of us -
an equal to us in our humanity -
a partner with us in our suffering.
Weakness made it possible
for the foil of the evils that we did to Jesus
to have an effect on him. No flesh and blood; no
vulnerability to our evils.
When he forgave us for the evils that we did to
him instead of delivering to us the punishment that
we deserved, Jesus made his strength perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
The perfection of his strength marks the
precise moment of his glorious victory.
Jesus demonstrated that he possessed the strength
to forgive his enemies who took from him his
flesh and blood
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Do we have such strength?
Do we have strength that equals our God's?
Do we have the strength of forgiveness?
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Jesus exercised the strength of forgiveness. Wow!
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[¶ 00632 Updated: 08_21_2024]
To demonstrate his love for us, Jesus paid through the nose
The radical size of the love of God
God does not let his children go hungry or thirsty -
even the enemies who tortured and killed him.
He is not that kind of 'God'
(Luke 11:9-13).
In fact, to satisfy their hunger and quench their thirst,
God paid an exorbitant price to purchase for us
our food and drink.
God paid the price in the coin of his flesh and blood.
He paid all of his limited human resources to make
the purchase. He kept not a penny in the bank in
reserve for himself. He was committed - all in.
He bet the farm to bring about our conversion.
He has never spent more on
anything else.
Who of us is willing to pay
such an exorbitant price to purchase food
and drink for our enemies?
Furthermore,
doesn't the size of the payment
reveal to us the size of his love for us?
On and about the flagpole of Christianity, Jesus
put on a public display of affection - more PDA than
we deserved.
Wild and untamed is the prodigal love of God
The love of God is neither liberal nor conservative.
God is not parsimonious with his love.
Prodigal is the love of God.
The greater were the evils that we did to him,
the greater is our astonishment at
a love without limits -
a love that transcends all attempts to control,
tame and reduce its radical wildness.
It cannot be controlled.
We cannot harness it.
It defies subjection to our will.
We cannot dim the lightning of the love or God.
We cannot manage it.
What do we get when we reverse engineer forgiveness?
At what conclusion do we arrive when we
reverse engineer the fact that Jesus forgave
us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)?
What does
his radically asymmetric answer to the
gauntlet of evils through which we dragged him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
tell us about
the nature of God? Here is what I get when I trace
forgiveness back to the point and place of its origin:
Forgiveness -> a sweet fruit of
love -> a heart filled to the brim with love.
Is there a better more persuasive
way for God to express his love
for us than by blessing us with one of the sweet
fruits of love, that is, forgiveness?
Forgiveness is one of the sweet fruits of love that
Jesus brought forth
"out of the good treasure of his heart"
(Luke 6:45) to answer the evils that we
did to him.
Isn't a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)?
Jesus did not wait for our conversion to forgive us; he forgave us to bring about our conversion.
What determines our fate?
The love
of God is relentless.
God confronts us with radicalness of his love
for us. He challenges us to come to grips with it -
to reconcile ourselves to it.
The radical love of God gobsmacks us.
It kicks like a mule.
It takes our breath away.
Its impact knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Who can weather the intensity of the radical
love of God when it is focused on us?
The radical love of God for us is
the most powerful force in heaven and on earth.
The radical love of God gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to it,
the power to change the world.
When the gravity of the love of God captures us,
we have hit the jackpot of Christianity.
We have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
We have won the lottery.
How we respond to the challenge of the
love of God determines our fate.
Love is the shape of Victory (00655)
The shape of victory is love.
Love is what victory looks like.
Victory is clinging to love, holding tight and
refusing to let go.
When you hang as Jesus hung,
cling as Jesus clung,
hold tight and refuse to let go of love.
Love is the only solvent with the power to
neutralize evils.
The gauntlet of life has many sharp edges.
Love is the grease that lubricates
the sharp edges of the gauntlet of life.
Love streamlines our passage through the gauntlet.
Love optimizes it.
When evils push us off the cliff from the sublime
level
of our loving God to the squalid level of
the loveless beasts,
love is the parachute that controls the fall and
cushions the landing.
Moreover, love enables us to bounce back
to the level of our loving God.
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[¶ 00655 Updated: 09_02_2024]
When and how did Jesus save us? At the Last Supper, Jesus made a substitution. In a preemptive strike against the evils that we would do to him, Jesus tweaked his body. He transformed flesh and blood into an amalgamation of flesh, blood, bread and wine. In this way, we did not get from Jesus exactly what we took from him. We approached the altar of Calvary to take from him his flesh and blood. We left the altar with a meal of bread and wine. Jesus satisfied our hunger with bread, quenched our thirst with wine and filled our bellies with companionship. From the drawing board of the Last Supper, Jesus transferred the amalgamation of flesh, blood, bread and wine into the field of Calvary where it was put to the test. The test was successful. It verified the genuineness of the love of God. If the evils that we did to Jesus did not destroy the love of God, nothing can or will.
The primary means of propagation
The primary means by which we propagate the results
of the gruesome
experiment that we administered to Jesus
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion is the most Holy
Eucharist at Mass. Bloodthirsty monsters approach
the altar of sacrifice to
take from Jesus his flesh and blood. Jesus, however,
does not give the monsters exactly what they try
to take from him. He makes a substitution.
He pulls a switcheroo.
In the giving of the most Holy Eucharist, we leave
the altar not just with flesh and blood but
with flesh and blood transubstantiated into
food and drink
(Luke 22:14-20).
Jesus satisfies
our hunger with bread, quenches our thirst with wine
and fills our bellies with companionship.
Jesus served a meal to the
enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and
his blood on their hands.
Jesus had invited his enemies to take a seat with him
at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort of the family tent
(John 6:53)
(John 6:25-35)
If the giving and taking of the most Holy Eucharist
at Mass doesn't make forgiveness tangible and
God real, nothing does.
If this is not the best expression of the radical
love of God for the children of Adam and Eve,
nothing is.
Is there a better more persuasive way to persuade
the children of Adam and Eve to engage in the
pursuit of God than by confronting them with
the love of God - by challenging them to come to
grips with it?
Jesus included his enemies within the scope of his love
The radical scope of the love of God
Jesus served a meal to the
enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and
his blood on their hands.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Jesus invited his enemies to take a seat with him
at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort of the family tent
(John 6:53).
Jesus satisfied our hunger with bread,
quenched our thirst with wine
and filled our bellies with fellowship.
Is there a better way to express the radical nature
of the love of God than by including not just friends
and family within the scope of one's love but enemies
as well?
Jesus forgave his enemies for the evils that
we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
He turned his executioners into dinner companions.
Do you see what I see?
Do you see what I see? Have you ever heard of
pefigurement? Prefigurement is the 'heads up!' in the
Old Testament that alerts us to Jesus in the
New Testament. An Old Testament prefigurement adds
additional, anachronistic flesh
to the story that appears in the New Testament.
For instance, the fruit tree in
the middle of the garden of Eden and
Adam and Eve's taking
of the forbiddent fruit. The fruit tree is a
prefigurement of Jesus. Our taking of the forbidden
fruit is a prefugurement of the taking from Jesus
of his flesh and blood.
... thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die
(Genesis 2:17).
His flesh and blood belonged
to Jesus not to us. By taking them from him, we fell
from the sublime level of our loving God down to
the squalid level of the loveless beasts who
scavenge for
scraps in cutthroat competition against one
another among the ruins of Eden.
... Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded
thee that thou shouldest not eat
(Genesis 3:11)?
Instead of delivering to us the punishment that we
justly
deserved for eating the forbidden fruit, the fruit
tree forgave us for our illicit snack
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
We didn't just take a small bite. We consumed all
of his limited human resources. We did not leave
him a penny of the
coin of his flesh and blood in the bank in reserve
for himself. Yet, he forgave us.
We made ourselves inelegible for
forgiveness on account of the evils that we did
to Jesus.
We disqualified ourselves.
We were unworthy of forgiveness.
Yet, Jesus did not care.
Justice required
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48) -
a tit for a tat.
Jesus waived his right to justice.
He forgave us nonetheless.
Now, the ball is in our court.
Do we take advantage of the blessing of forgiveness -
or not
(Matthew 22: 11-13)?
Figuring out the riddles that Jesus left behind
"And the disciples came, and said unto him,
Why speakest thou unto them in parables?He answered
and said unto them, Because it is given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath,
to him shall be given, and he shall have more
abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall
be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I
to them in parables: because they seeing see not;
and hearing they hear not, neither do they
understand"
(Matthew 13:10-13).
Can we figure out the riddles that Jesus left
behind? How do we reconcile
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly
in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light"
(Matthew 11:28-30).
and
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is
the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth
to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is
the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there
be that find it"
(Matthew 7:13-14)?
The connotation of the first passage is ease but
the connotation of the second passage is difficulty,
seemingly impossible to reconcile.
A pilgrim can barely squeeze through the narrow
gate on his own let alone a heavy-laden pilgrim
bearing heavy burdens.
Make your escape along the highway of holiness
(Isaiah 35:8)
through the narrow gate without getting stymied
transporting the scraps that you have collected
scavenging in cutthroat competition with the
loveless beasts among the ruins of Eden.
Unburden yourself! Travel light! Travel light!
The first passage tells us that we can travel light.
The secong passage tells us the lighter the better -
we don't need our bag of scraps.
Note: Concatenation is the art used in the above
example. Two ideas are conctenated because both
are needed to understand the meaning of each. We
use contenation when we say that the evils that
we did to Jesus and his radically asymmetric answer
that he gave to them are two parts of a single unit
of apocalyptic revelation. Both parties to the
concatenation are needed to avoid distortion.
In this case, the odd couple of epiphany work
together as a team to give a single significance
to each other.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
The Love Poetry of God
What a poet is our God! And the pen with which he
scribbled his poetry of love on the canvas of life
in the ink of suffering was the Word of God
(John 1:1).
Jesus created God's magnum opus when he uttered
his radically asymmetric answer to the evils that
we did to him.
"Man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God"
(Matthew 4:4).
From the scabbard of his love for us, Jesus drew
the sharp sword of radical asymmetry
(1 Kings 19:11-13)
to slay
the monster of the Crucifixion.
Jesus killed the monster dead.
His radically asymmetric answer turned ignominious
defeat into glorious victory.
His radically asymmetric answer was the crown
that Jesus donned on his head as we tortured and killed
him on the throne of suffering.
Jesus' radically asymmetric
answer to the evils that we did to him -
he forgave his enemies -
fills the Cross of Christ with meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
It is the Good News of Great Joy. We deserved punishment
for the evils that we did to him, more particularly,
for taking from him his flesh and blood. In lieu of
punishment, Jesus forgave us.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Does the good news get
any better than this?
Note:
Doesn't
(1 Kings 19:11-13) shows us
quite a radically
asymmetric contrast
with the awesome power of omnipotent divinity?
The gravamen of Christianity
The insight into the radical love of God
that arises from Jesus' radically asymmetric answer
to the evils that we did to him in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion is
the gravamen of Christianity.
Everything else is obiter dicta
A dunghill of evils belched up an outburst of sweet forgiveness. The dunghill of evils was the throne that we built for Jesus and in which we compelled him to sit. The outburst of sweet forgiveness was the crown that graced his head. Throne and crown are the two parts of a single unit of apocalyptic revelation. They reveal God to us.
Throne + Crown = Answer to the question, 'Who is God?'.
The throne, crown and the revelation about God that they convey are the foundation on which God built the edifice of Christianity.
The throne and the crown are the two parts of a single
unit of apocalyptic revelation about
the nature of God
The sacrifice of his flesh and blood and the
forgiveness that followed his sacrifice constitute
two parts of a single unit of apocalyptic revelation
about
the nature of God.
His sacrifice is the throne; forgiveness is
the crown.
God set the crown of forgiveness
upon the head of Jesus while he sat
on the throne of sacrifice.
We are the unworthy beneficiaries of his coronation.
We deserved punishment for taking from him his flesh
and blood. Instead of punishment, Jesus blessed us
with the gift of sweet forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
Both throne and crown are needed to convey
God's intended meaning about the nature of God.
They are
the odd couple of epiphany.
If we uncouple them, we distort the apocalyptic
revelation.
We empty the Cross of Christ of its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
As a team and only as a team, they answer
the question, 'Who is God?'.
Throne and crown illuminate the darkness of our
understanding of God in a glorious burst of
apocalyptic epiphany.
Ignominious defeat yielded to glorious victory.
Glorious victory erupted from the combination
of throne and crown as the dawn erupts from
the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to blurbs about Foil and Jewel
[¶ 00044:12_29_2023]
Jesus' answer to the evils that his enemies did to him
is the foundational bedrock of Christianity. On this
answer, the edifice of Christianity rests!
What was Jesus' answer to the evils that his
enemies did to him?
What wonder emerged from the atrocity that his enemies
perpetrated against him?
What prodigy arose from the dunghill of evils in which
his enemies baptized him?
What was the result of the test to which his enemies
subjected him?
We interrogated Jesus.
The evils that we did to Jesus were the sharp questions
that we put to him.
With lash, thorns, nails and Cross, we gave Jesus
the third degree.
'Who are you, Jesus? Identify
yourself! Friend or foe?'
Jesus answered our questions.
He did not hang mute.
His tongue was not nailed to the cross.
He did not take the fifth.
Discover the answer to these questions and you will
have discovered the nature of God!
As you discover the answer, notice the asymmetry
between Jesus and his enemies -
between divinity and humanity.
Jesus had access to unlimited divine resources
for his defense (Matthew 26:53).
Yet, he did not fight back with conventional
weaponry.
He did not answer the evils that we did to him in kind.
He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did not require
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
He did not release the three-headed monster of
revenge, retaliation and retribution from
the dungeon of his broken heart to devour us.
Jesus gave us a gentle answer to the sharp questions
that we put to him.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).
Can you articulate his gentle answer?
Can you put it into words?
The potential difference between Jesus and us
Jesus showed us our potential by fulfilling his
(Colossians 1:24).
The gap between the potential of our artistry
to create masterpieces of love on the canvas of
life in the midst of adversity - to become heroic
artists of love - and our actual accomplishments
embarrases us when we realize the gap's existence.
How far we have fallen since Eden!
We have fallen from the sublime level of our loving God
to the level of lovelessness, the lowly level where
loveless beasts scavenge for scraps in cutthroat
competition against one another in the ruins of Eden.
Falling short
of our potential gobsmacks us. Our failure knocks
us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
Underwhelming creativity challenges us to come to
grips with it but only if we know our potential,
that is, if we know what Jesus accomplished.
Fulfilling our potential as Jesus fulfilled his
turns us into saints.
Closing the creative gap makes us feel godlike.
The potential difference between Jesus and us is
the catalyst of our conversion.
God's love for us is indestructible (00585)
To answer the question, 'Who is God?', God did something
unusual - noteworthy. He sent us a Love Note.
Yes, our Creator sent his creatures a Love Note. Wow!
How did we receive the Love Note?
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of
Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
The chorus of conventional wisdom urged God to cancel
the Love Note - to rescind it. They demanded justice
for Jesus.
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
The villains who did evils to Jesus were unworthy of the
love of God.
God, however, was unmoved.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
God refused to rescind the Love Note.
He refused to revoke it. He waived his right to
justice. Instead of giving us the punishment that
we deserved for taking from Jesus his flesh and blood,
God forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
He forgave us while we still had his flesh in our
mouths and his blood on our hands.
Forgiveness was the first impression that God
made on us.
Forgiveness was our introduction to God.
Forgiveness illuminated the darkness of our
understanding of God in a glorious burst of
apocalyptic epiphany.
His love for us survived the evils that we did to him.
The survival of his love for us verified the Love
Note.
The ineffectiveness of the evils that we did to
the Love Note to extinguish the bonfire of love
that burns for us in the most Sacred Heart of Jesus
or to reduce the intensity of his love by even
the slightest degree demonstrated that God's love
for us was indestructible.
The indestructibility of the Love Note
is the engine that energizes the pursuit of God.
The bush that burns but is not consumed
is the only thing that makes us turn aside,
like Moses, to see the great sight
(Exodus 3:1-3).
It is the only thing that excites our curiosity
in God. It makes us want to get to know him better.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
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[¶ 00585 Updated: 08_01_2024]
Is there a better, more persuasive way for the Word of God (John 1:1) to unambiguously express the radical love of God than by prodigally spending all of his flesh and blood to purchase the benefit of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63) for the unrepentant enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands? Jesus was the tangible expression of God's radical love for us - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45). Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth not to tell us that God loves us but to demonstrate God's love for us - God done not God said. Radical forgiveness was the demonstration - a demonstration that Jesus paid for out of his own pockets with the coin of his flesh and blood. Jesus spared no expense. He spent all of his limited human resources. He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never spent more for anything else. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). The more of the coin of his flesh and blood that Jesus spent, the greater is our astonishment at the radical profligacy of his love for the children of Adam and Eve.
The mantra of Christianity:
Our God is on our team.1
Our God is on our side.
Our God is in our corner.
Our God is our friend not our foe.
Our God is our family.
The rock on which the wise build
their lives is the love of God.
When the gravity of the love of God captures us,
we have hit the jackpot of Christianity.2
We have found the pot of gold at the end of
the rainbow.
We have won the lottery.
Jesus, we trust in you.3
Jesus, we turn to you.4
Jesus, from the periphery, we approach you.
Jesus, we run to you.5
Jesus, we jump joyously into your open arms.
Amen.
1. Jesus joined our team in the Incarnation. He became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. He did so to show us our potential. His mission was to demonstrate to us what victory looks like by winning victory himself. He wants us to escape from the level of the loveless beasts who scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition with each other among the ruins of Eden and reach the sublime level of our loving God. Jesus blazed the escape route through the hostile desert of godlessness, defined it with holy places, made a map of them, established a Church, entrusted the map to the Church and gave the leadership of the Church a mission. The mission that Jesus entrusted to leadership is to facilitate our escape - not to frustrate it, not to filter it and not to foul it up.
2. "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14)
God's power built paradise for us. But the love of God is the ingredient that makes paradise sweet. Power begets respect. But love begets love - only love begets love. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:19-21)
3. "But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works" (Psalm 73:28).
4. "The direction of the [soul] is more important than its progress" (Joseph Joubert) (Joseph Joubert 2). It is time to turn to Jesus.
5. "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you" (James 4:8) "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain" (1 Corinthians 9:24).
We interrogated Jesus. The evils that we did to Jesus were the sharp questions that we put to him. With lash, thorns, nails and Cross, we gave Jesus the third degree. 'Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?' Jesus answered our questions. He did not hang mute. His tongue was not nailed to the cross. He did not take the fifth. Furthermore, Jesus had access to unlimited divine resources for his defense (Matthew 26:53). Yet, he did not fight back with conventional weaponry. He did not answer the evils that we did to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. He did not require "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48). He did not release the three-headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution from the dungeon of his broken heart to devour us. Jesus gave us a gentle answer to the sharp questions that we put to him. Discover Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him and you will have discovered the answer to the question, 'Who in God?'!
Jesus exploited the evils that we did to him to reveal to us, by the radical asymmetry of his answer to it, the benign, benevolent and beneficent nature of God.
Forgiveness is the pixie dust that brings about our Resurrection. Via forgiveness we are given a mulligan, a do-over, a second chance, a clean slate, a fresh start. Via forgiveness, we are born again! However, it is up to us the seize our second chance. It is up to us to take advantage of the do-over. The ball is now in our court. Jesus put it there. What's our play? Do we ignore the ball? Do we pretend it doesn't exist? Or do we pick it up and drive to the basket? Preach the second chance. Preach the do-over. Tell the children of Adam and Eve that by spending the coin of his flesh and blood, Jesus bought us a second chance, a do-over. To span the pit of sin that we dug in our relationship with God, Jesus erected the bridge of forgiveness. We can cross the bridge of forgiveness by means of the vehicle of repentance. All aboard!
Resurrection did not express the radical love of God. It expressed the power of God. Forgiveness for the evils that we did to Jesus expressed the radical love of God. Forgiveness is radical that includes within its scope the unrepentant enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands!
Through his bloody wounds, the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil.
Love is a function of cost. The payment of the cost verifies the genuineness of the love. The greater is the payment, the greater is the love. The cost that Jesus paid was exorbitant. He exhausted all of his limited human resources. He spent all of the coin of his flesh and blood. He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
That his life survived the evils that we did to him proved the power of God. Nobody escapes death. Jesus did. By virtue of his divinity, Jesus was able to access his unlimited divine resources to accomplish the miracle of Resurrection. That his love survived the evils that we did to him proved, however, that our understanding of divinity as power is flawed. Divinity is more than power. Divinity is also love. By virtue of his humanity, Jesus was able to access his limited human resources to accomplish the miracle of Forgiveness. He showed us our potential. He demonstrated for us what victory looks like by winning victory himself. Jesus led by example. Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. He donned the jet pack of love and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was! Therefore, when you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, hold tight and refuse to let go of love. God's power built paradise for us. But the love of God is the ingredient that makes paradise sweet. Power begets respect. But love begets love - only love begets love.
From the crown that Jesus wears on his head the sweet fruits of love - blessings without measure (Malachi 3:10) - including forgiveness rain down upon the children of Adam and Eve.
The Pursuit of the Radical Love of God
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2)
(1 Chronicles 16:10-12)
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
What do the seekers of God understand that compels
them to seek him?
What is the understanding that drives them?
They understand
that
a close encounter with the love of God
is the jackpot of Christianity.
They approach God to hit the jackpot.
The love of God is the pot of gold at the end
of the rainbow
(Matthew 13:44-46)
(Genesis 9:16-17)
(Numbers 21:6-9)
(John 3:14-18).
Thus, to those who understand,
The pursuit of God is primary.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary.
Anything that interferes is suspect.
"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you"
(James 4:8).
The rainbow reciprocates our advances.
Therefore, more understanding; not less.
More revelation; less regulation.
More of the pursuit of God.
Always. No exceptions.
Moreover, only close encounters with the love of God
make a Christian - nothing else.
Our God is the master of the science of
cause and effect. He subscribes to the theory that
only love begets love. To our God it is an immutable
truth.
Therefore, the God who loves us dispatched
Jesus from heaven to
put the theory into practice upon the earth.
Jesus brought a radical, prodigal, limitless love to
confront the children of Adam and Eve.
He makes us squirm
under the overwhelming weight of the love of God.
He challenges
us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves
to it. And Jesus' application of the theory upon
the earth has born fruit.
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another“
(John 13:35)
(Matthew 22:36-40)
(1 John 4: 7-12).
Binding us in an inflexible straight
jacket of Procrustean rules,
regulations, red tape and rigmarole does not beget
love and, hence, does not make a Christian.
The goal is conversion not compliance.
Compliance is not conversion.
Only love begets love.
So, Jesus, the expert in the science of cause and
effect, did not regulate
us first. He loved us first.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19)
(Matthew 22:37-39).
By loving us first, Jesus jump started the process of
our conversion. He hit us with the defibrillator
paddles of love. From Jesus' heart, our hearts
receive a transfusion of
love
(Romans 5:5).
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
Unfortunately, settlers do not understand.
They have no appreciation whatsoever for the
truth that
a close encounter with the love of God
is the jackpot of Christianity. Instead, settlers
scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competion with the
other loveless beasts among the ruins of Eden.
They have sunk their roots deep
into the toxic soil of the hostile desert of
godlessness.
In hostile territory, however, sessility is not safe.
It makes the children of Adam and Eve sitting ducks
instead of moving targets.
In hostile territory, movement is
necessary for survival.
To survive, settlers need to pull up their roots
and become pilgrims passing through it.
So, here is the challenge for those who advocate
the pursuit of God.
By submitting himself to the gruesome experiment
that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20),
Jesus endowed reality with a high fidelity,
first class understanding that
the jackpot is the love of God.
We tortured and killed him. We made him suffer and
die. We impaled
him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
The gruesome expirment was not sterile. It produced
results. Jesus answered the evils that we did to him.
His answer was radically asymmetric to the evils that
we did to him. Instead of inflicting the punishment
that we justly deserved for taking from him his flesh
and blood, he forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
The results of the gruesome experiment revealed to us
the mystery of God. The results illuminate the
darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious
burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
Ignominious defeat yielded to glorious victory.
Glorious victory erupted from the gruesome
experiment as the dawn erupts from the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
The gruesome experiment, however, took place
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of space and time.
How do we propagate it from
the point and place of its obscure origin,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now?
Only the gruesome experiment gives us
the understanding that drives us
in the direction of our loving God.
So, how and what are we doing to
propagate it?
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the Hot Pursuit of the
Radical Love of God.
[¶ 00071:01_01_2024]
The best 'stuff' in Christianity is found through exploration not imposed by indoctrination. It is discovered for ourselves not inherited from others. Therefore, show us where to look; don't tell us what you found. Let us discover the truth for ourselves. Do not investigate for us. Let us do our own investigation. When we discover the truth for ourselves, we take ownership of it. The discovery of the truth for ourselves packs the strongest persuasive punch. It gives our rationality a powerful wallop.
We who read, write and think for ourselves reserve to ourselves the sovereignty of the thinking process. We refuse to surrender our intellectual independence to others.
The greater were the evils that we did to him, the more astonishing is the truth that his Father, our God, crowned him with the glorious crown of sweet forgiveness. We, the makers of his throne, are the unworthy beneficiaries of his coronation. We deserved punishment for taking from him his flesh and blood. Our God, however, did not give us what we deserved. He spared us what we were due.
We tortured and killed him. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. The evils that we did to Jesus are the throne that we built for him. The throne is the foil that highlighted and emphasized and intensified and magnified and amplified and accentuated and underlined the crown that Jesus won. He won the crown of forgiveness. We are the unworthy beneficiaries of Jesus' coronation. We deserved punishment for the evils that we did to Jesus. We deserved punishment for taking from him his flesh and bllod. Jesus, however, waived his right to justice, In lieu of punishment, Jesus forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45). The radical asymmetry between the throne and crown gobsmacks us. It kicks like a mule. It takes our breath away. Its impact knocks us off our horses (Acts 9:4-6).
The Superiority of Christianity
Christianity is a different religion - dare I say the
superior religion? - than the other religions because,
at its core, is the gruesome experiment
that we cruelly administered to Jesus
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
The gruesome experiment and its results are the
foundation on which the edifice of Christianity
is built.
The gruesome experiment and its results give the
children of Adam and Eve the fullness of truth
about the nature of God. Are you privy to
the gruesome experiment and its results? Do
you understand them well enough to talk about them?
What do they disclose to us about the love of God?
Note: You have not been told what we have found when
we looked at the gruesome experiment. You have
been told where to look. It is up to you to look in
order to figure things out for yourself. The ball
is in your court. What will you do with it?
Who does the investigation? Do we do the investigation ourselves? Or do we let others do the investigation for us? Do they tell us what they found or do they show us where to look? Is the methodology of religion indoctrination or exploration? Was the answer different before we learned to read, write and think for ourselves?
Exploration versus Indoctrination (00562)
Christianity is not about indoctrination.
Christianity is about exploration.
Show us where to look; do not tell us what you found!
Surely, a Church with more than two thousand years
of experience knows where the treasure is buried.
Let us discover the mystery of God for ourselves.
Do not deprive us of the joy of discovery.
Christians are prospectors who are exploring reality
for the secrets of God.
Christianity is an
Easter egg hunt.
In each egg is a secret about God
(Matthew 18:32)
(Mark 10:15).
Christans are treasure hunters in hot pursuit of the
love of God.
They make themslves known in the world because
they are the children
of Adam and Eve who ask, seek and knock
(Matthew 7:7-8).
They are inquisitive about God.
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[¶ 00562 Updated: 07_22_2024]
Only close encounters with the love of God make a Christian - nothing else. Love begets love - only love begets love. So, Jesus loved us first. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19).
Binding us in an inflexible straight jacket of Procrustean rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole does not beget love and, hence, does not make a Christian. The goal is conversion not compliance. Compliance is not conversion. When our focus is on an inflexible straight jacket of Procrustean rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole, we miss the greater things - the better things. We miss the point of Christianity (Luke 10:38-42). "... Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41-42). Only love begets love. So, Jesus, the expert in the science of cause and effect, did not regulate us first. He loved us first. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19) (Matthew 22:37-39).
The radical love of God is the pot of gold at the end
of the rainbow
(Matthew 13:44-46)
(Genesis 9:11-17).
Jesus is the rainbow
(John 14:6).
Our God set the rainbow high in the clouds in the
position of prominence on the flagpole of
Christianity in a flamboyant public display of affection
for the children of Adam and Eve
(Genesis 9:16-17)
(Numbers 21:6-9)
(John 3:14-18).
At the foot of the rainbow, the duality of
the Crucifixion is buried. The duality of
the Crucifixion is the pot of Christian gold.
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[¶ 00601 Updated: 08_05_2024]
Adversity is the time that calls out for heroic acts of love. Adversity is our opportunity to love as Jesus loved us. It is a time to fulfill our potential. It is our time to rise to the level of our loving God.
Two Parts of a single unit of apocalyptic
revelation
His ignominious defeat and his glorious victories are
the two parts of a single unit of apocalyptic
revelation.
Together as a team, they revealed
the mystery of God to us.
They are the vehicle that carries
the apocalyptic revelation about God to us.
They are the odd couple
of epiphany.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
Déjà vu (00480)
The most Holy Eucharist is a replay of the interrogation
that took place between divinity and humanity
during the Crucifixion.
'Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself!
Friend or foe?'
With lash, thorns, nails and cross, we interrogated
Jesus. We gave him the third degree. We put him
to the test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
We tortured and killed him. We made him suffer and
die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on
a sharp hook where he hung until death.
The brutality of our interrogation was off the charts.
It was gruesome.
Yet, Jesus did not answer the evils that we did to him
in kind.
He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did not require
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Our interrogation drew a radically asymmetric answer from
him.
He forgave us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
The asymmetry of his answer is so radical
that it gobsmacks us.
It kicks like a mule.
Its impact knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
The greater were the evils that we did to him,
the greater is our astonishment at the radical
asymmetry of his answer to them.
Wow!
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[¶ 00480 Updated: 06_08_2024]
The serpent never spent a penny of the coin of flesh and blood to purchase anything for us. He never picked up a tab for us. Yet, our God did. He spent all of his limited human resources for us. He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself. He spent all of the coin of his flesh and blood to purchase the blessing of sweet forgiveness for us. Jesus became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. The serpent never condescended to do likewise. When he offered Adam and Eve an apple, he offered them God's apple not even his own. And he dressed the apple in a lie.
And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred (Mark 4:20) Although Jesus said that the fruits generated will not be uniform, some clerics insist on uniformity. They strip the Catholic brand from anyone who does not bring forth fruit an hundredfold. They welcome only fully fledged Catholics into their Churches with no Catholic feathers missing and none out of place. Dogs and sinners are peremptorily excluded. Jesus forgave his enemies who tortured and killed him - who made him suffer and die - who impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. They don't. They are stricter than Procrustes. They cashier the offender in a public ceremony of degradation depriving him of the perquisites of a Catholic. They relabel the offender as someone inferior - someone less - no better than dirt.
Jesus spent the coin of his flesh and blood to purchase for us the gift of forgiveness, and, by forgiving us, ipso facto, he gave us a second chance - a do-over.
THE BATTERING RAM OF LOVE KNOCKS DOWN THE GATES OF HELL
AND DEPETRIFIES STONY HEARTS
The gates of hell
(Matthew 16:18)
protect
stony hearts
(Ezekiel 36:26)
from the process of
depetrification.
To fleshify
stony hearts
(Ezekiel 36:26),
the gates of hell
(Matthew 16:18)
must first
be stormed and deposed.
Love performs a dual purpose.
Love is the battering ram
that knocks down the gates of hell.
It is the sledgehammer that shatters the gates of
hell into pieces
(Jeremiah 23:29).
Love is also the agent of depetrification.
What a marvellous instrument love is!
Jesus recruited, trained and equipped an army,
his Church, with the battering ram of love
to punch through the gates of hell
(Matthew 16:18)
so love can reach stony hearts and
accomplish the process of
depetrification. Depetrified, the hearts of the
children of Adam and Eve
".. bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some an hundred"
(Mark 4:20.)
Jesus bet the farm - all of his limited human resources -
that his public display of
affection for the children of Adam and Eve
on and about the flagpole of
Christianity
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
would rescue us from the dire predicament that we
experience as we make our escape
through the hostile desert of godlessness.
The tug of the Holy Spirit
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS TUGGING AT OUR SOULS.
The curious follow the tug back to its source.
Along the way, the curious are exploring the mystery,
majesty and magnificence of God. In the process of
exploration, God transforms us. Unless we explore
the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God,
we cannot be transformed.
We are invited to participate in The Greatest Adventure
of our lives
Jesus is God's personal invitation to the children of
Adam and Eve to depart with him on the greatest
adventure of our lives.
The adventure doesn't start tomorrow
(Luke 9:59-60).
The adventure doesn't start posthumously.
The adventure starts now.
The adventure is a journey filled with
unexpected delights.
Beneficiary versus Benefactor
We want to become the beneficiaries of the love of God.
We complain vociferously when we are denied
the slightest benefit. We cry like children at our
deprivation. God, however, has something else in mind
for us.
God wants us to
become benefactors like him. He wants us to distribute
the fruits of love to the children of Adam and
Eve.
He wants us to experience for ourselves the joy
of being God-like.
Focus, therefore, on your status as a benefactor.
Perfect it.
Superstardom - becoming heroic artists of love
Do you understand Christianity? Do you understand
what Christianity is all about? Do you get it?
Christianity is about love.
Christianity is not normative - a byzantine
straight jacket of rules, regulations,
red tape and rigmarole. Beware coloring book
Christians who try to degrade,
infantilize
["...the one duty of the multitude is to allow
themselves to be led, and, like a docile flock,
to follow the Pastors"]
(1906 “Vehementer Nos“)
and reduce Christianity
into a small, enervated religion - who try to
take away from us Christianity's most powerful
weapon - the battering ram of love.
The gates of hell (Matthew 16:18) protect
stony hearts (Ezekiel 36:26) from the process of
depetrification.
To fleshify
stony hearts (Ezekiel 36:26),
the gates of hell (Matthew 16:18) must first
be stormed and deposed.
Love performs a dual purpose.
Love is the battering ram
that knocks down the gates of hell.
Love also is the agent of depetrification.
What a marvellous instrument love is!
Jesus recruited, trained and equipped an army,
his Church, with the battering ram of love
to punch through the gates of hell (Matthew 16:18)
so love can reach stony hearts and
accomplish the process of
depetrification.
Jesus bet the farm - all of his limited human resources -
that his public display of
affection for the children of Adam and Eve
on and about the flagpole of
Christianity
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
would rescue us from the dire predicament that we
experience passing
through the hostile desert of godlessness.
Coloring book Christians, however,
sabotage Christianity.
They undermine it.
They are a fifth column in league, knowingly or not,
with the enemy.
Coloring book Christianity treats the children of
Adam and Eve as wayward infants instead of
as mature adults who can read, write
and think for themselves.
Coloring book Christianity gives us crayons and a
coloring book whose drawings are divided into parts
and numbered. They admonishes us to follow the numbers,
to color within the lines,
or, to go to hell.
Coloring book Christians grow apoplectic when we
color outside the lines or use a crayon that
does not match the number on
their infantile picture of Christianity.
Christianity, however, is not coloring book.
Christianity is creative.
What follows is a fair and accurate
description of Creative Christianity.
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to put on
a flamboyant demonstration of our superpower.
The Son of God became a superstar - a giant of love -
to show us - not to merely tell us - that we, too,
ordinary humans, can become godlike superstars.
Like God, we can become creators of
the sweet fruits of love.
Creating the sweet fruits of love is the superpower
that we have in common with our God.
We can become
prolific factories that dynamically mass produce
the sweet fruits of love
"out of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]"
(Luke 6:45)
"... some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some an hundred"
(Mark 4:20).
Christianity is creative. Jesus created a Masterpiece
of Love on the canvas of
life in the midst of adversity. By spending
the coin of his flesh and blood - all of his limited
human resources - Jesus became a heroic
artist of love.
We can too.
The love of our Creator for his creatures
gobsmacks us.
It kicks like a mule.
It takes our breath away.
It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Who can weather the intensity of the love of God when
it is focused on us?
His love for us is the most powerful force
in heaven and on earth.
The love of God gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to it,
the power to change the world.
Christianity, done right, confronts us with
the love of God.
Christianity, done right, makes us squirm under
the weight of the love of God.
The love of God challenges us to come
to grips with it - to
reconcile ourselves to it.
We are disobedient not irrational.
We can teach the children of Adam and Eve a stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole or we can love them. Which is the better methodology? Which impacts them the most? Which gets results? Remember the more time, energy and resources that we devote to one methodology, the less we have to devote to the other. Remember also that only love begets love. Rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole do not beget love. Compliance is not conversion.
“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”
“After contemplation, I conclude that this award which I receive on behalf of that movement is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time – the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression. Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts. Negroes of the United States, following the people of India, have demonstrated that nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation. Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”
Love does not require us to let the monsters rampage and run amuck in the Valley of Tears.
The Escape from godlessness to God
Our predicament in the Valley of Tears is dire.
After the catastrophe of Adam and Eve, we
were left to scavenge for scraps
in cutthroat competition with the other loveless
beasts among the ruins of Eden.
We want to escape our dire predicament.
God wants us to escape as well.
So, God built an escape route from godlessness
to paradise,
defined it with holy places,
made a map of them,
established a Church,
entrusted the map to the Church and
gave the leadership of the Church a mission.
Leadership's mission is to facilitate our escape -
not to frustrate it,
not to filter it and
not to foul it up.
Leadership is the grease for the wheels of the escape
not an obstacle in its way
(Isaiah 57:14).
If leadership gets in the way of the escape,
the children of Adam and Eve go around them,
over them, under them and through them.
Leadership make themselves irrelevant.
They are failures.
So, we pursue God without them.
The train of salvation uses different tracks.
A byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and
rigmarole is an ersatz Substitution for
Jesus' Public Display of
Affection
Jesus bet the farm - all of his limited human resources -
that his public display of
affection for the children of Adam and Eve
on and about the flagpole of
Christianity would impact us positively
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
It would rescue us from the dire predicament we
experience passing
through the hostile desert of godlessness.
The loveless bureaucrats of
official Christianity, however, think they can
substitute
a byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and
rigmarole for Jesus' public display of affection
and still have the same impact - without spending
any of their own limited human resources to boot.
Boy, are they mistaken!
There is no substitute for his public display of
affection. Because love is a function of its cost,
there is no substitute for his spending
all the coin of his flesh and blood.
Trying to do so presents a caricature
of Christianity - a tawdry, counterfeit imitation.
It presents a Frankenstein's monster of Christianity.
On the surface, it resembles real Christianity but,
underneath, it has an artificial heart.
Instead of being animated by love,
a loveless algorithm of rules, regulations,
red tape and rigmarole animates it.
Christianity is not defined by its byzantine code
of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole.
Christianity is defined by love.
We become Christian when we become
prolific factories that dynamically mass produce
the sweet fruits of love
"out of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]"
(Luke 6:45)
"... some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some an hundred"
(Mark 4:20).
We do not become Christrians by complying with a
byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and
rigmarole.Compliance is not conversion.
As are all of the children of Adam and Eve,
A Christian is known by his fruits
(Luke 6:43-45).
The business of Christianity is
the production of the sweet fruits of love.
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another“
(John 13:35)
(Matthew 22:36-40)
(1 John 4: 7-12).
Like God, a Christian is a creator of the sweet
fruits of love.
Creating the sweet fruits of love is the superpower
that a Christian has in common with God.
The 'business' of Christianity
We become Christian when we become
dynamic factories that mass produce
the sweet fruits of love
"out of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]"
(Luke 6:45)
"... some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some an hundred"
(Mark 4:20).
Compliance is not conversion. We do not become
Christrians by complying with an abstruse
codex of rules,
regulations, red tape and rigmarole.
A Christian is known by his fruits
(Luke 6:43-45)
as are all of the children of Adam and Eve.
Christianity is creative. It bears fruit.
Its business is
the production of the sweet fruits of love.
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another“
(John 13:35)
(Matthew 22:36-40)
(1 John 4: 7-12).
Like God, a Christian is a creator of the sweet
fruits of love.
Creating the sweet fruits of love is the power
that a Christian
has in common with God.
Creating an exhaustive list
of the sweet fruits of love,
publishing it to the children of Adam and Eve, and
exhorting them to comply with the items on the list
does not make a Christian.
The publication of a list of the sweet fruits that
an ideal Christian is expected to produce does
not make it so.
Highlighting key items on the list in lurid
colors does not make the list
any more transformative.
Bean counters like lists. Bureaucrats like lists.
Fastidious compliance officials like lists.
Listmakers like lists.
However, it takes more than a list - much
more - to make a Christian.
Listmakers do not make Christians.
Lovers make Christians.
The cause of a Christian is love.
Are you a lover or a listmaker?
For Christianity to prosper, normative, listmaking
Christianity must give way to creative, lovemaking
Christianity. Prosperity requires an evoluton
from listmaking to lovemaking Christianity.
To make a Christian, it is first necessary to
fill our hearts to the brim with love
(Luke 6:45)
(Luke 17:20-21).
Love is the raw material of production.
Because only love begets love, filling our hearts
with love requires that we be loved.
This is why Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
No Jesus; no love; no sweet fruits.
The love of God
(1 John 4:7-8)
is the agent that started the
depetrification our stony hearts and
launched the process of their fleshification
(Ezekiel 36:26).
By loving us first, Jesus jump-started the fueling of
our loveless hearts with love.
From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of
love
(Romans 5:5).
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
Love gives meaning to life.
Love is the syrup that sweetens the
insipidness of life.
A life without love is salt without flavor
(Matthew 5:13).
"Ye are the salt of the earth:
but if the salt have lost his savour,
wherewith shall it be salted?
it is thenceforth good for nothing,
but to be cast out,
and to be trodden under foot of men"
(Matthew 5:13).
Love is life in abundance
(John 10:10).
Love embellishes life.
Love is the treasure of Christianity.
Coloring Book Christianity
Beware coloring book Christianity -
a cartoonish caricature of Christianity -
a small, mechanistic, procrustean version of
Christianity.
Coloring book Christianity treats the children of
Adam and Eve as wayward infants instead of
as mature adults who can read, write
and think for themselves.
Coloring book Christianity gives us crayons and a
coloring book whose drawings are divided into parts
and numbered.
Coloring book Christianity admonishes
us to follow the numbers, to color within the lines,
or, to go to hell.
Coloring book Christians grow apoplectic when we
color outside the lines or use a crayon that
does not match the number on
their infantile picture of Christianity.
Creative Christianity vs. Normative Christianity
A Christianity that brings forth the sweet fruits of love
Jesus brought Creative Christianity from heaven to
earth. Christian bureaucrats, hostile to Creative
Christianity, downgraded and reduced it to Normative
Christianity.
The revolutionary breakthrough in life
happens when Christianity
evolves from normative Christianity into creative
Christianity.
Normative Christianity gives us crayons and
a coloring book whose drawings
are divided into parts and numbered together with
the admonition to follow the numbers,
to color between the lines
or go to hell.
Creative Christianity is the version of
Christianity in which the
children of Adam and Eve become dynamic and
prolific
factories that mass
produce the sweet fruits of love.
Jesus launched
the revolution. He made the breakthrough.
He set the ball rolling. He initiated
the process of our evolution.
He had high confidence in the fundamental
law of cause and
effect that holds love begets love - only love
begets love.
While we were unrepentant
(Matthew 22:10)
sinners
(Romans 5:8)
(Matthew 7:6)
with his blood still
on our hands, Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of
love
(Romans 5:5).
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another“
(John 13:35)
(Matthew 22:36-40)
(1 John 4: 7-12).
The tidal wave of creative Christianity that Jesus
released into the Valley of Tears is running its
course through the children of Adam and Eve. It
is depetrifying stony hearts and fleshifying them
(Ezekiel 36:26).
The love of God is the agent of our depetrification.
Normative Christianity focuses on effects; creative Christianity focuses on causes. Normative Christianity has made a list of the thoughts, words and deeds that it expects a Christian to produce, publishes the list, and expects unquestioning compliance and homogeneous conformity from all those who claim to be a Christian. Creative Christianity, on the other hand, does not specify specific results. Instead, Creative Christianity tries to fill hearts with love so "out of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]" (Luke 6:45) the sweet fruits of love will issue "... some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred" (Mark 4:20).
The Exigency of the Escape
To the lifeboats! To the lifeboats!
Abandon ship! Abandon ship!
Godlessness is a sinking ship
(Mark 4:35-39).
We are its passengers.
The Church is its crew.
God gave the Church a rescue mission.
However, the rescue mission that God gave the Church
is not to save the ship.
The rescue mission that God gave the Church is
to save the passengers.
To the lifeboats! To the lifeboats!
Abandon ship! Abandon ship!
IF THE EXIGENCY IS NOT FELT,
THE CHURCH IS NOT DOING A GOOD JOB.
What is the argument for the pursuit of God?
Are you an advocate for the pursuit of God? What is
your argument? Why ought we join the pursuit of God?
Give us a reason. Persuade us.
Rationality steers the ship.
The Bread of Life (John 6:25-59) emerged from the fiery oven of the Crucifixion having risen from the dead.
Glorious victory erupted from ignominious defeat. Jesus won his glorious victory by his radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. We deserved punishment for the evils that we did to him - for taking from him his flesh and blood (1 Peter 1:18-19). Justice demanded, at least, "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48). Jesus, however, waived his right to justice. He did not answer the evils that we did to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. He did not release the three-headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution from the dungeon of his broken heart to devour us. Instead, and to our surprise, he released the angel of forgiveness. He treated us differently than we treated him. The difference was radical.
The three details about the love of God that Jesus
revealed to the children of Adam and Eve
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
Jesus revealed three details about the love of God to
the children of Adam and Eve.
The apocalyptic revelation was
not told to us. It was shown to us. The three details
emerged from the darkness into the light
via a demonstration - God done not God said.
In the
laboratory of the Crucifixion, we put Jesus to a
gruesome test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
The test verified the love of God.
"… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts,
And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven
for you, and pour down upon you
blessing without measure!"
(Malachi 3:10).
We tortured and killed him. We made him suffer and
die. We impaled
him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
The gruesome test revealed three aspects of
the love of God, 1)
its size, 2) its scope and 3) its duration.
The results of the test filled the earth with
the knowledge of God as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
The results of the test are the
Good News of Great Joy.
THE LOVE OF GOD, PRODIGIOUS IN SIZE,
INCLUSIVE IN SCOPE, AND IMMORTAL IN DURATION,
IS THE SWEET BAIT THAT JESUS CAST INTO THE HOSTILE
DESERT OF GODLESSNESS TO FISH FOR THE CHILDREN OF
ADAM AND EVE.
Are you privy to them?
All who claim to be Christian ought to be able to
articulate the results of the test.
Do you have the words?
Can you preach them?
Why the amalgamation?
On Holy Thursday
(Luke 22:14-20),
Jesus amalgamated his flesh, blood,
bread and wine into the most Holy Eucharist. Why? Why
the amalgamation? Why flesh? Why blood? Why bread?
Why wine? Hint: His choices have a greater purpose
than the mere display of his presence.
The most Holy Eucharist is a celebration!
The most Holy Eucharist is a celebration! However,
it is not a celebration of Jesus' presence. It is
a celebration of his glorious victory, a singular
event
in the impactful life of Jesus many magnitudes
and beatitudes greater than his
presence.
Indeed,
he is present. But his presence is incidental to
his glorious victory.
We are not celebrating his real presence hidden under
the recondite mask of bread and wine. We are
celebrating
Jesus' greatest accomplishment while he was with us,
his magnum opus - an actual event into which Jesus
invested all of his limited human resources, that is,
all of the coin of his flesh and blood.
Singers are known by their songs;
artists are known by their art;
trees are known by their fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8);
and storytellers by their stories -
not by their presence.
We go to a concert to hear a singer sing or
a band play not to see them standing mute on a stage.
Their performance, not their presence, draws us
to them.
So, too, it is with Jesus.
Jesus is no different.
Jesus, the Word of God,
(John 1:1),
the consumate storyteller, tells us the story of his
glorious victory in the most Holy Eucharist.
His glorious
victory is recapitulated whenever a priest says a
Mass. His enemies took from him his flesh and blood.
Jesus, however, did not give them exactly what
they took. He transformed the flesh and blood of
sacrifice into the bread and wine of forgiveness.
Jesus made a substitution. He tweaked his
flesh and blood. He had announced the
substitution at the Last Supper.
We approach the altar for flesh and blood.
We leave the altar with bread and wine.
Sacrifice
is followed by forgiveness.
This is the holy sequence of events that revealed
God to us.
glorious victory erupted from
ignominious defeat as the dawn erupts from
the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Instead of giving his enemies the punishment that they
justly deserved for taking his flesh and blood,
Jesus blessed them with the priceless gift
of forgiveness.
His enemies did not deserve it, but Jesus gave the
gift of forgiveness to them anyway.
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Jesus satisfied the hunger of his enemies with bread,
quenched their thirst with wine and
filled their bellies with fellowship.
He invited his enemies to take a seat with him at
the family table and to dine with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort of the family tent.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Who does this? Who treats their torturers and
executioners in such a kind manner besides our
God? Who is equal to him? Who includes not just their
friends within the scope of their love but also
their enemies as well?
Our God engaged in this
counterintuitive behavior because he operates
according to the principle that only love begets
love. In this way, Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Jesus took the initiative.
Jesus threw the first punch notwithstanding the
fact that a "punch of forgiveness" is
counter-intuitive, unexpected and highly unorthodox.
Jesus did not wait for our conversion to forgive us;
he forgave us to bring about our conversion.
By loving us first, Jesus jump started the process
of our conversion. He hit us with the defibrillator
paddles of love. From Jesus' heart, our hearts
receive a transfusion of
love
(Romans 5:5).
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
The operating system of Christianity
versus its applications
Love is the operating system of Christianity.
Love is Christianity's high ground - its position
of superiority.
From the reservoir of its operating system, love flows
into its applications.
Love is intrinsic to the Christian operating
system and to all Christian applications.
Love is Christianity's sine qua non.
Without love, Christianity does not exist.
Loveless Christianity is a fiction.
It is a caricature of Christianity - a tawdry,
counterfeit imitation.
It is an oxymoron.
It is an ersatz Christianity, a Frankenstein's
monster of Christianity. On the surface, it resembles
real Christianity but, underneath, it has an artificial
heart. Instead of being animated by love, a loveless
algorithm of rules, regulations, red tape and
rigmarole animates it.
The operating system is the foundation of Christianity. Get the foundation right and everything else falls together. Get it wrong and everything else falls apart.
The energy that powers the
pursuit of God is the love of God
The pursuit of God ebbs and flows according
to the energy that its engine supplies it.
The energy that drives the pursuit of God
is the love of God.
The pursuit of God,
however, is currently sputtering and stalling.
The pursuit is flagging.
Fewer and fewer of the children of Adam and Eve
are going to Mass. Nobody goes to Confession.
Vocations are drying up. Marriages are crumbling.
Churches are withering and dying.
The only sacrament holding its own is
the sacrament of extreme unction and
this is so only because the dying do not have
much of a choice.
The trend is downward and accelerating.
The thermometer that gauges the temperature of
the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity.
By this measure, the patient is moribund -
a few breaths away from death.
Why the decline in the pursuit of God?
The engine room of Christianity is empty.
The Church has failed to staff the engine room.
Nobody is working in the engine room.
Nobody is tending to the engine.
Unless and until we stop neglecting
the engine of Christianity,
the pursuit of God will continue
to decline precipitously.
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(00517)
[¶ 00519 Updated: 07_05_2024a]
"Brothers and sisters: Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet, " and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law" (Romans 13: 8-10).
The path of our salvation from the Incarnation
to the Resurrection (00668)
Limited human resources not unlimited divine
resources paid the cost of our rescue.
Evils were driven out of heaven and precipitously
cast down
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16).
Evils were evicted but not defeated.
The war against evils was incomplete - unfinished.
The coup de grâce had yet to fall.
Only the venue had changed from up there to down here.
The children of Adam and Eve, however,
had no idea how to
wage and win the war against evils. They were
ignorant of strategy and tactics.
God dispatched Jesus from heaven not to tell them
but to show them.
His mission was to demonstrate
to them what victory looks like by winning victory
himself.
Jesus, however, did not invade the hostile desert of
godlessness at the head of a powerful
army of angels
(Matthew 26:53),
riding a tank and
armed to the teeth.
He had a different, more subtle methodology
than the use of brute force.
His methodology was radically unconventional.
He disarmed.
Defortification on the brink of war is so contrary
to human logic that it boggles the mind.
What rational human general does this?
Even a military novice would reject a strategy
of disarmament. Only an insane combattant would rig
himself for defeat, right?
But not our God.
In the Incarnation, Jesus made himself vulnerable.
He doffed his invincible
armor of divinity, donned our frail uniform of
flesh and blood and, dressed like us, joined us
in the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war
against evils.
Jesus became one of us - an equal to us in our
humanity - a partner with us in our suffering.
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Vulnerabilty made Jesus' ignominious defeat
possible. ignominious defeat opened the door
for his glorious victories. It set the
stage. It was the gateway through which our salvation
passed.
The Incarnation created two powers upon the earth
that had never existed, one awful and one awesome.
It gave us the power to
do evils to the Son of God and it gave the Son of God
the power to answer them. Both powers were novel and
extraordinary.
We had put ourselves into a jam. We had fallen
from the sublime level of our loving God
to the degenerate level of lovelessness,
the lowly level where
loveless beasts scavenge for scraps in cutthroat
competition against one another among the
ruins of Eden.
Our predicament was dire.
We needed rescuing.
However, the cost of rescue was not zero. In fact,
the cost of rescue was exorbitant. Who would pay it?
We couldn't afford it. It was beyond our willingness
and ability to pay.
So we made our God pay for our rescue
(1 Peter 1:18-19).
We stuck our God with the bill.
Furthermore, funding for our rescue did not come
from unlimited divine resources.
Funding came from limited human resources.
So, in the Incarnation,
our God provided the funding. He bankrolled
the rescue effort
with flesh and blood.
Flesh and blood endowed Jesus with the wherewithal
to pay the cost of our rescue.
Furthermore, flesh and blood were
the bait that initiated the sequence of rescue events.
We took the bait as a fish takes a worm. We
exercised the power to do evils to Jesus.
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
In so doing, we enabled Jesus to answer the
evils what we had done to him. His answers
generated the gravity of salvation.
The gravity of his two answers draw us closer to
our God and back to our home with him in paradise.
Our God reached into his own
pocket - deep into his own pocket -
to pay the cost of our rescue with
the coin of his flesh and blood.
He exhausted all of his limited human resources.
He emptied his purse.
He spent it all.
He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never paid more for anything else!
"Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13).
We deserved punishment for the evils that
we did to him - for taking from him his flesh
and blood
(1 Peter 1:18-19).
Justice demanded
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus did not care about getting justice for himself.
He waived his right to justice.
He did not answer the evils that we did to him in
kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
His answer was radically asymmetrical to the evils
that we did to him.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Jesus gave us two answers to the evils that we
did to him not one.
He forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
And he escaped from the dead. Nobody escapes from the
dead. Jesus did. And he promised to help us make
our escape as well
(John 14:1-3).
His answers to the evils that we did to him
illuminated the darkness of our
understanding
of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
They upgraded our understanding of God.
The upgrade
gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
His two answers confront us with the love of God.
They challenge
us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves
to it. We squirm under the weight of the love of God.
It overwhelms us.
[Questions: What is your plan to escape from death?
Do you have a plan? Or will you try to wing it?
Will you try and, perhaps, fail to blaze your
own trail or will you follow the trail that Jesus
blazed for us? Will you allow Jesus to help you? Or
would you rather sink?
Peter let Jesus help him. He did not shrug him off
(Matthew 14:30-31).
Will you?]
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[¶ 00668 Updated: 09_05_2024]
Love done; not love said
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth not to tell
us that God loves us but to demonstrate God's love
for us - God done not God said. He was dispatched to
make the love of God
concrete - tangible.
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
Radical forgiveness was the demonstration -
a demonstration that Jesus paid for out of his own
pockets with the coin of his flesh and blood.
Jesus spared no expense.
He spent all of his limited human resources. He kept
not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never spent more for anything else.
The more of the coin of his flesh and blood that
Jesus spent, the greater is our astonishment at the
radical profligacy of his love for the children
of Adam and Eve.
"Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13).
We put Jesus to the test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
in a gruesome experiment
that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of
the Crucifixion.
"… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts,
And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven
for you, and pour down upon you
blessing without measure!"
(Malachi 3:10).
Jesus revealed the results of the test.
The results of the test filled the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Are you privy to the results of the test?
Do you preach them?
The results of the test are the
Good News of Great Joy.
All who claim to be Christian ought to be able to
articulate the results of the test.
Do you have the words?
A little Faith Goes a long way
"But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid;
and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord,
save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his
hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O
thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou
doubt"
(Matthew 14:30-31)?
The most common
interpretation of
Matthew 14:30-31
is a condemnation of a lack of faith.
Condemnation. however, misses the point.
The better interpretation is that Jesus stands ready,
willing and able to help. He
desires to lend us a hand if we have but a modicum of
faith. Peter had too little faith to save
himself; but, he had enough faith to turn to Jesus
for help -
"Lord, save me".
Jesus will not let us sink.
As Jesus stretched out his hand and caught
Peter, he will do the same for us -
"immediately".
"Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe,
all things are possible to him that believeth.
And straightway the father of the child cried out,
and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine
unbelief"
(Mark 9:23-24).
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief:
for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a
grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this
mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it
shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible
unto you
(Matthew 17:20).
Will the God who paid such an exorbitant price to purchase for us the blessing of forgiveness ever let us down? Will he ever disappoint (Romans 8:31)? Will he ever betray us? Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid (Psalm 27)? What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight (Psalm 37:4)!
The love of God gobsmacks us. It kicks like a mule. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). It is the most powerful force in heaven and on earth. It gives Christianity its magic, Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists, who exclusively devote themselves to it, the power to change the world. Christianity, done right, confronts us with the love of God. Christianity, done right, makes us squirm under the weight of the love of God. The love of God challenges us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves to it.
What conclusion fits with the results of the gruesome experiment (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20) that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion? “LET US TEST HIM WITH INSULT AND TORTURE, THAT WE MAY FIND OUT HOW GENTLE HE IS AND MAKE TRIAL OF HIS FORBEARANCE" (Wisdom 2: 17-20). Can you figure it out?
Ignominious defeat was the gateway to glorious victories
Ignominious defeat was the toxic roadblock that stood between Jesus
and his glorious victories.
It was the obstacle that stood in the way of Jesus'
attempt to rescue us from our dire predicament
in the Valley of Tears. To get us out of our jam,
Jesus needed to pass through it. So he did.
Jesus ran the gauntlet.
Ignominious defeat enabled Jesus to reveal God to us.
Jesus revealed God to us by reluctantly
(Matthew 26:39)
submitting himself to the gruesome experiment
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
that we cruelly administered to him
in the laboratory of
the Crucifixion.
“LET US TEST HIM WITH INSULT AND TORTURE, THAT WE MAY
FIND OUT HOW GENTLE HE IS AND MAKE TRIAL OF HIS
FORBEARANCE"
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
The igmonious defeat that Jesus suffered on the
road to his glorious victories is the verification
of the genuineness, size, scope and intransigence
of God's love for us. It is also the foil that
highlighted and emphasized and intensified and
magnified and amplified and accentuated and
underlined Jesus' glorious victories.
Additional advice for the Evangelist (00594)
Show the flag! Rally 'round the bipolar Cross!
Propagate the meaning of the Cross of Christ
to every nook and cranny in the Valley of Tears
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
His ignominious defeat was a necessary stop on the
road to his two glorious victories.
It set the stage for them.
His ignominious defeat was the foil that
highlighted and emphasized and intensified and
magnified and amplified and accentuated and
underlined Jesus' glorious victories. Without
his ignominious defeat, his glorious victories
would not have been possible.
The ignominious defeat that Jesus suffered on the
road to his glorious victories is the verification
of the genuineness, size, scope and intransigence
of God's love for us. It authenticated God's love
for us. Moreover, it confirmed the power of God.
Nobody rises from the dead. Jesus did.
Jesus confirmed the paradox that death is real
but is not real.
Close your eyes, clench your teeth and
hold your breath until it passes.
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[¶ 00594 Updated: 08_04_2024]
Paying the cost of the purchase
Note: One of the two victories that erupted from his
ignominious defeat was paid for by drawing upon his
limited human resources.
One of the two victories that erupted from his
ignominious defeat was paid for by drawing upon his
unlimited divine resources.
The cost of paying for a blessing from unlimited
divine resources is trivial compared to paying
the cost from limited human resources. Paying
the cost by exhausting all of the coin of one's
flesh and blood is far from trivial. It is exorbitantly
expensive.
The God of the Christian
A caution to our curious readers who dare to approach
the God who loves them: approach worthily
(1 Corinthians 11:27-29)
-
approach with fear and trembling
(Philippians 2:12).
"... Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from
off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest
is holy ground"
(Exodus 3:5)!
The glorious victory of the humanity of Jesus. This
glorious victory was won in the process of exhausing
all of his limited human resources.
The God of the Christian is the Artist who created
the Masterpiece of Love on the canvas of life
while being squeezed in the grip of adversity in
mortal combat with the monster of the Crucifixion.
Embellishing the canvas of life with love
in the midst of adversity was Jesus' magnum opus
- his greatest achievement.
The God of the Christian is the God who gave us a
radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we
did to him. He did
not
answer the evils that we did to him in kind.
He did
not
give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did
not
require
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5:38-48).
The God of the Christian
forgave us for the evils that we did to him.
The God of the Christian is the God who refused a
demotion. Evils tried to dethrone Jesus.
Evils offered Jesus a demotion. Evils tried to
dislodge Jesus from the sublime level of our
loving God and cast him down, as Adam and Eve were
cast down, into catastrophe, to the degenerate level
of the loveless beasts who scavenge for scraps in
cutthroat competition with the other loveless beasts
among the ruins of Eden. Jesus refused the reduction
in his dignity
(Matthew 5:38-48).
Jesus declined
the demotion. He was not dislodged. He clung to his
love for us, held tight and refused to let go.
The God of the Christian is the God who
blessed us with the gift
of forgiveness instead of giving us the punishment
that we justly deserved for taking from Jesus
his flesh and blood.
The God of the Christian is the God who keeps not
just his family and friends within the scope of his
love but his enemies as well.
The God of the Christian is the God who gives his
enemies
a mulligan -
a do-over -
a second chance -
a fresh start -
a clean slate -
despite the evils that they do to him. His enemies
made themselves ineligible to receive the love of God
because they took from Jesus his flesh and blood.
Jesus reversed their ineligibility by blessing them
with forgiveness.
The God of the Christian is the God who loves us
even though we
tortured and killed him, even though we made him
suffer and die, even though we
impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on
a sharp hook where he hung until death.
The God of the Christian is the God whose love for us
did not fade as we tortured Jesus and did not die
when we killed him. He is the God whose love for us
survived the evils that we did to him.
The God of the Christian is the profligate God who
paid an
exorbitant price not
from his unlimited divine
resources but from his limited human resources to
purchase for us the blessing of forgiveness.
He paid all of the coin of his flesh and blood.
He emptied his purse.
He invested it all.
He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never paid more for anything else!
"Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13).
The God of the Christian is the God who keeps the
dial that controls his love for us in his hands not
ours, sets the dial to the highest degree and locks
it in place so the evils that we do to him do not
budge it.
The God of the Christian is the God whose most Sacred
Heart is filled to the brim with a barnfire of love
that the evils we did to Jesus did not extinguish
nor reduce in intensity by the slightest degree.
The glorious victory of the divinity of Jesus. This
glorious victory was won by drawing upon
his unlimited divine resources.
The God of the Christian is the Houdini who escaped from
the dead. Nobody escapes from the dead. Jesus did.
[Note: Houdini tried but failed. Jesus succeeded.]
The love of God gobsmacks us.
It kicks like a mule.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
It is the most powerful force in heaven and
on earth. It gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to it,
the power to change the world.
Christianity, done right, confronts us with
the love of God.
Christianity, done right, makes us squirm under
the weight of the love of God.
The love of God challenges us to come
to grips with it - to
reconcile ourselves to it.
Can you not read the writing on the wall (Daniel 5:6-8)? During what part of Jesus' life did he win his glorious victories? Contemplate day and night what Jesus did during the short segment of his life between his ignominious defeat and his glorious victories. Here Jesus revealed the potential of humanity and the potential of divinity. Here he showed us the truth about humanity and divinity not in words but in a demonstration of them - God done not God said. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). What Jesus did during the short segment of his life between his ignominious defeat and his glorious victories is the gravamen of Christianity. Everything else is filler - obiter dicta - beside the point. Although what Jesus said and did during the other segments of his life are obiter dicta, they are not dross, just not as valuable as the apocalyptic revelations that Jesus made on the segment of his life between his ignominious defeat and his glorious victories.
What is the pizzazz of Christianty?
What is the pizzazz of Christianty? The pizzazz of
Christianty is the God who continues to love us
despite the evils that we did to Jesus.
Wow! What love! Who is his equal in his radical love
for the children of Adam and Eve? Who can compare?
The pizzazz of Christianty is
not
the Christian Church nor its byzantine codex
of rules,
regulations, red tape or rigmarole.
The pizzazz of Christianty is
not
the protocols for the
pursuit
of God.
The pizzazz of Christianty is
the quarry
being pursued.
Instead of giving us the punishment that we justly deserved for taking his flesh and blood from him, Jesus blessed us with the gift of forgiveness. Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). Isn't forgiveness one of the sweet fruits of love? Is not a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) (Matthew 3:8)?
Get the foundation right and everything else falls together. Get it wrong and everything else falls apart. What is the foundation of Christianity? The foundation of Christianity is the love of God verified on the battlefield of the Crucifixion. “LET US TEST HIM WITH INSULT AND TORTURE, THAT WE MAY FIND OUT HOW GENTLE HE IS AND MAKE TRIAL OF HIS FORBEARANCE" (Wisdom 2: 17-20). The test irreutably verified the genuineness of the love of God and proved, beyond all doubt, that the love of God was radical in the extreme - radical in size, radical in scope and radical in intransigence. The test filled the Cross of Christ with meaning (1 Corinthians 1:17). Rally 'round the Cross!
More of the love of God; not less. More revelation; less regulation. More theology; less morality. More of the operating system of Christianity; fewer of the applications. More of the pizzazz of Christianity; less of the nitty-gritty. Always. No exceptions.
What is the relationship between the most Holy Eucharist and the verification of the love of God? What is the relationship between the most Holy Eucharist and the Resurrection? The Verification of the love of God and the Resurrection are the two glorious victories that erupted from Jesus' ignominious defeat. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Isaiah 9:2) (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3). The two victories illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in glorious bursts of epiphany. The two victories upgraded our understanding of God. The ignominious defeat from which they erupted is the foil that highlighted and emphasized and intensified and magnified and amplified and accentuated and underlined Jesus' glorious victories.
Forgiveness was made tangible under the form of bread and wine. Jesus satisfied our hunger and quenched our thirst with forgiveness. He filled our bellies with bread and wine even though we made ourselves ineligible for God's hospitality when we took from Jesus his flesh and blood. Forgiveness reversed our ineligibility.
The Church has mismanaged its portfolio
The Church has mismanaged its portfolio.
It is out of balance.
The Church has invested too much into
the protocols for the
pursuit
of God and not enough into
the quarry
being pursued.
They have become hackneyed - trite.
The Church has allowed the ratio between the
inspiration and the whirl - the substance
and the proceedure - to get out of whack.
The ratio is lopsided. The Church needs to
rebalance its portfolio. It needs to get the
ratio under control.
Why does the ?
What inspires him? Why does a Christian whirl from Mass, to Confession, and to the other holy places that define the escape route of the new exodus from godlessness to paradise? What is a Christian's inspiration?
Answer this question and solve the problem of a declining Church.
The Church has a big problem.
The thermometer that gauges the temperature of the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity. By this measure, the patient is moribund - a few breaths away from death. Fewer and fewer Christians are whirling
.
Moreover, the whirling of those who whirl has become perfunctory - cursory. They just go through the motions. They whirl, but, they no longer know why they whirl. What was once inspired has become a meaningless, trite routine.
The inspiration that generates the whirl is fading from our understanding. No inspiration; no whirl.
The blame belongs to the Church. The Church has let us down. The Church has allowed the nitty-gritty of Christianity to dilute its pizzazz.
The Church has put the cart before the horse - the whirl before the inspiration. Too much of the Church's energy, effort and resources has been allocated to the whirl and not nearly enough to the inspiration. The ratio between whirl and inspiration is out of whack. Only by refocusing our attention on the inspiration can we reinvigorate the whirl.
What is the pizzazz of Christianity?
What is the inspiration that causes us to whirl?
The pizzazz and the inspiration are found in the
answer to the compound question,
'Who is God and how do we
know it?'.
Therefore, please introduce us to your God -
not to your Church -
not to your byzantine codex of rules, regulations,
red tape and rigmarole.
First, introduce us to the God who revealed himself
to us on the road from the Crucifixion to the
Resurrection - to the God who loves us even
though we tortured and killed him.
Tell us about him. Give us the details.
'Who are you, God? Identify yourself.
Friend or foe?'
Then, together, we can figure out the best way
to pursue him. Inspiration first; whirl second.
The artistry of Jesus
A Christian is a connoisseur of the masterpiece of love
that the artistry of Jesus created on the canvas
of life despite the putrid dunghill of evils
in which we baptized him.
Embellishing the canvas of life with love
in the midst of adversity was Jesus' magnum opus
- his greatest achievement.
The creation of the masterpiece surprised us
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
It defied the science of cause and effect.
It was an aberration.
Evils poison the beautiful flower of love.
Love does not grow in the toxic soil of evils.
It is a sterile matrix - utterly barren -
hostile in the extreme. So when love
in the form of forgiveness germinated, sprouted
and grew, we beheld a miracle.
It was completely unexpected.
The greater were the evils that we did to Jesus,
the more glorious is his masterpiece.
The gruesome ordeal that we put Jesus through did
not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us
in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity
by even the slightest degree. It did not
stop Jesus from continuing to love us
nonetheless.
"[O]ut of the good treasure of [his] heart"
(Luke 6:45),
Jesus produced for us one of the sweet fruits
of love, to wit, forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
Through his bloody wounds, Jesus released the angel
of forgiveness into the Valley of Tears in lieu of
the three headed monster of revenge, retaliation and
retribution.
Not only did his life survive the evils that we did to
him, but so did his love for us.
From the masterpiece of love that Jesus created on
the canvas of life, we discovered that
the dial that controls God's love for us is
in his hands not ours.
Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and
is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to the Son of God
could budge it.
What was the theory that drove Jesus to
inject himself into our world?
Jesus subscribed to a theory.
It was a radical, revolutionary,
paradigm shifting theory.
Jesus personified, endorsed, practiced
and championed
an ideology of love.
The theory to which
Jesus subscribed was that love begets love - only
love begets love.
Jesus was so confident in his theory that he invested
all of his limited human resources
to prove its validity.
He spent all of the coin of his flesh and blood.
He kept not a penny in the bank
in reserve for himself. The size of his investment is
a good indication of the size of his confidence in
the theory.
His confidence in the theory and his desire
to refine our lives with love induced him
to subject himself to a macabre test of
the theory's validity in mortal
combat with the monster of the Crucifixion.
To prove it,
Jesus tested the theory himself.
"Let us test him with insults and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is and
make trial of his forbearance" (Wisdom 2:19).
In the battle, Jesus deposited the truth about God
into his asymmetric answer
to the evils that we did to him.
His asymmetric answer was the repository of
Jesus' apocalyptic revelation about the
nature of God.
By virtue of the asymmetry of his answer,
Jesus loved us first.
"We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19).
Jesus initiated the process of our salvation
by planting the seed of love in the toxic soil
of our stony hearts in order to depetrify them.
He began our rehabilitation.
His love for us jump started the process of
depetrification (Ezekiel 36:26).
Jesus started the process. However, He didn't finish it.
Our job is to finish it. Our job is to bring
the process to its conclusion.
Our job is to turn the spark of love that Jesus
ignited upon the earth into a conflagration.
“I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing” (Luke 12:49)!
Which is the better methodology? To confront the children of Adam and Eve with a stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole or to confront them with the love of God? Which is the better way to proceed? A stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole invites compliance. The love of God, however, invites conversion. The love of God challenges us to come to grips with it - to reconcile our lives to it. Remember, we are disobedient not irrational.
The Church is mismanaging its portfolio. It is out of balance. The Church has invested too much into the applications of Christianity and not enough into Christianity's operating system.
The operating system of Christianity versus its
applications
The
operating system of Christianity is the
knowledge of God that Jesus revealed to us
in the gruesome experiment that we administered to him
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
and to which he reluctantly submitted
(Matthew 26:39)
in the laboratory of
the Crucifixion.
The
applications of Christianity are
derived from its operating system.
We need a well-built operating system in order to get
well-built applications.
The operating system is the foundation of
Christianity.
Get the foundation right and everything
else falls together.
Get it wrong and everything else falls apart.
Propagation of the drop of love is the work of Christianity
The love of God is so powerful that
only one drop is enough for our salvation.
Jesus deposited a drop of the love of God
into the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of space and time.
Our job is to propagate the drop from
the point and place of its obscure origin,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
Our job is to turn the drop into a flood
(1 Thessalonians 3:12)
the raison d'être of his Church
The distribution of the love of God from the reservoir
in which Jesus deposited it,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now
is the raison d'être of his Church.
The serpent and his minions work in opposition
to the free flow of the love of God.
(See, the Distribution of the Love of God)
The Masterpiece of Love that Jesus created on the canvas of life in the midst of gruesome adversity was captured and preserved in amber for us. It was his Magnum Opus - his greatest achievement - his glorious victory. God established his Church to propagate the Masterpiece from the point and place of its obscure origin in the boondocks of time and space in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3), across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now (Matthew 24:14). Propagation is the primary purpose of his Church. His Church is in charge of logistics. The Magnum Opus does the work of converting the children of Adam and Eve. The Church does not. The Magnum Opus confronts us with the love of God. It challenges us to come to grips with it. We squirm under the weight of the love of God. Indifference - apathy - is no longer an option. The love of God compels us to reconcile ourselves to it.
Christianity, done right, is the religion that
challenges us, as Jesus did, to
come to grips with the love of God (00588)
Christianity, done right, clobbers us over the head
and about
the body with the love of God - a love
tested and verified in the gruesome maelstrom
of extreme adversity
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
Christianity, done right, confronts us with it.
It challenges us to come to grips
with it - to reconcile our lives to it.
His love for us is the most powerful force in heaven
and on earth.
It gobsmacks us.
It kicks like a mule.
It takes our breath away.
It knocks us off of our
horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Christianity, done right, makes us squirm under
the weight of the love of God.
The love of God gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to it,
the power to change the world.
Who can weather the intensity of the love of God when
it is focused on us?
If you are not confronting the children of Adam and Eve
with the love of God,
you are not doing Christianity.
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[¶ 00588 Updated: 08_01_2024]
Christianity is contemplated, spoken, written and done
in the language of love
Christianity is all about love. If we do not define
it in the language of love, we are not defining
Christianity. If we do not explain it
in the language of love. we are not explaining
Christianity. If we do not live our lives as words,
sentences and paragraphs in the
language of love, we are not Christians.
OUR GOD SEEDED THE HOSTILE DESERT OF GODLESSNESS
WITH COMMUNITIES OF LOVE
In another measure to mitigate our dire predicament,
God seeded the hostile desert of godlessness with
communities of love.
After Adam and Eve ran away from their home with God
in paradise, God did not abandon them or their
children in the hostile desert of godlessness.
He did not leave them alone. GOD SEEDED THE
HOSTILE DESERT OF GODLESSNESS WITH COMMUNITIES OF
LOVE. God endowed reality with naturally occurring
structures that encourage us to expand the scope,
the size and the duration of our love.
They are hospitable environments where love can
germinate, grow and prosper. They are schools of
love. Love begets love. Only love begets love.
Communities of love are designed to be places where
a reciprocity of love is felt - where love makes
itself tangible. In these structures, love is a
two way street.
“By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another“
(John 13:35) (Matthew 22:36-40) (1 John 4: 7-12).
The relationship of mother and child is an
example of a community of love. So is family.
So is marriage. So is Church.
How do we recognize the enemies of humanity and
humanity's friends? Our enemies make themselves
known by trying to destroy our communities of love.
They reveal themselves by their hostility to
communities of love. They try to eradicate
communities of love from the hostile desert of
godlessness. They try to turn paradise into a
parking lot (Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell).
Our friends, on the other hand, preserve, protect and
promote communities of love.
What are the Two sticks that Jesus rubbed together
to ignite our understanding of God?
Jesus pitched his tent among us
in the godless wilderness. At his
campsite, Jesus did not tell us about God. He showed
us God. He put on a demonstration that revealed
God to us. Jesus rubbed two sticks together to
ignite the fire whose light illumunates the darkness
of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of
apocalyptic epiphany.
“I have come to set the earth on fire
[with the understanding of God]
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
The light filled the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Jesus was one of the two sticks and the evils that
we did to him was the other.
In the fiery collision, Jesus suffered an
ignominious defeat. His ignominious defeat, however,
was not the end of the story. It was only the
beginning of the story.
Two glorious victories
erupted from his ignominious defeat.
The two glorious victories that erupted
from the fiery collision revealed
God to us.
Jesus won. He bested the monster of the Crucifixion. In a unique confrontation, the monster of the Crucifixion tried to take from Jesus his life and tried to destroy his love for us. The monster failed. It suffered abject, utter and total defeat. We are the beneficiaries of Jesus' victories. So Jesus invites the children of Adam and Eve to celebrate the two victories with him at a Victory Party. Jesus is the hero who turned ignominious defeat into two glorious victories in his battle with the monster of the Crucifixion by the magic of forgiveness and by rising from the dead. We celebrate his glorious victories with him at Mass. The Mass is the victory party.
The real presence of Jesus in the most Holy Eucharist is the confirmation of the Resurrection. Nobody escapes from death. Jesus did. This is the second of the two glorious victories that Jesus won against the monster of the Crucifixion. The first glorious victory is the blessing of the enemies who tortured and killed him with the blessing of forgiveness. The scope of his love for us is so broad that it includes not just his family and friends, the natural objects of his bounty, but his enemies as well. Limitless is the scope, size and intransigence of his love for us!
We thought you were dead!
The monster of the Crucifixion tortured
and killed Jesus. It made Jesus suffer and die.
It impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on
a sharp hook where he hung until death.
Many eyewitness accounts
testified to his ignominious defeat. The proof
is irrefutable.
Yet, Jesus reappeared after his death. He makes
post-death apperances in the most Holy Eucharist.
The real presence of Jesus in the most Holy Eucharist
is not important in and of itself. It is important
for the apocalyptic truth that it carries on its
shoulders.
The real presence is proof of the Resurrection.
In the most Holy Eucharist, Jesus is alive, well and
celebrates his glorious
victories that erupted from his ignominious defeat
at the hands of the monster of the Crucifixion.
[The Resurrection - his survival - is one of the two
glorious victories. The other is the survival of
his love for us.]
We thought you were dead but you survived
the evils that we did to you! Wow!
Nobody escapes from death. Yet, Jesus did.
By drawing
upon his unlimited divine resources, Jesus made
his escape from death. Furthermore, Jesus is offering
to help us make our escape from death as well
(John 14:1-3).
Leadership's job is limited to furnishing the wedding feast with guests - both saints and sinners - both the good and the bad (Matthew 22:8-10). God does the filtering (Matthew 22:11-13). The process of salvation goes off the rails when leadership attempts to do God's job.
Process Produces Results
The job of the leadership is process not results.
Participation is the domain of leadership.
Progress is the domain of God.
The job of the leadership is to transform settlers
into pilgrims. The job of God is to transform sinners
into saints. Salvation goes off the rails when
leadership usurps God's job for themselves.
Engage the children of Adam and Eve in the process
of pursuing God and the results take care of
themselves. Put the children of Adam and Eve into
the queue that is pursuing God then step out of the
way so God can go to work.
What is the energy that fuels the pursuit of God?
The love of God is the energy that fuels
the pursuit of God.
Jesus generated the energy as he made his escape
through the Valley of Tears.
Jesus, also, loaded the energy
into a storage contraption - a reservoir or battery
for the love of God -
that humanity and divinity constructed in
the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the
war against evil on the battlefield of the
Crucifixion.
The contraption was constructed in two parts.
The two parts were unequal, radically asymmetric
to each other.
We supplied
the evils in which we baptized him. He supplied
the radically asymmetric answer to the evils that
we did to him. The contraption has generated
the love of God since it was built.
We tap into the energy of the contraption
whenever we contemplate
the manner of its construction.
The contraption is the gravamen of Christianity.
It is the maor breakthrough in our understanding
of God.
It is the Summa Theologica.
The storage contraption is the rock on which
the wise
build their lives
(Matthew 7:24-27)
and rest their understanding of God.
It is the robust foundation of Christianity.
Rally 'round the cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
Why bother with the pursuit of God?
We are disobedient not irrational.
Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise
and flee the sourness of godlessness.
It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise.
It is crazy to do otherwise.
The pursuit of God is the rational thing to do.
When the perception of reality is no longer distorted
by illusions and we have come to know the truth,
the pursuit of God is our only option.
“And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free”
(John 8:32).
More up; less sideways (00185)
More of the love of God; not less.
More revelation; less regulation.
More theology; less morality.
Always. No exceptions.
We spend too much time on morality / regulation and
too little time on revelation / theology.
The direction of our gaze ought to be
up to God and not sideways
to our behavior
(Matthew 7:1-5)
When we look up and
understand the radicalness of the love of God,
we become self-regulating.
In the kingdom of the king who loves us,
the citizens govern themselves.
We desire to please him.
We trip all over ourselves in our eagerness
to please him
(John 18:36)
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(1) Index: The Regulation of Conduct (00075)
[¶ 00185 Updated: 01_25_2024]
Show us where to look; don't tell us what you found. To discover the answer to the question, 'Who is God?', go to the period of Jesus' life that starts at his ignominious defeat and ends with his glorious victories. Look there. There the answers can be found. There discover Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him and his answer to death. His answers illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. His answers revealed God to us.
The most important segment of the life of Jesus
In the short segment of the life of Jesus that goes
from his ignominious defeat to his glorious victories,
Jesus filled the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Into this short segment, Jesus deposited the
answer to the question, 'Who is God?'.
The answer is the treasure of Christianity
(Matthew 13:44)
(Matthew 6:19-21)
(Luke 17:20-21).
Grab your shovel. Dig up the treasure.
Make yourselves rich!
One victory or two?
Classical Christianity holds the view that Jesus won one
glorious victory.
Jesus escaped from death.
Nobody escapes from death.
Jesus did. Furthermore, Jesus offers to help us
escape from death as well
(John 14:1-3).
The focus of classical Christianity on the Resurrection
as the glorious victory, however, sidesteps the fact
that, in the Incarnation, Jesus doffed his invincible
armor of divinity and donned our frail uniform of
flesh and blood. He became one of us -
an equal to us in our
humanity - a partner with us in our suffering.
Jesus defortified himself for a purpose. What was
the purpose of making himself weak?
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
How did weakness make his strength perfect?
In the Resurrection, Jesus won his glorious victory by
drawing upon his unlimited divine resources. What
glorious victory did Jesus win when he drew upon
his limited human resources? He spent all of his
limited human resources - everything. He kept not
a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He paid through the nose. What did he pay for?
What
did Jesus purchase with the coin of
his flesh and blood?
Spending the coin of his flesh and blood enabled Jesus
tp purchase for us the blessing of forgiveness.
He paid an exorbitant price in order to forgive us.
Instead of giving us the punishment that we
justly deserved for taking his flesh and blood,
Jesus blessed us with the gift
of forgiveness.
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
The Audacity of Jesus
The audacity of Jesus is that
Instead of imposing upon us the punishment that we
justly deserved for taking from him
his flesh and blood,
Jesus blessed us with the gift
of forgiveness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Forgivess arising from sacrifice is the glorious
victory that erupted from
ignominious defeat as the dawn arises from the
darkness.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Who does this? Who treats their torturers and
executioners in such a kind manner besides the
God who loves us? Who is equal to him?
Who includes not just their family and
friends within the scope of their love but also
their enemies as well
(Matthew 5:45)
(Matthew 22:8-10)?
Moreover, why?
Our God engaged in this
counterintuitive behavior
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
because our God is a master of the science of cause
and effect. He subscribes to the principle that only
love begets love.
Therefore, the God who loves us dispatched
Jesus from heaven to earth to
put the principle into practice.
Jesus brought a radical, prodigal, limitless love to
confront the children of Adam and Eve.
He makes us squirm
under the overwhelming weight of the love of God.
He challenges
us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves
to it.
By forgiving us for the evils that we
did to him, Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Jesus took the initiative.
He made the first move.
Jesus counterpunched with the
'counterpunch of forgiveness'
notwithstanding the
fact that the counterpunch is
counter-intuitive, unexpected and highly unorthodox
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Jesus did not wait for our conversion to forgive us;
he forgave us to bring about our conversion.
By loving us first
(1 John 4:19),
Jesus jump started the process
of our conversion. He hit us with the defibrillator
paddles of love. Clear!
From Jesus' heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of
love
(Romans 5:5).
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
Jesus won two glorious victories
Two glorious victories erupted from
ignominious defeat as the dawn erupts from
the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
The humanity of Jesus won one of the two
glorious victories.
The divinity of Jesus won the other.
The monster of the Crucifixion tortured
and killed Jesus. It made Jesus suffer and die.
It impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on
a sharp hook where he hung until death. This describes
the ignominious defeat of Jesus at the hands of
the monster.
In the glorious victory of the humanity of Jesus,
Jesus showed us our potential. He showed us what
we can do for ourselves.
Evils try to knock us off
the sublime level of our loving God.
They try to cast us down
into catastrophe to the level of the loveless beasts
who scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition
with the other loveless beasts among the rubble of
the ruins of Eden. Jesus showed us that we can resist
a demotion.
Jesus led by example.
Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to
hang from our crosses.
He donned the jet pack of love and flew to show us
that we, too, can fly.
What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was!
Therefore, when we hang as Jesus hung,
cling as Jesus clung, hold tight and refuse to let go
of love.
Jesus paid through the nose to produced this
demonstration. He paid an exorbitant price by
drawing from his limited human resources. He spent
everything - all of the coin of his flesh and blood.
He kept not a penny in the bank
in reserve for himself. He has never spent more
on anything else. Doesn't the exorbitant price that
Jesus paid to purchase for us the blessing of
forgiveness reveal to us the exorbitant size
of his love for us. He held nothing back. He bet the
farm.
Instead of giving us the punishment that we
justly deserved for taking his flesh and blood,
Jesus blessed us with the gift
of forgiveness.
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Isn't forgiveness one of the sweet fruits of love?
Is not a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
In the glorious victory of the divinity of Jesus,
Jesus showed us God's potential. He showed us what
God can do for us.
Jesus drew upon his unlimited divine resources
to escape death. Nobody escapes from death.
Jesus did. Jesus offers to help us escape death
as well
(John 14:1-3).
Both his life and his love for us survived the
evils that we did to him.
Their survival tells us about ourselves and
about God.
The glorious victory
of Jesus' divinity showed us the power of God.
That glorious victory of Jesus' humanity, however,
reveals that our conception of divinity
as power is flawed. Divinity is also love.
God's power made paradise for us. God's love for us,
however, is the ingredient that makes paradise sweet.
Power begets respect. But love begets love.
Only love begets love.
Which is more important? Jesus' presence hidden behind a recondite mask of bread and wine? Or the two glorious victories that Jesus won that erupted from his ignominious defeat on the battlefield of the Crucifixion? Where Jesus is being or what Jesus did? indeed, Jesus is present for the celebration of the most Holy Eucharist. However, he is present not as a goldfish is present in a fish tank but as the hero who turned an ignominious defeat into two glorious victories through the magic of forgiveness and by rising from the dead. From the scabbard of his love for us, Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness. With it, he slew the monster of the Crucifixion. Forgiveness killed the monster dead (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). 'tis true that the monster of the Crucifixion tortured and killed Jesus. It made Jesus suffer and die. It impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Yet, erupting from his ignominious defeat rose two glorious victories.
Jesus sacrificed his flesh to purchase bread to satisfy our hunger. Jesus sacrificed his blood to purchase wine to quench our thirst. He bet the farm. He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never sacrificed more for anything else. He spent all of the coin of his flesh and blood. He wagered all of his limited human resources that his kindness in answer to our hostility would gobsmack us - would knock us off our horses (Acts 9:4-6).
To satisfy their hunger and quench their thirst, the enemies of Jesus approach the altar to take from him his flesh and blood. The family and friends of Jesus, however, approach the altar to satisfy their hunger with bread purchased with the sacrifice of his flesh and quench their thirst with wine purchased with the sacrifice of his blood. Jesus, however, served enemies, family and friends the same thing. He had tweaked his flesh and blood at the Last Supper.
What are we celebrating in the most Holy Eucharist?
Jesus's glorious victory erupted from his ignominious
defeat as the dawn erupts from the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Isaiah 9:2)
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
The process from ignominious defeat to glorious victory
occupies a small segment of the life of Jesus.
Yet,
Into this short segment of his life, Jesus deposited the
answer to the question, 'Who is God?'.
Into this short segment of his life,
Jesus filled the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
During the process from ignominious defeat to
glorious victory, Jesus made his
greatest investment here on earth.
Jesus spent all of his limited human resources.
He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never invested more on anything else.
Jesus bet the farm that sacrifice followed by
forgiveness would catalyze our conversion. He did
not wait for our conversion to forgive us; he
forgave us to bring about our conversion.
This segment of Jesus' life is its gravamen.
Compared to its gravamen,
every other segment of the life of Jesus is
obiter dicta.
If the segment of Jesus's life
that goes from ignominious defeat to
glorious victory is Jesus' greatest investment
here on earth, is it not worthy of celebration?
Would the God who loves us establish
the most Holy Eucharist to celebrate something
inferior - something magnitudes and beatitudes
less than his dearly beloved Son's
glorious victory?
The most Holy Eucharist takes us into the winning
team's locker room where the hero himself, Jesus,
through the mediation of a priest,
recapitulates his glorious victory and, thereby,
perpetuates the apocalyptic revelation that
illuminated
the darkness of our understanding of God.
The most Holy Eucharist is the aqueduct that
carries the knowledge of
God from the point and place of its remote and
obscure origin in the boondocks of time and space
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3),
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now
as a Bhisti carries water to the troops.
It fills the earth with the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
In the foil of evils, Jesus set
the jewel of forgiveness
Jesus set the jewel of forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
against the foil of the evils that we did
to him.
We tortured and killed him. We made him suffer and
die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on
a sharp hook where he hung until death.
Forgiveness was his answer to the evils that we
did to him. His answer was radically asymmetric to
the foil.
Boy, did the stark contrast make the jewel sparkle!
Its light
illuminates the
darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious
burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
"After supper Jesus took the cup of wine; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and said, “Drink this, all of you: This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.” (Eucharistic Prayer 1)
The baptism of Jesus
The dunghill of evils in which we baptized
Jesus was the foil that
highlighted and emphasized and intensified and
magnified and amplified and accentuated and
underlined his radically asymmetric answer to
it.
The baptism provided the stark contrast for the
juxtaposition of humanity and divinity.
The beauty of forgiveness arose from the ugliness of the evils that we perpetrated upon Jesus. Ugliness was the mother of beauty. How can a mother so ugly give birth to a baby so beautiful?
Jesus built his Church on the rock of Peter (Matthew 16:1-18). However, Jesus built our understanding of God upon another rock. The other rock is the Good News of Great Joy that erupted from the violent collision between Jesus and the evils that we did to him. He forgave us for the evils that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Who is God? (00677)
Who is God?
Jesus deposited the answer to the question, 'Who
is God?' into a short segment of
his life on earth.
In this segment, Jesus made his
greatest investment.
It is a unique segment of the life of Jesus because,
during it, Jesus spent all of his limited human resources.
He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
In this segment, Jesus released
the apocalyptic revelation about the mystery of God.
This segment is the gravemen.
Every other segment of the life of Jesus is
obiter dicta.
The segment starts at the evils
that we did to Jesus and runs to
his radically asymmetric answer to them.
Whoever builds his understanding of God upon
this segment of Jesus' life
has built upon a foundation of solid rock.
Their understanding of God
will never be disturbed
(Matthew 7:24 - 27).
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[¶ 00677 Updated: 09_09_2024]
At the Last Supper, Jesus tweaked his flesh and blood.
At the Last Supper, Jesus tweaked his flesh and blood.
He made a substitution. He transformed his flesh
and blood into bread and wine.
We wanted to satisfy our
hunger and our thirst with his flesh and his blood.
But, the God who loves us had a different idea
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
He did not give us quite what we wanted.
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness"
(Isaiah 55:1-2)!
Instead of giving us the punishment that we
justly deserved for taking his flesh and blood,
Jesus blessed us with the gift
of forgiveness.
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Jesus satisfied our hunger with bread puchased with
his flesh,
quenched our thirst with wine purchased with
his blood and
filled our bellies with fellowship.
He invited us to take a seat with him at
the family table and to dine with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort of the family tent.
Who but the God who loves us deals with his torturers
and executioners with such gentleness and hospitality?
Who but the God who loves us includes not just his
friends within the scope of his love but his enemies
as well?
That ye may be the children of your Father
which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to
rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain
on the just and on the unjust
(Matthew 5:45)
(Matthew 22:8-10).
The vehicle that conveyed the revelation
The vehicle that Jesus used to convey the apocalyptic
revelation from divinity to humanity was not his
presence.
His presence does not convey anything.
His presence is merely incidental to the actual
conveyance.
The vehicle was the combination of his ignominious
defeat and his glorious victory, two specific events
in the life of Jesus.
His ignominious defeat and his glorious victories are
the two parts of a single unit of apocalyptic
revelation.
They revealed
the mystery of God to us. They are the odd couple
of epiphany.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
What was his ignominious defeat? What was his glorious
victory? What was the apocalyptic revelation that
they conveyed?
Do you have the words?
Can you answer the questions?
Love is the magic of life.
A life without love is salt without flavor (Matthew 5:13). Love is life in abundance (John 10:10). Love embellishes life. Love is the treasure of Christianity.
Only by loving do we encounter the love of God. Our love summons the love of God. And vice versa.
Hitch your wagon to the love of God
Curious Christians are locked on to the love of God.
They have set their sights on it.
It is the only blip on their radar.
Discover the buoyancy of love!
Jesus showed us our potential. We can rise to the
sublime level of our loving God or we can fall to
the level of the loveless beasts who scavenge for
scraps in cutthroat competition with each other
among the ruins of Eden.
Life is the opportunity
that God gives us to love.
We rise or fall according
to how much we love. Hearts of stone sink like a stone.
Petrification is weighing you down and holding you back.
Fleshify your stony hearts
(Ezekiel 36:26)!
Turn them into flotation devices. Fill
them to the brim with love.
The buoyancy of love
will lift
you up and out of your dire predicament in the
Valley of Tears.
Rise! Rise to the sublime level
of our loving God
(Matthew 5:38-48).
Ascend! Depetrify your hearts of
stone with love, the agent of depetrification
(Ezekiel 36:26).
There is something greater about the most Holy Eucharist
than the real presence
What could be greater about the most Holy Eucharist
than the real presence? Glorious victory. The
most Holy Eucharist tells the story of Jesus's
glorious victory that arose like a shooting star
from his ignominious defeat.
Jesus himself, the real presence, is the storyteller.
We approach the altar of consecration as his enemies
did for his flesh and blood. But, we do not leave
the altar with flesh and blood. Between our coming
and our going, Jesus transforms the altar where
he sacrificed his flesh and blood into a banquet a
which he himself serves us the bread and wine of
forgiveness.
We approach the altar of sacrifice hungry and thirsty.
We leave the table after Jesus satisfies our hunger
with bread and our thirst with wine
(Isaiah 55:1-2).
That our God satisifies the hunger and thirst
of his enemies who take his flesh and blood reveals
to us the mystery of God. What a God is our God!
What a delight! He even includes his torturers and
executioners within the scope of his love. Wow!
Such love of our Creator for his creatures
gobsmacks us. It takes our breath away.
It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
His love for us is the most powerful force in heaven
and on earth.
Who can weather the intensity of the love of God when
it is focused on us?
The love of God gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to it,
the power to change the world.
Christianity, done right, confronts us, as Jesus did,
with
the love of God.
Christianity, done right, makes us squirm under
the weight of the love of God.
The love of God challenges us to come
to grips with it - to
reconcile ourselves to it.
What is the greatest problem that Christianity
faces today?
Jesus pulled glorious victory out of ignominious
defeat as a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat.
The ignominious defeat and the glorious victory
are the two parts of a single unit of apocalyptic
revelation that Jesus presented to the children
of Adam and Eve to demystify God.
As a team, ignominious defeat and glorious victory
are the odd couple of epiphany. Together, they answer
the question, 'Who is God?'.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
What was the ignominious defeat?
What was the glorious victory?
We know and can eloquently articulate Jesus'
ignominious defeat.
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
Jesus' ignomonious defeat is
obvious.
Less so is his glorious victory.
We vaguely comprehend that Jesus'
glorious victory is somehow related to and
organically grows out of
his ignominious defeat. However, we cannot put
our finger on the connection and do not have the
words to articulate it.
This is the greatest problem facing Christianity today.
Hence, with one of its two essential parts missing,
the apocalyptic revelation that Jesus deposited
into the Valley of Tears
to reveal the mystery
of God to us reveals nothing.
The enigmatic
black box in which God is hiding
(Isaiah 45:15)
doesn't get cracked open.
The earth doesn't get filled with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Jesus accomplished nothing.
From Jesus' heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love (Romans 5:5). The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3).
Jesus' witness was not testimony in words but testimony in deeds - God done not God said.
Hanging out with Jesus
Jesus showed us our potential.
He did not merely tell us about it as a priest would
do from the safety of an ambo.
He demonstrated it.
Jesus led by example.
Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to
hang from our crosses.
He donned the jet pack of love and flew to show us
that we, too, can fly.
What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was!
Therefore, when you hang as Jesus hung,
cling as Jesus clung, hold tight and refuse to let go
of love.
Do not wallow in the ruins of Eden scavenging for
scraps in cutthroat competition with the other
loveless beasts. Scraps are worthless no matter
how high the pile you accumulate.
Rise! Rise to the sublime level
of our loving God
(Matthew 5:38-48).
Ascend! Depetrify your hearts of
stone
(Ezekiel 36:26).
Petrification is weighing you down and holding you back.
Fleshify your heart
(Ezekiel 36:26)!
Turn it into a flotation device. Fill
it to the brim with love.
The buoyancy of love
will lift
you up and out of your dire predicament in the
Valley of Tears.
What does glorious victory look like in the
war against evils? (00647)
It is said that
glorious victory erupted from
ignominious defeat as the dawn erupts from
the darkness.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
Jesus' ignomonious defeat is
obvious.
What is less obvious is his glorious victory.
It needs to be articulated. Ignominious defeat
is the first part of a single unit of apocalyptic
revelation. Glorious victory is the second part. If
glorious victory is left out, we distort the
apocalyptic revelation.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
As a team, ignominious defeat and glorious victory
reveal to us the mystery of God.
ignominious defeat and glorious victory
fill the Cross of Christ with meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
They answer the question, 'Who is God?'.
They are the odd couple of epiphany.
So, pray tell, what, exactly, was
Jesus's glorious victory? Put your finger on it!
What does glorious victory in the war against evils
look like?
Jesus showed us.
His mission was - not to tell us - but to demonstrate
to us what victory in the war against evils looks like.
Jesus showed us how to wage and win the war
against evils.
Jesus hung from his cross to show us how
to hang from our crosses.
Evils tried to dethrone Jesus.
Evils offered Jesus a demotion.
Evils tried to dislodge Jesus
from the sublime level of our loving God and
cast him down,
as Adam and Eve were cast down
into catastrophe, to the degenerate evel of the
loveless beasts who scavenge for scraps in
cutthroat competition with the other loveless beasts
among the ruins of Eden.
Jesus refused the reduction in his dignity
(Matthew 5:38-48).
Jesus declined the demotion.
He was not dislodged.
He clung to his love for us, held tight and
refused to let go. In this way, Jesus won hi
glorious victory.
The shape of victory is love.
Love is what victory looks like.
Victory is clinging to love, holding tight and
refusing to let go.
When you hang as Jesus hung,
cling as Jesus clung,
hold tight and refuse to let go of love.
Love is the only solvent with the power to
neutralize evils.
The gauntlet of life has many sharp edges.
Love is the grease that lubricates
the sharp edges of the gauntlet of life.
Love streamlines our passage through the gauntlet.
Love optimizes it.
When evils push you off the cliff from the sublime
level
of our loving God to the degenerate level of
the loveless beasts,
Love is the parachute that controls the fall and
cushions the landing.
Moreover, love enables us to bounce back
to the level of our loving God.
Our job is to duplicate Jesus’ victory
as we struggle against evil’s attempt
to push us off the cliff to our downfall - to our
catastrophe.
The catastrophe that Jesus is trying
to prevent is us becoming loveless beasts.
Our job is to repeat Jesus’ success.
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[¶ 00647 Updated: 08_29_2024]
UNCONVENTIONAL, COUNTERINTUITIVE WARFARE
Forgiveness Gave Us a Mulligan
God's love for us is radical in each of love's
three dimensions - size, scope and duration.
Prodigious in size, inclusive in scope, and
forever in duration is the love of God.
Given his wicked baptism in a dunghill of evil,
our discovery of the hospitable nature of God
is astonishing. Surprisingly, from the dunghill of
evil, a beautiful jewel emerged - a triple crown -
love, prodigious in size, inclusive in scope and
forever in duration.
The discovery gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4).
Yet, the truth of the discovery rests comfortably
on a solid, unshakeable foundation.
It arises from irrefutable evidence that Jesus himself
delivered to us.
We discovered the hospitable nature of God
when Jesus delivered his asymmetric answer
to the evil that we did to him.
Jesus had access to unlimited divine resources
for his defense (Matthew 26:53).
Yet, he did
not
fight back against his enemies
with conventional weapons.
He did
not
answer the evil that we did to him in kind.
He did
not
give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did
not
require
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48).
Unconventional was the weapon that Jesus used against
his enemies (Isaiah 55:8-9).
He forgave us.
From the scabbard of his prodigious love for us,
Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness
to slay the monster of the Crucifixion.
Forgiveness killed the monster dead
(Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35 (Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
Jesus spent the coin of his flesh and blood to purchase
for us the gift of forgiveness, and, by forgiving us,
ipso facto,
he gave us a second chance - a do-over.
Since Eden, we have dug a pit of sin
in our relationship with our God -
a dark and nasty abyss.
To span the pit, Jesus erected the
bridge of forgiveness (John 14:6).
Paradise is found not at the bottom of the pit
but at the far side of the bridge.
Our job is to stop digging the pit and
to start crossing the bridge.
Repentance is the vehicle that transports
us out of the pit and
across the bridge (Matthew 22: 11-13).
Forgiveness is the ladder that Jesus
provided to us so we can escape the pit of sin.
The ladder, however, is not going to
carry us out.
We must climb out ourselves of our own volition,
step by step, rung by rung.
We must take advantage of the unique opportunity
that Jesus gave us - the chance to start over
- a mulligan (Matthew 18:21-22).
Forgiveness puts the guilty in the same position as the
innocent.
Forgiveness cleaned our slate.
It gave us a fresh start.
Let us begin again!
No. Jesus does not just love us. He loves us
even though we tortured and killed him. Wow!
That's love!
'Who are you, God? Identify yourself!
Friend or foe?'
Our God worried:
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
So God dispatched his Son to
fill the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Jesus answered the question, 'Who are you, God?', in
a most extraordinary venue.
It is unique.
Moreover, he booked the venue in advance
(Matthew 16:21-23).
He picked it because it was the only place
where he could
irrefutably verify
the truth that the love of God for us is radical
- radical because
it is limitless in size, scope and duration.
The venue was the gruesome experiment
that we administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion.
Are you
privy to the result of the gruesome experiment
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)?
“LET US TEST HIM WITH INSULT AND TORTURE, THAT WE MAY
FIND OUT HOW GENTLE HE IS AND MAKE TRIAL OF HIS
FORBEARANCE"
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
The gruesome experiment and its result are
the odd couple of epiphany.
If we uncouple the gruesome experiment
and its result,
we distort Jesus' apocalyptic revelation.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
As a team, they reveal the nature of God to us.
The gruesome experiment and its result are two parts
of a single unit of apocalyptic revelation
about the nature of God.
The gruesome experiment and its result
fill the Cross of Christ with meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
In the gruesome adversity of the Crucifixion,
the sublime artistry of Jesus created
the Masterpiece of Love
on the canvas of life.
Embellishing the canvas of life with love
in the midst of adversity was Jesus' magnum opus
- his greatest achievement.
Rally 'round the Cross!
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
expressed the truth that the love of God is
radical - limitless in size, scope and duration -
not just in words but in the indelible
ink of forgiveness.
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Jesus refused a Demotion
Evil tried to dethrone Jesus.
Evil offered Jesus a demotion.
Evil tried to dislodge Jesus
from the sublime level of our loving God and cast him down,
as Adam and Eve were cast down,
into catastrophe to the level of the
loveless beasts who scavenge for scraps in
cutthroat competition with the other loveless beasts
among the ruins of Eden.
Jesus refused the reduction in his dignity
(Matthew 5:38-48).
Jesus declined the demotion.
He was not dislodged.
He clung to his love for us, held tight and
refused to let go.
The Jelly of Christianity (00595)
Evangelists are in the business of selling
jelly doughnuts. The best way to sabotage sales
of jelly doughnuts is to leave the jelly out.
A jelly doughnut is not a jelly doughnut
without the jelly. It is something else -
a croissant perhaps?
What is the jelly of Christianity?
The byproduct of the violent collision between
Jesus and the evils that we did to him is his
radical asymmetric answer to them.
The radical asymmetry of his answer to the evils
that we did to him
revealed the jelly of Christianity.
His radically asymmetric
answer is the Good News of Great Joy.
If his love for us were counterfeit, it would
have faded as we tortured him and died when we killed
him. But it did not. His love for us
survived the evils that we did to him.
The love of God is the jelly of Christianity.
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[¶ 00595 Updated: 08_04_2024]
What draws us to God?
The love of God is the poweful magnet that attracts
the children of Adam and Eve to him.
When we understand that God loves us even though
we tortured and killed him -
even though we made him suffer and die -
even though we impaled him on the flagpole of
Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a
live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death,
we seek him
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
His love for us gobsmacks us.
It kicks like a mule.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
It is the most powerful force in heaven and
on earth. It gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to it,
the power to change the world.
Christianity, done right, confronts us with
the love of God.
Christianity, done right, makes us squirm under
the weight of the love of God.
The love of God challenges us to come
to grips with it - to
reconcile ourselves to it.
We are disobedient not irrational.
Those who know God (Hosea 4:6). (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34), seek God. Those who seek God, find God (Matthew 7:7-8). Those who find God have escaped and ascended. They have escaped from our dire predicament among the ruins of Eden where we scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition with the other loveless beasts. They have ascended to the level of our loving God. The cruel world where we scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition with the loveless beasts is left behind.
Baptism waters the embryonic seed of love that God planted in us at our creation to stimulate its growth.
The service of others is the tangible manifestation of our love for them. Service is the fruit of love. No love; no byproducts of love. For instance, forgiveness is a byproduct of love. Are not trees known by their fruit (Luke 6:43-45) (Matthew 3:8)?
Forgiveness is the medicine that heals
Jesus treated the evils that we did to him with
the medicine of forgiveness.
Apply it to open wounds before they putrify.
The medicine of forgiveness is a powerful, healing
salve.
Deputization
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
Love is the authority of a saint
Only a close encounter with the love of God
makes a difference in our lives.
Nothing else does.
Nothing else carries the same apocalyptic kick
as the love of God.
The love of God kicks like a mule.
To be transformed, we need to be knocked off our
horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
We need to be gobsmacked by a close encounter
with the love of God.
Only a close with the love of God encounter gobsmacks us.
Only a close encounter knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
God deputizes his saints
not
by annointing them
with authority but by giving them
something greater - far greater - than authority,
that is, a transfusion of love.
Love is their authority.
Our God sent his Son to the children of Adam and Eve
to deputize us. He wants us to serve God
as his duly appointed deputies.
Love is the badge of our appointment.
Love is the emblem of our office.
As God's deputies, our job is to stand in God's place
in order to give our neighbors a close encounter
with the love of God.
We are God's proxies.
God wants us to pinch hit for him
(Matthew 5:45).
He wants us to step up to the plate and
swing the bat - not to lay down a bunt but to swing
for the fences.
He wants us to confront our neighbors with
the love of God.
He wants them to struggle with it.
He wants the love of God to become a factor in
their calculations.
He wants our neighbors
to come to grips with it.
He wants us to wage war against them
(Matthew 10:34-39)
not with
conventional weapons but with the unconventional
weapon of love.
He wants us to slay them with the
sharp sword of sweet love as Jesus slayed
the monster of the Crucifixion with the sharp
sword of sweet forgiveness. Forgiveness killed
the monster dead
(Matthew 10:34-39).
Deputized with the love of God, God's saints
can give their neighbors the experience of
a close encounter with the love of God,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
immortal in duration.
Saints are God's agents on earth and act
in persona Deus.
From the vast, bottomless reservoir
of love in Jesus' heart,
the hearts of the saints receive a
transfusion of love.
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies them. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32) (John 3:3).
His saints are the aqueduct that carries the love of
God from the point and place of its remote and
obscure origin in the boondocks of time and space
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3),
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now
as a Bhisti carries water to the troops.
We are disobedient not irrational. The truth, not authority, drives us.
Loveless Christianity is counterfeit Christianity
Loveless Christianity is an incoherent oxymoron.
It is an ersatz Christianity, a Frankenstein's
monster of Christianity. On the surface, it resembles
real Christianity but, underneath, it has an artificial
heart. Instead of being animated by love, a loveless
algorithm of rules, regulations, red tape and
rigmarole animates it. It is counterfeit.
Real Christianity is a torrid love affair between humanity
and divinity.
Salvation history is the record of
the serpent's repeated unsuccessful attempts
to extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for
us in the most Sacred Heart of God and to reduce
its intensity by even the slightest degree
(Psalm 8:4-10).
The love of God is intransigent. It never waivers.
The dial that controls God's love for us is
in his hands not ours.
Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and
is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to the Son of God
could budge it.
Love is the operating system of Christianity.
Love is the alpha and the omega of Christianity
(Revelation 22:13-15).
Love is the point
and place of beginning for Christianity. It is also
the end point.
From the reservoir of its operating system, love flows
into its applications.
Love is intrinsic to the Christian operating
system and to all Christian applications.
Love is Christianity's sine qua non.
Yet, some Christians blithely subtract love
from Christianity but still think they are
practicing Christianity. They are not.
By
making Christianity loveless, they have turned
Christianity into an incoherent oxymoron and
themselves into dull, nondescript, bureaucratic
bean counters and compliance drones.
Instead of improving life with love, like automatons,
they mechanically play
a loveless board game according to
a loveless algorithm of inflexible rules,
regulations, red tape and rigmarole. In their version
of loveless Christianity, the loveless algorithm
gives meaning to the board game.
In God's version
of Christianity, however, love gives meaning to life.
Love is the syrup that sweetens the
insipidness of life.
A life without love is salt without flavor
(Matthew 5:13).
"Ye are the salt of the earth:
but if the salt have lost his savour,
wherewith shall it be salted?
it is thenceforth good for nothing,
but to be cast out,
and to be trodden under foot of men"
(Matthew 5:13).
Love is life in abundance
(John 10:10).
Love embellishes life.
Love is the treasure of Christianity.
Christianity is love - nothing more but nothing less
(1 John 4:7-8).
The Catholic Mass
Jesus is present at Mass because he has something to
tell us. What does he say? How does he say it?
At Mass, Jesus delivers a message to us, not by
his presence, not in
the homily of the priest, but in the Most
Holy Eucharist. The message is so important that he
delivers it himself as he delivered it to us originally
from the Cross at and about Calvary.
It is the same message over and over and over again.
He pounds it against us. He confronts us with it.
He challenges us to come to grips with it.
Unfortunately,
many Catholics get stuck
on the presence of Jesus at Mass and miss his message.
The presence of Jesus interferes with
the message of Jesus. Presence eclipses message.
The Mass, however, is not about
the presence of God.
The Mass is about the message of
God.
The presence of God is incidental to the message
of God.
The presence of God is not the Good News of
Great Joy. The message of God is the Good News of
Great Joy.
Unstick yourself! Take the next step! Go beyond
the presence of Jesus to the message of Jesus.
Start asking yourselves,
'Why is Jesus
present at Mass? What is his message? How does he
deliver it?
What is the message of the most Holy Eucharist?
Instead of giving his enemies the punishment that they
justly deserved for taking his flesh and blood,
Jesus blessed them with the gift
of forgiveness.
His enemies did not deserve it, but Jesus gave the
gift of forgiveness to them anyway.
Jesus satisfied the hunger of his enemies with bread,
quenched their thirst with wine and
filled their bellies with fellowship.
He invited his enemies to take a seat with him at
the family table and to dine with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort of the family tent.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
.
Our God engaged in this
counterintuitive behavior because he operates
according to the principle that only love begets
love. In this way, Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
By loving us first, Jesus jumpstarted the process
of our vonversion.
What does the message of the most Holy Eucharist reveal
to us about the mystery of God?
God put something more powerful than Jesus' presence into the hands of Christianity - exponentially more powerful. God put Jesus' victory into the hands of Christianity. Official Christianity, however, does not understand the power it possesses. It hasn't a clue. Why does official Christianity emphasize presence in lieu of victory? Self-aggrandizement. They have some control over the summoning of Jesus to the celebration. They have absolutely no control over Jesus's victory. Jesus won the victory on his own without their help. Control over the celebration maintains their relevancy.
What Jesus did to achieve victory in the war that he waged against the monster of the Crucifixion throws more light on the mystery of God than his presence does. For all intents and purposes, his presence is dark, throwing no light, revealing nothing.
Osmosis does not work
Close proximity to the real presence of God
does not transfer the knowledge of God to us.
To transfer the knowledge of God to us,
the story of God that Jesus deposited
into the events that took place on the battlefield
of the Crucifixion needs to be told.
Why settle for a suntan when we can hear
the sun speaking to us in its own voice
with its own words?
INDEED, HIS PRESENCE IS REAL.
HOWEVER, THE PRESENCE OF THE STORYTELLER IS ONLY
INCIDENTAL TO HIS STORY. Tell his story.
Never stop telling his story.
His story upgrades our understanding of
the nature of God. His story illuminates
the darkness of our understanding of the
nature of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.
ALLOWING THE CONVERSATION ABOUT THE NATURE OF GOD
TO GO SILENT POSES AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT
TO CHRISTIANITY.
An ongoing, continuing conversation about the
nature of God is the lifeblood of Christianity.
Without an ongoing, continuing conversation
about the nature of God, Christianity is dead.
Fetch a priest to give it the Last Rites
(or, perhaps, if miracles do happen, to revive it?)
God is not dead.
Indeed, God is very much alive.
However, the conversation about God is dead.
Killing the conversation about God is tantamount
to killing God. The enemies of the Church know this.
The Church does not.
Can we devote 50% of the conversation to God?
Is 50% too much to ask?
The most Holy Eucharist is not an acquarium
for the display of goldfish Jesus
Jesus is not our pet goldfish and
the most Holy Eucharist
is not the acquarium that God gave us
to hold it. The goldfish / acquarium theory
misses the point of the most Holy Eucharist.
The most Holy Eucharist replays
what Jesus did in the foil of
the evils that we did to him.
In the foil of the evils that we did to him,
Jesus created his Magnum Opus -
his greatest achievement.
He embellished the canvas of life with love
in the midst of adversity.
The most Holy Eucharist
is about what Jesus did not about
who it holds.
Let us shift the focus of our contemplation
from who the most
Holy Eucharist holds to what Jesus did while we
tested him
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
The test generated a result.
Let us concentrate on the test and its result.
They are the odd couple of epiphany.
The result of the test
filled the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
"Who is God?" Jesus revealed God to us by his answer
to the evils that we did to him.
The most Holy Eucharist perpetuates
the apocalyptic revelation about
the nature of God that Jesus
released into the world in the foil
of the evils that we did to him.
His performance, not his presence, draws us to Jesus
Singers are known by their songs;
artists are known by their art;
trees are known by their fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8);
and storytellers by their stories -
not by their presence.
We go to a concert to hear a singer sing or
a band play not to see them standing mute on a stage.
Their performance, not their presence, draws us
to them.
So, too, it is with Jesus.
Jesus is no different.
Consumption completes the most Holy Eucharist
(00550)
Confection of the most Holy Eucharist is the first
half of the story. It is not the full story.
Consumption of the most Holy Eucharist is the second
half of the story. Ephasizing one part of the story
over the other destroys the ability of the
most Holy Eucharist to convey its message.
Both confection and consumption
are needed to avoid the distortion of the message.
Clericalism is the disease that distorts the message
of the most Holy Eucharist by its unbalanced approach
to confection and consumption. In the clerical
mindset, only confection is important.
The purpose of bread is to be eaten.
The purpose of wine is to be drunk.
In the gruesome crucible of the Crucifixion,
Jesus transformed the flesh and blood of sacrifice
into the bread and wine of forgiveness.
To translate the meaning of his sacrifice into
imagery that all of us can understand,
Jesus
satisfied the
hunger of his enemies with bread,
quenched their thirst with wine
and filled their bellies with fellowship.
Jesus invited his enemies to take a seat with him
at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort of the family tent
(John 6:53).
At Mass, the Eucharistic banquet is not complete
until we consume
the bread and wine of forgiveness.
The meal is not just prepared.
The meal is served and consumed as well.
An uncomsumed meal does not satsfy our hunger or
quench our thirst.
It does not fill our bellies.
A chef makes
a meal for consumption not for display.
To say otherwise is to express not the truth
but a fiction.
P.S. The Mass and Eucharistic Adoration are different
because consumption only takes place at Mass.
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[¶ 00550 Updated: 07_15_2024]
What are the differences between the Mass and
Eucharistic Adoration
The Mass and Eucharistic Adoration are different
because consumption
only takes place at Mass. Moreover, there is no
'taking and giving' at Eucharistic Adoration as there
is at Mass. At Mass, his enemies take from Jesus
his flesh and blood. Jesus, however, does not give
them exactly what they take. He feeds their hunger and
quenches their thirst with bread and wine. Jesus made
a substitution. He announced the substitution at the
Last Supper. We approach the altar for flesh and blood.
We leave the altar with bread and wine.
Sacrifice
is followed by forgiveness.
This is the holy sequence of events that revealed
God to us.
Sacrifice and forgiveness are two
parts of a single unit of apocalyptic revelation
about the nature of God.
Jesus turned the flesh and blood of sacrifice into
the bread and wine of forgiveness. Turning
the flesh and blood of sacrifice into
the bread and wine of forgiveness only takes place
at Mass. It doesn't take place at
Eucharistic Adoration.
Official Christianity promotes Eucharistic Adoration
because it reinforces the doctrine of the
divine presence. The doctrine of Jesus' glorious
victory, however, is only recounted at Mass.
Jesus' glorious victory, not his presence, is the
gravamen of Christianity.
Beware the dumbing down of the Most Holy Eucharist!
Beware the dumbing down of the Most Holy Eucharist!
Many Christian professionals only see the presence
of Jesus in the most Holy Eucharist. To them,
Jesus is a goldfish and the most Holy Eucharist
is a fish tank in which goldfish Jesus is displayed.
They do not view
the most Holy Eucharist as portraying Jesus'
ignominious defeat and his glorious victory.
They do not see the Mass as a Victory Party at which
we celebrate his glorious victory.
They are confused
and do not understand the most Holy Eucharist.
Beware!
Jesus gave us a second chance - a do-over - even though we tortured and killed Jesus - we made him suffer and die - we impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Wow! The radical generosity of the God who loves us surprises us. It gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). Our confrontation with it challenges us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves to it. Indifference to the radical love of God is not an option. We must embrace it. We must seek it.
The Principle according to which Our God operates
God does not operate capriciously.
There is a stability in the operations of God.
The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth:
but the word of our God shall stand for ever
(Isaiah 40:8).
God dispatched Jesus from heaven to earth
because God subscribes to
and operates according to a well-defined theory -
a theory in which he has a
high degree of confidence.
The well-defined theory
is that only love begets love.
Our God is a master of the science of cause and effect.
So Jesus put the theory into
practice. Jesus set the ball of love
rolling. He loved us first.
While we were unrepentant
(Matthew 22:10)
sinners
(Romans 5:8)
(Matthew 7:6)
with his blood still
on our hands, Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
Jesus did not wait for our conversion to love us.
Jesus loved us to bring about our conversion.
Despite the biblical injunction against doing so,
Jesus cast the holy pearl of love
to the dogs and swine
(Matthew 7:6)
who trampled him under their feet,
and rent him into bits and pieces.
He broke his own rule to catalyze
our conversion. Our God was audacious.
A new tabernacle hosts the love of God
here on earth
God dispatched a treasure from heaven to earth.
Jesus was the treasure chest that transported
the treasure.
The treasure that the chest held was
the love of God.
Before Jesus returned to his father,
a transfer of the treasure was made.
Jesus departed but the treasure remained behind.
Jesus transferred the treasure
into a new tabernacle - a storage repository
that serves as a reservoir or battery for
the love of God here on earth.
The new tabernacle is a dynamic monument to the
radical contradiction between humanity and divinity
that Jesus brought into the frame of human
understanding by the manner in which the new
tabernacle was contructed.
It puts on a vivid display of the love of God at work
in the world
(John 14:26).
Let us begin by first talking about the cost of
the new tabernacle's construction.
The transfer of the love of God from Jesus
to the new tabernacle was not free.
There was a transference fee.
The transfer required the payment of a cost.
And the cost was exorbitant.
Jesus paid the exorbitant cost of the transfer
himself out of his own pockets.
Jesus made the payment not by drawing upon
his unlimited divine resources, but by drawing upon
his limited human resources.
He paid the cost of the transfer
with the coin of his flesh and blood.
He paid all of the coin of his flesh and blood.
He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never paid more for anything else
(John 15:13)
(John 12:24).
The greater was the cost of the transfer,
the greater is our astonishment at
the extraordinary size the payment that Jesus made
(Matthew 10:31).
Let us conclude our discussion with
the manner of the new tabernacle's
construction.
Divinity and humanity collaborated in the construction
of the new tabernacle
as they engaged in mortal combat
in the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the
war against evil on the battlefield of the
Crucifixion.
The new tabernacle was constructed with two
moving parts.
Humanity constructed one of the moving parts.
Divinity constructed the other moving part.
The two parts are unequal, diametrically opposite
to each other, radically asymmetric.
They represent the 'apocalyptic contradiction' between
humanity and divinity
(Isaiah 55:8).
The activity of humanity exists in stark contrast
to the acivity of divinity.
We supplied the evils in which we baptized him.
He supplied the radically asymmetric answer to
the evils that we did to him.
Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
The radical asymmetry between the human activity
and the divine activity in the laboratory of the
Crucifixion convey the message, that is,
reveal the identity of God.
The new tabernacle is composed of the odd couple
of epiphany. It holds both parts of the single unit
of apocalyptic revelation that Jesus himself
released into the Valley of Tears. It is the amber
that captured and preserved for us
the Masterpiece of Love
that Jesus created on the canvas of life in the
midst of gruesome adversity.
The new tabernacle has held
the love of God here on earth since it was built.
We tap into the energy of the new tabernacle
whenever we contemplate
the manner of its construction.
The new tabernacle is the engine that powers
Christianity.
It makes the most Sacred Heart of Christianity beat.
So, rally 'round the cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
Which packs the more persuasive punch
(00396)
(00325)?
(00278)
(00110)
(00579)?
Doing the miracle of forgiveness in the zone of
danger during an evil baptism
at an exorbitant cost to oneself
(00573)
or
telling us about the abstract concept
of love out of the scrum
from the safety of the sidelines
at no cost to oneself?
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(00370)
(00003)
[¶ 00611 Updated: 08_14_2024]
Digging up the treasure of Christianity for ourselves
(00580)
The best persuasion comes when we discover the truth
for ourselves. When we discover the truth for
ourselves, we take ownership of it. The discovery of
the truth for ourselves packs the strongest
persuasive punch. It gives our rationality a powerful
wallop. When the truth is handed to us on a
silver platter (Mark 6:28), we are not persuaded.
The scientific method holds that by exploring
the same location for ourselves, we ought to make
the same discoveries. In other words, for discoveries
to be valid, they must be reproducible.
The same premise must give rise to the
same conclusion over and over again.
Christianity, when done properly, is an evidence
based scientific endeavor.
Christianity, when done right, is not about
indoctrination; it is about exploration.
Therefore, don’t tell us what you found;
show us where to look.
Point us to the location of the treasure of
Christianity but let us dig it up for ourselves.
Let us make ourselves rich!
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[¶ 00580 Updated: 07_30_2024]
You are creatures who read, write and think for
yourselves.
Exercise these sovereign faculties that God
gave you.
Figure it out for yourselves.
God gave you a brain.
Use it!
We baptized Jesus in a dunghill of evils -
a shitpile of atrocity.
What is the ineluctable conclusion about the
nature of God that arises from his asymmetric answer
to the evils in which we baptized him?
The job of the Church is to
point us to the evidence and encourage us
to jump to a conclusion. 'Jump! Jump! Jump!' the
Church shouts. If the exigency is not felt,
the Church is not doing its job.
The Church is successful that gets
the children of Adam and Eve to participate
in this exercise of rationality.
Rational creatures who can read, write and
think for themselves are only persuaded when they
do the work of reasoning for themselves.
To be persuaded, we need to make the jump
from premise to conclusion ouselves.
The jury must reach its own verdict.
Each of us is the pilot of our own soul.
Rally 'round 'the Cross!
Take your shovel,
hasten to Calvary and
dig up the truth for yourself.
It is the treasure of Christianity.
Make yourself rich!
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[¶ 00665 Updated: 09_05_2024]
The love of God, through the magic of forgiveness, transformed the sacrifice of his flesh and blood into a banquet of bread and wine. Forgiveness made transubstantiaton happen.
Is anyone else seeking God besides myself? Why do I feel so alone? Where are my companions on the journey? Where is my team? Many move in the direction towards which I am moving. But, we are strangers to each other. Where is the sense of togetherness? Where is the comraderie? Where is the esprit de corps?
Jesus filled the earth with the knowledge of God
by what he did in the foil of the evils that we
did to him
Our God worried:
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
So God dispatched his Son to
fill the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
"To this end was I born, and for this cause
came I into the world, that I should bear witness
unto the truth [about God]"
(John 18:37).
Jesus gave his testimony in the laboratory of the
Crucixion.
What was the plan?
Jesus took center stage of the foil of evils
that we did to him.
Jesus submitted himself to testing
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
The cruel experiment that took place
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion produced
a result.
In the foil of evils that we did to him,
Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
The foundation on which the edifice of Christianity is built is Jesus' answer to the evils that his enemies did to him. The edifice of Christianity collapses whenever attempts are made to construct it upon a different foundation.
His answer to the evils that we did to him was radical in its asymmetry. Its gentleness sharply contrasted with their harshness. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8-9). The asymmetry of his answer to the evils that we did to him gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). The gravity generated by his asymmetric answer is the strongest force on earth. It pulls us into centripetal orbit around Jesus.
What was Jesus' answer to the evils that
we did to him?
Christianity is the religion whose foundation
is the answer that Jesus gave to the evils that we
did to him. Upon his answer, the edifice of Christianity
is built.
His answer illuminated the darkness of our understanding
of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
His answer cracked open the enigmatic
black box in which God was hiding
(Isaiah 45:15).
and spilled the knowledge of God
all over the Valley of Tears
for people to see.
By his answer, Jesus filled the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
His answer is the rebar that God added to the wet
concrete of our understanding to
strengthen our faith.
His answer is the rock on which the wise
build their lives
(Matthew 7:24-27).
Depetrification is the goal of Jesus. Love is his methodology. The love of God, when planted in the toxic soil of our stony hearts, depetrifies them (Ezekiel 36:26). Jesus knew that only love begets love. So, he exploited this immutable law of cause and effect to our advantage. He initiated the enterprise of love-making and recruited, trained and equipped an army, his Church, to carry on the holy enterprise - to continue his work. While we were unrepentant (Matthew 22:10) sinners (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6) with his blood still on our hands, Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19). "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love (Romans 5:5). The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3). “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another“ (John 13:35) (Matthew 22:36-40) (1 John 4: 7-12). "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8: 38-39). The love of God is so powerful that only a drop was enough for our salvation. Jesus deposited a drop of the love of God into the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of space and time. Our job is to propagate the drop from the point and place of its obscure origin, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. Our job is to turn the drop into a flood.
The origin and purpose of Christianity
Christianity began with a Love Note.
Jesus is the Love Note that God sent to us.
God thought
that sending us a Love Note was the best way to
answer the question, 'Who is God?'
and, at the same time, to show us our potential.
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
So, what genre of literature is the Word of God
(John 1:1)?
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
is a Love Note -
a Love Note from God to us.
Wow!
God had lamented our ignorance of our potential:
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
The knowledge that Jesus brought from heaven
to earth about our potential
serves to put an end to our destruction.
“And ye shall know the truth [about your potential],
and the truth shall make you free”
(John 8:32).
Jesus showed us that we are not limited to
the first draft of ourselves.
The script is not static but dynamic.
We can rewrite the script.
Our potential is that we can evolve into a
Love Note, like Jesus.
We can be born again
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
Like Jesus, we, too,
can spend the coin of our flesh and blood
to purchase blessings
for our neighbors.
Achieving our potential is not easy.
We are hardwired to conserve our
limited human resources not to spend them.
Our conservative nature is part of our instinct
for self-preservation.
However, we can defy our instinct
for self-preservation as Jesus did.
A modicum of liberality in the
spending of our limited human resources is good
for us and for the neighbors in our community
(Love is in our Self-Interest).
With ordinary currency, the more we spend,
the poorer we get.
It is a paradox, but, by spending the currency of love,
we grow rich. The more we spend, the richer we get
(Proverbs 11:24).
We can approach our potential
step-by-step.
We can acclimate to liberality gradually.
God has given us a lifetime to achieve our potential.
Don't you think it is time to get started?
Isn't it time to sow love so we can reap it
(Galatians 6:7)?
"The direction of the [soul] is more important than
its progress"
(Joseph Joubert)
(Joseph Joubert 2).
A contradiction is the Good News of Great Joy
Thank God that God is not like us!
Jesus revealed the fundamental and apocalyptic
contradiction that embues the comparison
between divinity and humanity. Jesus did so
by his
answer to the evils that we did to him
(Isaiah 55:8).
Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Jesus was the personification of Newton's third law. He
was the equal but opposite reaction to the evils
that we did to him.
As bad as we were (and we were bad), Jesus is as good
(Isaiah 55:8).
Our God is way cooler than us.
Our God is chill.
The Museum that dynamically displays the divine art of Jesus
The Bible is not the museum that dynamically displays
the divine art of Jesus
God put a static, one-dimensional, black-and-white
description of Jesus'
Masterpiece of Love into the Bible.
But God did more than that - much more.
He wanted the children of
Adam and Eve to encounter more than a
description of it.
He wanted us to encounter the
glorious beauty of the actual
Masterpiece of Love itself.
The truth itself, not words describing the truth,
gives our rationality a powerful wallop.
It gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
Intimate contact with the truth itself challenges us
to come to grips with it.
To paraphrase Mark Twain,
“The difference between
[the description of the masterpiece
and the masterpiece itself] is really a large
matter. ’tis the difference between the lightning
bug and the lightning.”
So God performed a tremendous miracle.
God established a holy museum and
endowed it with a high fidelity, dynamic,
multi-dimensional, full color,
facsimile of the divine art of Jesus -
an exact replica of it with all of its
moving parts.
In the museum, the divine art of Jesus
returns to life again. It is reborn
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
Furthermore, God put the museum on wheels.
He freed the museum from its
captivity to the prison of time and space.
He enabled the museum to transcend
the temporal and spatial limitations of this world
so it could fulfill its mission.
The mission of the museum is to propagate
the divine art of Jesus
from the point and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3),
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
The museum where the divine art
of Jesus is dynamically displayed
is called the Mass.
Our jaw-dropping astonishment at God arises from the apocalyptic eruption of sweet forgiveness into the hostile desert of godlessness from the violent collision between Jesus and the evils that we did to him. The violent collision was bigger than the Big Bang and larger than CERN's Large Hadron Collider.
Forgiveness did not just nonchalantly emerge from the sacrifice of his flesh and blood. It emerged with a bang not a whimper (The Hollow Men)! Forgiveness erupted from the violent collision between Jesus and the evils that we did to him. The eruption of forgiveness quaked the earth, shattered rocks, opened graves and rent the veil in the temple in twain from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50-54). Powerful was the eruption - apocalyptic - enthusiastic. Forgiveness was the radically asymmetric answer that Jesus gave to the evils that we did to him. His answer is the Good News of Great Joy. The eruption of forgiveness from the sacrifice of his flesh and blood defines the Christian God. It is the hallmark of our God. “And ye shall know the truth [about your God], and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Do we appreciate the significance of the truth that forgiveness erupted from sacrifice? Have we contemplated its implications? Will the God who paid such an exorbitant price to purchase for us the blessing of forgiveness ever let us down? Will he ever disappoint (Romans 8:31)? Will he ever betray us? Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid (Psalm 27)? What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight (Psalm 37:4)!
ONLY RELENTLESS LOVE WINS
Any other strategy leads to defeat
Relentlessly, Jesus confronted us with the love of God
- prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope, and
immortal in duration.
He challenged us to come to grips with it.
Jesus recruited, trained and equipped an army
(his Church) to do the same.
Christianity, when done right, confronts us
with the love of God.
It challenges us to come to grips with it.
More God; not less.
More revelation; less regulation.
Always. No exceptions.
Our art versus the art of Jesus
How well do we function in adversity?
Jesus, the artist, created a masterpiece of love
on the canvas of life in the midst of adversity.
Do we compare favorably or unfavorably?
How does our art compare to his?
All Aboard!
The pursuit of the love of God is the train of
salvation.
Christianity is the track
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
To the extent that the track facilitates the
pursuit, it has utility. To the extent that the
track does not, those in hot pursuit find another
way to go.
Christianity operates the Holy
Places through which the track proceeds.
A train heading in the direction of the love of God
runs on the Christian track.
All aboard!
If Jesus did not carry the Love of God in his most Sacred Heart, though God, there would be no reason for the children of Adam and Eve to worship him. He would be no different than the serpent. The love of God makes all the difference. The risen Jesus bears the scars of his bloody wounds. They are the proof of his love for us. He loves us even though we tortured and killed him. Wow! Now, that is love. Always remember that the serpent has no bloody wounds. The serpent has never spent a penny out of his own pocket for us. Jesus, on the other hand, bet the farm for us. He wagered all of his flesh and blood on the proposition that love begets love. Only love begets love so Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19). He did not wait for our conversion to love us. He loved us first to bring about our conversion. Love was his first move - his best punch.
The children of Adam and Eve have no kitty of unlimited divine resources from which we can draw. However, like Jesus, the children of Adam and Eve are endowed with limited human resources that we can spend. Do we spend them on ourselves (selfish love), on strangers (Prodigal Son), or on our enemies (Sacrificial Love like Jesus)? How do we spend our limited human resources?
Like Jesus, we, too, can create miracles of love
on the canvas of life
Adversity is an unusual context for love.
Adversity is a sterile matrix - utterly barren -
hostile in the extreme.
The soil of adversity is toxic to the seed of love.
So when Jesus, in a gruesome experiment
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion,
embellished the canvas of life
with his masterpiece of love
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20),
we beheld a miracle.
The greater were the evils that
we did to Jesus, the more glorious was the miracle.
Miracles of love like the kind that Jesus performed
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
are not the exclusive property of our God
(Colossians 1:24).
God did not give himself a monopoly over them.
We, too, can perform miracles of love.
God endowed us with
the power to cover
(Wikipedia)
the divine art of Jesus.
We can duplicate it.
As artists, we, too, can embellish the canvas of life
with love.
Jesus hung from his Cross to show us how
to hang from our crosses.
When we hang from our crosses as Jesus hung from his,
we can love as Jesus loved.
To imitate the love of Jesus is far from easy,
but we can do so.
God gave us the capacity to do so.
To fill to the brim our capacity to create our
own masterpieces
of love, Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of
love
(Romans 5:5).
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
With our hearts filled to the brim
with love, like Jesus, we also can create divine art.
In this way and only in this way, we are like God -
we approach equality with God
(Matthew 5:38-48).
In the exercise of his artistry,
Jesus revealed to us our potential.
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another“
(John 13:35)
(Matthew 22:36-40)
(1 John 4: 7-12).
Humanity has an upside.
The upside of our humanity is that we can love as
Jesus loved.
The Rule of Survival
Our survival is governed solely by a simple but
fundamental principle. Humanity in every place and
in every age and of every religion is subject to its
command. No exceptions. The rule of survival
transcends the boundaries that separate religions
here on earth. Only by including God in our
lives do we live and only by excluding God
from our lives do we die. To include God in our
lives in the hereafter, we must include God in our
lives now! By excluding God from our lives now,
we exclude God from our lives in the hereafter.
Take an interest in God and God will take
an interest in you.
"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you"
(James 4:8).
Include God in your life and
God will include you in his. Ignore your God and
your God will ignore you
.
Have you brought God into the picture?
Is he in the frame?
If so, how and to what extent?
Love mitigates the direness of our passage through our predicament in the Valley of Tears. Christianity mitigates by diluting evils with love. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evils.
Love is the grease that lubricates the sharp edges of the gauntlet of evils through which we run here on earth and the cushion for our soft landing after the gauntlet discharges us, its sharp teeth having chewed us up into bits and pieces.
"We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). By loving us despite our unworthiness (Ezekiel 16:62-63), Jesus started the ball of salvation rolling. By loving us, Jesus initiated the salvific process. We complete the salvific process by seeking God. In the pusuit of God, we discover our home (Psalm 91:9-16). In the process of seeking God, God transforms us. We do not transform ourselves. Our Church does not transform us. Only God transforms us and he does so as we seek him. No seeking; no transformation. Therefore, let no man stand between a child of Adam and Eve who is seeking God and the love of God (Isaiah 57:14)! Let no man interfere (Luke 17:2)!
Focus on the process not the results
Clerics fail when they focus on results instead of
on process. God focuses on process not results because
he was highly confident that the process generates
results.
Focus on engaging the children of Adam
and Eve in the seeking of God and the results
will take care of themselves. Focus on the results
and you will fail.
The process of seeking the love of God is the
foundation of Christianity.
Get the foundation right and everything
else falls together.
Get it wrong and everything else falls apart.
Have you put your God to the test?
Set your love upon God
(Psalm 91:14)
(Matthew 22:36-40).
"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you"
(James 4:8).
Discover the size, scope and duration of God's love
for us.
Seek it.
As we are seeking it, God shares his
habitation with us. We discover our home
(Psalm 91:9-16).
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
God promised:
The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger:
but they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing
(Psalm 34:10).
God challenged us to put him to the test. He dared
us.
"… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts,
And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven
for you, and pour down upon you
blessing without measure!"
(Malachi 3:10).
Have you put your God to the test?
Illusions distort our perception of reality
The truth is the sledgehammer that shatters the illusions
that distort our perception of reality.
"To this end was I born, and for this cause
came I into the world, that I should bear witness
unto the truth [about God]"
(John 18:37).
What, exactly, is the reservoir of love that
Jesus built upon the earth?
God established a reservoir of love upon the earth.
He did so in the backside
of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space.
Its location was obscure, inconspicuous,
anonymous, and remote.
To get the love of God from
the reservoir, across history and geography, to
the children of Adam and Eve here and now, a vast
network of aqueducts was needed. So God established
his Church.
The saints of his Church are
the aqueducts that carries the love of
God from the point and place of its remote and
obscure origin in the boondocks of time and space
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
,
across history and geography,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now
as a Bhisti carries water to the troops.
The reservoir of love that Jesus established on
the earth was not an abstraction.
Jesus, the Word of God
(John 1:1),
built it with his radically asymmetric answer
to the evils that we did to him. What, exactly,
is the reservoir of love that Jesus built
upon the earth?
What was the result of the test?
We tested Jesus in a gruesome experiment
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
We tortured and killed Jesus -
we made him suffer and die -
we impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
“LET US TEST HIM WITH INSULT AND TORTURE, THAT WE MAY
FIND OUT HOW GENTLE HE IS AND MAKE TRIAL OF HIS
FORBEARANCE"
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
We did.
The test generated a result.
What was the result of the test?
What is the significance of the result?
What was his greatest miracle? How can we tell?
Jesus performed many miracles. He raised
the dead, cured the sick, fed the multitude, etc..
Jesus drew all of his miracles from
his unlimited divine resources save one.
Jesus performed only one miracle by
drawing upon his limited human resources.
Into what did Jesus invest all of the coin of his
flesh and blood?
What was so important?
What was the miracle?
What is the greatest 'thing'
that ever happened in Christianity?
What is the greatest 'thing'
that ever happened in Christianity?
Hint: It took place in the backside
of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space.
Its origin was obscure, inconspicuous,
anonymous, and remote -
an insignificant blip in the course
of human history, yet, its impact reverberates
across history and geography to
to touch and challenge
the children of Adam and Eve here and now?
It is not the Mass. The Mass derives from it.
The Mass is a celebration of it. It happened and
the Mass was subsequently instituted to celebrate it.
Dare to hazard a guess?
Pray, tell!
What was the Masterpiece of Love that the
artistry of Jesus created on the canvas of
life in the midst of adversity?
What was the Masterpiece of love that the artistry
of Jesus created on the canvas of life in the midst
of adversity? It is his Magnum Opus - his
greatest achievement. Are you familiar with it?
What are the two parts of Jesus' revelation that
answered the question, 'Who is God?'
Jesus dropped into the Valley of Tears an apocalyptic
revelation that answered the question, 'Who is God?'
(John 14:8-21).
It filled the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
It consisted of not one but two parts. The two parts
combined together into a single unit of revelation.
They illuminate the darkness of
our understanding of God in a glorious burst
of epiphany.
The two parts are
the odd couple of epiphany.
As a team, they reveal the nature of God to us.
If we uncouple the two parts,
we distort Jesus' apocalyptic revelation.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
Can you articulate each of the two parts of the
revelation? How do they answer the question, 'Who
is God?'?
Many descriptions for the Greatest thing
to ever happen in Christianity
Note:
His answer to the evils that we did to him,
the result of the test,
his glorious victory,
his greatest miracle,
his Masterpiece of Love,
all reference the same thing.
All of them are one and the same.
They are different filters through which
which we look at the achievment of Jesus.
All of the filters point to the greatest thing that
ever happened in Christianity.
The greatest thing that
ever happened in Christianity
can be looked at in a variety of informative ways.
The Greatest Problem for Christianity today
The greatest problem for Christianity today is
its unqualified professionals. An unqualified
professional class is in charge of and
managing Christianity today.
They know a lot of
'things' about Christianity but their knowledge is
mostly about obiter dicta and little to nothing about
the gravamen of Christianity. They have no expertise
in the operating system of Christianity focusing
only on its applications. They are lightweights
out of
their league.
They cannot answer the following questions about
Christianity:
--> What was Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to
him and what does his answer tell us about our God?
--> What was Jesus' glorious victory
what does it tell us about our God?
--> What was the result of the test that we administered
to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion and what
does the result tell us about our God?
--> What was Jesus' greatest miracle and how can we tell?
--> What was the greatest 'thing' that ever happened in
Christianity and why is it important?
--> What was the Masterpiece of Love that Jesus created
on the canvas of life in the midst of adversity?
--> What was the Love Note that our God sent us,
why did God send it, and
how was its authenticity definitively verified?
--> What was the reservoir of love
that Jesus built upon the earth?
Go ahead. Put these questions to your professionals to
test their qualifications. Ask them to put their
answers in writing for community review.
Don't be surprised when
they hem and haw and otherwise dodge the questions.
They are sensitive to being put on the spot especially
when their claimed expertise is challenged.
They have pretended for too long that they are
wearing clothes
(The Emperor's New Clothes).
They are not.
The answer to these questions
defines our God.
The answer is the good news of great joy - the
greatest force on earth and in heaven.
It gives
Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma,
us, our joy,
and clerics, who exclusively devote themselves to it,
the power to change the world.
Unfortunately, our Christian professionals
are devoted to other lesser aspects of Christianity -
they prefer the petty to the profound.
Christianity has a professional competency problem.
Christianity's professionals do not understand
the gravamen of Christianity.
A bad sales force ruins a good product
A product and its sales force are inextricably
intertwined. When the sales force is rotten,
it is not unreasonable for existing and potential
customers to conclude that the product being offered
for sale is rotten as well. This is so regardless
of the unassailable virtue of the manufacturer
of the product and especially when the competition
has cleaner hands, viable alternatives exist or
disaffiliation is preferable to affiliation with
the rottenness.
The Church has dissipated her credibility in scandal.
It has squandered her advantage.
It has sidestepped her responsibility.
A bad sales force ruins a good product.
Art is divine that embellishes the canvas of life
with love
Jesus was an artist.
His medium was love.
Unlike love in general, Jesus'
love was sui generis.
It thrived in adversity.
Its intarnsigence in adversity verified it.
Intransigence is its proof.
The verification of the love of God was written
in the ink of adversity.
If the love of God were counterfeit,
God's love for us would have faded as we tortured
Jesus and died when we killed him. But it did not.
God's love for us survived the evils that we did
to Jesus.
The artistry of Jesus created a
materpiece of love on
the canvas of life in the midst of adversity.
Is there a better way for the Word of God
(John 1:1)
to express the love of God than by forgiving
us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)?
Divinity forgave humanity
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Forgiveness was his magnum opus.
Jesus set the scintillating jewel of sweet forgiveness
against the dark foil of the evils that we did
to him.
Boy, did the stark contrast make the jewel sparkle!
Divinity's prodigal hospitality and
humanity's prodigal hostility
are the two sticks that Jesus
rubbed together to ignite
the fire of our understanding
of the nature of God.
“I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
The light generated by the juxtaposition
of prodigal hospitality and prodigal hostility
illuminated the darkness of our understanding of
the nature of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic
epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
Forgiveness is a sweet fruit of love.
From the sweet fruit of forgiveness
that Jesus expressed into the Valley of Tears
in adversity, we can
reverse engineer our way back to the apocalyptic
inference that the nature
of God is love
(1 John 4:7-8).
Isn't a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
Forgiveness transformed the taking of Jesus'
flesh and Blood into the giving of bread and wine
Forgiveness bifurcated the taking and the giving
His enemies hungered and thirsted for
his flesh and blood.
Jesus turned the flesh that his enemies took from him
into bread to satify their hunger and turned the blood
that his enemies took from him
into wine to quench their thirst by forgiving them
for the evils that they did to him.
Forgiveness satisfied their hunger and quenched
their thrist.
Jesus filled their bellies with the food and drink
of forgiveness.
Forgiveness is the ingredient that Jesus brought to
the family table where he sat with his enemies, out
of the sun and the rain, under the family tent.
Forgiveness transformed the taking of his flesh
and blood into the giving of bread and wine.
By means of forgiveness, Jesus modified his flesh
and blood and turned them into bread and wine.
The modification took place at the Last Supper.
In the gruesome adversity of the Crucifixion, the sublime artistry of Jesus created the Masterpiece of Love on the canvas of life. Embellishing the canvas of life with love in the midst of adversity was Jesus' magnum opus - his greatest achievement. Rally 'round the Cross!
The fuse worked but the bomb was a dud
The evils that his enemies did to him lit the fuse.
Ordinarily, when the fuse is lit, the bomb explodes.
The explosion releases the three-headed monster of
revenge, retaliation and retribution.
But, remarkably, it did not.
The fuse worked but the bomb was a dud (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Love made it a dud.
Danger! Always Wear Your Flotation Device. Safety First!
Love has the property of buoyancy.
A heart filled to the brim with love serves as a
flotation device. It protects us from evil’s attempts
to dislodge us from the level of our loving God and
to cast us down into catastrophe into
the ruins of Eden where
the loveless beasts scavenge for scraps in
cutthroat competition with the other loveless beasts.
The gauntlet of life has many sharp edges.
Love is the grease that lubricates
the sharp edges of the gauntlet of life.
Love streamlines our passage through the gauntlet.
Love optimizes it.
Love is the parachute that controls the fall and
cushions the landing.
Moreover, love enables us to bounce back
to the level of our loving God.
As you make your escape through the Valley of Tears
always wear your flotation device. Safety first!
OMITTING THE FOIL diminishes THE SIZE OF THE LOVE OF
GOD FROM EXTRAORDINARY TO ORDINARY
No. Jesus does not just love us. He loves us even
though we tortured and killed him
His love for us is not ordinary.
He loves us even though we tortured and killed him.
NO. JESUS DOES NOT JUST LOVE US.
HE LOVES US EVEN THOUGH WE TORTURED AND KILLED HIM
. WOW! NOW THAT’S LOVE!
Ordinarily, evil begets evil. It is a vicious,
incessant cycle. But not in the case of Jesus.
Jesus was a rare exception to the immutable laws of
cause and effect. He broke the cycle of evil.
He crashed it. He stopped the progression of evil
dead in its tracks. Jesus refused to allow evil
to reproduce itself within him (Matthew 5:38-40).
Evil did not find a foothold in Jesus.
Jesus gave evil no purchase.
“…God is light, and in him there is no darkness
at all” (1 John 1:5). There was no room for evil
to enter the inn of his most Sacred Heart (Luke 2:7).
Love had reserved all of the space for itself.
Love is a sterile matrix for the seed of evil.
When the seed of evil is planted in a heart filled
to the brim with love, it does not germinate.
It dies. Love smothers it. Love rings its neck.
It is D/O/A. Forgiveness is a fruit of a heart
filled to the brim with love. Isn’t a tree known
by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45)? Only a heart filled to
the brim with love is capable of forgiving.
Because he forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34 )
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45), we are confident that his love for us
survived the evil that we did to him.
The evil that we did to him did not extinguish the
bonfire of love that burns for us in his most
Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even
the slightest degree. His prodigious love for us
survived intact - undiminished - without even the
slightest scratch.
The dial that controls his love for us is in
his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the
highest degree and is locked in place.
Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it!
The greater was the evil that we did to him,
the greater is our astonishment at the
radical prodigality of his love for us.
In a divinely choreographed dance featuring the
odd couple of epiphany, the dunghill of evil
gave birth to the jewel of forgiveness.
The birth of forgiveness from the dunghill of evil is
as miraculous as the virgin birth! How can a virgin
bring forth a child? How can evil bring forth
forgiveness? Jesus exploited the evil that we did to
him to reveal to us, by the asymmetry of his answer
to it, the benign, benevolent and beneficent nature of
God. Jesus had access to unlimited divine resources
for his defense (Matthew 26:53). Yet, he did not
fight back. He did not answer the evil that we did
to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of
our own medicine. He did not require
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand,
foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24)(Matthew 5: 38-48).
He did not release the three-headed monster of
revenge, retaliation and retribution from the
dungeon of his broken heart to devour us.
Instead, constrained by his prodigious love for us,
Jesus released the Angel of Forgiveness into
the Valley of Tears. Jesus transubstantiated his
bloody wounds into the floodgates of forgiveness
(Luke 23:34) (Malachi 3:10). Through them, the
sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28)
poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its
toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute
the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee.
Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil.
Light emerged from the darkness - fresh air from
the foul. Jesus struck a match. He ignited the light
of forgiveness in the darkness of evil.
The conflagration that ensued from the spark
that Jesus struck illuminates the darkness of our
understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.
“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish
it were already blazing" (Luke 12:49)!
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3). By midwifing the light of
forgiveness from the darkness of evil,
Jesus carried us to a first-class, high fidelity
understanding of the benign, benevolent and
beneficent nature of God.
We diminish the prodigious size of the love of God
when we omit the foil against which Jesus set it.
We shortchange it. We underestimate it.
The dunghill of the evils in which we baptized
Jesus highlights and emphasizes and intensifies and
magnifies and amplifies and accentuates and
underlines the beautiful jewel of forgiveness.
THE SON OF GOD LOVES US EVEN THOUGH WE TORTURED AND
KILLED HIM is a superior articulation of God's love
for us because it includes the foil.
Never merely say, God loves us. It is too little of
a description of God’s love. It is a flagrant
diminution of it. It is an offense against his
love for us - an insult to it - because it makes
God’s love for us appear small.
God’s love for us is not small. It is not tiny.
It is not little. It is prodigious.
Always say, No. God doesn’t just love us.
God loves us even though we tortured and
killed him.
A word to the wise is sufficient.
Compliance is not conversion (00589)
If we are not pounding the children of Adam and Eve
into submission with the love of God,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
forever in duration,
we are not doing Christianity.
Trying to enslave a person in
an inscrutable and procrustean
straight jacket
of rules, regulations, red tape
and rigmarole does not make a Christian.
Compliance is not conversion.
Only close encounters with the love of God
make a Christian - nothing else.
Love begets love - only love begets love.
So, he loved us first.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
To make a Christian, the only approach that works
is to love us as Jesus loved us (John 15:12)
(John 13:34-35).
Jesus loved us even though we tortured and killed him -
even though we made him suffer and die.
Hence, making a Christian is not easy.
Loveless Christians cannot make loving Christians
because only love begets love (1 Corinthians 13: 1-3).
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[¶ 00589 Updated: 08_01_2024]
Jesus did not loose his temper despite
the evils that we did to him
The urge to 'get even' is biblical.
"[A]n eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Who has the strength to hold back the three-headed
monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution from
the enemies who do evil to us?
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Jesus, our savior, exhibited herculean strength.
Our God had disarmed.
He defortified
himself.
He doffed his invincible armor of divinity and
donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood.
Jesus became one of us -
an equal to us in our humanity -
a partner with us in our suffering.
The children of Adam and Eve took advantage of
Jesus' weakness.
We tortured and killed Jesus -
we made him suffer and die -
we impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a
sharp hook where he hung until death.
While he was human, alive, vulnerable, and our guest
upon the earth, we baptized Jesus in an atrocity of
cruel evils. With lash, thorns,
nails and Cross, we baptized him.
Then the most incredible miracle happened!
It's a big deal.
It's the biggest deal in Christianity!
Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Make haste to the starting line of our adventure
with the love of God!
On your marks! Get ready! Get set! Go!
The monster of the Crucifixion delivered to
Jesus an ignominious defeat
by torturing and killing him -
by making him suffer and die -
by impaling him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a
sharp hook where he hung until death.
With violence and torture, we put him to the test
(Wisdom 2: 19).
Vile was the baptism in which we baptized Jesus.
Jesus, however, turned the tables on the monster.
He turned the tables by answering
the evils that we had done to him.
He did not hang mute.
His tongue was not nailed to the cross.
He did not take the fifth.
The test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
that we administered to Jesus produced a result -
a glorious burst of apocalyptic
epiphany about the nature of God!
Jesus transubstantiated ignominious defeat into
glorious victory.
Glorious victory erupted from ignominious defeat
as the dawn erupts from the night.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
His ignominious defeat summoned from the darkness
into the light his radically asymmetric
answer to the evils that we had done to him.
Jesus had access to unlimited divine resources
to wage the war against evil
(Matthew 26:53-54).
He was the dude with the biggest, most powerful gun.
Yet, he did not fire it. He did not pull the trigger.
He did not fight back in a conventional
manner.
He did not answer the evils that we did to him in kind.
He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did not require
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
He did not release the three-headed monster of
revenge, retaliation and retribution from
the dungeon of his broken heart to devour us.
He did not put his answer into the form of
a great and strong wind that rent the mountains,
and brake in pieces the rocks.
He did not put his answer into the form of
an earthquake or a fire.
Instead, he put his answer into the form of
"a still small voice" - quite the radically
asymmetric contrast
with the awesome power of omnipotent divinity
(1 Kings 19:11-13).
From the scabbard of his love for us,
Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness.
With it, he slayed the monster.
Forgiveness killed the monster of the Crucifixion
dead
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
His radically asymmetric answer
irrefutably verified the love of God.
His answer was its proof.
The love of God is invigorating.
It vivifies us.
It wakes us up from our slumber
(Romans 13:11)!
It raises us up from the dead
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
Note:
At Mass, Jesus retells the story of how
he turned the tables on
the monster of the Crucifixion.
He recapitulates his
transubstantiation of ignominious defeat into
glorious victory that originally took place
while he engaged in
mortal combat with the monster of the Crucifixion.
A Mass is a high fidelity
echo of the original transubstantiation. At Mass,
a priest is the master of ceremonies. Jesus, however,
is the star of the show.
Rally 'round the Cross! Assemble at the starting
line (00670)
The radical love of God is the starting point
of our escape from our dire predicament in the
Valley of Tears. It is the point and place of the
beginning of our odyssey with the love of God.
It is ground zero of the adventure.
(1 Corinthians 1:17)!
Make haste
to the point and place of the beginning of the
adventure.
Assemble at the starting line
(Matthew 6:33)!
The God who loves us is calling all the children of Adam
and Eve to assemble around the flagpole of Christianity
to prepare themselves for their adventure with the
love of God.
Rally 'round the flagpole of Christianity!
"... Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him"
(1 Corinthians 2:9)!
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness"
(Isaiah 55:1-2)!
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[¶ 00670 Updated: 10_20_2024]
The pursuit of the love of God is the train of salvation. Christianity is the track. Has your train fallen off the tracks? To the extent that the tracks help you to pursue the love of God, they are valuable. To the extent that they don't, they are worthless. Without the tracks, we must find a way to continue our pursuit of the love of God. "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2).
The Pathological Pursuit of God
Clerical superciliousness, also known as clericalism,
gives clerics a pathological view of the pursuit of God.
It reached its apogee in the papal pronouncement of
Pius X who unabashedly declared
"...the one duty of the multitude is to allow
themselves to be led, and, like a docile flock,
to follow the Pastors"
(1906 encyclical of Pope Pius X titled
“Vehementer Nos“).
We do not pursue God as master and slave as
Pius X envisioned.
Equality marks the pursuit
of God
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
We are in this 'thing' together
(1 Corinthians 12:12-27).
Inability to articulate Jesus' glorious victory
The greatest problem for Christianity today is that
its professionals cannot articulate Jesus' glorious
victory. They cannot put their fingers on it.
They are well versed in his ignominious defeat.
We tortured and killed Jesus -
we made him suffer and die -
we impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
However, they go aphasic when they try to articulate
his glorious victory. Why? Nobody ever told them
that
Jesus answered the evils that we did to him and
that he won his glorious victory by
the radical asymmetry of his answer.
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Wisdom 12:19)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Jesus won his glorious victory by his radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him. His radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him pulled glorious victory from ignominious defeat as a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat. Like the repeating light of a lighthouse that saves sailors from shipwrecks, Jesus' glorious victory illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in glorious bursts of apocalyptic epiphany. Come. Be not ashamed. Jesus won! Our God blessed us with the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). Let us, the unworthy beneficiaries of divine forgiveness, celebrate his glorious victory at Mass in the most Holy Eucharist.
Rally 'round the Cross!
The foil of evils that we did to Jesus and his
radically asymmetric answer to them -
he forgave his enemies -
fills the Cross of Christ with its meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Rally 'round the Cross!
Jesus is the dude with the biggest, most powerful gun
(Matthew 26:53-54).
Yet, despte the evils that we did to him, he did not
fight back. He did not defend himself.
He met our rank hostility with prodigal hospitality.
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
How paradoxical!
Radical asymmetry won the day!
Forgiveness is the miracle that the children of Adam and Eve have the power to perform as Jesus did. We can perform the miracle of forgiveness without any access to unlimited divine resources.
What transformed ignominious defeat into glorious victory? Forgiveness.
Through his bloody wounds, Jesus poured the sweet syrup of forgiveness into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil.
Forgiveness did not erase the evils that we did to him. Forgiveness erased their taint. Forgiveness freed us from it.
Don't let the nitty-gritty of Christianity drag down
the pizzazz
Not all aspects of Christianity are equal.
Some are more important than others.
In talking about the aspects of Christianity,
it is crucial to keep the ratio of the nitty-gritty
and the pizzazz tilted in favor of the pizzazz.
Getting an 'A+' for addressing the nitty-gritty
of Christianity and an 'F' for not addressing its
pizzazz, is not a partial success but
an abysmal failure.
Note: the pizzazz of Christianity
dwells in its operating system. The nitty-gritty
of Christianity abides in its applications.
The more a Christian devotes himself to the
operating system of Christianity, the more religious
he becomes.
The more a Christian devotes himself to the
nitty-gritty of Christianity, the more political
he becomes. Prefer religion over politics -
revelation over regulation, more God over less God.
Always. No exceptions.
The Operating System of Christianity
The operating system of Christianity is
the love of God,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope,
and immortal in duration
(the Triple Crown of Divinity).
The love of God is the engine that drives
the pursuit of God. It is the foundation of
Christianity.
Get the foundation right and everything
else falls together.
Get it wrong and everything else falls apart.
The applications of Christianity (00567)
The applications of Christianity
are derived from its operating system.
The applications of Christianity
are the expressions of the love of God
adapted to particular circumstances.
In designing an application, love is siphoned off
from the operating system into the applications
as fuel is siphoned off from a tank.
For an application to be a Christian application,
love must move from the operating
system into the application. If there is no movement of
love, the application is not a Christian application.
Love is the gold standard against which all
Christian applications are measured.
Love is the logic of Christianity.
Love is the litmus test through which all Christian
applications must pass.
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[¶ 00567 Updated: 07_23_2024]
Leadership of the Church doesn't understand the distinction between the operating system of Christianity and the applications of Christianity. Morality is an application. The Mass is an application. Care for those on the periphery is an application. Abortion is an application. The operating system of Christianity is something distinct and different. it is the mother of applications. {Note: Each of us is an application}.
The operating system of Christianity is the rock on which the wise build their lives (Matthew 7:24-27).
Better to invest our time, energy, effort and resources in The operating system of Christianity than in the applications of Christianity. Get the operating system right and the applications take care of themselves. Neglect the operating system and the applications do not stand a chance.
When religion jumps the fence from its operating system to its applications, it risks getting bogged down in the noxious swamp of politics. When bogged down, the pursuit of God gets throttled.
The operating system of Christianity deserves the position of prominence in the showcase of Christianity not any of the applications.
The leadership of the Church is bogged down in the weeds of Christian applications. Leadership can't keep the ball on the fairway of Christianity where the grass is cut short.
Loveless Christianity is an incoherent oxymoron. It is an ersatz Christianity, a Frankenstein's monster of Christianity. On the surface, it resembles real Christianity but, underneath, it has an artificial heart. Instead of being animated by love, a loveless algorithm of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole animates it. It is counterfeit. Real Christianity is a torrid love affair between humanity and divinity. Salvation history is the record of the serpent's repeated unsuccessful attempts to extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in the most Sacred Heart of God and to reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree (Psalm 8:4-10). The love of God is intransigent. It never waivers. The dial that controls God's love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we did to the Son of God could budge it. Love is the operating system of Christianity. Love is the alpha and the omega of Christianity (Revelation 22:13-15). Love is the point and place of beginning for Christianity. It is also the end point. From the reservoir of its operating system, love flows into its applications. Love is intrinsic to the Christian operating system and to all Christian applications. Love is Christianity's sine qua non. Yet, some Christians blithely subtract love from Christianity but still think they are practicing Christianity. They are not. By making Christianity loveless, they have turned Christianity into an incoherent oxymoron and themselves into dull, nondescript, bureaucratic bean counters and compliance drones. Instead of improving life with love, like automatons, they mechanically play a loveless board game according to a loveless algorithm of inflexible rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. In their version of loveless Christianity, the loveless algorithm gives meaning to the board game. In God's version of Christianity, however, love gives meaning to life. Love is the syrup that sweetens the insipidness of life. A life without love is salt without flavor (Matthew 5:13). "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men" (Matthew 5:13). Love is life in abundance (John 10:10). Love embellishes life. Love is the treasure of Christianity. Christianity is love - nothing more but nothing less (1 John 4:7-8).
Pivoting from applications to operating system
For Christianity to succeed, we must pivot from
our emphasis on Christian applications to the
operating system of Christianity.
We have allowed
the applications to eclipse the operating system
to the detriment of
Christianity.
No change in doctrine. Just a change
in emphasis. A tweak, nothing more.
The truth itself gives our rationality a powerful wallop. Words about the truth, not so much.
Words about the truth are inferior impostors for the truth itself. Lies are the saboteurs of reality
Words about the truth are the sign that points to the truth itself. Do not confuse the pointing sign with the truth itself. They are as different as the day is different from the night.
The Truth
The truth itself, not words about the truth,
gives our rationality a powerful wallop.
It gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
Intimate contact with the truth itself challenges us
to come to grips with it.
The difference between reading about safari and going
on safari is, as Mark Twain said, as large as the
difference between a lightning bug and lightning.
Christians do not just read about safari.
Christians go on safari.
The Church is the tour guide.
The Church takes the children of Adam and Eve on expeditions
to the holy places that define the escape route
from godlessness to paradise during which
we explore for ourselves
the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God.
The Church makes the introductions.
The Church introduces us to God and God to us.
The encounter, however, is ours not the Church’s.
It is between us and God.
The Church is the usher who shows us to our seats.
It is God who puts on the show.
“And ye shall know the truth [about your God],
and the truth shall make you free”
(John 8:32).
The truth itself versus Words about the Truth
Words about the truth are not the same thing
as the truth itself. Close encounters with
the truth itself pack a more powerfully persuasive punch
than close encounters with words about the truth -
much more powerful.
The truth itself gives our rationality
a powerful wallop. Words about the truth do not.
Words about the truth are inferior impostors
for the truth itself.
Words about the truth are counterfeit.
Only the truth itself is the genuine article.
Whoever wields the truth itself is king.
Whoever wields the truth itself holds
the sledgehammer that shatters
the illusions that distort our perception of reality
as the blow of a hammer shatters a pane of glass.
Rationality, not obedience, steers the ship.
The methodology of evil is to create illusions that distort our perception of reality. Whoever wields the truth itself is king. Whoever wields the truth itself holds the sledgehammer that shatters the illusions that distort our perception of reality.
Don't tell us what you found. Show us where to
look
(00563)
Don't tell us what you found. Show us where to look.
We want to figure out this thing called God for
ourselves. We want to come to our own conclusions.
Surely, a Church with more than two thousand years
of experience knows where the treasure
is buried.
Therefore, empower us to prospect for God
for ourselves. Enable us to experience the joy
of discovery for ourselves.
Stop force-feeding us.
Stop trying to jam doctrine down our throats
against our wills by dint of authority.
Doctrine Jamming is a medieval
not a modern tactic and
it arises from a time when authority and hierarchy
were rigid.
In modernity, it is looked upon as a form
of medieval torture like the rack, the iron maiden, the
Index Librorum Prohibitorum, or
the inquisition. It is akin to burning witches at
the stake.
Before we learned to read, write and
think for ourselves, we docilely swallowed whatever
the Church jammed down our throats. Times have changed.
Now, the Church's tactic triggers
our gag reflex. We regurgitate it.
The command - obedience paradigm no longer works.
In fact, it hasn't worked since the age of Adam and Eve.
A new approach, therefore, is needed.
The appeal must be to our rationality.
We must be persuaded. This dismays the medievalists.
It discombobulates them. It makes them apoplectic.
The modernists, however, are up for the challenge.
In fact, they think an appeal to our rationality is
the best way to go.
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[¶ 00563 Updated: 07_22_2024]
The methodology of God
God is the artist who paints the masterpiece of reality
on the canvas of our rationality
in the pigments of truth.
His methodology is to put the children of Adam and Eve
into intimate contact with the truth itself - both the
sweet truth and the sour truth - not merely with
words about the truth.
Words about the truth are approximate to,
not equal to, the actual truth itself.
Words about the truth are inferior impostors -
ersatz substitutes - for the truth itself.
[Lies are the saboteurs of reality.]
Only the truth itself is the real McCoy -
the genuine article.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32).
The truth shatters the
illusions that distort our perception of reality as
the blow of a sledgehammer shatters
a pane of glass.
How are we persuaded about the nature of God? (00564)
The best, most powerful persuasion
comes from discovering the truth for ourselves -
from intimate contact with the truth itself.
Being engulfed in a fire is more persuasive
about the fire than being outside the fire but in
the vicinity of someone who shouts, 'fire'.
We want to figure out the answer to the question
for ourselves. We want to do the math.
So, point us to the location where
we can find the answer.
Show us where the answer is kept.
Show us the container that holds the answer
to the question, 'WHO IS GOD?'.
Don't tell us what you found.
Just show us where to look.
Let us delight in the joy of discovering God
for ourselves.
When the truth is wrapped up in words and handed to us
on a silver platter (Mark 6:28), we are not persuaded.
Representations of the truth - even when the
representations come from a reputable source -
do not pack the same persuasive punch as
intimate contact with the truth itself.
Intimate contact with the truth itself, not with words
about it,
is the sledgehammer that gives our rationality
a powerful wallop.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free” (John 8:32).
The vast majority of clerics cannot help themselves.
Instead of showing us where to look, they tell us
what they found. They deprive us of experiencing
the joy of discovery for ourselves. They want us
to take their word for it.
Instead of giving us the premises and allowing us to
jump to our own conclusions, they want to control
premises, conclusions and the jump from one to the
other.
They want to own all aspects of the logic of
Christianity. They claim a monopoly over it.
"...the one duty of the multitude is to allow
themselves to be led, and, like a docile flock,
to follow the Pastors"
(1906 encyclical of Pope Pius X titled
“Vehementer Nos“).
It is a pathological condition.
It's a sickness.
It is an offense against our rationality.
We who read, write and think for ourselves
reserve to ourselves the sovereignty of the
thinking process. We refuse to surrender
our intellectual independence to
our self-annointed superiors.
Only the rare cleric respects our rationality
and is content to let the rank and file
of the children of Adam and Eve exercise it.
The highest authority is the truth.
God open sourced the truth.
Cherish the truth that Jesus deposited
into the public domain.
Nobody - not even a Church - has a monopoly
over the truth.
Beware anyone who claims exclusive ownership
of the truth. Under such a false claim,
the truth is often distorted.
Keeping the truth out of private hands and
in the public domain safeguards it from distortion.
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[¶ 00564 Updated: 07_22_2024]
The metric that measures the size of God's love
What was the blessing that Jesus purchased for his
enemies by spending the coin of his flesh and blood?
He spent all of his limited human resources.
He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never spent more for anything else.
Does the size of his spending tell us anything about
the size of his gentle love for us
(Matthew 10:29-31)?
The gentle love of God is the sledgehammer whose
impact knocks us off our horses
We tested the gentle love of God and discovered that
it is real
Forgiveness is an abstration. Jesus made the abstraction
concrete. In its concrete form, forgiveness hits us
like a ton of bricks.
His enemies took from Jesus his flesh and blood. Jesus,
however, did not give them exactly what they took.
He made a substitution.
Jesus made forgiveness concrete
by satisfying the hunger of his enemies with bread,
by satisfying their thirst with wine and
by filling their bellies with fellowship. He made
his enemies welcome by offering them a seat with him
at the
family table, out of the sun and the rain, under
the comfort of the family tent
(Mark 2:13-17).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Jesus clobbers us over the head and about
the body with the gentle love of God - a
gentleness cruelly tested in the gruesome maelstrom
of extreme adversity
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
He confronts us with it.
He challenges us to come to grips
with it.
The condensation of forgiveness from the abstract to
the concrete descends upon the children of
Adam and Eve like the dewfall
(Hosea 14:5).
Its impact gobsmacks us.
It kicks us like a mule.
It knocks us off of our
horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Divine Restraint
His ignominious defeat summoned from the darkness
into the light his radically asymmetric
answer to the evils that we had done to him.
Jesus had access to unlimited divine resources
to wage the war against evil
(Matthew 26:53-54).
He was the dude with the biggest, most powerful gun.
Yet, he did not fire it.
He did not pull the trigger.
He did not fight back in a conventional, orthodox
manner.
He did not answer the evils that we did to him in kind.
He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did not require
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
He did not release the three-headed monster of
revenge, retaliation and retribution from
the dungeon of his broken heart to devour us.
Our God bet the farm on the truth of the
proposition that only love begets love
What is the most accurate measure of love?
Shall we measure love by the benefit to the
beneficiary?
No. The most accurate measure of love is the cost
to the benefactor.
Love is a function of its cost
(Luke 21:1-4)
(John 15:13).
Our God bet the farm - all of the coin of his son's
flesh and blood -
on the power of the love of God
to depetrify our stony hearts and fleshify them
(Ezekiel 36:26).
It was a crazy bet
(Genesis 22).
Our God was all in.
He held nothing back.
All of his son's limited human resources was
wagered.
Our God kept not a penny in the bank in reserve
for his son.
The size of God's wager is a good indication
of the size of his love for us.
The enormity of God's crazy bet gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Wow!
We didn't deserve the Love of God.
Yet, our God sent it to us anyway
complete with its own verification
(Matthew 5:38-48).
Despite the biblical injunction against doing so,
our God cast his pearls before swine and
gave what was holy unto the dogs
(Matthew 7:6).
He broke his rules for us.
He disregarded all limitations
to release the prodigality of his love upon us,
unworthy of it though we were.
What a God is our God! What a delight!
Grasp the hand of God
The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand
Jesus is the helping hand that God extends from
heaven to earth. The hand of God pulls us out of our
dire predicaments among the ruins of Eden where
we scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition with
the other loveless beasts,
picks us up and
promotes us to the level of our
loving God.
Take
hold of the hand of God.
Cling to it, hold tight and refuse to let go.
The Science of Cause and Effect
The science of cause and effect governs the world.
Because God made the world, he is the master of
the science of cause and effect.
He knows how the world works.
One of the principles of the science of cause
and effect is that only love begets love.
Subscribing to this principle, God loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
Forgiveness is one of the sweet fruits of love.
He loved us first by forgiving us for the evils
that we did to him.
Forgiveness led the way.
It descended upon us like the dewfall
(Hosea 14:5).
The dewfall of forgiveness initiated
the process of our conversion.
Our God did not wait for our conversion to forgive us.
He forgave us to bring about our conversion.
Radical in scope is the love of God.
it includes the good and bad
(Matthew 22:8-10).
God brought the bad to his wedding feast to inspire
connversion. One, however, did not feel the
inspiration
(Matthew 22:11-13).
Jesus is the tangible expression of the radical love of God -
its incarnate articulation (00540)
Jesus is the Love Note that God sent us to reveal God
to us
Jesus
(John 1:1)
was dispatched from heaven to earth
to express in the most tangible,
least abstract fashion, God's radical love for us.
Jesus accomplished this by forgiving us for
the gruesome evils that we did to him.
Jesus gave us a full pardon -
total and unconditional amnesty -
absolute absolution for the egregious
sins that we perpetrated against him.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
Jesus made the abstract concept of forgiveness concrete
by translating forgiveness into a meal for his enemies.
Is there anything more concrete - more real -
more immediate - more exigent -
than food and drink to those who hunger
and thirst
(Matthew 12:4)?
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness"
(Isaiah 55:1-2)!
Jesus satisfies the hunger of his
enemies with bread, quenches their thirst with
wine and fills their bellies with fellowship.
He welcomes them to a seat at the family table,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the family tent.
The scope of his love was not narrow.
It was extraordinarily, radically broad.
He did not include just his family and friends as
we normally do. Limiting the scope of our love to
a select circle of family and friends is our standard
operating procedure. But not Jesus'.
Jesus expanded the scope of his love
to warmly embrace his enemies as well.
The scope of his love had no limits.
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the
children of your Father which is in heaven:
for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on
the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the
unjust. For if ye love them which love you,
what reward have ye? do not even the publicans [do]
the same? And if ye salute your brethren only,
what do ye more than others?
do not even the publicans [do] so? Be ye therefore
perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect"
(Matthew 5:44-48).
Radical in scope is the love of God.
it includes the good and bad
(Matthew 22:8-10).
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(00539)
[¶ 00540 Updated: 07_14_2024]
Our abject failure to drain his most Sacred Heart of his love for us In the gruesome maelstom of the evils that we did to him, Jesus let an important fact about God slip out. Are you privy to the disclosure? He continued to love us nonetheless. The evils that we did to him did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree. His love us us survived the evils that we did to him.
Unexpected Survival
If the love of God were counterfeit,
Jesus' love for us would have faded as we tortured him
and would have died when we killed him. But it did not.
His love for us survived the evils that we did to him.
With regard to evils, Jesus was a Luddite. Jesus threw the monkey wrench of love into the gearbox of evils to bring it to a sudden and screeching halt.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
The pursuit of God is primary.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary.
Anything that interferes is suspect.
Therefore, more of the pursuit of God; not less.
Always. No exceptions.
Clerical superciliousness, also known as clericalism,
gives clerics a pathological view of the pursuit of God.
It reached its apogee in the papal pronouncement of
Pius X who unabashedly declared
"...the one duty of the multitude is to allow
themselves to be led, and, like a docile flock,
to follow the Pastors"
(1906 encyclical of Pope Pius X titled
“Vehementer Nos“).
We do not pursue God as master and slave as
Piux X envisioned.
Equality marks the pursuit
of God
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
Christianity is the new Exodus
that is making its escape through
our dire predicament
in the hostile desert of godlessness (Exodus 13: 17-18),
across the Red Sea of death (1 Corinthians 15:26),
over the finish line (2 Timothy 4:7)
and into the promised land
flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27)
hand-in-hand, arm-in-arm,
together as one family to
the rhythmic beat of the loving heart
of our living God.
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[¶ 00599 Updated: 08_05_2024]
Evil pushes us over the cliff. Love is the parachute that controls the fall and cushions the landing. Moreover, love enables us to bounce back.
The stage on which Jesus revealed to us the nature of God is the sacrifice of his flesh and blood. The sacrifice of his flesh and blood is the foundation of the revelation. It is not the revelation. On top of the foundation, Jesus set the glorious crown of forgiveness. The dunghill of evils in which we baptized Jesus began the revelation. However, it did not complete it. Setting the glorious crown of forgiveness upon his sacrifice of flesh and blood completed the revelation. Together, the foundation and the crown constitute the revelation.
Coming to grips with the love of God
The verification of the love of God that Jesus
provided to us by his participation in
the gruesome experiment that we administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion
gobsmacks us.
It kicks like a mule.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
It is the most powerful force in heaven and
on earth. It gives Christianity its magic,
Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists,
who exclusively devote themselves to it,
the power to change the world.
Christianity, done right, confronts us with
the verified love of God.
We squirm under the weight of the love of God.
The love of God challenges us to come
to grips with it - to
reconcile ourselves to it.
So, cleric, confront the children of Adam and Eve
with the love of God. Challenge them with it and your
job is done
(Matthew 10:5-15).
You have discharged your responsibiliy. You have
fulfilled your mission. Move on.
A radical asymmetry occupies the comparison between the evils that we did to him and Jesus' answer to them. Jesus did not answer the evils that we did to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. He did not require "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48). Jesus had a bigger gun than us - much bigger - , but, he did not pull the trigger. He refrained. "For I will re-establish my covenant with you, that you may know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of the Lord God" (Ezekiel 16:62-63). Jesus clobbers us over the head and about the body with the gentle love of God - a gentleness tested in the gruesome maelstrom of adversity (Wisdom 2: 17-20). He punches us in the nose with it. He confronts us with it. He challenges us to come to grips with it.
How much insolence does it take for creatures to torture and kill their Creator? How much love does it take for their Creator to forgive them for the evils that they did to him?
Jesus built the Verification of the Love Note that God had sent us from the raw materials of suffering and forgiveness. Suffering and forgiveness verified the genuineness of the Love Note. We supplied the suffering. Jesus supplied the forgiveness.
The glorious victory that Jesus won on the battlefield of the Crucifixion was the Verification of the Love Note. Jesus verified the love of God in the crucible of adversity. If the Love Note were counterfeit, God's love for us would have faded as we tortured Jesus and died when we killed him. But it did not. God's love for us survived the evils that we did to Jesus. The intransigence of the love of God is the proof of its genuineness.
Jesus taught us that his flesh is our bread and his blood is our wine. He satisfied our hunger and quenched our thirst by forgiving us for taking them from him.
Jesus satisfies the hunger of his enemies - the executioners who tortured and killed him - with the bread of his flesh, quenches their thirst with the wine of his blood and fills their bellies with his fellowship. He invites them to take a seat with him at the family table and to dine with him, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort of the family tent. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). While we were unrepentant (Matthew 22:10) sinners (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6) with his blood still on our hands, Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19). "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love (Romans 5:5). The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3). The audacity of our God caused him to make the first move. He, not us, initiated the process of our conversion. Jesus did not wait for our conversion to forgive us. He forgave us to bring about our conversion.
The Love Note that God had sent us was verified in the gruesome experiment that we administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20). “LET US TEST HIM WITH INSULT AND TORTURE, THAT WE MAY FIND OUT HOW GENTLE HE IS AND MAKE TRIAL OF HIS FORBEARANCE" (Wisdom 2: 17-20).
Most people get it wrong. They have it backwards. They think that his forgiveness is contingent on our repentance. However, this is a falsehood. Jesus did not wait for our conversion to forgive us. He forgave us to bring about our conversion. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). He took the first step of forgiveness in the hope that we would take the next step of repentance. The reckless audacity and unrestrained prodigality with which Jesus distributes the love of God to us magnifies its impact. Taking the initiative is a force multiplier. Audacity takes our breath away. God loved us first. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). To induce us to repent, Jesus offers us a full pardon - total and unconditional amnesty - absolute absolution for the egregious sins that we perpetrated against God. "For I will re-establish my covenant with you, that you may know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of the Lord God" (Ezekiel 16:62-63). Jesus clobbers us over the head and about the body with the love of God. He punches us in the nose with it. He confronts us with it. He challenges us to come to grips with it. Beware ersatz Christian methodologies that are different than Jesus'. More of the love of God not less. Always. No exceptions.
If we uncouple the gruesome experiment and its result, we distort Jesus' apocalyptic revelation. We empty the Cross of Christ of its meaning (1 Corinthians 1:17).
What was God's answer to the question,
'Who is God?' (00474)
What can you tell us about God? Anything?
What do you know and how do you know it? Please,
spill the beans!
The question, 'Who is God?', had not been well answered
- until God answered it himself.
God could have answered the question, 'Who is God?',
in many different ways.
He had a variety of options.
Yet, the answer that God settled upon was
not a threat, a warning or some other type of
ominous communication.
God thought that the best way to answer the question,
'Who is God?', was to send us a Love Note.
God hand delivered the Love Note to
the children of Adam and Eve
in the ruins of Eden where they are
scavenging for scraps in cutthroat competition
with the other loveless beasts.
To reveal himself to us,
our omnipotent, loving Creator
sent his sinful, loveless
creatures a Love Note.
The Love Note illuminated the darkness of
our understanding of God in a glorious burst
of apocalyptic epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness
saw great light; and to them which sat
in the region and shadow of death
light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).
The Love Note resurrected our understanding of God
from the dead
(Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14).
How mind-boggling!
But, why? Why a Love Note?
God does not operate capriciously.
There is a stability in the operations of God.
The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth:
but the word of our God shall stand for ever
(Isaiah 40:8).
God issued the Love Note because he subscribes to
and operates according to a well-defined theory -
a theory in which he has a
high degree of confidence.
The theory pursuant to which God issued the Love Note
is that only love begets love.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
Jesus initiated the process of our salvation
by planting the seed of love in the toxic soil
of our stony hearts in order to depetrify them
(Ezekiel 36:26).
Nothing grows in the toxic soil of our stony hearts.
Nothing. It is a sterile matrix - utterly barren -
hostile in the extreme. So when the seed of love
in the form of forgiveness germinated, sprouted
and grew, we beheld a miracle.
His love for us jump started our rehabilitation.
God bet the farm - all of the coin of his son's
flesh and blood - on the validity of the theory.
God's confidence in the theory is so high that
it gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horses
(Acts 9:4-6).
Wow!
We didn't deserve the Love Note.
Yet, our God sent it to us anyway.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
What genre of literature is the Word of God
(John 1:1)?
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
is a Love Note -
a Love Note from God to us.
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
P.S. The genuineness of the Love Note, that is, its
authenticity, was verified
in the furnace of affliction
(Isaiah 48:10).
The Love Note is the real McCoy.
How do we know?
We put the Love Note to the test
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is and
make trial of his forbearance"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We tortured and killed the Love Note -
we made him suffer and die -
we impaled him on a cross as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
Miraculously, the Love Note answered the evils
that we did to him.
He did not hang mute.
His tongue was not nailed to the cross.
He did not take the fifth.
The test produced a result.
The result of the test was published and
has been propagated by his Church from
the point and place of its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space,
across history and geography, to the
children of Adam and Eve here and now.
The result of the test is in our hands.
Are you privy to the result of the test?
Can you articulate it?
Do you have the words?
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The Mass (00473)
[¶ 00474 Updated: 06_02_2024]
The gruesome experiment and its result are two parts of a single unit of apocalyptic revelation about the nature of God. They drench us in hope. The gruesome experiment and its result reinforce our trust in the God whose love for us is radical - limitless in size, scope and duration. Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid (Psalm 27)? Will our almighty lover ever let us down? Will he ever betray us? Will he ever disappoint (Romans 8:31) (Psalm 91)? What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight!
Walk not in opposition to our God. Walk with him in his direction not against him.
the Revolution
The revolution began when Jesus released the result
of the gruesome experiment that we administered to him
in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
Are you
privy to the result of the test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20)?
Viva la revolución!
Evils challenged the nature of God
The evils that we did to Jesus challenged the nature
of God.
They put the nature of God to
the test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
How did Jesus respond to the challenge?
His response is the foundation of Christianity because
it upgrades our understanding of God. It illuminates
the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious
burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
His response cracked open the enigmatic
black box in which God was hiding
(Isaiah 45:15)
and filled the earth with
the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
In his response, we make God's acquantance.
The Specialty of Christianity
Christianity has a specialty - a particular area of focus
and, hopefully, some expertise. Its speciality
is the gruesome experiment that took place in the
laboratory of the Crucifixion and its result.
Jesus revealed to us the nature of God in
the result of the gruesome experiment.
The gruesome experiment and its result are
the gravamen of Christianity.
Everything else is obiter dicta.
The pursuit of God is primary.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary.
Anything that interferes is suspect.
How do we get to know our God? How do we make our God's
acquaintance? There is only one way. We get to know
our God - we make his acquaintance - only by
engaging in the process of seeking him.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
Therefore, more of the pursuit of God; not less.
Always. No exceptions.
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[¶ 00600 Updated: 08_05_2024]
"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you" (James 4:8). Let the drawing nigh happen (Luke 15:20)! Our mission as Christians is to facilitate the drawing nigh - not to frustrate it, not to filter it and not to foul it up. We are grease for the wheels of the drawing nigh not an obstacle in its way (Isaiah 57:14).
What is the dung of Christianity?
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
He did not look down from heaven upon
the children of Adam and Eve to see results.
He looked down to see the extent of our engagement in
the process of seeking God.
He looked for process not results because God knows
that process leads to results. The trees need to be
cultivated for them to yield their fruit
(Luke 13:6-9).
Therefore, dung the trees
(Luke 13:6-9).
What is the dung of Christianity?
The dung of Christianity is God's love for us,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
immortal in duration.
Dung the trees with the love of God.
More dung; not less. Always. No exceptions.
A word to the wise is sufficient.
The radical asymmetry of Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. It upgrades our understanding of God.
Jesus released the apocalyptic revelation about the nature of God into the Valley of Tears (Salve Regina). The precise location of its origin is not mysterious. To pinpoint its origin, we can draw a bullseye around it. It arose from the result of the gruesome experiment that tested Jesus (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20) in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
Our Creator forgave his obnoxious creatures, thereby,
initiating our evolution into children of God
Despite the biblical injunction against doing so,
Jesus cast the holy pearl of forgiveness
to the dogs and swine
(Matthew 7:6)
who trampled him under their feet,
and rent him into bits and pieces.
He broke his own rules to catalyze
our conversion.
Our God was audacious.
He set the ball rolling.
He took the first step of forgiveness in the hope
that we would take the second step of repentance.
He did not wait for our conversion to forgive us;
he forgave us to bring about our conversion.
Jesus loved us first
(1 John 4:19).
The dumbing down of the Most Holy Eucharist
The most Holy Eucharist is more than the real presence
of Jesus - much more. Jesus is not a goldfish and
the most Holy Eucharist is not a fish tank. Yet,
priests let the goldfish / fish tank theory
blind them to the apocalyptic revelation
that the most Holy Eucharist conveys to the children
of Adam and Eve.
The most Holy Eucharist depicts the give and take
between divinity and humanity.
We take from Jesus his flesh and blood. However,
Jesus does not give us what we take. Jesus makes a
substitution - a propitious substitution.
Instead of flesh and blood, Jesus gives us bread
and wine. Jesus substitutes the bread and wine of
forgiveness for the flesh and blood of sacrifice.
Hostile humanity hungered and thirsted for
the flesh and blood of their Creator.
Through the power of forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45),
Jesus satisfied the hunger of his enemies with bread,
quenched their thirst with wine and filled their
bellies with fellowship.
He invited his enemies to take a seat with him at
the family table and to dine with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort of the family tent.
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness"
(Isaiah 55:1-2)!
Like the repeating light of a lighthouse that saves
sailors from shipwrecks, the repeating message of
the most Holy Eucharist illuminates the darkness of
our understanding of God in glorious bursts
of apocalyptic epiphany. The knowledge of God
saves the children of
Adam and Eve from perdition.
It puts an end to our destruction
(Hosea 4:6).
That Jesus is with us when we celebrate the most Holy Eucharist is beyond cavil. However, his presence is not the cause of our celebration. What he did when he was with us in his battle with the monster of the Crucifixion is the Good News of Great Joy. From the scabbard of his love for us, Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness. With it, he slayed the monster. Forgiveness killed the monster dead. The flesh, blood, bread and wine of the most Holy Eucharist tell the story of his exploit - of his Magnum Opus - of his greatest achievement.
The evils that we did to Jesus were the foil that Jesus
used to reveal God to us
Jesus set his answer in the foil of
the evils that we did to him.
The foil highlighted and emphasized and intensified
and magnified and amplified and accentuated and
underlined the radical asymmetry of his answer
to the evils that we did to him.
rather than tell you
what we found, Let us show you where to look
(00559)
You can discover for yourself
the God who loves us by entering
the observatory at
the laboratory of the Crucifixion
and exploring the gruesome experiment
that we administered to Jesus
The catastrophe of Adam and Eve at Eden scrambled our
understanding of God.
Jesus unscrambled it.
He put Humpty Dumpty back together
again
(Wikipedia)
- a project that all the king's horses and all the
king's men couldn't do.
Here is how Jesus did it.
Despite the biblical injunction against doing so,
our God cast his pearls before swine and
gave what was holy unto dogs
(Matthew 7:6).
He broke his own rules to catalyze
our conversion.
He voluntarily
subjected himself to
a gruesome experiment
(Wisdom 2: 19)
that we administered to him in the laboratory
of the Crucifixion.
We put Jesus to
the test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a
sharp hook
where he hung until death.
What was the result of the test?
Indeed, the test generated a result.
Jesus answered the evils that we did to him.
His answer rent
the veil between heaven and earth in twain
from top to bottom
(Matthew 27:51)
to give us an apocalyptic insight
into the nature of God.
It unscrambled our understanding of God.
We thought we knew the answer that our almighty God
would give to the evils that we did to him. But, we
were mistaken.
We expected that his answer would be, at a minimum,
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
"For they have sown the wind,
and they shall reap the whirlwind"
(Hosea 8:7),
right?
His answer, however, was diametrically contrary
to our expectation
(1 Kings 19:11-13).
He answered us not in a huge, frenetic voice
but in a
"still small voice"
(1 Kings 19:11-13).
The asymmetry of his answer is so radical
compared to the evils that we did to him
that it gobsmacks us.
The impact of his answer is shocking.
It kicks like a mule.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
The greater were the evils that we did to him,
the greater is our astonishment at the radical
asymmetry of his answer to them.
Wow!
His answer to the evils that we did to him
reinforces our trust in the God who loves us.
Whom shall we fear?
Of whom shall we be afraid
(Psalm 27)?
Will our almighty lover ever let us down?
Will he ever betray us? Will he ever
disappoint
(Romans 8:31)
(Psalm 91)?
What a wonderful God is our God!
What a delight!
Yet, the gruesome experiment is under-explored.
The express train of Christianity blows past
Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him
without making a stop to consider it and
its implication.
Independent investigations of it are few and far
between.
However, when we explore it - when we conduct
our own independent investigations of it, we
discover for ourselves our salvation.
We experience for ourselves the incomparable
joy of the discovery of the loving nature of God
(Matthew 7:7-8).
Anyone who can read, write and think for themselves
can explore the gruesome experiment.
The genius of God made the meaning of the gruesome
experiment easily accessible
to the inquisitive mind. (No cleric or other
interpreter are needed.)
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(00525)
[¶ 00559 Updated: 07_20_2024]
What satisfies our hunger and quenches our thirst?
"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life
in you"
(John 6:53).
"[O]ut of the good treasure of his heart"
(Luke 6:45),
God expressed the sweet fruit of his love for us.
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
God dispatched Jesus from heaven to earth to satisfy
our hunger and to quench our thirst.
He did so by making the love of God comestible
(John 21:15-17).
"And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it,
and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which
is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Likewise also the cup after supper, saying,
This cup is the new testament in my blood,
which is shed for you"
(Luke 22:19 -20).
We are hungry and thirsty.
Only the love of God satisfies our hunger and quenches
our thirst.
Like Uber Eats and Doordash, Jesus delivers
(Isaiah 55:1-2)!
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness"
(Isaiah 55:1-2)!
Jesus delivered the apocalyptic revelation that God's love for us is radically asymmetric to the evils that we did to him by his answer to them. He forgave us. He reiterates the apocalyptic revelation via the most Holy Eucharist. "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth [about God]" (John 18:37). Our kinetic application of evils to Jesus' flesh and blood and his radically asymmetric answer to it cracked open the dark enigma of God and spilled its contents into the light of the Valley of Tears. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3). Jesus satisfied the hunger of his enemies with bread, quenched their thirst with wine and filled their bellies with fellowship. He invited his enemies to take a seat with him at the family table and to dine with him, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort of the family tent. What God but our God does this? Jesus is the artist who created the Masterpiece of Love on the canvas of life in the gruesome adversity of the Crucifixion. Embellishing the canvas of life with love in the midst of adversity was Jesus' magnum opus - his greatest achievement. Rally 'round the Cross! Our God lamented. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). Not anymore. Jesus put an end to our destruction. He filled the earth with the knowledge of the radical hospitality of our God as water covers the seas (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Official Christianiy, however, does its best to hide the truth about God from us. They don't want us to know about it. They try to control it and ration it. They try to limit our access to it.
God sent us a Love Note; Jesus verified it.
What is the best, most persuasive way
to express the love of God?
After considering a variety of options, God decided
that the best way to express the love of God
was to send us a Love Note.
By sending us a Love Note, God answered our question,
'Who is God?' and showed us our potential.
What genre of literature is the
Word of God
(John 1:1)?
The
Word of God
(John 1:1)
is a Love Note - yes,
a Love Note from divinity to humanity. Wow!
Jesus was the tangible expression of
God's love for us -
its incarnate articulation
(1 John 4:8)
(Luke 6:45).
P.S. The genuineness of the Love Note, that is, its
authenticity, was verified
in the furnace of affliction
(Isaiah 48:10).
God sent us a Love Note; Jesus verified it.
Rally 'round the Cross!
The evils that we did to Jesus and Jesus'
radically asymmetric answer
to them fill
the Cross of Christ with meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
In the gruesome adversity of the Crucifixion,
Jesus created a Masterpiece of Love
on the canvas of life.
The Word of God
(John 1:1)
expressed the
love of God in the ink of forgiveness.
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
Forgiveness is one of the sweet fruits
of love.
From the sweet fruit of forgiveness, we can
reverse engineer our way back to the apocalyptic
inference that the nature
of God is love
(1 John 4:7-8).
Isn't a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8)?
Jesus is the map that illuminates the darkness
of the way back to a high fidelity
understanding of God
(John 14:6).
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6),
our God lamented.
Not anymore.
Jesus put an end to our destruction.
He filled the earth with the knowledge of God
as water covers the seas
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14)
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
At the Last Supper, Jesus made the love of God
comestible to satisfy the hunger of his enemies and
to quench their thirst
The enemies of Jesus were hungry and thirsty.
Yet, they were clueless about what satisfies their
hunger and what quenches their thirst
(Luke 23:34).
So, in the crucible of the Crucifixion, Jesus' enemies
tried to satisfy their hunger with his flesh
and tried to quench their thirst with his blood.
They succeeded in taking his flesh and blood but
flesh and blood failed
to satisfy their hunger or quench their thirst.
Only the love of God
satisfies our hunger and
quenches our thirst.
So, Jesus, to satisfy our hunger and quench our
thirst, made the abstract concept of
the love of God
concrete by making it comestible.
Jesus turned the flesh and blood of sacrifice
into the bread
and wine of forgiveness.
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness"
(Isaiah 55:1-2)!
Adversity is an unusual context for love
Adversity is an unusual context for love.
It is a sterile matrix - utterly barren -
hostile in the extreme.
The soil of adversity is toxic to the seed of love.
So when Jesus embellished the canvas of life
with his Masterpiece of Love in the gruesome
adversity of the Crucifixion,
we beheld a miracle.
The greater were the evils that
we did to Jesus, the more glorious was the miracle.
Jesus verified the love of God in the crucible of
adversity.
If the love of God were counterfeit,
God's love for us would have faded as we tortured
Jesus and died when we killed him. But it did not.
God's love for us survived the evils that we did
to Jesus. The intransigence of the love of God is
the proof of its genuineness.
His asymmetric and unconventional answer to the
evils that his enemies did to him
reinforces our trust in the God who loves us.
Whom shall we fear?
Of whom shall we be afraid
(Psalm 27)?
Will our almighty lover ever let us down?
Will he ever betray us? Will he ever
disappoint
(Romans 8:31)
(Psalm 91)?
What a wonderful God is our God!
What a delight!
The Flagpole of Christianity
The Cross on which his enemies crucified Jesus is
the flagpole of Christianity.
From the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity,
Jesus reconfigured our understanding of God
by his radically asymmetric and unconventional
answer to the evils that
his enemies did to him
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
He forgave them
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
Behold how well he treated his enemies!
Imagine what is in store for his friends
(1 Corinthians 2:9)!
Rally ‘round the flag!
Salute it, pledge allegiance to it and,
in one voice, sing anthems of praise and thanksgiving
to it!
"A surge of joy uplifts the world"
(Page 27, The Power of the Cross, Cantalamessa)!
Embed yourself in the love of God. Get comfortable. Settle in. Open your heart to let the love of God enter and make it his abode. Let the love of God dwell in you (John 15:4).
The Uplifting
Jesus is trying to elevate us to the sublime level of
our loving God from the level of the loveless beasts
who scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition
with one another in the rubble of the ruins of Eden.
Love uplifts us.
On the ladder of
the love of God
(John 1:51),
we ascend from the basement of the kingdom
of God to the penthouse where we dwell in paradise
at home with the love of God.
What would it be like to live in a community of artists who create their own masterpieces of love on the canvas of life? Where do we find such a paradise? How do we gain entry (Luke 17:20 -21)? [Hint: we don't find it; we make it. It's not a treasure to be found but a treasure to be made.]
How do we charge our batteries with love?
When our hearts are loveless,
how do we fill them to the brim with love?
Jesus is the Source of love. He is the unfathomable
reservoir of unlimited love.
To fill our empty hearts
with love, we need to plug into Jesus.
We need to fill our tank from the Source.
The branches need to attach themselves to the vine
(John 15: 4-5).
From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of
love
(Romans 5:5).
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
By prayer, we charge our discharged batteries
with love.
By prayer, we plug into the Source.
By prayer, the love of God is poured into our
hearts
(Romans 5:5).
Love is the treasure of Christianity.
Our hearts are treasure chests that can be filled
to the brim with love
(Luke 17:20 -21).
"[O]ut of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]"
(Luke 6:45)
we can produce the sweet fruits of love
"... some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some an hundred"
(Mark 4:20.)
The branches first charge their hearts with love
from the vine in order
to bear fruit
(John 15: 4-5).
No love; no fruit.
Only love begets love.
Prayer loads the gun
We are the weapons that God uses to wage and win the war
against evils
(Revelation 12:7-12)
(Luke 10:18)
(Isaiah 14:12-16).
The weapons, however, are modified for unconventional,
asymmetrical warfare.
They fire bullets of love.
Through prayer, God loads the guns.
Love is the treasure of Christianity. Our hearts are treasure chests that can be filled to the brim with love (Luke 17:20 -21). "[O]ut of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]" (Luke 6:45) we can produce the sweet fruits of love "... some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred" (Mark 4:20.)
THE CURRENT OF SALVATION
We are born into and live through a framework of truth.
It is the context of our existence - our reality.
God built it.
God controls it.
GOD IS THE ARTIST WHO PAINTS THE MASTERPIECE OF
REALITY ON THE CANVAS OF OUR RATIONALITY
IN THE PIGMENTS OF TRUTH.
The truth comes in flavors.
Some of it is sour; some sweet; and much neutral
(Revelation 3:16).
The sweet truth and the sour truth are the engines
that generate the current of salvation.
The current of salvation sweeps us off our feet and
carries us to our salvation.
Few swim against the tide.
Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise
and flee the sourness of godlessness.
It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise.
It is crazy to do otherwise.
We are disobedient not irrational.
"This is good and pleasing to God our savior,
who wills everyone to be saved
and to come to knowledge of the truth"
(1 Timothy 2:3-4).
God is so eager that we reach
our salvation that he uses both belt and suspenders -
both the carrot and the stick. The sweet truth
is the carrot of our salvation. The sour truth is
the stick - God's Plan 'B'.
Follow the maestro as he paints with both the sweet
truth and the sour truth. Watch the canvas fill
as he creates
his masterpiece. Observe the glory of his handiwork
(Ephesians 2:10)
as we become aware of
the framework of our existence - as our burgeoning
knowledge of the truth makes us free
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32).
The truth is the fuel of our rationality.
When fueled by the the truth, our rationality steers
us in the right direction. When the fuel of truth is
fouled by a lie, our rationality leads us astray.
The truth is important because, as rational creatures,
close encounters with the truth are the engines
that drive us.
The sour truth is an experience that pushes us away.
The sweet truth is an experience that pulls us toward.
Furthermore, words about the truth are not the same
thing as the truth itself. Close encounters with
the truth itself pack a more powerful punch
than close encounters with words about the truth -
much more powerful. The truth itself gives our
rationality a powerful wallop. Words about the truth
do not. Words about the truth are impostors for
the truth itself. Words about the truth are
counterfeit. Only the truth itself is the genuine
article.
Whoever wields the truth itself is king.
Whoever wields the truth itself holds
the sledgehammer that shatters the illusions
that distort our perception of reality.
"To this end was I born, and for this cause
came I into the world, that I should bear witness
unto the truth [about God]" (John 18:37).
A soft landing
When we fall, let us hope that there are Christians to
land on. They make our landing soft.
Each Christian is built from scratch (00581)
Evangelization fails if evangelizers do not assume
the attitude that they are starting from scratch.
That the Church taught and, in the past, people believed
a particular doctrine is no longer persuasive to us
here and now. To us here and now, a particular doctrine must
rise or fall, sink or swim on its own merits.
Hoary tradition is no longer the guarantee of truth.
Each and every aspect of Christianity needs to
be presented and proven. It is not enough for the
Church to say this is how it is and assume that
the children of Adam and Eve will docilely accept
its pronouncements no questions asked.
The Church no longer has
the credibility it once had for a variety of
reasons.
Before we learned to read, write and
think for ourselves, we swallowed whatever
the Church jammed down our throats. Times have changed.
Now, the Church's tactic triggers
our gag reflex. We regurgitate it.
And we are wary of a Church with a record
of using brute force and mindless indoctrination.
The command - obedience paradigm no longer works.
In truth, it hasn't worked since the age of Adam and Eve.
A new approach, therefore, is needed.
The appeal must be to our rationality.
We must be persuaded.
Exploration must replace indoctrination.
Show us where to look rather than tell us
what you found.
Be the tour guide that helps us explore and discover
for ourselves the mystery, majesty, and magnificence
of God. Be the usher who show us to our seats
so God can put on the show. Jesus is the star
of the show.
This dismays the medievalists.
It discombobulates them. It makes them apoplectic.
They cling to the nostalgia of days gone by.
The modernists, however, are up for the challenge.
In fact, they think an appeal to our rationality is
the best way to go.
Where do we begin? Let's hit them with our best punch.
What is our best punch?
Our best punch is the
Masterpiece of Love that Jesus created on
the canvas of life in the midst of adversity.
Its glorious beauty gobsmacks us. It knocks
us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
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[¶ 00581 Updated: 07_30_2024]
Love, not suffering, is the only open question
Anybody can suffer in the Valley of Tears. Suffering
is par for the course. Suffering is normal.
In the Valley of Tears, we are baptized in dunghills
of gruesome evils.
The only mystery is whether we can
love despite our gruesome baptisms.
When we hang from
our crosses as Jesus hung from his, can we love as
Jesus loved? Can we create masterpieces of love
on the canvas of life in the midst of adversity?
We go to Mass to consume the love of God, prodigious in size, inclusive in scope and forever in duration. Consumption of the love of God transforms us. It sustains us. It gives us life. Consumption cannot be done remotely over the television. Indeed, the love of God is present everywhere, but only at Mass do we consume it.
The 'Give and Take' of the most Holy Eucharist
We take from Jesus his flesh and blood. However,
Jesus does not give us what we take.
To give us what we take would make us guilty
and him the occasion of our guilt.
So, Jesus makes a
substitution - a propitious substitution.
Instead of flesh and blood, Jesus gives us bread
and wine.
In the substitution - in
the 'give and take' of the
most Holy Eucharist
- we discover the nature of God - the darkness of our
understanding of God is illuminated
in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
What does it mean when it is said that the Word of God (John 1:1) wrote the verification of the Love Note that God had sent us in the ink of suffering?
Christians are the Artists who, in homage to Jesus,
create masterpieces of love
on the canvas of life in the midst of adversity
Christianity is creative
The beautification of the fabric of life
by embellishing it with the pigments of love
is the project of God.
A Christian is an artist who decorates the fabric of life
with love.
Love is the medium of a Christian's art.
Love is the raw material of a Christian.
Christianity is the colony of artists that
Jesus established to mitigate the direness of our
predicament in the Valley of Tears.
Christianity mitigates by diluting evils with love.
Dilution is God's solution to
the problem of evils in our fallen world
(John 17:15).
By neutralizing the sting of evils,
love is the ingredient that sweetens life.
Love gives life its meaning.
Love in its many pigments brings color
to the black and white tape of life.
A life without love is salt without flavor
(Matthew 5:13).
"Ye are the salt of the earth:
but if the salt have lost his savour,
wherewith shall it be salted?
it is thenceforth good for nothing,
but to be cast out,
and to be trodden under foot of men"
(Matthew 5:13).
Love is life in abundance
(John 10:10).
Love embellishes life.
Love is the treasure of Christianity.
Remarkably, the distribution of love
is under the command and control of
each of the children of Adam and Eve.
"[O]ut of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]"
(Luke 6:45)
we can produce the sweet fruits of love
"... some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some an hundred"
(Mark 4:20.)
In love, we find God.
As are all of the children of Adam and Eve,
a Christian is known by his fruits
(Luke 6:43-45)
(Matthew 3:8).
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another“
(John 13:35)
(Matthew 22:36-40)
(1 John 4: 7-12).
The expectation is that the source of adversity is invariably met by the three headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution. When adversity is met by the angel of forgiveness, we are gobsmacked. The encounter knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). Furthermore, when the encounter is between humanity and divinity, the encounter overwhelms us. It boggles the mind. We are dumbstruck (Luke 1:5-22).
The vice of evils in which we squeezed Jesus did not express the three headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution. Instead and much to our surprise, it expressed the angel of forgiveness. The artistry of Jesus created a masterpiece of love on the canvas of life in the midst of adversity. The greater was the adversity, the more glorious is the masterpiece! Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45). Forgiveness is one of the sweet fruits of love. From the sweet fruit of forgiveness that adversity expressed from Jesus, we can reverse engineer our way back to the apocalyptic inference that the nature of God is love (1 John 4:7-8). Isn't a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) (Matthew 3:8)?
Adversity reveals a Christian as the Cross
revealed the mystery of God
God makes Christians for adversity
(Proverbs 17:17).
Christians do their best work in adversity.
Evil tends to beget evil - but not necessarily.
The putrid dunghill of evils in which we baptized
Jesus begot, from Jesus, the sweet fruit of forgiveness. Forgiveness
is one of the sweet fruits of love. Isn't a tree
known by its fruit? In the laboratory of the
Crucifixion, Jesus created a masterpiece of love
on the canvas of life. In their own
adversities, Christians do likewise.
The greater is the adversity, the more glorious
are their masterpieces.
The bite of an ordeal is never its gravaman; the
darkness of an ordeal is always its most serious
part.
Lovelessness during an ordeal is an ordeal's most
poisonous danger.
Love is the light
of God
(Matthew 5:14).
The flamboyance of a Christian's love illuminates
the darkness of an ordeal.
Love makes the bite of an ordeal tolerable.
Love is the salve that neutralizes an ordeal's
sting.
Therefore, in an ordeal, surround yourself with
people you love and who love you. This is good advice
in normal times too.
Jesus blazed a trail of love (John 14:6) through our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears to lead us to God (1 Peter 3:18).
The gruesome experiment
We subjected Jesus to a gruesome experiment in
the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
He dared us
(Malachi 3:10)
so we put him to the test
(Wisdom 2: 19)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
When we explore the gruesome experiment,
we make a foray into the most
Sacred Heart of our loving God.
We learn what makes God tick.
We unscramble our understanding of God.
We upgrade it.
The audacity of God
God did not wait for our conversion to love us.
He loved us first
(1 John 4:19)
before our conversion to bring about our conversion.
Jesus had the audacity to take the initiative.
He took the first step of forgiveness in the hope
that we would take the second step of repentance.
While we were still unworthy dogs and swine,
our God cast the holy pearls of his love for us
at us despite the biblical injunction against doing so.
(Matthew 7:6).
What does audacity tell us about
the nature of God?
He had high confidence in the fundamental law
of cause and effect that holds love begets love -
only love begets love.
Trust the God who loves us so much that he sent us a Love Note and then verified its genuineness in a gruesome experiment in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. God has the back of those who trust him.
Detach yourselves from all distractions. Disengage. Focus on the love of God. Dwell in the secret place of the most High (Psalm 91:1)
The gruesome experiment in which we baptized Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion is the secret place of the most High. Dwell there (Psalm 91:1). Explore it. Conduct your own independent investigation of it. Come to your own conclusions about it.
Evils are the anti-God propaganda that the serpent pours into every nook and cranny of the Valley of Tears. Reject them. Their message is false. Their message conflicts with the message that Jesus gave us in the gruesome experiment that we administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion.
Rally 'round the Cross
Rally 'round the flagpole of Christianity.
Go to the observatory at the laboratory of the
Crucifixion. Behold with your own eyes the gruesome
experiment. Make two observations and one
inference. They fill
the Cross of Christ with meaning
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Observe: the evils that
we did to Jesus and his answer to them.
Ask yourself, what
do the two observations tell us about
the nature of God?
Which works better? Preaching to the orchard so the trees know the fruits that they are expected to deliver or dunging the roots of the tree (Luke 13:6-9)? A tree must be cultivated - not preached to - in order for it to bear fruit (Luke 6:43-45). Preaching with words does not fertilize the tree. Love is the dung that fertilizes the tree. Only love begets love.
Here are the keys, my Lord. I surrender command of my ship to you (John 15:4-8) (James 4:7-8) (Psalm 37:7-9). The helm is yours, my captain. Teach me how to drive myself through this life into the next. Put me on the best path (Proverbs 3:6). Show me the way (John 14:6). Share with me the map of the escape route that takes the pious through the dire predicament of the Valley of Tears back to our home with you in paradise. “... Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee” (St. Augustine, Confessions).
We share eyes with God. The eyes through which God sees us and we see God are love (Meister Eckhart). Have you opened your eyes? Are you proceeding through life with your eyes closed?
Was the Word of God (John 1:1) silent? Did he hang mute? Was his tongue nailed to the Cross? Did he take the fifth? Do you not know the answer that the Word of God (John 1:1) gave to the evils that we did to him? Do you not know the result of the test (Wisdom 2: 19)?
A Christian is a child of Adam and Eve who applies
his God-given power of rationality to analyze
the macabre experiment
(Wisdom 2: 19)
that we
adminstered to Jesus in the laboratory of
the Crucifixion and
who contemplates, not with his head but with his heart,
its significance for the pious men and women who are
making their escape
through a fallen world filled evils.
In analysis and contemplation of the macabre
experiment, we experience for ourselves
the fullness of the love of God.
We come into intimate contact with it
(James 4:8)
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
The fullness of the love of God
kicks us like a mule
(1 Kings 19:11-13).
It gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
Christianity, when done right, confronts us with
the fullness of the love of God.
Christianity, when done right,
challenges us to come to grips with it.
Therefore, don't tell us what you found.
Show us where to look.
Point us to the macabre experiment and tell us
that here we will discover the nature of God - only
here.
We want to figure out this thing called God for
ourselves. We want to come to our own conclusions.
We want to experience the joy of the discovery
of the love of God for ourselves.
We want to repeat the experiment ourselves.
Surely, a Church with more than two thousand years
of experience knows that the love of God
is the treasure buried in the macabre experiment.
Right?
Note: Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to
hang from our crosses.
Therefore, when you hang as Jesus hung,
cling as Jesus clung, hold tight and refuse to let go
of love. To love is in our self-interest.
The gauntlet of life has many sharp edges.
Love is the grease that lubricates the sharp edges
of the gauntlet of life.
Love streamlines our passage through the gauntlet.
Love optimizes it.
Love mitigates the direness of our passage
through our predicament in the Valley of Tears.
Normative Christianity arose from our pathological obsession with Platonic forms, that is, universalities. A checklist of the ideal Christian was prepared, fully fledged, with no feather missing and none out of place. Any deviations from the ideal were noticed and the deviant was denounced for his deviancy. If the deviation were significant enough, the deviant was stripped of his certificate of good standing. In normative Christianity, the thinking is that the mere publication of the checklist ought to bring the children of Adam and Eve into compliance. Unfortunately, the efficacy of mere publication to generate compliance is a myth. To get a child of Adam and Eve to resemble the ideal Christian of the checklist, the tree must be fertilized. Love is the fertilizer. Isn't a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45)?
In a macabre experiment that we administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion, we put Jesus to the test (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20). We tortured and killed him. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Jesus answered the evils that we did to him. The test generated a result. Are you privy to the answer that Jesus gave to the evils that we did to him? Have you discovered the result of the test? The evils that we did to Jesus did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightes degree. His love for us survived the evils that we did to him. We discovered from the macbre experiment that the dial that controls God's love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and locked in place. Not even the evils that we did to him could budge it.
Jesus is the artist who painted the masterpiece of God on the canvas of our rationality in the pigments of bloody truth in the laboratory of the Crucifixion where we put him to the test (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20). The test was not sterile. The test produced a result. Are you privy to the macabre experiment? Can you articulate its significance? What does the macabre experiment tell us about the nature of God?
Our predicament in the Valley of Tears where loveless creatures scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition among the ruins of Eden is dire. Yet, many fail to recognize our dire predicament. We are indifferent to it. We fail to acknowledge it. Hence, the exigency of finding a solotion - an escape route - is not felt. We are caught in evil's trap - the illusion of godlessness.
Evils are the very real and very noxious deceptions that hide from the children of Adam and Eve the escape route through our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears where loveless beasts scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition among the ruins of Eden. They challenge our trust in the love of God. They erode it. Anti-God propaganda doesn't get more powerful than evils. Jesus was sent to neutralize them - to defang them of their power to deceive in order to rebuild our trust in the love of God. Jesus blazed the trail through them so we do not have to do it ourselves and go it alone. Follow him along the trail that he blazed (John 14:6).
The brevity of life proves the mercy of (00623)
One measure that our God put in place
to mitigate the direness of our predicament in
the Valley of Tears is this:
God set a lifetime as the upper limit on the
time that we stew in the evils of the Valley of Tears
like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine.
A life is but an infinitesimally thin slice
of time compared to the thickness of eternity.
The brevity of life proves the mercy of God
(Matthew 24:22).
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(00621)
[¶ 00623 Updated: 08_18_2024]
Please mitigate faster, Lord. Make haste (Psalm 70)!
God thought that sending us a Love Note was the best way to answer the question, 'Who is God?' and to show us our potential. Our God killed two birds with one stone. Jesus is the Love Note. Jesus is the sweetest of the sweet fruits of love. Jesus is the tangible, unreserved expression of God's love for us - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45). Our potential is to love our neighbors as Jesus loves us. Jesus loves us even though we tortured and killed him - even though we made him suffer and die - even though we impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Wow! That is some stubborn love (Psalm 8:4-10)! The love of God is awesome in size, scope and duration. It is the most powerful force in heaven and on earth. It gives Christianity its magic, Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and clerics, who exclusively devote themselves to it, the power to change the world. The love of God is the mojo of Christianity. It kicks sinners like a mule (1 Kings 19:11-13). It gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). Christianity, when done right, confronts us with the verified Love Note. Christianity, when done right, challenges us to come to grips with it.
Verification of the genuineness of the Love Note took place when we tested it (Wisdom 2: 19) in a gauntlet of evils in the laboratory of the Crucifixion and discovered the result of the test. The test (Wisdom 2: 19) and its result fill the Cross of Christ with its meaning (1 Corinthians 1:17). We discovered from the test and its result that the dial that controls God's love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and locked in place. Not even the evils that we did to him could budge it. If the Love Note were counterfeit, his love for us would have faded as we tortured him and would have died when we killed him. But it did not. His love for us survived the evils that we did to him. Survival is the proof.
Power begets respect. But, love begets love. Only love begets love.
Radically asymmetric was Jesus' answer to the evils that his enemies did to him. Jesus satisfied the hunger of his enemies with bread, quenched their thirst with wine and filled their bellies with fellowship. He invited his enemies to take a seat with him at the family table and to sup with him, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort of the family tent. His prodigal generosity kicks sinners like a mule (1 Kings 19:11-13). It gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). Christianity, when done right, confronts us with the the love of God. Christianity, when done right, challenges us to come to grips with it.
His radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him is the irrefutable proof that his love for us did not fade as we tortured him and did not die when we killed him. No love; no fruits of love; no forgiveness. By reverse engineering back from forgiveness we conclude, with a high degree of confidence, that his love for us survived the evils that we did to him. Because his love for us survived re-entry into the atmosphere of the earth after we had taken his life, he forgave the enemies who took from him his flesh and blood. He gave them a full pardon - total and unconditional amnesty - absolute absolution for the egregious sins that we perpetrated against his innocent flesh and blood. "For I will re-establish my covenant with you, that you may know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, when I pardon you for all you have done — oracle of the Lord God" (Ezekiel 16:62-63). The survival of his love for us is the greatest miracle. It consumed all of his limited human resources. He kept not a penny of them in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never spent more on anything else. (Luke 21:1-4) (John 15:13). The more that he spent, the greater is our astonishment at the prodigal hospitality that he showed the enemies who still had his blood on their hands. It was radical in generosity - utterly asymmetric to how they treated him. He had the power to destroy them - the power to unleash against them the three-headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution. But he did not. Instead, he released the angel of forgiveness. Through his bloody wounds, Jesus poured the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil. Jesus satisfied the hunger of his enemies with bread, quenched their thirst with wine and filled their bellies with fellowship. He invited his enemies to take a seat with him at the family table and to sup with him, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort of the family tent. Who does this besides the God who loves us despite the evils that we did to him? How benign is the nature of God!
To ascend from the level where loveless beasts scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition among the ruins of Eden to the level of our loving God, we follow Jesus as he climbs each rung of the ladder of love.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6), our God lamented. So, from heaven to earth, Jesus was dispatched to bring us the knowledge that puts an end to our destruction. The knowledge that the Word of God (John 1:1) brought was not about the power of God although Jesus did, indeed, demonstrate the power of God. The knowledge that the Word of God (John 1:1) brought that puts an end to our destruction was an apocalyptic revelation about the nature of God. God wanted to kill two birds with one stone. He wanted to answer the question, 'Who is God?' and he wanted to show us our potential. So, God, with his bare hands, created the foundation of Christianity. He sent the children of Adam and Eve a Love Note even though they did not deserve it. Furthmore, he irrefutably verified the genuineness of the Love Note in a macabre experiment in which we ran Jesus through a gauntlet of evils in the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19) and his love for us survived it. If the Love Note were counterfeit, his love for us would have faded as we tortured him and would have died when we killed him. But it did not. His love for us survived the evils that we did to him. We failed to extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce the intensity of his love for us by even the slightest degree. We discovered from the macabre experiment that the dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, the dial is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we did to him could budge it. That his life survived the evils that we did to him proved the power of God. Nobody escapes death. Jesus did. That his love survived the evils that we did to him proved that our understanding of divinity as power is flawed. Divinity is more than power. Divinity is also love. Power begets respect. But love begets love - only love begets love. The verified Love Note gobsmacks us. It takes our breath away. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). God's love for us is the catalyst of our conversion. To capture our attention and to induce our repentance, Christianity confronts us with the verified Love Note. Christianity challenges us to come to grips with it. Jesus was the tangible expression of God's love for us - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45). So, what genre of literature is the Word of God (John 1:1)? The Word of God (John 1:1) is a Love Note - a Love Note from God to us whose truth was verified by surviving extreme and utter adversity. Wow!
Jesus hung from his cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. He taught us how to wage and win the war against evil. Do you have the courage to fight the war against evil with the same weapon that Jesus used to fight it? God's understanding of 'strength' is different than our understanding of 'strength' (Isaiah 55:8-9). To God, strength has something to do with the presence of love even when our enemies baptize us in a dunghill of evils. To us, strength is about power - brute force. So, Jesus transported to earth from heaven a redefinition of strength - a new model that is the apotheosis of God's understanding of 'strength'. He defeated his enemies by showing them the fruits of love (Matthew 5:38-48) while they showed him the fruits of hate. He showed them hospitality while they showed him hostility. How paradoxical! How radically asymmetrical! Do we have the 'strength' that Jesus had? Jesus confronted his enemies with the love of God. He challenged them to come to grips with it. Shall we not go and do likewise?
We used our strength against Jesus. He did not. He did not answer the evils that we did to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. He did not require "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48). The dude with the biggest, most powerful gun (Matthew 26:53-54) did not fire it. He did not pull the trigger. Instead, he turned the tables. He answered strength with weakness. In the contest between humanity and divinity, the difference in strength between the combatants was radically asymmetric. Yet, the stronger combatant won a glorious victory through the exercise of weakness and the weaker combatant suffered an ignominious defeat through strength. The almighty made himself weak and, in weakness, his strength was made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). How paradoxical! Radical asymmetry won the day!
"Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is and make trial of his forbearance" (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20). He dared us. "… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10). We did. We put him to the test. We put him through a gauntlet of vile evils in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. Unlike the fig tree (Matthew 21:19), the test was not barren. It bore fruit. The test produced a result. The test and its result fill the Cross of Christ with its meaning (1 Corinthians 1:17). Are you privy to the test and its result? What do they tell us about the nature of our God? We discovered from the test and its result that the dial that controls God's love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and locked in place. Not even the evils that we did to him could budge it. The test (Wisdom 2: 19) and its result verified that the Love Note (Jesus) that God had sent us is genuine - the real McCoy. If the Love Note were counterfeit, his love for us would have faded as we tortured him and would have died when we killed him. But it did not. His love for us survived the evils that we did to him. The test and its result are the rebar that God added to the wet concrete of our understanding of God to strengthen our faith. They raise our confidence in the love of God through the roof. The God who loves us reaffirms the verification of God's love for us in the taking and the giving of the most Holy Eucharist at every Mass.
What was Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him? Are you privy to it? Can you articulate it? Do you have the words? What does his answer tell us about the nature of God? His answer to the evils that we did to him is the Good News of Great Joy. His answer is the incontrovertible verification that God's love for us is prodigious in size, inclusive in scope and immortal in duration - that the Love Note that God sent us is genuine, the real McCoy. His answer pierces the evils that stalk and torment us in the ruins of Eden and neutralizes their powerful, effective and virulent anti-God propaganda. His answer is the rebar that God added to the wet concrete of our understanding to strengthen our faith. His answer is the rock on which the wise build their lives (Matthew 7:24-27). It is the robust foundation on which we erect the escape route from our dire predicament in the Vally of Tears. On the foundation of God's love for us, with the raw materials of love that God entrusted to us (Matthew 25:29), we build each rung of the ladder of love on which we climb to the level of our loving God from the level where loveless beasts scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition among the ruins of Eden. His answer to the evils that we did to him reinforces our trust in the God who loves us. Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid (Psalm 27)? Will our almighty lover ever let us down? Will he ever betray us? Will he ever disappoint (Romans 8:31)? What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight! "A surge of joy uplifts the world" (Page 27, The Power of the Cross, Cantalamessa). From the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity, Jesus reconfigured our understanding of God by his radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him (1 Corinthians 1:17). Rally ‘round the flag! Salute it, pledge allegiance to it and, in one voice, sing anthems of praise and thanksgiving to it!
Fear not! The God who loves us is in charge. He has everything well in hand. All is under control.
It is said, 'hate the sin but love the sinner. Why, then, do we condemn sinners, and not the sin, to hell? It would seem that if we truly loved sinners instead of merely pretending to love them, we would not condemn them.
The love of God is awesome in size, scope and duration. It is the most powerful force in heaven and on earth. It gives Christianity its magic, Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and clerics, who exclusively devote themselves to it, the power to change the world. The love of God is the mojo of Christianity. It kicks sinners like a mule (1 Kings 19:11-13). It gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). Jesus confronts his enemies with the love of God. He challenges them to come to grips with it. Go, and do likewise.
Evils erode our trust in God. Jesus's radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him neutralized the anti-God propaganda. His answer rebuilds our trust in God.
Evil is powerful, highly effective and virulent
anti-God propaganda
that the serpent uses
to erode our trust in God
A river of evils rages and roars against us in the Valley
of Tears challenging our trust in the love of God.
Evil is the weapon that the serpent uses
to distort our perception of reality. The evils that
plague the children of Adam and Eve are
vicious anti-god propaganda.
The serpent uses them to hide from us the love of God,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope, and
immortal in duration.
Jesus came to neutralize the serpent's
anti-God propaganda.
Jesus was not dispatched to defang evils of
their noxiousness.
Evils sharp teeth still bite.
Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth
to drain from evil its power to deceive us
about the love of God.
Jesus reconfigured our understanding of God.
With a reconfigured understanding of God,
an upgrade, godless people become people of God.
Only after that happens does God address the
noxiousness of our evils
(Matthew 6:20 - 33).
Deception then noxiousness.
From the flagpole of Christianity,
God reached through the serpent's
powerful, highly effective and virulent
anti-God propaganda to pull us through.
The wise do not bemoan their fate.
They reach back and grab onto the
love of God.
The high contrast Juxtaposition that Jesus choreographed
on the battlefield of the Crucifixion
conveyed to us the nature of God
in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany
The comparison between humanity and divinity
revealed extreme lopsidedness
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
The knowledge about the nature of God
that Jesus brought from heaven
to earth put an end to our destruction.
Radical asymmetry revealed God to us.
In a breathtaking juxtaposition, Jesus set
the scintillating jewel of prodigal
hospitality against the dark foil of our
prodigal hostility.
Prodigal hospitality and prodigal hostility
are the two sticks that Jesus
rubbed together to ignite the fire of our understanding
of the nature of God.
The choreographer of our salvation said:
“I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)!
The light generated by the juxtaposition
of prodigal hospitality and prodigal hostility
illuminated the darkness of our understanding of
the nature of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic
epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19)
(Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5)
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is and
make trial of his forbearance"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We did.
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity
as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death and hoisted him up
(John 3:14)
for
the world to behold his ignominious defeat.
Does hostility get any more prodigal than the
baptism into which we baptized Jesus
(Mark 10:37-38)?
Jesus had access to unlimited divine resources
for his defense
(Matthew 26:53-54).
He was the dude with the biggest, most powerful gun.
Yet, he did not fire it.
He did not fight back in a conventional
manner.
He did not answer the evils that we did to him in kind.
He did not give us a taste of our own medicine.
He did not require
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
He did not release the three-headed monster of
revenge, retaliation and retribution from
the dungeon of his broken heart to devour us.
We lit the fuse but the bomb did not explode.
Love made the bomb a dud.
Jesus forgave us
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12)
(Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45)
From the scabbard of his love for us,
Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness
to slay the monster of the Crucifixion.
Forgiveness killed the monster dead.
Out of ignominious defeat, glorious victory erupted.
The evils that we did to Jesus
notwithstanding, he continued to love us nonetheless.
They did not extinguish
the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most
Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the
slightest degree.
He did not hold the evils that we did
to him against us
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
He satisfied our hunger with bread, quenched our
thirst with wine and filled our bellies with
fellowship. He invited us, his enemies, to take a seat
with him at the family table and to sup with him,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the comfort of the family tent.
Is there a better, more tangible way for the Word of
God
(John 1:1)
to express the love of God
(1 John 4:7-8)
than by serving his enemies
who took from him his flesh and blood a meal?
Who does this but the God who loves us?
The dial that controls his love for us is
in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set
to the highest degree and is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to him could budge it.
Wow! Let us together in one voice praise
the God who loves us!
Christianity has only one job. The job of Christianity is to bear witness to the radically asymmetric answer (1 Kings 19:11-13) that Jesus gave to the vile evils that his enemies did to him. The love of God is so powerful that only a drop is enough for our salvation. Jesus deposited a drop of the love of God into the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of space and time. The job of Christianity is to propagate the drop from the point and place of its obscure origin, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. Our job is to turn the drop into a flood. Constrained by his love, Jesus lavished his enemies with prodigal hospitality. He did not hold the evils that they did to him against them (Ezekiel 16:62-63). He forgave them. He satisfied their hunger with bread, quenched their thirst with wine and filled their bellies with fellowship. He invited his enemies to take a seat with him at the family table and to sup with him, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort of the family tent. Is there a better, more tangible way for the Word of God (John 1:1) to express the love of God than by serving his enemies a meal? Christians take refuge in the sanctuary of his radically asymmetric answer. In the sanctuary of his radically asymmetric answer, Cristians discover their salvation. His radically asymmetric answer is the Good News of Great Joy! The remainder of Christianity is obiter dicta - beside the point - ordinary.
Through the give and take of the most Holy Eucharist at Mass, Jesus himself recapitulates what he did to save the children of Adam and Eve from their dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. He presents the big picture of our salvation in a heavenly concert by playing the "instruments" of bread, wine, flesh and blood. GOD IS THE ARTIST WHO PAINTS THE MASTERPIECE OF REALITY ON THE CANVAS OF OUR RATIONALITY IN THE PIGMENTS OF TRUTH. His enemies vilely took from Jesus his flesh and blood. Jesus, however, did not give them what they took. Between the taking and the giving, Jesus made a substitution. At the Last Supper, Jesus announced the substitution of bread and wine for flesh and blood. During his battle with the monster of the Crucifixion, Jesus did what he had announced he would do. In his radically asymmetric answer to the evils that his enemies did to him, Jesus surprised them - and us who witness what Jesus did - by treating them to prodigal hospitality. We were unworthy of any blessing from the God who loves us after the evils that we did to him; yet; he treated us with prodigal hospitality nonetheless. "For I will re-establish my covenant with you, that you may know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of the Lord God" (Ezekiel 16:62-63). By sacrificing his flesh and blood, Jesus satisfied their hunger with bread, quenched their thirst with wine and filled their bellies with fellowship. He invited his enemies to take a seat with him at the family table and to sup with him, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort of the family tent. Who does this besides the God who loves us despite the evils that we did to him? Moreover, he did not purchase the banquet for his enemies by drawing upon his unlimited divine resources. He purchased the banquet by drawing upon his limited human resources. He purchased the bread and wine of forgiveness at an exorbitant price with the coin of his flesh and blood. He bet the farm. He spent all of the coin of his flesh and blood for us. He kept not a penny of his limited human resources in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never spent more on anything else. He did not wait for our conversion to forgive us. He forgave us to bring about our conversion. While we were unrepentant (Matthew 22:10) sinners (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6) with his blood still on our hands, Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19). "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). Jesus had the audacity to take the initiative. He took the first step of forgiveness in the hope that we would take the second step of repentance. What does this tell us about the nature of God? The love of God is awesome in size, scope and duration. It is the most powerful force in heaven and on earth. It gives Christianity its magic, Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and clerics, who exclusively devote themselves to it, the power to change the world. The love of God is the mojo of Christianity. It kicks sinners like a mule (1 Kings 19:11-13). It gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). Jesus confronts his enemies with the love of God. He challenges them to come to grips with it. Go, and do likewise.
Jesus' radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him is love - love in the form of forgiveness.
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God above us. God below us. God to the left of us. God to the right of us. God in front of us. God behind us. Protect us, Oh God!
Thank you God for the air we breath and the lungs to breath it. How can we not acknowledge that our entire existence is a gift from God?
A cleric is an usher who shows us to our seats. The love of God, however, is the star of the show. The process of salvation goes off the rails when a cleric starts to think that he is the star of the show. Remember: the pursuit of the love of God is the train of salvation. Christianity is the tracks. To the extent that Christianity is facilitating the pursuit of the love of God, it is doing its job. To the extent it is not, it is a failure.
God, the Father, bankrolled the Word of God's (John 1:1) desire to inform (Luke 17:20-21) the children of Adam and Eve with the knowledge (Hosea 4:6) that God is head-over-heels in love with them by endowing him, in the Incarnation, with the coin of flesh and blood. The Incarnation was about spending money. In the Incarnation, the Father enriched the Son with the coin of flesh and blood. The Son spent his endowment to purchase for us at an exorbitant price the blessing of forgiveness. He spent his entire endowment to make the purchase. He kept not a penny of his limited human resources in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never spent more for anything else (Luke 21:1-4) (John 15:13). The more that he spent, the greater is our astonishment at the prodigal hospitality that he showed the enemies who took from him his flesh and blood!
The variables that measure love are 1) the cost to the benefactor, 2) the nature and size of the blessing to the beneficiary 3) the scope and 4) duration.
When a meddlesome busybody who claims credit
as a good samaritan - a philanthropist - shifts
the costs of a blessing from himself to its
beneficiary, beware.
Be suspicious of claims of costless love.
Imagine if Jesus shifted the cost away from himself
and had not spent the coin of his flesh and blood, that
is, had not made the sacrifice
(Luke 22:42).
He
would not have put himself in a position
from which he could forgive us. Without forgiving us
for the evils that we did to him, Jesus would
have failed in his mission to unscramble
our understanding of the nature of God.
Like all the king's
horses and all the king's men, Jesus, too, would not
have put Humpty Dumpty back together again. By
forgiving us for the evils that we did to him,
that is, by paying the cost of the blessing of
forgiveness with the coin of his flesh and blood,
Jesus revealed to us that the nature of God is
love.
Forgiveness verified that the Love Note that
our God sent us was genuine.
No sacrifice;
No forgiveness;
no verification.
Jesus spent all of the coin of his
limited human resources to purchase for us the
blessing of forgiveness
(Luke 21:1-4)
(John 15:13).
He kept not a penny in the
bank in reserve for himself. He has never spent
more on anything else. The size of his payment
reflects the size of his love for us.
The size of his love for us gobsmacks us.
It kicks sinners like a mule
(1 Kings 19:11-13).
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
Jesus confronts his enemies with the verified
love of God.
He challenges them to come to grips with it.
Let us go and do likewise.
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[¶ 00560 Updated: 07_20_2024]
'How do I best articulate the size of my love for the children of Adam and Eve?', God pondered. God wanted to unambiguously express that the size of his love for us is prodigious. But, divinity stood in the way. God had a God problem. The size of love is not best measured by the size of the benefit awarded to a beneficiary. Winning the lottery does not translate into love. The serpent offered Jesus "all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them" (Matthew 4:8-10). Yet, the serpent hated Jesus. No love there despite the prodigious size of the benefit. Unlimited resources can bestow benefits of unlimited size for various reasons other than love. Looking at the size of the benefit as the definitive determinate of love can be highly misleading. Instead, look at its cost. Cost never misleads. The measurement of love that is more accurate than the size of the benefit is the size of its cost. The size of love is a function of its cost (Luke 21:1-4) (John 15:13). The greater is the cost of love, the greater is its size. So, to express to us the size of his love for us, Jesus needed flesh to spend. Hence, God's solution was the Incarnation. God gave himself the means for the expression of love. God bankrolled his 'play' with the coin of his flesh and blood. Limited human resources gave the Word of God (John 1:1) the vocabulary in which to express to us the size of God's love. God thought that the best way to express his love for the children of Adam and Eve was to send them a Love Note with the ability to purchase for them the blessing of forgiveness by spending the coin of his flesh and blood - by spending prodigally. Jesus was the tangible expression of God's love for us - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45). We know this because Jesus paid the cost of love out of his own pockets by the sacrifice of his flesh and blood.
Our pursuit of the love of God is the train of salvation. Christianity is the track. Christianity is done right when it takes us directly to the love of God - when it makes a beeline to the love of God, without any delays or detours. "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it" (Isaiah 40:3-5). Beware faux tracks! Beware tangents! Beware sidetracks! Beware red herrings! Beware dead ends! Only beelines! Beelines only!
"Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is and make trial of his forbearance" (Wisdom 2: 19). The evils that we did to Jesus hoisted him up the flagpole of Christianity. There, from the position of prominance, Jesus poured the sweet syrup of forgiveness through the floodgates of his bloody wounds to inundate the Valley of Tears with the love of God. The love of God planted in the toxic soil of our stony hearts depetrifies them (Ezekiel 36:26). "… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10). Is there a better way to express the love of God than by forgiveness? Forgiveness is one of the sweet fruits of love that Jesus brought forth "out of the good treasure of his heart" (Luke 6:45). Isn't a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45)? Rally ‘round the flag! Salute it! Repent and pledge allegiance to it!
Jesus put a verification of the love of God into the hands of the children of Adam and Eve when sweet forgiveness erupted from the floodgates of his bloody wounds to inundate the Valley of Tears - a certificate of authenticity. The purpose of the verification is to give the children of Adam and Eve a high degree of confidence in the reality of the love of God. The love of God is beyond the Church's control. It has a life of its own. “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing” (Luke 12:49)! Jesus rubbed two sticks together to ignite the spark that started the fire of love here on earth: 1) the evils that we did to him and 2) forgiveness, his radically asymmetric answer to them. The friction between them generated the sparks that ignited the fire of love. Jesus loved us first. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). Jesus recruited, trained and equipped an army, his Church, to turn the fire of love into a conflagration. Only love begets love. Only love accelerates the fire into a conflagration. The Church's job is to fan the flames of love. It does the work of Christianity when it serves as an accelerant to the fire of love that Jesus started.
Jesus showed prodigal hospitality to the enemies who took from him his flesh and blood. His prodigal hospitality was not free. It came at a cost. Jesus did not pay the cost from his unlimited divine resources. He paid the cost from his limited human resources. His flesh and blood were the coin that Jesus spent to pay the exorbitant cost of his prodigal hospitality. He invited his enemies to take a seat with him at the family table and to sup with him, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort of the family tent. He satisfied their hunger with bread, quenched their thirst with wine, and filled their bellies with fellowship. After the evils that his enemies did to Jesus, they did not deserve any blessings whatsoever from the God who loved them, but the God who loved them blessed them with the gift of forgiveness anyway. Radicaly asymmetric was Jesus' answer to the evils that his enemies did to him. Jesus poured more and better theology into the radically asymmetric answer that he gave his enemies for the evils that they did to him than he poured into the heads of every apologist, theologian, Doctor of the Church, monk, abbot, mystic, priest, monsignor, bishop, Cardinal, Pope, hermit and saint who has ever lived or will ever live.
The size of love is a function of its cost. The greater is the cost of love, the greater is love's size (Luke 21:1-4). Jesus invites his enemies to take a seat with him at the family table and to sup with him, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort of the family tent. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). His enemies were hungry and thirsty for his flesh and blood. However, Jesus did not give them what they wanted. He made a substitution. He announced the substitution at the Last Supper. Jesus satisfied the hunger of his enemies with bread, quenched their thirst with wine and filled their bellies with fellowship (Matthew 22:10). Is there a better, more tangible way to express forgiveness to his enemies who still had his blood on their hands than by opening the flap of the family tent fo them and welcoming them to sup with him at the family table (Matthew 5:38-48)? Jesus conveyed to his enemies the size of his love for them by paying the cost of satisfying their hunger with bread, quenching their thirst with wine and filling their bellies with fellowship even though they were quite unworthy of his prodigal hospitality. He picked up the tab for his enemies. Radical is the size, scope and duration of God's love for us! To pay, Jesus spent all of his limited human resources - all of the coin of his flesh and blood. He did not scrimp. He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never paid more for anything else. Moreover, he did not just include his friends and family within the scope of his love. He included his enemies as well. The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we did to him could budge it.
Jesus set the scintillating jewel of sweet forgiveness against the dark foil of the evils that we did to him. Boy, did the stark contrast make it sparkle! Its light illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3). Sweet forgiveness gushed through the floodgates of the bloody wounds that the evils we did to him opened in his flesh to neutralize the toxicity of the Valley of Tears. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil. "… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10). The love of God was demonstrated not merely discussed. It was verified in deeds. The love of God was done not just said. Jesus demonstrated the love of God by inserting sweet forgiveness into a hideous context of foul evils. The juxtaposition of sweet forgiveness and foul evils focuses the spotlight upon the love of God. Forgiveness is one of the sweet fruits of love that Jesus brought forth "out of the good treasure of his heart" (Luke 6:45). Isn't a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45)?
The path of salvation is a rocky road. It goes from sacrifice, through forgiveness to repentance. Only the eruption of forgiveness from the sacrifice of his flesh and blood induces our repentance. Nothing else.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24). Prima facie, this sounds right. However, it is not quire accurate. It is merely a restatement of the conventional wisdom. Jesus upended the conventional wisdom. He turned conventional wisdom on its head (Luke 6:27-36). Jesus showed us a love that was more radical - more extreme - than a love that only encompasses family and friends. Jesus included his enemies within the sope of his love. Now, that's radical love! That is love without limits! Jesus showed us the Triple Crown of Divinity. The size, scope and duration of his love for us are without limits - love prodigious in size, inclusive in scope and immortal in duration.
Jesus took a risk. He bet the farm. He made his wager to convince us that his theory that love begets love is valid. So, to prove it, Jesus loved us first. He was domino prime."We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). In the Incarnation, Jesus doffed his invincible armor of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. The almighty made himself weak and, in weakness, his strength was made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). He let his guard down to reveal God to us. Weakness enabled evil to test Jesus who, dressed in divine armor, would otherwise be impossible to test. ‘Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?’ Jesus entered the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war against evil, cheek to jowl with us, toe to hoof against evil. In the laboratory of the Crucifixion, we administered a cruel test to Jesus. It was a macabre experiment. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled him onto the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. In short, we baptized the God who loves us in a dunghill of evils. The test produced a result - a conclusive result. Are you privy to the result of the test? It is written in the Bible that “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). This is not quite correct despite the fact that it appears in the bible. It is inaccurate. It merely restates the conventional wisdom. Jesus showed us ‘greater love’. He laid down his life for his enemies. In the laboratory of the Crucifixion, Jesus made his greatest investment. He invested the coin of his flesh and blood - all of his limited human resources. He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never spent more for anything else. With the coin of his flesh and blood, Jesus purchased a blessing for us. In the holiest of transactions between divinity and humanity, OUR CREATOR PAID AN EXORBITANT PRICE FOR A BLESSING HIS CREATURES DID NOT DESERVE. His enemies were hungry and thirsty for his flesh and blood. But, Jesus did not give them what they wanted. Instead, he made a substitution. He announced the substitution at the Last Supper. He satisfied their hunger, slaked their thirst and filled their bellies not with flesh and blood but with bread and wine. He invited them to take a seat with him at his table and, out of the sun and the rain, to sup with him under the comfort of his tent. Who, but the God who loves us, does this? "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). The flesh and blood of sacrifice purchased the bread and wine of forgiveness. Forgiveness was his gift to us. We did not deserve the gift of forgiveness after the evils that we had done to him. Yet, Jesus gave us the gift anyway - with no strings attached. He did not wait for our conversion to forgive us. He forgave us to bring about our conversion. It is one thing to give the gift of forgiveness to creatures worthy of it. It is a horse of quite a different color, however, to give the gift of forgiveness to unworthy enemies. Yet, Jesus included his enemies within the scope of his love. Isn’t the love of God radical in scope? The dial that controls the love of God is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we did to him could budge it. Forgiveness kicks sinners like a mule (1 Kings 19:11-13). The radical asymmetry between our hostility to him and his hospitality to us knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). Jesus confronts sinners with forgiveness, its cost, its scope and its duration. He challenges us to come to grips with it (Ezekiel 16: 62-63). How we react to the love of God in the form of forgiveness reveals us to God and us to ourselves. The greater were the evils that we did to him, the greater is our astonishment at the love of God! Rally ‘round the Cross! [Note: we approach our potential when we reach into our own pockets, as Jesus did, to spend the coin of our own flesh and blood to purchase blessings for our neighbors. We, too, can participate in the holiest of transactions, as Jesus did, if we find the strength to defy our natural instinct to conserve our limited human resources. Imitating Christ is not easy. Christianity is a challenging endeavor. It’s not for wimps.]
An eruption quaked the earth, shattered rocks, opened graves and rent the veil in the temple in twain from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50-54). Powerful was the eruption. From the dunghill of evils that we did to Jesus as we cruelly tested him in a macabre experiment in the laboratory of the Crucifixion, the good news of great joy erupted into the Valley of Tears for the children of Adam and Eve to behold. The foil of ignominious defeat was the mother that gave birth to Jesus’ glorious victory. The eruption was bigger than the Big Bang and larger than CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The incandescence of the eruption illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3). The good news of great joy is the greatest force on earth. It gives Christianity its magic, Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and clerics, who exclusively devote themselves to it, the power to change the world. The good news of great joy kicks sinners like a mule (1 Kings 19:11-13). It knocks sinners off their horses (Acts 9:4-6). It gobsmacks them. But, what, exactly, is the good news of great joy that erupted from the dunghill of evils in which we baptized Jesus? What apocalyptic revelation did the evils that we did to him launch like a rocket into the darkness of the Valley of Tears? His radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him is the good news of great joy. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34 ) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45). The light of forgiveness erupted from the darkness of evils. The greater were the evils that we did to him, the greater is our astonishment at the prodigious size, inclusive scope and infinite duration of the love of God! Are we still presenting the mind-boggling eruption to the children of Adam and Eve? Are we still making them privy to this astonishing historical fact?
The ruins of Eden hold worthless scraps - trifles. Loveless beasts scavenge for the scraps in cutthroat competition with the other loveless beasts. To mitigate our dire predicament, God also seeded the ruins of Eden with golden nuggets of divinity. The golden nuggets of divinity are the love of God, prodigious in size, inclusive in scope and infinite in duration. Love begets love. Love restores the ruins of Eden to their pristine, ante-catastophic condition. In the ruins of Eden, we can help the currency of love to circulate. With ordinary currency, the more we spend, the poorer we get. It is a paradox, but, by spending the currency of love, we grow rich. The more we spend, the richer we get (Proverbs 11:24). Two activities are available to us while we abide in the ruins of Eden. We can scavenge for scraps or we can engage in the treasure hunt. Our choice (Matthew 6:24). However, be forewarned! Whoever accumulates the biggest pile of scraps is still destitute if they are not engaging in the treasure hunt. Jesus is the invitation that God sent us to participate in the treasure hunt. CHRISTIANITY IS THE TREASURE MAP FOR TREASURE HUNTERS ENGAGED IN THE TREASURE HUNT (Matthew 6:19-21) (Luke 17:20-21). "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2). "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you" (James 4:8). The experiment that we conducted on Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion initiated the countdown to the launch of the new Eden. The time is short (Revelation 12:12). Let us make the best use of our time.
The genuineness of the Love Note, that is, its authenticity, was verified in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10). The Love Note is the real McCoy. How do we know? We put the Love Note to the test (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20). "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is and make trial of his forbearance" (Wisdom 2: 19). We tortured and killed the Love Note - we made him suffer and die - we impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Miraculously, the Love Note answered the evils that we did to him. He did not hang mute. His tongue was not nailed to the cross. He did not take the fifth. The test produced a result. The result of the test was published and has been propagated by his Church from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. Are you privy to the result of the test? Can you articulate it? Do you have the words?
The radically asymmetric answer that Jesus gave to the evils that we did to him is the key that unlocks a first class, high fidelity understanding of God. On these pages, we shall explore it, consider its significance and contemplate its implications.
“LET US TEST HIM WITH INSULT AND TORTURE, THAT WE MAY
FIND OUT HOW GENTLE HE IS AND MAKE TRIAL OF HIS
FORBEARANCE" (Wisdom 2: 19).
The test and its result are
the odd couple of epiphany.
As a team, they reveal the nature of God to us.
The test and result are two parts of a single unit
of apocalyptic revelation about the nature of God.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow of
death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed,
and never again open your mouth because of
your disgrace, when I pardon you for all you have
done—oracle of the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
From the position of prominence
on the flagpole of Christianity,
Jesus reconfigured our understanding of God
by his radically asymmetric answer to the evils that
we did to him (1 Corinthians 1:17).
Rally ‘round the flag!
Jesus had access to unlimited divine resources for his defense (Matthew 26:53). Yet, he did not fight back in a conventional manner. He did not answer the evils that we did to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. He did not require "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24)(Matthew 5: 38-48). He did not release the three-headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution from the dungeon of his broken heart to devour us. We lit the fuse but the bomb did not explode. Love made the bomb a dud. In the scrum at the line of scrimmage in mortal combat with the monster of the Crucifixion, Jesus used an unconventional weapon. From the scabbard of his love for us, Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness. With it, Jesus slew the monster. Forgiveness killed the monster dead. Ordinarily, evil begets evil. It is a vicious, incessant, inexorable cycle. But not in the case of Jesus. Jesus was a rare exception to the immutable laws of cause and effect. He broke the cycle of evil. He crashed it. He stopped the progression of evil dead in its tracks. Jesus refused to allow evil to reproduce itself within him (Matthew 5:38-40). Evil did not find a foothold in Jesus. Jesus gave evil no purchase. “…God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). There was no room for evil to enter the inn of his most Sacred Heart (Luke 2:7). Love had reserved all of the space for itself. Love is a sterile matrix for the seed of evil. When the seed of evil is planted in a heart filled to the brim with love, it does not germinate. It dies. Love smothers it. Love rings its neck. It is D/O/A. Jesus is the grave where evil goes to die.
Jesus performed many miracles by drawing upon his unlimited divine resources. However, he performed only one miracle by drawing upon his limited human resources. The greatest miracle that Jesus performed took place in the laboratory of the Crucifixion where he spent all of the coin of his flesh and blood - he kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself - to purchase for us the gift of forgiveness. We didn't deserve the gift. Yet, he gave it to us anyway. He did not wait for our conversion to forgive us. He forgave us to bring about our conversion. Jesus took an audacious risk - he bet the farm - on the truth that only love begets love. In so doing, he revealed the nature of God to us and simultaneously revealed to us our potential. Like Jesus, creatures of flesh and blood have the potential to equal his greatest miracle (Luke 6:40). We have the potential, not to equal God in power, but to equal God in love. Jesus showed us that love opens the door to deification for all creatures of flesh and blood (John 13:35) (Matthew 22:36-40) (1 John 4: 7-12). The only question is will any of us follow Jesus through it. Will any of us spend the coin of our flesh and blood as Jesus spent his? Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him. His love for us survived them unscathed - without even the slightest scratch. The greater were the evils that we did to him, the greater is our astonishment at his love for us - prodigious in size, inclusive in scope and infinite in duration - a love without limits - a love that transcends all attempts to control, tame and reduce its radical wildness. Prodigal is the love of God.
Evils crash againt love and shatter upon contact as waves break against a rock. If it doesn't happen, the love is counterfeit. Jesus is the rock. The evils that we did to him were the waves.
What is the treasure of Christianity?
What is the treasure of Christianity?
A Christian ought to possess the answer, no?
A Christian ought to be fluent in the answer, right?
The Society of the Hook,
Line and Sinker discovered the answer as we
explored the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God.
Have you?
What about your priest?
Survey those around you.
Put them on the spot.
Comparison is a useful thinking tool that is often
used to illuminate the darkness of our understanding.
So compare your answer, your priest's answer and
other answers with the
answer that the Society of the Hook,
Line and Sinker discovered.
(for the answer...)
Forgiveness arising from a baptism of torture and death is the light that illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).
We are at war with evil. Jesus paid us a visit to show us how to wage and win the war against evil. He came to show us what victory in the war looks like (for further reading...)
The war against evil cannot be won without capturing, taking control of, and holding the High Ground of Christianity (for further reading...)
Jesus reserved a job for us in his transportation business
Jesus is employed in the transportation business.
Furthermore, he has reserved a job for us in
his enterprise.
The love of God does not propagate itself.
It does not have its own legs.
It is not self-propelled.
To get the love of God
from the point and place of
its obscure origin
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of time and space, across history
and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve
here and now, an acqueduct is needed.
Jesus is offering us a job building, maintaining and
operating the acqueduct. He initiated the enterprise.
However, he did not complete it.
He will not complete the work without our help
(Philippians 2:12).
Jesus reserved a place for us in the enterprise
of bringing the love of God to the children of Adam
and Eve.
Will you serve?
Will you accept your commission?
Note: Only by working to deliver the love of God to
the children of Adam and Eve do we make
room in our hearts to receive it ourselves.
As you give, so do you receive
(Luke 6:38)
(1 John 4:8).
"...if any would not work, neither should he eat"
(2 Thessalonians 3:10).
Note: Evil is trying to disrupt Jesus's business. Evil
does not want it to succeed.
Evil tries to impede the flow of the love of God.
Evil did not dissolve the love of God. It did not disintegrate it. It did not dissipate it. It had no effect on it. Evil is impotent against the love of God. Steadfast is the love of God.
Background versus foreground
It is not about the Church. It is about the love of God.
The leadership of the Church needs to learn a lesson
from our amusement parks. The nitty gritty of their
operation takes place in the background away
from the eyes of their customers.
When the nitty gritty breaks into the foreground,
the experience is ruined.
The Church is functioning well when the love of God
is in the foreground and leadership is in the
background.
When leadership, however, jumps into the
foreground
and elbows the love of God into the background,
all hell breaks loose.
“Francis, go and rebuild my church which,
as you see, is falling down”
On these pages, the Society of the Hook, Line and Sinker
presents a restatement of Christianity,
from the perspective of the sheep, in an attempt to
arrest and reverse its accelerating decline.
The pursuit of God is flagging.
Fewer and fewer of the children of Adam and Eve
are going to Mass.
Nobody goes to Confession.
Vocations are drying up.
Marriages are crumbling.
Churches are withering and dying.
The only sacrament holding its own is
the sacrament of extreme unction and
this is so only because the dead do not have
much of a choice.
The trend is downward and accelerating.
The thermometer that gauges the temperature
of the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity.
By this measure, the patient is moribund -
a few breaths away from death.
The assumption of this enterprise is that,
if the sweetness of paradise
becomes known, the children of Adam and Eve will
pursue it.
Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise
and flee the sourness of godlessness.
It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise.
It is crazy to do otherwise.
We are disobedient not irrational.
God's power made paradise for us.
God's love for us, however,
is the ingredient that makes paradise sweet. Power
begets respect. But love begets love - only love
begets love.
God's love for us,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope,
and forever in duration
is the honey that draws the bees back home
to their hive.
God's love for us is the reason that the birds
fly home to their nest.
God's love for us is the inescapable, centripetal force
that pulls us back to paradise.
(Note: The gauntlet of evils through which we pass
as
we make life's journey is the centrifugal force
that pushes us out of godlessness.)
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
In the war against evil,
What weapon better serves the opposition to evil?
love or evil?
Our animal instinct - our knee jerk reaction -
our autonomic reflex -
is to resist
evil with evil.
Psychologists call it the fight-or-flight response.
It is hardwired into us. It is a part of our defense
mechanism.
Jesus, however, recommended a different approach to
solve the problem of evil -
a strange, unconventional, counter-intuitive
way of resistance
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
He substituted weapons.
He put a different gun into our holster.
He retired evil and, in its place, he substituted
love.
[Noteworthy, is the fact that the recommendation
to substitute weapons comes from the dude with
the biggest, most powerful gun.]
Is Jesus' way the better way? Which way gives better
results?
Resisting evil with evil, or, resisting evil
with love?
Come, now, join the conversation. Let us
reason together
(Isaiah 1:18).
A river of evils rages and roars through the Valley of Tears challenging the love of God. The history of the children of Adam and Eve is the constant and repetitive challenge to the love of God. We continuously put the love of God to the test (Malachi 3:10) (Wisdom 2: 19) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20). The constant testing of the love of God reveals that it is unmoved. The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, Jesus set it to the highest degree and locked it in place. Not even the evils that we did to him could budge it. By our testing of the love of God, we discover that God's love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Isaiah 55:8-9) (Psalm 8:4-8) ( Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3).
Love puts our evil on a diet
Love de-energizes the evil of our answer to evil
For the children of Adam and Eve, love is a limitation
that we put on the equality of justice.
Love makes a Christian's answer to the evils done
to him asymmetric.
Love makes a Christian's answer to the evils done
to him less than
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48).
Love reduces the evil in our answer to evil.
Love minimizes it.
Love puts a damper on the sting of our evil.
Love muffles it.
Love ties the three-headed monster of revenge,
retaliation and retribution that abides in the
darkness of our hearts in knots.
Love puts our evil on a diet.
Love de-energizes the evil of our answer to evil
'Tis best to defang the wild three-headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution that abides in the darkness of our hearts before it sticks its fangs into you. A leash cannot control it.
Modulating downward the energy of the evils we do
In certain circumstances, the opposition of evil
with love is not absolute
(Matthew 21:12-13).
In the incident with the vendors at the Temple,
Jesus answered evils with evils.
But then again, the evils that Jesus did
to the vendors at the Temple could have been much
worse than overturning their tables and chairs and
casting them out
(Genesis 19: 24-25).
No?
The fate of the vendors at the Temple was
far less disastrous than the fate of the tenants of
Sodom and Gomorrah.
Without love, zeal for God's
house
(Psalm 69:9)
could have provoked Jesus to do much worse to
the vendors at the Temple
(Genesis 19: 24-25).
It seems that he modulated the energy of the evils
he did to the vendors not to zero but downward
(Matthew 26:51-52).
What is the Folly of Jesus?
What is the folly of Jesus? The folly of Jesus is
to oppose evil not with more evil but with love.
Resisting evil with love is the folly of Jesus
(Isaiah 55:8-9).
Christians have chosen to follow the methodology of
Jesus in the war against evil. We resist evil not
with more evil but with love.
Love is the limitation that we impose on our
answer to evil to defang it.
Ours is an asymmetric,
gentler approach to evil.
For substituting love for more evil, however,
we are despised.
But,
"[w]e are fools for Christ's sake ..."
(1 Corinthians 4:10).
"... we preach Christ crucified,
unto the Jews a stumblingblock,
and unto the Greeks foolishness"
(1 Corinthians 1:23).
In response to the evils that we did to him, Christ
Crucified did not release more evil into the Valley
of Tears.
Jesus did not
release the three-headed monster of revenge,
retaliation and retribution from the dungeon of his
broken heart to devour us.
Instead, constrained by his love for us,
Jesus released the Angel of Forgiveness
into the Valley of Tears.
He released love in the form of forgiveness.
From his scabbard of love, Jesus drew the sharp
sword of sweet forgiveness. The sharp sword of sweet
forgivness slayed the monster of the Crucifixion.
Forgiveness killed the monster dead.
Dealing with the Monsters
Monsters with sharp and bloody teeth populate
the landscape. They chew us up into bits and pieces.
They form a gauntlet through which we pass as we
make our escape across the hostile desert of
godlessness. How do we live in a world of monsters?
What is the best strategy? How do we handle them?
Jesus blazed the trail. He illuminated the way.
Jesus hung from his Cross to
show us how to hang from our crosses.
When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung,
hold tight and refuse to let go of love.
The monsters push us over the cliff down
to the ruins of Eden where loveless beasts
scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition
with the other loveless beasts.
Love is the parachute that
controls the fall and cushions the landing. Moreover,
love enables us to bounce back to the level
of our loving God.
The enemy is external not internal. We are not fighting ourselves. The conflict is not an internal conflict. The gauntlet of evils in which we are baptized as we pass through this world is the external war. Internally, we are arming ourselves to fight an external enemy. Love is the weapon with which we arm ourselves
No room for evil in the inn of his most Sacred Heart
NO. JESUS DOES NOT JUST LOVE US.
HE LOVES US EVEN THOUGH WE TORTURED AND KILLED HIM.
WOW! NOW THAT’S LOVE!
Ordinarily, evil begets evil.
It is a vicious, incessant, inexorable cycle.
But not in the case of Jesus.
Jesus was a rare exception to the
immutable laws of cause and effect.
He broke the cycle of evil. He crashed it.
He stopped the progression of evil dead in its tracks.
Jesus refused to allow evil to reproduce
itself within him (Matthew 5:38-40).
Evil did not find a foothold in Jesus.
Jesus gave evil no purchase.
“…God is light, and in him there is
no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
There was no room for evil to enter the inn of
his most Sacred Heart (Luke 2:7).
Love had reserved all of the space for itself.
Love is a sterile matrix for the seed of evil.
When the seed of evil is planted in a heart filled
to the brim with love, it does not germinate.
It dies. Love smothers it. Love rings its neck.
It is D/O/A.
The Collision between us and the love of God
Salvation is the collision between us and
the love of God.
The collision knocks us off our
horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
The love of God gobsmacks us.
A collision with the love of God kicks us
like a mule.
It teaches us to love.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
From God's heart, our hearts
receive a transfusion of love.
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life
(Luke 15:32) (John 3:3).
Without love in our hearts we are dead - zombies.
Love raises the dead.
A life refined by love is the life our God wants for
us.
He wants the nobility of love to enter and abide in
our hearts.
A life without love is salt without flavor
(Matthew 5:13).
Life is love in abundance (John 10:10).
Love embellishes life.
Love is the treasure of Christianity.
The love of God is the cushion for our soft landing after death drops us into heaven.
The Collision between evil and Jesus
The collision between the evils that we did to Jesus
released love in the form of forgiveness into the
Valley of Tears.
The Love Note had transubstantiated his
bloody wounds into the floodgates of forgiveness
(Luke 23:34) (Malachi 3:10). Through them,
the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness
(Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28)
poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its
toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute
the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee.
Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil.
The Two Monuments that Jesus built to
capture and convey the love of God to us
Note: The Second Monument is interactive
The first monument to the love of God
that Jesus built was the Cross of Christ
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
Rally 'round the Cross!
It was the original monument dedicated to capturing
the best approximation of the nature of God
and conveying it, in high fidelity,
into the understanding of
the children of Adam and Eve.
We helped Jesus build it.
It is the showcase of Christianity.
We affixed Jesus to the position of prominence on
the Cross of Christ
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
As we tortured him, his love for us did not fade.
When we killed him, his love for us did not die.
His love for us
survived the evils that we did to him.
By testing Jesus in a gauntlet of
evils - in a baptism of atrocities -
in a furnace of afflictions
(Isaiah 48:10),
we discovered that God's love for us is
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope
and immortal in duration.
The dial that controls his love for us is
in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set
to the highest degree and is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to him
could budge it!
The monument is God's lighthouse. Its light
illuminates the darkness
of our understanding of God in a glorious burst
of epiphany.
“The people which sat in darkness
saw great light; and to them which sat
in the region and shadow of death
light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16)
(2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).
The second monument to the love of God that Jesus
built is the most Holy Eucharist.
Like the Cross of Christ
(1 Corinthians 1:17),
the most Holy Eucharist, too, is God's lighthouse.
Its light focuses our attention on the love of God,
and, in doing so, illuminates the darkness of our
understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic
epiphany.
The most Holy Eucharist, however, does so with
different imagery. The imagery of themost Holy
Eucharist is the confection and consumption of a meal.
We took from Jesus his flesh and blood. But,
mysteriously and miraculously, he did not give us
what we took.
He made a substitution.
He pulled a switcheroo.
For flesh and blood, Jesus substituted bread and wine.
We took from Jesus bread and wine that appeared
to be flesh and blood. We did not get what
we took.
With the coin of his flesh and blood, Jesus purchased
the bread and wine of forgiveness. The cost of the
meal was exorbitant. Yet, Jesus paid the exorbitant
cost out of his own pockets. He spent
all of his limited human resources to purchase
the bread and wine of forgiveness. He kept not
a penny in the bank in reserve for himself. He has
never spent more on anything else. The greater
was his payment, the greater is our astonishment
at the radical prodigality of God's love.
Furthermore and more extraordinarily,
He confected the meal for us even though
we didn't deserve it - even though we were unworthy
of the gift
(Romans 5:8).
His blood still dripped from
the hands of his enemies, yet, he invited them
for a meal of bread and wine with him at the family
table,
out of the sun and rain, under the family tent.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
Is there a better way to express forgiveness
(Matthew 5:38-48)?
Isn't a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)?
The meal of bread and wine that Jesus confected from
the ingredients of flesh and blood is the apotheosis
of forgiveness.
Jesus took the initiative. He took the first step
(1 John 4:19).
He did not wait for our conversion to forgive us.
He forgave us to bring about our conversion.
Jesus took the first step of forgiveness in the hope
that we would take the second step of repentance.
Repentance is how we accept God's offer of forgiveness.
With repentance we consume the meal.
Consumption is total surrender to
the love of God.
With consumption, we raise the white flag of
surrender to the love of God.
The symbiotic relationship between the love of God
and our surrender to it is the heart and soul of
Christianity.
It is a kiss exchanged between a creature and
our Creator. How sweet is the kiss!
At first, the relationship doesn't fit. It is too
big for us. Hopefully, over a lifetime,
we grow into it.
The evils that we did to Jesus hoisted the love of God up the flagpoll of Christianity together with his corpse.
How can we expect to experience the joy of a close encounter with the love of God if we do not pursue him? "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you" (James 4:8). Indeed, it is difficult to pull up the roots that we have sunk deep in the hostile desert of godlessness and become pilgrims passing through it. However, rooted in godlessness, we become sitting ducks to its hostility. In the hostile desert of godlessness, movement is necessary for survival. "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2).
Engagement with the love of God is paradise on earth.
The love of God was tested and survived the evil that we did to it. The greater was the evil, the greater is our astonishment at the love of God.
Squandering its advantage
The advantage that God gave Christianity
was the promise that the love of God will
breach the.gates of hell
(Matthew 16:18).
The love of God
came with a guarantee of
success.
The stronghold of Christianity is the love of God,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
immortal in duration.
Sally forth from the stronghold.
Sally forth from the stronghold,
through he gates of hell
(Matthew 16:18),
and into the trenches to the hostile territory
of lovelessness
occupied by the children of Adam and Eve in
the ruins of Eden.
The path to victory starts at the stronghold.
God decided to resurrect our understanding of the
love of God from the dead, affix it prominently
to a Cross,
and recruit an army to distribute it from the point
and place of its obscure origin in the boondocks
of time and space, across history and
geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and
now
(Isaiah 11:9)
(Habakkuk 2:14).
The job of leadership is to make Jesus'
apocalyptic revelation of the love of God
known. Is leadership doing its job?
RESISTING EVIL WITH LOVE
How to wage and win the war
against evil on the earth
God dispatched Jesus from heaven to show
the children of Adam and Eve how to
wage and win the war
against evil on the earth.
His mission was - not to tell us - but to demonstrate
to us what victory looks like.
He did not just say; he did.
He did not merely deliver a homily to us as
a priest does in a Church from the safety of an ambo.
He led by example.
He got his hands dirty.
Jesus girded his loins and entered the fray.
He joined us in the scrum
at the line of scrimmage in the war against evil.
The 'ambo' in which Jesus delivered the most
apocalyptic 'homily' of all time was a gauntlet of
evil - a baptism of atrocity - a furnace of affliction
(Isaiah 48:10).
The context of his 'homily' verified the veracity
of his message.
The context gave his message verisimilitude.
The context was the proof.
Jesus, however, did not invade the hostile desert of
godlessness at the head of a powerful
army of angels
(Matthew 26:53),
riding a tank and
armed to the teeth.
He had a different, more subtle methodology
than the use of brute force.
Like a guerilla, Jesus
infiltrated behind enemy lines into
hostile territory alone,
riding a cross, and armed with no weapon but love.
His purpose was to recruit, train and equip an army of
the children of Adam and Eve to resist evil with love.
What does victory look like? Can you articulate it?
Is your methodology of resistance the same as Jesus'
methodology? Or have you substituted your own ersatz
methodology for his? Are you winging the war against
evil, making your methodology up as you go along?
Note:
What does it mean to say that the context of
his 'homily' verified the veracity of his message?
The message of his 'homily' was that God's love for us
is prodigious in size, inclusive in scope and
immortal in duration.
If the love of God were counterfeit, Jesus' love
for us would have faded as we tortured him and would
have died when we killed him. But it did not. His
love for us survived the evil that we did to him.
God's love for us emerged from the violent clash with
the monster of the Crucifixion unscathed -
undiminished - without the slightest scratch.
The evil that we did to Jesus did not extinguish
the bonfire of love that burns for us
in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity
by even the slightest degree.
The dial that controls his love for us is
in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set
to the highest degree and is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to him
could budge it!
"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord"
(Romans 8: 38-39).
the symbiotic dance betweeen
forgiveness and repentance (00125)
Jesus introduced the symbiotic dance betweeen
forgiveness and repentance to the children of
Adam and Eve. Jesus invites us to join him
on the dance floor.
The symbiotic dance betweeen
forgiveness and repentance is the cornerstone
of Christianity.
We dance our way to our salvation.
The symbiotic dance betweeen
forgiveness and repentance is the perfection
of the love that binds
Creator and creatures
together.
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you,
and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is
easy, and my burden is light"
(Matthew 11:28-30).
The symbiotic dance of
forgiveness and repentance is
the yoke of Jesus.
For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Forgiveness and Repentance (00082)
[¶ 00125 Updated: 01_12_2024]
Our slow, inexorable surrender to the love of God
Surrender is repentance.
Surrendering to the love of God is the process that
takes place as we pursue him - as we explore the
mystery, majesty and magnificence of God. It rarely
happens overnight.
Our Church's domain is limited to the pursuit.
God is in charge of our surrender.
The love of God takes our surrender by loving us first.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
The love of God is the treasure
Christianity is a Treasure Map for Treasure Hunters
Engaged in a Treasure Hunt
The love of God, prodigious in size, inclusive in
scope and immortal in duration is the treasure of
Christianity.
CHRISTIANITY IS A TREASURE MAP
FOR TREASURE HUNTERS ENGAGED IN A TREASURE HUNT
(Matthew 6:19-21)
(Luke 17:20-21).
By following the map, the children of Adam and Eve
discover the treasure.
The treasure map is advanced, alien technology.
From heaven, Jesus conveyed the treasure map
of Christianity
across the vast abyss
(Luke 16:26)
to the children of Adam and Eve here on earth.
God built an escape route from godlessness to paradise,
defined it with holy places,
made a map of them,
established a Church,
entrusted the map to the Church and
gave the leadership of the Church a mission.
Leadership's mission is to facilitate the escape of
the grassroots of Christianity -
not to frustrate it, not to filter it and
not to foul it up.
Leadership is the grease for the wheels of the escape
not an obstacle in its way
(Isaiah 57:14).
If leadership gets in the way of the escape,
the children of Adam and Eve go around them,
over them, under them and through them.
Leadership make themselves irrelevant.
The pursuit of God is primary.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary.
Anything that interferes is suspect.
The job of the leadership is process not results.
Participation is the domain of leadership.
Progress is the domain of God.
The job of the leadership is to transform settlers
into pilgrims. The job of God is to transform sinners
into saints. Salvation goes off the rails when
leadership usurps God's job for themselves.
Engage the children of Adam and Eve in the process
of pursuing God and the results take care of
themselves. Put the children of Adam and Eve into
the queue that is pursuing God then step out of the
way so God can go to work.
We do not judge
(Matthew 7:1-2)
the progress of a
pilgrim because doing so would be judging God - God
is in charge of progress -
and the wise eschew the temerity of judging God.
"The direction of the mind is more
important than its progress" (Joseph Joubert).
Why? We do not transform ourselves.
Our Church does not transform us.
Only God transforms us and transformation takes
place during our pursuit of him.
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS TUGGING AT OUR SOULS.
The curious follow the tug back to its source.
Along the way, the curious are exploring the mystery,
majesty and magnificence of God. In the process of
exploration, God transforms us. Unless we explore
the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God,
we cannot be transformed.
Only during our pursuit - with rare exceptions -
do we enjoy close encounters with the love of God.
Only close encounters with the love of God
transform us.
Only a close encounter with the love of God
makes a difference in our lives.
Nothing else does.
Only a close encounter gobsmacks us.
Only a close encounter knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
No close encounter; no transformation.
Stuck we stay in the status quo.
Trapped in the Valley of Tears, the children of Adam
and Eve
are stuck in a toxic rut - a rat race with no way out.
They scavenge for scraps
in cutthroat competition with the other loveless
beasts among the ruins of Eden.
They are enslaved to the scraps and oblivious
to the treasure
(Matthew 6:24).
Dissatifaction, however, with the loveless jockeying
for scraps motivates
Christians. The patheticness of the rat race
drives them to the conclusion
that there must be a better way of living.
The treasure map that is Christianity
is the ladder on which
we climb out of the rut.
It is how we elevate ourselves above
the catastrophe of Adam and Eve and above our
pathological obsession with trivial and tawdry trifles.
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness"
(Isaiah 55:1-2)!
The treasure map that is Christianity reveals to us
the escape route out of our
dire predicament. It
shows us the way home - the path to paradise
(John 14:6).
Divinity embedded golden nuggets of
the love of God in the dour matrix of our reality.
Instead of scavengers of scraps,
Christianity makes us prospectors of treasure.
We explore the nooks and crannies of reality
in search for the love of God.
Our joy arises not from the accumulation of
scraps
(Luke 12:16-21)
but from the discovery of the treasure.
Discovery of the treasure is our delight.
[Note: Everything we learn about the nature of God
outside of the test to which we subjected Jesus
on the battlefield of the Crucifixion
is obiter dicta.]
The proposal that Jesus conveyed from heaven to the children of Adam and Eve here on earth was forgiveness in exchange for repentance. It is a sweet deal for us.
Attention, shoppers! Compare the price to confect
the most Holy Eucharist and the price to consume it.
Recognize the bargain of a lifetime!
Jesus was a salesman. He descended from heaven with
a proposal that the wise cannot refuse. It is the
bargain of a lifetime. From the ingredients of
flesh and blood, Jesus confected a meal of bread an
wine. He spent all of the coin of his flesh and
blood to purchase not for himself but for us
the bread and wine of forgiveness -
a full pardon -
total and unconditional amnesty -
absolution for the egregious
sins that we perpetrated against our God.
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
He spent all of the coin of his flesh and blood
to confect the meal.
He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never spent more for anything else.
The cost that Jesus paid out of his own pockets
to confect the most Holy Eucharist was exorbitant.
However, the cost to us to consume the meal is only
nominal. The lower is the price, the greater is the
demand. The love of God makes Jesus keen to
magnify demand.
To consume the bread and wine of forgiveness,
Jesus does not require that we spend a similar
exorbitant amount. He is offering the meal at a
steep discount.
He does not require
"an eye for eye,
tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48).
To consume the meal, all he wants us to pay is
the small coin of repentance.
The transaction is unequal. Inequality marks
the values of the exchange. Asymmetry highlights
a once in a lifetime bargain.
The wise exclaim, 'What a deal!'
The wise pay the small price and consummate
the transaction. They consume the meal.
They happily pay for the meal with the small coin of
their repentance.
They
fill their bellies with the bread and wine of
forgiveness that their God purchased for them
with the coin of his flesh and blood.
How wise are you? Do you recognize the bargain?
The price to confect the most Holy Eucharist is
asymmetric to the price of its consumption
The dynamic drama of apocalyptic revelation is captured
by the most Holy Euchatist. It is more than a static
depository of the Son of God - much more. From
its confection to its consumption, it recapitulates
the story of the love of God,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
immortal in duration.
Those who look at the most Holy Eucharist
as merely the static depository of
the Son of God and not as the dynamic story of
the love of God, do not understand it.
Jesus donned a torque blanche,
entered a kitchen,
turned on the ovens,
confected for his enemies a meal of bread and wine
from the ingredients of flesh and blood
and served it to them himself. Some eat it.
Jesus welcomed his enemies to eat
the meal with him at the family table,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the family tent.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
The meal of bread and wine that Jesus confected from
the ingredients of flesh and blood is the apotheosis
of forgiveness.
Isn't a tree known by its fruit
(Luke 6:43-45)?
Jesus took the initiative. He took the first step
(1 John 4:19).
Jesus offered the meal of forgiveness to his enemies.
But, will they
eat it? Will they drink it? Will they fill their
bellies with it? The bread and wine of forgiveness
are consumed only through the mouth of repentance.
Repentance is the price that his enemies must
pay for the meal of
forgiveness
(1 Corinthians 11:27).
For many, the price is too high. We want an
unreasonable discount
(1 Corinthians 11:27).
Jesus paid an exorbitant price to confect the meal.
He paid all of the coin of his flesh and blood.
He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never paid more for anything else.
Jesus, however does not ask that we pay
a similar exorbitant price to consume the meal.
Jesus doesn't demand from us the coin of our
flesh and blood.
He does not require
"an eye for eye,
tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24)(Matthew 5: 38-48).
Jesus is selling forgiveness at a loss -
steeply below cost.
Forgiveness is a loss leader for Jesus.
The bread and wine of forgiveness are worth more
than the price at which Jesus
is selling them - much more.
To consume the meal, all Jesus is asking us is
to pay the small coin of repentance - a
nominal, token price.
But, are his enemies willing to pay the small
coin of repentance to consume the meal that
Jesus confected at the exorbitant cost of all
the coin of his flesh and blood?
Will his enemies accept the
forgiveness that Jesus offers his enemies?
He is offering them
a mulligan -
a do-over -
a second chance -
a fresh start -
a clean slate.
Jesus took the first step of forgiveness in the hope
that we would take the second step of repentance.
Jesus' offer of forgiveness is irrevocable.
It is on the table.
The ball is in our court.
It is up to us to make the next move.
What say ye?
The train of forgiveness is at the station preparing
to take its passengers to paradise.
Buy the ticket of repentance before it is too late.
All aboard!
There was no room for evil to enter the inn of his most Sacred Heart. Love had reserved all of the space for itself.
How do we put the theory that only love begets love into
practice?
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
How do we put the theory that only love begets love into
pratice? Fill the space that you occupy with love. Strap
the Cross of Christ onto your back as a soldier
straps a flamethrower onto his. Pull the trigger.
Pitch a smile into your circumstances. Throw in
a kind word. Forgive the evils done to you as Jesus
did.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find
rest unto your souls"
(Matthew 11:29).
The yoke of Jesus (Matthew 11:29) is the love of God, prodigious in size, inclusive in scope and immortal in duration.
Watch the two flags that were run up the flagpole of
Christianity
The flagpole of Christianity is the Cross of Christ.
It is the showcase of Christianity.
From the position of prominence in the showcase of
Christianity, two semaphores flutter.
Two fluttering flags were run up the flagpole.
We ran one of the flags up; Jesus ran the other.
His enemies ran Jesus up the flagpole.
They tortured and killed him.
They made him suffer and die.
They impaled him on the flagpole as a fisherman
insouciantly
impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
Jesus, however, did not
want the flag of his enemies to fly alone.
So, Jesus, ran his own flag up the flagpole.
His flag was the sweet flag of forgiveness.
The position of prominence on
the flagpole of Christianity holds
both the evils that his enemies did to Jesus and
Jesus' asymmetric answer to them. The odd couple
of epiphany occupy the top of the flagpole.
The two
flags generate the light that illuminates the darkness
of our understanding of God.
“The people which sat in darkness
saw great light; and to them which sat
in the region and shadow of death
light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).
The Cross of Christ is more a lighthouse than
a flagpole
(1 Corinthians 1:17).
The Cross of Christ is the monument that our God
erected to pinpoint the exact location
of the treasure of Christianity, that is,
the knowledge of the nature of God.
Rally 'round the Cross!
Figure out for yourselves
the message about the nature of God that
the two flags are trying to convey to you.
The unconventional manner in which
Jesus waged war against his enemies
The manner in which Jesus waged war against his
enemies was unconventional - to say the least.
Jesus did not slam them over the head
and about the body
with the sledgemammer of his omnipotence.
Jesus tried a softer tactic.
He used a gentler approach.
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
He left the sledgehammer in heaven's armory and, in
its place, armed himself with the cudgle of love.
Jesus donned a torque blanche,
entered a kitchen,
turned on the ovens,
confected for them a meal of bread and wine
and served it to them himself.
Jesus welcomed his enemies to eat
the meal with him at the family table,
out of the sun and the rain,
under the family tent.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
In a tangible manner, Jesus confronted his enemies
with the love of God. He challenged them to come to
grips with it.
He did not just tell them about it.
He gave them a taste of the love of God itself,
to wit, the meal.
Is there a better way to make forgiveness, one of
the sweet fruits of love, tangible than by serving
your enemies, who had tortured and killed you, a meal?
He let his enemies
eat, drink and fill their bellies
with the love of God,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
immortal in duration.
Blows from the sledgehammer of his omnipotence
might have put his enemies in their place. They might
have pounded them into abject submission. They
might have defeated them.
Jesus, however, did not just want to defeat
his enemies. He wanted to
defeat them in a particular manner - according to
a particular methodology. He wanted victory
through the use of an unconventional weapon, that is,
through the weaponization of love.
Jesus practiced the methodology of love because
he subscribed to and had high confidence in the theory
that only love begets love.
An exchange of food and drink
at the family table under the family tent is
a tangible expression of love. It is an incarnate
articulation of love
(John 21:14-17).
Love is translated from the abstract to the concrete
with a meal at the family table under the family tent.
With the meal, Jesus loved us first.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
His love for us made Jesus audacious.
It made Jesus take a risk.
Jesus did not wait for our conversion to forgive us.
He forgave us to bring about our conversion.
Jesus initiated the process of our salvation
by planting the seed of love in the toxic soil
of our stony hearts in order to depetrify them
(Ezekiel 36:26).
However, he did not complete the process
of depetrification.
He began the opposition to evil.
He did not finish it.
He landed the first blow.
The coup de grâce, however, he left to us.
Jesus wants us to finish the war that he started
against evil using the methodology that he used.
Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang
from our crosses. When you hang as Jesus hung,
cling as Jesus clung, hold tight and refuse to let go
of love.
The gates of hell (Matthew 16:18) protect
stony hearts (Ezekiel 36:26) from the process of
depetrification.
To fleshify
stony hearts (Ezekiel 36:26),
the gates of hell (Matthew 16:18) must first
be stormed and deposed.
Love performs a dual purpose.
Love is the battering ram
that knocks down the gates of hell.
Love also is the agent of depetrification.
What a marvellous, ambidexterous instrument love is!
Love is its own reward (Thomas Merton). "The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes" (Portia in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (Act 4, Scene 1).
The Venue and the Demonstration
Jesus chose both the venue for his demonstration
of the nature of God and the demonstration.
He did not leave either the venue or the demonstration
to chance. His choices were intentional.
Both the venue and the demonstration illuminated
the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious
burst of apocalyptiic epiphany. On the shoulders
of the venue and the demonstration, Jesus rested
his revelation about the nature of God. On them
Jesus drafted his message.
The venue was a cruel baptism of injuries and death.
The demonstration that showed us the nature of God
was forgiveness.
Into the context of atrocity, Jesus inserted a
demonstration of forgiveness.
Forgiveness was the catayst that stirred the
still water of evils
(John 5: 1-9).
Forgiveness sweetened
the sourness of his evil baptism.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is and
make trial of his forbearance"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Forgiveness means nothing except in the context of injury. In the context of injury, forgiveness is full of meaning. The greater is the injury, the greater is our astonishment at forgiveness. Forgiveness in the context of injury gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horses (Acts 9:4-6). When we see it, we involuntarily exclaim, Wow!
Forgiveness is one of the sweet fruits of love. Love in the form of forgiveness is so important that Jesus gave it a position of prominence in the Lord's prayer. "... and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us ..." . Which is "better" forgiveness? Forgiveness derived from reporting your sins to a priest in a confessional or forgiveness derived from forgiving those who tresspass against us? Are you taking advantage of the 'as we' clause of the Lord's prayer? Are you exploiting it? Are you milking it for all that it is worth?
Our God bet the farm because he was highly confident
that his bet would pay off
We would discover that only love begets love. He would
show us.
The serpent bets against us because he disdains us.
To the serpent, we are stony hearted beasts who
scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition with
the other stony hearted beasts while trapped
in the ruins of Eden unable to escape from the
ugliness
(Ezekiel 36:26).
We will forever be loveless
beasts.
There is no room for the nobility of love
to enter and abide in our stony hearts
(John 10:10) [Life is love in abundance].
Nothing can depetrify and fleshify them
(Ezekiel 36:26).
The children of Adam and Eve will never
discover the immutable law of cause and effect
that holds that only love begets love.
They will never discover that love is the
operating system of the kingdom
of God
(Luke 17:20 -21).
God, however, thinks otherwise.
God saw in us our potential.
In fact, God was so confident
in our potential that he intruded into our reality
to demonstrate it to us at
an exorbitant cost to himself.
Jesus led by example. He donned the jet pack and
flew to show us that we, too, can fly.
What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was!
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
Our God bet big on our ability to discover our
potential.
Our God made an audacious wager on our potential.
He risked it all. Our God went all in
on the wager. He held nothing back. He bet the farm.
It was a high stakes wager.
Our God has never bet more on anything else.
It was a crazy bet
(Genesis 22).
He bet all of the coin of his Son's flesh and blood.
Our God kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for
his son.
The demonstration of the truth that only
love begets love required that our God
gamble the flesh and blood of his
Son. Anything less would foil God's plan
to forgive his enemies
for the evils that they did to Jesus.
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Forgiveness is meaningless without injury.
The greater is the injury,
the more astonishing is the gift of forgiveness.
For the demonstration of our potential to work,
God needed to cast his pearls before swine and
give what was holy to dogs
(Matthew 7:6).
No crazy bet; no unconditional gift of forgiveness;
no illumination of the darkness
of our understanding of God.
The size of God's wager is a good
indication of the size of his love for us and
the size of his confidence in the power of love to
reproduce love.
The enormity of God's crazy bet gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horses (Acts 9:4-6). Wow!
Love is the "grease" that Jesus brought from heaven to earth to lubricate the sharp edges of the gauntlet of life.
Evil is the serpent's anti-god propaganda
As we make our escape through the hostile desert of
godlessness, we pass through gauntlets
where the sharp teeth of our crosses chew us up
into bits and pieces. Moreover, the tongues of our
crosses are as sharp as their teeth. The tongues of
our crosses broadcast powerful anti-god propaganda
into every nook and cranny of the Valley of Tears.
“Where is your savior now?”, they taunt us
as their
teeth mercilessly masticate us into bits and pieces.
“Despair! Abandon hope! You are alone and forsaken.
Nobody is coming to rescue you” (Matthew 27:42 - 46).
The tongues of our crosses take us to the very
brink of despair.
Our brutal baptism in the dunghill of evils generates
doubt about the very existence and exact
nature of God.
Our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears is
at odds with and materially deviates from the notion
of a loving God. Adverse circumstances and a loving
God are incompatible - two oxymoronic ideas.
As the teeth of our crosses chew us up into bits
and pieces and their tongues taunt us,
it is hard to believe our almighty God loves us.
Is this how a loving God treats us?
Does a loving God let us stew in the evils of
the Valley of Tears as pickles in a barrel of toxic
brine?
The gauntlet of evils have many sharp edges.
Our contact with them keeps the customer service
department of paradise busy.
More than a few have
cursed their bitter experience in the Valley of Tears
in the foulest of language and waved their fists
against God. It is the basis that drives many to
the incorrect conclusion that God is a malicious
misanthrope instead of a benevolent philanthropist.
Put the blame for our dire predicament in the Valley
of Tears, however, on the proper culprit.
God did not put us in the Valley of Tears.
The serpent did. God started humanity in paradise.
At the most, God can be blamed for not extricating us
from the Valley of Tears as quickly as we would like.
God's rescue of us is too slow.
'What took you so long?'
'Why did you procrastinate?' are our only
legitimate complaints against God.
An easier, not a harder, passage through
our baptism in evils in the Valley of Tears
Jesus pitched his tent amongst us
at and about the city of Jerusalem
in a region of our world called the Middle East
more than two thousand years ago
not to make our passage through
the hostile desert of godlessness harder
but to make our passage through
the hostile desert of godlessness easier.
Our passage is hard enough without needing
Jesus to aggravate it.
He brought from heaven to earth "grease" to
lubricate the sharp edges of the gauntlet of life.
The "grease" he brought was the technology
of applying love to evil.
Jesus hung to his Cross
to show us how to hang from our crosses.
When you hang as Jesus hung,
cling as Jesus clung,
hold tight and do not let go to love,
sufferings invincible foe.
Love kicks suffering's ass.
Two things, not one, were affixed to the position
of prominence on the Cross of Christ, the showcase
of Christianity
Both the physical and the non-physical
(but equally real) were prominently affixed
to the Cross of Christ. We affixed Jesus to
a position of prominence on the Cross of Christ, the
showcase of Christianity. Jesus, however, affixed
something else. Jesus affixed love in the form
of forgiveness to a position of prominence
on the Cross.
We ran one thing up the flagpole; Jesus
ran another.
Both items that were affixed to the
Cross are the odd couple of apocalyptic epiphany.
The odd couple of apocalyptic epiphany illuminated
the darkness of our understanding of God.
We tortured and killed him -
we made him suffer and die -
we impaled him on a cross as a
fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a
sharp hook where he hung until death. He forgave us
for the evils that we did to him.
He gave his enemies a full pardon.
He granted them total and unconditional amnesty.
He delivered to them absolution for the egregious
sins that they perpetrated against him.
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Where is the treasure of Christianity buried?
Where is the treasure buried?
The treasure of Christianity is buried
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of history and geography
at and about a place called Calvary
at and around the Cross of Christ.
The Cross of Christ
(1 Corinthians 1:17)
is the monument that Jesus built to mark the
location of the treasure.
Rally 'round the Cross!
The Armor in which Christians clothe themselves
The pursuit of God is the armor in which Christians
clothe themselves
(Psalm 34:10).
Don we now our gay apparel.
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la
(Deck the Halls).
The pursuit of God is our shield.
"He that dwelleth in the secret place
of the most High shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty.
...
He shall cover thee with his feathers,
and under his wings shalt thou trust:
his truth shall be thy shield and buckler"
(Psalm 91).
The seeking of the seeker not the wardrobe of the seeker
is the significant fact
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
The significant fact is 'the seeking' not
how the seeker is
dressed. How the seeker is dressed is inconsequential
(Matthew 7:3-5).
The seeking, not the wardrobe of the seeker, is the
key to our salvation.
Don't allow the wardrobe of the seeker
distract you from the seeking of the seeker.
Our God did not look down from heaven at our wardrobe.
He did not look down for Christian haute couture.
He did not look down for results.
He looked down for our engagement in the process -
the seeking.
Therefore, focus on the seeking. Focus on the seeking
not the wardrobe. Judge not how the seeker
is dressed
(Matthew 7: 1-2)
(Matthew 15:10-20).
The pursuit of God is not reserved exclusively for
the saints
(Luke 5:32).
If so, everyone would be barred
from the pursuit of God because
we are all sinner
(Pope Francis).
Both saints and sinners are engaged in the pursuit
of God.
The pursuit of God is primary.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary.
Anything that interferes is suspect.
Instead of pathologically fixating on the wardrobe
of the seeker, get out of the way and
let the seeking take place.
Our job is limited to participation.
Our job is to maximize engagement in the
process of drawing nigh. Why? Engagement
in the process of seeking God is how we get
to know our God. It is how we make God's
acquaintance.
Settlers versus Pilgrims
The children of Adam and Eve are either settlers or
pilgrims.
Settlers have planted their roots deep into the
ruins of Eden where the loveless beasts scavenge
for scraps in cutthroat competition with
the other loveless beasts.
Pilgrims have picked up their roots and are
passing through it.
The job of the Church is to transform settlers
into pilgrims.
The job of God is to transform
sinners into saints.
We do not transform ourselves.
The Church does not transform us.
Only God does and he does so
as the children of Adam and Eve are in hot pursuit
of him.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
More of the pursuit of God; not less.
Always. No exceptions.
Christianity, when done right, tries to transform settlers who have planted their roots deep into the toxic soil of godlessness into pilgrims passing through it. In the hostile desert of godlessness, movement is necessary for survival. Only God, however, transforms sinners into saints. These are two different jobs. The work of salvation goes off the rails when we try to do God's job. Let us be content to do our job and worry not about God's job. Let us worry about maximizing participation in the process of pursuing God and leave the results of the process to God. God himself will 'upgrade' the wardrobe of the seeker - if he so choses. "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8: 38-39). More of the pursuit of God; not less. Always. No exceptions.
Why engage in the pursuit of God?
Look how he treated his enemies. Imagine what
he has in store for his friends.
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him"
(1 Corinthians 2:9).
The failure to try to escape
The problem that Christianity is trying to solve is
the failure to try to escape.
Many of our neighbors
are trapped in a dire predicament.
In the ruins of Eden, they
scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition
with the other loveless beasts.
They don't know the escape route.
Nobody has told them.
They are not engaged in the pursuit of God.
They are not hunting for God's treasure.
They are missing out on the delight that comes from
the discovery of God.
Scraps are no substitute for the treasure no matter
how high is our pile of them
(Luke 12:16-34).
The pursuit of scraps sidetracks us
from the pursuit of the treasure.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be
added unto you"
(Matthew 6:33).
God promised:
"The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger:
but they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing"
(Psalm 34:10).
Christianity is God's invitation to
participate in the treasure hunt.
"This is good and pleasing to God our savior,
who wills everyone to be saved
and to come to knowledge of the truth"
(1 Timothy 2:3-4).
God dared
us.
"… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts,
And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven
for you, and pour down upon you
blessing without measure!"
(Malachi 3:10).
Have you put your God to the test?
God's theory of cause and effect
God says what he says and does what we does
because he subscribes to and operates according to
a well-defined theory - a theory in which he has a
high degree of confidence.
He is not arbitrary and capricious.
Understand the theory and you will have discovered
the inner workings of the mind of God.
The principle tenet of the theory
is that only love begets love.
So, God loved us first.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
"The direction of the mind is more important than its progress" (Joseph Joubert) (Joseph Joubert 2).
The pursuit of God is primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect. How do we get to know our God? How do we make our God's acquaintance? There is only one way. We get to know our God - we make his acquaintance - only by engaging in the process of seeking him. Therefore, more of the pursuit of God; not less. Always. No exceptions.
Evangelization (00596)
Evangelization is our duty. We discharge our duty
by inviting our neighbors into the process
of seeking God - by offering them the opportunity
to participate in the treasure hunt.
God initiated our interest in the treasure hunt
by loving us first
(1 John 4:19).
The wise follow God's example.
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[¶ 00596 Updated: 08_04_2024]
Duh! Subtraction doesn't add up
Too many Christians engage in the devilish practice of
subtraction.
It subverts Christianity.
It sabotages it.
Subtracting God's love for us from Christianity makes it dull.
The greatest sin is to make Christianity
dull
(Matthew 12:31-32).
A dull blade does not cut.
A loveless Christianity does not cut out
our stony hearts and transplant
hearts of flesh for them
(Ezekiel 36:26).
It does not do a Michael DeBakey on us.
When Christianity is made loveless, depetrification
does not take place
(Ezekiel 36:26).
Christianity becomes a dud.
It does not ignite.
It fizzles out.
God's love for us is the flint that
sharpens the blade.
God's love for us makes Christianity trenchant.
Therefore, more of the love of God; not less. Always.
No exceptions.
Why did Jesus love us first?
Jesus magnified the impact on us of the application
of God's
love for us with the accelerant of audacity -
radical, extreme audacity!
Unconditional forgiveness came first.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
His enemies did not deserve forgiveness; yet, Jesus
forgave them anyway.
He did not wait for his enemies' conversion
to forgive them. He forgave them to bring about
their conversion.
He took the first step of forgiveness in the hope
that we would take the second step of repentance.
Forgiveness confronts us with the love of God.
Forgiveness challenges us to come to grips with it.
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
The love of God is a wild, ravenous beast
The love of God is a wild, ravenous beast
that inexorably rampages through the Valley of Tears in hunt for
its loveless prey as a voracious pride of
lions roars through the Serengeti.
It needs nothing to maintain its existence yet it
hungers and thirsts for the love of the children
of Adam and Eve.
It devours whomever it willeth
(1 John 4:19).
It is aggresive.
It does not retreat from anything
(Proverbs 30:30).
It cannot be captured, contained, controlled, corralled,
or caged.
It is bigger than any Church.
It transcends confinement within
the artificial boundaries of any religion.
It is passed on not modulated.
It is distributed not processed.
It is handed out not rationed.
The wild ferocity of God's love for us cannot be tamed.
Its intensity cannot be dialed back.
It has wings to clip
(Psalm 91:4)
but we cannot clip them.
It bends the knee to no one and nothing.
It suffers not limitations.
Limitations cannot put God's love for us
in its place. Limitations cannot slow it
down or cool it off.
Limitations cannot make God's love for us behave.
It steamrolls through limitations.
It is radically generous by nature.
It is
"blessing without measure"
(Malachi 3:10)!
We tortured and killed it - we made it suffer and die -
we impaled it on a cross as a
fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a
sharp hook where it hung until death.
However,
the wild, ravenous beast that is
God's love for us is indomitable.
The love of God survived the evils that
we did to it.
Not even death can subdue it
(Revelation 21:4)
(1 Corinthians 15:26).
The Eclipse
The applications of Christianity have eclipsed
the operating system of Christianity.
The leadership of Christianity has abandoned the
operating system of Christianity.
The operating system of Christianity is in it
engine room.
Leadership has left the engine room of Christianity.
The engine room of Christianity is empty.
Nobody is working in the engine room.
Nobody is tending to the engine.
All that the children of Adam and Eve see is the
leadership working on applications. They do not
see any of them working on the operating system.
Leadership's neglect of
the operating system of Christianity
is directly responsible for Christianity's
accelerating decline.
What is the operating system of Christianity?
The operating system of Christianity is the love
of God, prodigious in size, inclusive in scope, and
immortal in duration.
Leadership is so incompetent that it doesn't even
understand the distinction between operating system
and applications.
Lacking an understanding of the operating system of
Christianity, leadership is making applications
that are imcompatible with the operating system.
The operating system is the foundation of Christianity.
Get the foundation right and everything
else falls together.
Get it wrong and everything else falls apart.
Our God rejected our rejection
Our rejection of the Love Note that God sent us
resulted in the apocalyptic revelation
that illuminated the darkness of our
understanding of God. It catapulted the nature of
God from the darkness into the light. Our rejection
cracked open the egg of mystery in which the
nature of God hid from us
(Isaiah 45:15).
Rejection was the dark foil against which
the scintillating jewel of the knowledge of God
was set.
Our God leaned into our rejection of him
Rejection did not stop God.
After we rejected the Love Note that God had sent to us,
God did not pick up his love and go home
(Mark 12:1-9).
He did not abandon us
(John 14:18).
He did not take his offer of love off the table.
He kept his offer open.
His offer of love is irrevocable
even though we tortured and killed him -
even though we made him suffer and die -
even though we impaled him on a cross
as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm
on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
The dial that controls his love for us is
in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set
to the highest degree and is locked in place.
Not even the evils that we did to him
could budge it!
"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord"
(Romans 8: 38-39).
God persisted.
He pushed through our rejection.
He continued to love us nonetheless.
He continued his courtship
of the children of Adam and Eve.
He refused to withdraw from the campaign.
His father sent in Jesus's name an advocate
of the love of God
(John 14:26)
to accost us with it.
Moreover, Jesus recruited, trained and equipped
an army to
press his love for the children of Adam and Eve.
Thus, we are confronted with the love of God. We are
challenged to come to grips with it.
What role does the love of God play in our calculations? A big role? A small role? None whatsoever? A Christian is a child of Adam and Eve in whose calculations God's love for us is a big factor. Are you a Christian?
To answer the evils that we did to him, Jesus did not release the three-headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution from the dungeon of his broken heart to devour us. Instead, constrained by his love for us, Jesus released the Angel of Forgiveness into the Valley of Tears.
Jesus had access to unlimited divine resources for his defense (Matthew 26:53). Yet, he did not fight back. He did not fight back against vile and insolent creatures who tortured and killed him - who made him suffer and die - who impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. By forgiving us instead of fighting back, Jesus communicated the nature of God to us. He illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. He extracted the nature of God from the enigmatic black box in which it was hiding (Isaiah 45:15). and spilled its contents all over the Valley of Tears for people to see.
Love is measurable by three variables
Three variables measure love - size, scope,
and duration.
Jesus registered the maximum values for each of
the three variables - love, prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope, and
forever in duration.
Are you keeping score?
How does your scorecard compare to Jesus' scorecard?
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In doing Christianity, in what direction do we point?
North? South? East? Or West? (00446)
[¶ 00448 Updated: 05_17_2024]
Jesus shaped our understanding of God by his declaration of the nature of God at the Last Supper and then by submitting the nature of God to us so we could put it to a test of its validity at and about Calvary. We did the test and noted the results. The macabre experiment demonstrated without equivocation that God's love for us is prodigious in size, inclusive in scope and forever in duration. Jesus revealed that God's love for us is radical in all of love's three dimensions.
GIVING WHAT IS HOLY TO DOGS AND CASTING PEARLS BEFORE
SWINE
In his asymmetric answer to the evil that we did to him,
Jesus gave what was holy to dogs and cast his pearls
before swine (Matthew 7:6). While we were unrepentant
sinners with his blood still on our hands (Romans 5:8),
Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19).
He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34)
(Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45).
We did not deserve forgiveness but he forgave us
anyway.
He did not wait for our conversion
to forgive us. He forgave us to bring about
our conversion. Jesus took the first step of
forgiveness (Matthew 22:10) in the hope that we would
take the next step of repentance (Matthew 22:11 - 13).
He took a risk. Confidence in his theory that
love begets love, however, made the love of God
audacious.
Jesus magnified the impact of God's
love for us with the accelerant of audacity -
radical, extreme audacity!
Our unworthiness of forgiveness magnified
the powerful punch of the prodigality of the
love of God. It is a knockout blow! It gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4).
"For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the Lord,
that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again
open your mouth because of your disgrace,
when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of
the Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:62-63).
Original Sin
Original sin is our self-destructive tendency
to opt-out of paradise.
Paradise is not a prison;
God is not our warden;
we are not his prisoners.
A cage is still a cage no matter how gilded.
We are never satisified.
Enough is never enough.
We always want more.
We are ever on the lookout for something better
than paradise. We are free to come and go as we
please.
Only illusions that distort our perception of
reality, however, make us think that there is
something better than paradise.
There is nothing better.
A godless life is life lived in the dunghill of evils.
God's power made paradise for us.
God's love for us, however, is the ingredient
that makes paradise sweet. Power begets respect.
But love begets love - only love begets love.
God's love for us is prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope, and immortal in duration.
Conversion is a paradigm shift
Conversion is a paradigm shift induced by an intimate
encounter
with the love of God,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
forever in duration.
The paradigm shift unfolds as the
love of God fills the vessels of our
stony hearts to initiate the process of
depetrification
(Ezekiel 36:26).
The purpose of life
God leaks into our reality
There is only one reality but we can divide it
into a background and a foreground,
into an earth and a heaven.
From our perspective, we abide in the foreground.
God and God's secrets abide in the background.
From God's perspective, there is no distinction.
The visible and the invisible intermingle.
They are one and the same.
Regardless of perspective, it is safe to say:
"Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself,
O God of Israel, the Saviour"
(Isaiah 45:15).
In a
"secret place", the most High dwells
(Psalm 91:1).
The division between earth and heaven is
an artificial construct that we impose on reality.
It is arbitrary and capricious and does not
always work well.
In fact,
the wall between the background
and the foreground of reality is quite porous.
It does a poor job of
containing the mystery, majesty and magnificence
of God.
God leaks into our reality.
The wall leaks like a sieve.
Each drip through the wall is our delight.
Our purpose in life is not to scavenge for scraps
in cutthroat competition with the other loveless
beasts among the ruins of Eden.
Our purpose in life is to find the leaks in the wall
and collect the drips, that is,
to discover the secrets of God.
If we are not trying to discover the secrets of
God, we are not living! We are dead
(Luke 15:32)
(John 3:3).
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness"
(Isaiah 55:1-2)!
Awake!
Rise from your slumber
(Romans 13:11)!
Make haste to the edge of reality!
Explore!
Prospect for leaks!
Discover the secret place
of the most High!
"He that dwelleth in the secret place
of the most High shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty.
...
He shall cover thee with his feathers,
and under his wings shalt thou trust:
his truth shall be thy shield and buckler"
(Psalm 91).
Set your love upon God
(Psalm 91:14)
(Matthew 22:36-40).
Understand the size, scope and duration of God's love
for us.
Seek it.
As we are seeking it, God shares his
habitation with us. We discover our home
(Psalm 91:9-16).
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2)
(Psalm 53:2).
God promised:
The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger:
but they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing
(Psalm 34:10).
"Ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth;
and he that seeketh findeth;
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened"
(Matthew 7:7-8).
Focus on the love of God. Stay focused (Luke 9:62).
The Gravity of God's love for us
What bent Jesus' answer to the evils
that we did to him
and made it asymmetric? May I suggest his love for
us - prodigious in size,
exclusive in scope, and
immortal in duration?
The gravity of his love for us is the powerful force
that bent his answer to the evils that we did to him
and made it asymmetric.
The demotion that Jesus declined
Evil offered Jesus a demotion from the level of
our loving God to the level of the
loveless beasts who scavenge for scraps in
cutthroat competition with the other
loveless beasts among the ruins of Eden.
Jesus refused the offer.
He declined the demotion.
Jesus's love for us survived
the evil that we did to him.
He clung to his love for us, held tight
and refused to let go.
Intransigent is the love of God!
The dial that controls his love for us is
in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set
to the highest degree and is locked in place.
Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it!
What is the new Exodus?
Christianity is the new Exodus
that is making its escape through
our dire predicament
in the hostile desert of godlessness (Exodus 13: 17-18),
across the Red Sea of death (1 Corinthians 15:26),
over the finish line (2 Timothy 4:7)
and into the promised land
flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27)
hand-in-hand, arm-in-arm,
together as one family to
the rhythmic beat of the loving heart
of our living God.
The Escape
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2).
God promised:
The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger:
but they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing
(Psalm 34:10).
God built an escape route from godlessness to paradise,
defined it with holy places,
made a map of them,
established a Church,
entrusted the map to the Church and
gave the leadership of the Church a mission.
The mission is to facilitate the escape of
the rank and file of Christianity -
not to frustrate it, not to filter it and
not to foul it up.
Leadership is the grease for the wheels of the escape
and not an obstacle in its way (Isaiah 57:14).
If leadership gets in the way of the escape,
the children of Adam and Eve go around them,
over them, under them and through them.
Leadership makes itself irrelevant.
The pursuit of God is primary.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary.
Anything that interferes is suspect.
Only by making our escape from holy place to
holy place that define the escape route
from godlessness to paradise
can we be sure that we are heading
in the right direction.
The movement of the escape forms
the needle of the compass that always points to God.
Love opens a door between heaven and earth through which we step into heaven and God steps into earth.
The give and take of salvation
Jesus' enemies took from him his flesh
and blood.
They stood in line to do evils to him.
They formed a queue.
They took their turns.
To give us what we took, however,
would make us guilty and Jesus
the occasion of our guilt.
So Jesus did not give us what we took.
He made a substitution - an elegant and propitious
substitution.
Instead of flesh and blood, Jesus
gave his enemies bread and wine.
He satisfied their hunger; he quenched their thirst;
he filled their bellies with food and drink.
He invited his enemies to sup with him
at his table, out of the
rain and the sun, under his tent.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
Jesus confronted his enemies with the love of God.
He challenged them to come to grips with it.
A reckoning is upon us.
The Love of God steamrolls us.
Eat! Drink! Fill your bellies with the love of God!
Your sins are forgiven!
Come as you are; leave changed!
Make the Lord, your habitation
(Psalm 91:9).
Jesus is like a doting grandmother who stuffs food and drink into her grandchild's mouth while saying, 'Eat! Drink! Fill your belly with bread and wine! Be of good cheer! Your sins are forgiven!' Please, Lord, let us accept your doting! Spoil us, Lord, with the fruits of the love of God, prodigious in size, inclusive in scope and immortal in duration.
If the Love Note that our God sent us were counterfeit, his love for us would have faded as we tortured him and died when we killed him. But it did not. His love for us survived the evils that we did to him.
Jesus is the inexorable engine of love that God installed in the world of the children of Adam and Eve. Only love begets love. By loving us, the engine generates love.
Mary was the creature that God picked to help Jesus
doff his invincible armor of divinity and don our
frail uniform of flesh and blood. Through Mary, Jesus
made himself weak.
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Jesus became one of us -
an equal to us in our humanity -
a partner with us in our suffering.
Through the weakness of Mary,
the strength of Jesus was brought to perfection.
What is the weakness of Mary?
Her frail uniform of flesh and blood.
What is the strength of Jesus?
The power to substitute bread and wine for his
flesh and blood - the power to turn them into
food and drink for his enemies.
Jesus invited his enemies,
while his blood was still dripping from their hands,
to take a place at his table
and to eat a meal of bread and wine under
his tent.
Who but our God has perfected his strength to
such an advanced degree to be able to
1) extend hospitality not just to family and
friends but to his enemies as well
2) spend all of the coin of his flesh and blood (he
kept not a penny for himself) to
purchase the gift of forgiveness for his
enemies even though they didn't deserve it
3) intransigently maintain his love for his enemies
despite the evils
that they did to him?
To do all this for his enemies required love,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope, and
immortal in duration.
(Matthew 5:38-48).
"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8: 38-39).
"At times we find it hard to make room for God's
unconditional love in our pastoral activity. We put
so many conditions on mercy that
we empty it of its concrete meaning and
real significance. That is the worst way of
watering down the Gospel."
(Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia, #311).
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[¶ 00551 Updated: 07_16_2024]
The Audacity of Jesus
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Our God disarmed. He defortified
himself.
He doffed his invincible armor of divinity and
donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood.
Jesus became one of us -
an equal to us in our humanity -
a partner with us in our suffering.
Jesus made himself vulnerable
in order to make himself the bait
for the trap of our salvation.
The children of Adam and Eve took the bait hook, line
and sinker.
We tortured and killed Jesus -
we made him suffer and die -
we impaled him on a cross as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a
sharp hook where he hung until death.
We baptized Jesus in an atrocity of cruel evils
while he was human, alive, vulnerable, and our guest
upon the earth. With lash, thorns,
nails and Cross, we baptized him.
Then the most incredible miracle happened!
It's a big deal.
It's the biggest deal in Christianity!
Jesus forgave us.
What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight!
Forgiveness is the light that illuminates
the darkness of our understanding of God in a
glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
The light of forgiveness
illuminates our path through the darkness of evil.
“The people which sat in darkness
saw great light; and to them which sat
in the region and shadow of death
light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).
Jesus did not stick forgiveness at the end of
a long gauntlet of codicils and preconditions
out of our reach and beyond our grasp.
He positioned forgiveness up front - first in line.
Forgiveness is at hand
(Matthew 3:2).
Why?
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
He was bold!
Jesus did not wait for our conversion to forgive us.
He forgave us to bring about our conversion.
Jesus was audacious.
He took a risk.
He took a risk because he was highly confident
in the theory that love begets love - only love
begets love. So, he loved us first.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
Forgiveness, one of the sweet fruits of love,
is how Jesus loved us first - how he took
the initiative.
To induce conversion, forgiveness offers Jesus'
enemies
a mulligan -
a do-over -
a second chance -
a fresh start -
a clean slate.
Jesus took the first step of forgiveness in the hope
that we would take the second step of repentance.
Jesus' offer of forgiveness is irrevocable.
It is on the table.
The ball is in our court.
It is up to us to make the next move.
We can temporize.
We can put our shields up to deflect the challenge.
We can reject it.
Or we can accept it.
Repentance is how we accept it.
Repentance is the only way to accept it.
Our choice has consequences.
The train of forgiveness is at the station preparing
to take its passengers to paradise.
Buy the ticket of repentance before it is too late.
All aboard!
If the mute presence of God fills you with joy, hearing the message that Jesus delivered to us about God from his own mouth, doubles it. "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).
OUR KINETIC APPLICATION OF EVIL TO JESUS'S FLESH AND BLOOD CRACKED OPEN THE DARK ENIGMA OF GOD AND SPILLED ITS CONTENTS INTO THE LIGHT OF THE VALLEY OF TEARS. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).
The evils that we did to Jesus ought to have put us outside the scope of his love (Matthew 5:38-48). However, we were not excluded. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). He continued to love us nonetheless. His love for us did not fade as we tortured him and did not die when we killed him. His love for us survived the evils in which we baptized him. The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, Jesus set it to the highest degree and locked it in place. Not even the evils that we did to him could budge it. His love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Isaiah 55:8-9) (Psalm 8:4-8) ( Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3). What is the irrefutable proof? Forgiveness is one of the sweet fruits of love. Jesus forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34 ) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35 (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45). When we reverse engineer forgiveness, we are taken back to love. Isn't a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45)?
Jesus and the army that he recruited, trained and equipped confront us with the love of God, prodigious in size, inclusive in scope, and immortal in duration. They challenge us to come to grips with it. No. He did not just love us. He loved us even though we tortured and killed him. By ignoring the challenge - by being indifferent to it - by rejecting it - we deprive ourselves of the blessings of the love of God. By surrendering to the love of God, we are overwhelmed by its fruits. "… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10).
Stay tuned until the end of the story of God
How much can we expect from the God whom
we tortured and killed?
Wrong question. Get your question right.
The right question arises at the end of the story
after the full picture becomes visible.
How much can we expect from the God who forgave us
for the evils that we did to him?
The question and answer change
once the fullness of truth is known.
The greater were the evils that we did to him, the greater is our astonishment at the size, scope and duration of his love for us.
The greater were the evils that we did to him, the greater is our astonishment that they did not disqualify us from receiving the fruits of his love. Our evil did not make us ineligible. It did not put us outside the scope of his love.
The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it!
Jesus did not confront the monster of the Crucifixion with the three-headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution. He could have but he didn't. In the 'didn't', Jesus illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. Instead of releasing the three-headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution to confront the monster of the Crucifixion, he released the angel of forgiveness. The monster of the Crucifixion was the dark foil against which Jesus set the incandescence of the angel of forgiveness His answer to the evils that his enemies did to him was radically asymmetric. By the asymmetry, Jesus upgraded our understanding of God.
The size of love is a function of its cost. The greater is the cost of love, the greater is its size. What did it cost to purchase one of the fruits of love? Who paid? How much was paid? A costless love is ersatz love - an inferior, cheesy, burlesque of love.
Does size matter?
The apocalyptic revelation that Jesus released into
the Valley of Tears was for the benefit of his enemies.
Yet, his enemies asked Jesus to pay for it.
His enemies presented him with the bill for
the apocalyptic revelation. Jesus willingly paid
the bill out of his own pockets with the coin of
his flesh and blood.
He did not pay the bill
from his unlimited divine resources.
He paid the bill from his limited human resources.
He spent all he had.
He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never paid more for anything else.
Isn't the size of his payment irrefutable evidence
of the size of his love for us?
The jump from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is a demontration of the power of God. The jump from the Crucifixion to Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him is a demontration of the love of God. God's power made paradise for us. God's love for us, however, is the ingredient that makes paradise sweet. Power begets respect. But love begets love - only love begets love.
"Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:36-40)
Jesus ended our isolation from the love of
God
The serpent's game is to isolate us from the love of
God. Evil is the means of isolation.
The serpent hides the love of God behind
a gauntlet of trenchant evils - a gauntlet of monsters
with sharp and bloody teeth.
Jesus commandeered a Cross, the instrument of our woes,
and repurposed it
to end our isolation.
He put on a show.
He did not tell us about God.
He showed us God in a demonstration of divinity.
He demonstrated the love of God
in a cruel baptism in which he spent the coin
of his flesh and blood to purchase for his enemies
who still had his blood on their hands
the gift of forgiveness.
Via his unconventional baptism, Jesus dropped an
apocalyptic revelation about the nature of God
into the hostile desert of godlessness
where it exploded in a glorious burst
of epiphany.
He revealed the truth to us about the nature
of God.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free”
(John 8:32).
The revelation that Jesus dropped
into the hostile desert
of godlessness is carried by the army
that Jesus recruited, trained and equipped,
from the point and place of its obscure origin,
across history and geography, to the children
of Adam and Eve here and now.
The love of God is the light that illuminates
our path
through the darkness of evil.
“The people which sat in darkness
saw great light; and to them which sat
in the region and shadow of death
light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).
THE SWEET FLOWER OF LOVE EMERGED FROM THE TOXIC SOIL
OF THE CRUCIFIXION
Nothing grows in the toxic soil of the Crucifixion.
Nothing.
It is a sterile matrix -
utterly barren -
hostile in the extreme.
So when the seed of love in the form of forgiveness
germinated, sprouted and grew,
we beheld a miracle.
THROUGH HIS BLOODY WOUNDS, THE SWEET SYRUP OF LOVE IN THE FORM OF FORGIVENESS (JEREMIAH 31:31-34) (LUKE 23:34) (MATTHEW 26:28) POURED INTO THE VALLEY OF TEARS TO DILUTE THE TOXICITY OF THE ATROCITY OF THE CRUCIFIXION IN THE SAME WAY THAT SUGAR CUBES DILUTE THE BITTERNESS OF A CUP OF BAD COFFEE. DILUTION IS GOD'S SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF EVIL.
The Persuasiveness of the Punch that Jesus' message
about the nature of God
delivers to us is amplified
because he delivered it
from the Gauntlet of Evils
in which we baptized him
Jesus' message about the nature of God gobsmacks us.
Its persuasive punch knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4).
Why?
A homily delivered by a priest from the safety of an
ambo situated, lying and being outside
the gauntlet of evils does not possess
the same persuasive punch as Jesus
delivered to us when he gave us
his answer to the evils that we did to him from inside
the gauntlet of evils.
The latter wallops our rationality;
the former, not so much.
The venue from which Jesus delivered his message
about the nature of God
is the verification its truth.
Jesus forgave us for the evils that we were doing
to him as we were doing evils to him.
He didn't tell us about God. He showed us God
in a demonstration of God.
He forgave us in the context of relevant
and unforgiving circumstances.
Words about the truth are inferior impostors
for the truth itself.
[Lies are the saboteurs of reality.]
In delivering his apocalyptic revelation about
the nature of God, Jesus avoided the impostors
in favor of a 'showing' of the truth itself.
Unlimited Divine Resources versus Limited Human Resources
Jesus blessed us with many gifts that he paid for
by drawing from his unlimited divine resources.
He blessed us with only one gift, however, that
he paid for by drawing from his limited human
resources, that is,
the gift of sweet forgiveness.
And, he erected a monument to mark the site of
this unique gift.
Rally 'round the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17).
A test transferred the knowledge of God to us
How was the knowledge of God transferred to us?
The knowledge of God was transferred to us via
a test.
We conducted a macabre experiment on the Son of God
while he was human, alive, tender,
vulnerable and our guest in the Valley of Tears.
We baptized him in a test tube of atrocity.
The result of the test illuminated the darkness of
or understanding of God
in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.
The result revealed the nature of God to us.
Our kinetic application of evils to Jesus'
flesh and blood cracked open the dark enigma of God
and spilled its contents into the light
of the hostile desert of godlessness.
Obiter Dicta
Everything we learn about the nature of God outside
of the test to which we subjected Jesus
is obiter dicta.
We put Jesus to the test
In a macabre experiment that took place on
the battlefield of the Crucifixion
in the backside of the desert
(Exodus 3:1-3)
in the boondocks of space and time,
we put Jesus to the test
(Malachi 3:10)
(Luke 4:12)
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
(Wisdom 2: 17-20).
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is and
make trial of his forbearance"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
The test was done and its result was
propagated by his Church from the point and place
of their obscure origin,
across geography and history,
to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.
How was the stage set for the test?
What was the test?
What was the result of the test?
What are the chapters of the story of God?
Introduction
The story of God was shown to the children of Adam
and Eve in three (3) chapters. Each of the chapters
pertains to the test that Jesus took when he paid
us a visit.
In the
Incarnation, Jesus set the stage
for the test.
In the Crucifixion, he subjected himself to it.
In
his asymmetric answer to the Crucifixion,
we have the result of the test.
The story of God is alive. It has movement.
It jumps from the Incarnation, to the Crucifixion
and lands on Jesus' asymmetric answer
to the Crucifixion.
The story of God illuminates the darkness
of our understanding of God in a glorious burst
of apocalyptic epiphany.
The ball bounces. Follow the bouncing ball.
Chapter 1 - Setting the Stage for the test
On the brink of battle with
the monster of the Crucifixion, Jesus did something
that no human general would do. He made a move that
was radically counterintuitive. It was alien
to rational human thinking.
Some would consider
it crazy.
Jesus doffed his invulnerable armor of divinity and
donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood.
He divested himself of his invulnerability.
Jesus became the God who disarmed -
the God who defortified himself.
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Jesus became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity -
a partner with us in our suffering.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
By dressing like us in our frail uniform of flesh
and blood, Jesus made the untestable God
amenable to testing.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
By testing God, we could draw our own conclusions
about the nature of God. We would be able to
figure out the nature of God for ourselves without
having to rely on hearsay from remote sources.
Chapter 2 - Subjecting himself to the test
'Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself!
Friend or foe?'
To discover the answer, we interrogated Jesus
with lash, thorns, nails and cross. We gave him
the third degree.
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly
impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
In the Crucifixion, we baptized Jesus in a
crucible of evils. We tested him with atrocities.
It was a macabre experiment to which loveless creatures
subjected their Creator who loved them.
Dark was the foil against which the scintillating
jewel was set.
Chapter 3 - the result of the test
'Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself!
Friend or foe?'
Jesus answered our questions.
He did not hang mute.
His tongue was not nailed to the cross.
He did not take the fifth.
We were given the result of the test.
The result of the test was published for us.
The Good News of Great Joy was his asymmetric answer
to the evils that we did to him - his surprising
response to the atrocities in which we baptized him.
He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34 )
(Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35)
(Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45). He forgave us even though
we did not deserve forgiveness.
Forgiveness is one of the sweet fruits of love.
Because only love begets love,
Jesus loved us first.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
Jesus initiated the process of our salvation
by planting the seed of love in the toxic soil of
our stony hearts in order to depetrify
them (Ezekiel 36:26).
His love for us jump started
our rehabilitation.
Jesus didn't wait for our conversion to forgive us;
he forgave us to bring about our conversion.
Forgiveness confronts us with the love of God.
Forgiveness challenges us to come to grips with it.
Jesus took a risk.
He was audacious.
Jesus took the first step of forgiveness in the hope
that we would take the second step of repentance.
Since Eden, we have dug a pit of sin
in our relationship with our God -
a dark, nasty and loveless abyss.
To span the pit, Jesus erected
the bridge of forgiveness (John 14:6).
Paradise is found not at the bottom of the pit
but at the far side of the bridge.
Our job is to stop digging the pit and
to start crossing the bridge. Repentance is
the vehicle that transports us out of the pit
and across the bridge (Matthew 22: 11-13).
Conclusion
"Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself,
O God of Israel, the Saviour" (Isaiah 45:15).
But, not after Jesus showed us the story of God.
The story that Jesus showed us extracted
the nature of God
from the enigmatic black box in which it was hiding
and published it
for all of the children of Adam and Eve to behold.
Watch the movement. The movement is the life of
the story.
The movement of the story that Jesus lived
catapulted God from the darkness into the light.
“The people which sat in darkness
saw great light; and to them which sat
in the region and shadow of death
light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).
The incandescence of the story of God illuminates
our path through the darkness.
Jesus purchased the gift of Forgiveness for his enemies
Jesus purchased the gift of forgiveness
for his enemies even though his blood was still
dripping from their hands
(Matthew 10:29-31).
His enemies did not deserve the gift
but he gave it to them anyway.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord"
(Isaiah 55:8).
Furthermore, Jesus did not stick forgiveness
at the end of a long gauntlet of codicils
and preconditions.
He positioned forgiveness up front - first in line.
He didn't wait for their conversion to forgive them;
he forgave them to bring about their conversion.
Jesus' strategy was to treat his enemies
to the experience of a close
encounter with the love of God.
Intimate contact with the love of God was
Jesus' modus operandi.
It was how Jesus rolled.
Because only love begets love,
Jesus loved us first.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
Jesus initiated the process of our salvation
by planting the seed of love in the toxic soil of
our stony hearts in order to depetrify
them (Ezekiel 36:26).
His love for us jump started
our rehabilitation.
Forgiveness is one of the sweet fruits of love.
So, forgiveness confronted his enemies
with the love of God.
Forgiveness challenged them to come to grips with it.
Jesus took a risk.
He was audacious.
Jesus took the first step of forgiveness in the hope
that we would take the second step of repentance.
Forgiveness was Jesus' invitation to his enemies
to repent.
Forgiveness offered them a second chance -
a do-over - a fresh start.
How can we tell the Size of the love of God?
Jesus purchased the gift of forgiveness
for his enemies even though his blood was still
dripping from their hands
(Matthew 10:29-31).
The cost of the gift of forgiveness, however, was
exorbitant.
It is a paradox but the cost was beyond the
purchasing power of God's
unlimited divine resources.
God's unlimited divine resources couldn't pay for it.
To purchase it required a payment
not drawn from
unlimited divine resources but a payment drawn
from limited human resources.
To raise the funds to pay for the gift,
Jesus doffed his invulnerable armor of divinity and
donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood.
Jesus disarmed. Jesus defortified himself.
The almighty made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:9).
No harm can penetrate Jesus'
invulnerable armor of divinity.
If Jesus had not doffed his
invulnerable armor of divinity and made himself,
in weakness, vulnerable, there would be nothing
to forgive.
The gift of forgiveness can only be purchased
when the coin of flesh and blood is spent.
So, Jesus became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity -
a partner with us in our suffering.
Dressed like us, Jesus spent the coin of his flesh
and blood.
He emptied his treasury of
his limited human resources
to purchase for his enemies
the gift of forgiveness.
He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never spent more on anything else.
The size of the payment is the
foundation
for the conclusion that the size of his love for us
is prodigious.
How can we tell the Scope of the love of God?
Jesus forgave his torturers and murderers.
He did not just include his family and friends
within the scope of his love.
He included his enemies too -
enemies with his blood still on their hands.
He let his enemies into his tent and
welcomed them to sup bread and wine with him at
his table.
Is there anyone that Jesus did not forgive?
Are no goats excluded from the scope of his love?
"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8: 38-39).
The inclusion of his enemies within the circle of
forgiveness is the foundation for the
conclusion that
the scope of the love of God is inclusive.
How can we tell the Duration of the love of God?
Jesus's love for us survived the evil that we
did to him.
The evil that we did to him did not affect
the tenacity of his love for us.
He clung to his love for us, held tight
and refused to let go.
Jesus emerged from the gauntlet of evils in which we
baptized him still alive and still in love with us.
Evil offered Jesus a demotion from
the level of our loving God to
the level of the loveless beasts
who scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition
with the other loveless beasts among the ruins of Eden.
Jesus refused the offer. He declined the demotion.
He refused to be dethroned and cast down into
catastrophe as Adam and Eve were cast down.
Intransigent is the love of God. The survival of his
love for us is the foundation for the conclusion
that his love for us is immortal.
The Strength of the Three Conclusions about
the Love of God
A conclusion draws its persuasive power
from its foundation. The foundation of a conclusion
is the source of its ability to persuade.
Apart from its foundation, a conclusion
has no persuasive force. It is effete - a eunuch
- a body without legs on which to stand.
In other words, a conclusion is only as good as
its foundation.
A weak foundation begets a weak conclusion;
a strong foundation begets a strong conclusion.
The stronger is the foundation, the stronger is
the conclusion.
The three conclusions about the prodigious size,
inclusive scope and forever duration
of God's love are strong because they
rest comfortably on robust foundations.
The conclusions are sturdy because their
foundations are unassailable. They withstand any
and all challenges.
(See, the Fundamental Unit of Thinking)
What does victory look like in the war against evil?
What is the shape of victory?
Do you know what victory in the war against evil looks
like?
Jesus showed us.
God dispatched Jesus from heaven to show
the children of Adam and Eve how to
wage and win the war
against evil on the earth.
His mission was - not to tell us - but to demonstrate
to us what victory looks like.
He did so by his asymmetric answer to the evils
that we did to him. Can you articulate victory?
Do you have the words?
The gravity of our crosses plants us in the toxic soil of the hostile desert of godlessness. Love is advanced, alien anti-gravity technology.
The monster of the Crucifixion tried to kill God's love for us. It tried to poke a hole in Jesus’ most Sacred Heart to drain it of God’s love for us. It failed. Its failure was utter, abject and total. From the scabbard of his love for us, Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness to slay the monster of the Crucifixion. Forgiveness killed the monster dead (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35 (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45).
Love is the bridge that spans the abyss between heaven and earth over which we approach God and God approaches us.
Love establishes a connection between heaven and earth through which we meet God and God meets us,
Jesus loved us first. He was the first domino to fall. He initiated the process of bringing earth to heaven and heaven to earth. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). Only love begets love. Jesus loved us first when he delivered his asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him.
The only sin is the absence of love.
Where are the Outposts of heaven here on earth?
A community of love is an outpost of heaven here
on earth.
Among the ruins of Eden, loveless beasts scavenge
for scraps in cutthroat competition with the other
loveless beasts. To mitigate our dire predicament,
God seeded the ruins of Eden with communities of love.
The relationship of mother and child is an example
of a community of love. So is family. So is marriage.
So is Church. A community of love is a naturally
occurring anthropological structure that encourages
the children of Adam and Eve to expand the scope,
the size and the duration of our love.
They are hospitable environments where love
can germinate, grow and prosper.
It is an advantage to be able to distinguish
friend from foe.
What is the test?
Our enemies reveal themselves when they try
to destroy a community of love.
Our friends reveal themselves when they
try to preserve, protect and promote a
community of love.
"For where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there am I in the midst of them"
(Matthew 18:20).
Jesus made a promise. The promise of Jesus
is that when we gather together around the Love
Note, the Love note will be present with us.
The Love Note that God sent to us to answer our
question, 'Who is God?' is at the core of a
community of love.
Christianity, Done right
We are no match for the love of God,
prodigious in size, inclusive in scope, and
immortal in duration. Eventually, we yield to it
(Romans 8:38-39).
We succumb.
The relentless love of God always wins.
Never does evil defeat it.
The sooner that we stop resisting it,
the sooner we discover that it is
the source of our joy.
It is the fount of our delight.
The love of God is the strongest force on earth and
in heaven. It overwhelms us.
Christianity, when done right, confronts us
with the love of God.
It challenges us to come to grips with it.
The love of God gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse
(Acts 9:4-6).
Christianity, when done right, pokes us in the
eyes with the love of God.
It rubs our noses in it.
It accosts us with it.
Why?
Why is the methodology of Christianity love?
Only love begets love.
Not words about love.
But only actual love itself.
Words about the truth are approximate to, not
equal to, the actual truth itself.
Words about the truth are inferior impostors
for the truth itself.
[Lies are the saboteurs of reality.]
Because only love begets love,
Jesus loved us first.
"We love him because he loved us first"
(1 John 4:19).
To bring us to God and God to us,
Christianity, when done right,
tries to build a context of love,
in the first case,
a context of love that houses the relationship
between us and our God.
In subsequent cases, contexts of love that house
other relationships.
Christianity is in the construction business.
It builds domiciles of love.
The business of Christianity is to make
love a consequential factor
in our calculations.
Hence, more of the love of God; not less.
Always more; never less.
More revelation; less regulation.
No exceptions.
Note:
Love is not an abstract, ill-defined, fuzzy-wuzzy
concept.
Three metrics measure the fruits of love:
1) size, 2) scope and 3) duration.
Jesus loved us even though we tortured and
killed him - even though we made him
suffer and die - even though we impaled him on
a cross as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on
a sharp hook where he hung until death.
Hence, for us to love is easier said than done.
Few are willing to pay the cost of love in
the coin of our flesh and blood as Jesus paid
for us. By our nature, we are skinflints. We
tend to conserve our limited human resources
for ourselves, our family and our friends. Our
human nature instructs us to minimize the cost
of love, reduce its scope and curtail its duration.
By putting limits on our love,
we stockpile our limited human resources
(Luke 12:16-21).
Jesus paid us a visit to liberalize our conservative
nature.
It is in our self-interest to love.
Not loving harms us.
When we love,
we establish a connection between heaven and earth
through which God meets us and we meet God -
we open a door between heaven and earth
through which we step into heaven and God steps
into earth.
When we stop loving, we sever the
connection between heaven and earth -
we shut the door.
Our joy results from the discovery of God
(1 John 4:8).
Limits on our love
deprive us of our joy.
Jesus wants us to imitate the radicalness
of his love, prodigious in size, inclusive in scope
and immortal in duration.
Jesus shaped our understanding of the nature of God
Jesus shaped our understanding of God by
his declaration of the nature of God
at the Last Supper and then by
submitting the nature of God to us
so we could put it to a test of its validity
at and about Calvary.
We did the test and noted the results.
The macabre experiment demonstrated
without equivocation that God's love for us is
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and immortal in duration.
Jesus revealed that God's love for us is radical
in all three of love's dimensions.
Only cultivation affects the yield of the fruit
(00662)
The yield of the trees of the orchard varies.
Yield is not uniform.
Individual trees produce fruit
"some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold,
some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8).
The only way to influence the fruit is
to cultivate the trees.
Yield can only be
influenced indirectly
through the proper cultivation
of the tree
(Luke 13:6-9).
There is no shortcut around cultivation.
Cultivation is a step that cannot be bypassed.
God recruited, trained and equipped an army to
cultivate the trees.
Cultivation is a full time job.
The only fertilizer that is effective in
the cultivation of the trees of the orchard is
the love of God.
The job of God's army is to confront the children of
Adam and Eve with the love of God -
to challenge them to come to grips with it.
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[¶ 00662 Updated: 09_05_2024]
In Christianity, results are born of love not
from compliance under duress
Jesus initiated the process of our salvation
by planting the seed of love in the toxic soil
of our stony hearts in order
to depetrify them (Ezekiel 36:26).
His love for us jump started our rehabilitation.
This was his methodology.
His methodology produces fruit
"some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold,
some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8).
Jesus confronts the children of Adam and Eve
with the love of God. He challenges them to
come to grips with it.
Unfortunately the progress of Christianity is
hamstrung when the leadership of the Church substitutes
the erzatz methodology of confronting
the children of Adam and Eve with a stultifying codex
of rules, regulations,
rituals, red tape and rigmarole instead of with
the love of God.
Only love begets love.
A stultifying codex
of rules, regulations,
rituals, red tape and rigmarole does not.
If you prefer to use some other methodology
than Jesus' methodology of love, join a secular
government instead of the Christian religion.
In Christianity, results - the sweet fruit of love -
are not constrained. They are not forced. They bubble
up naturally from a heart filled to the brim with
love
(Luke 6:45).
Christianity's goal is to get us to govern ourselves
under the mastery of love. Its goal is not to
subjugate us to slavery under the thumb of
a cabal of magicians with mysterious
ontological powers who heavy-handidly
exercise authority over us
as procrustean pseudo-kings
(Matthew 20:25-28).
Lord, open wide the gates of my heart so you can fill it to the brim with your love. Let your love of me beget love in me. Let your love be the engine that drives my love!
The foil from which Jesus delivered his message about the love of God, prodigious in size, inclusive in scope, and immortal in duration highlighted and emphasized and intensified and magnified and amplified and accentuated and underlined it. The foil verified the message. If the message were counterfeit, God's love for us would have faded as we tortured him and would have died when we killed him. But it did not. His love for us survived the evil that we did to him. Its survival reveals the nature of God to us.
The Revelation about the nature of God
arises from the coupling of the test
and the result of the test
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
"
(Wisdom 2: 19).
We did. We put Jesus to the test. The test generated
a result. In the test, we subjected Jesus to an
atrocity.
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly
impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
The result of the test was that he forgave us.
"What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder"
(Mark 10:9).
If you uncouple the test and its result,
you distort the revelation.
The test and its result are
the odd couple of epiphany.
Together, they illuminate the darkness of our
understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.
As a team, they reveal the nature of God to us.
Test and result are two parts of a single unit
of apocalyptic revelation about the nature of God.
THE ASYMMETRY OF JESUS ANSWER TO THE EVIL THAT WE DID TO HIM GOBSMACKS US. IT KNOCKS US OFF OUR HORSE
Jesus had access to unlimited divine resources for his defense (Matthew 26:53). Yet, he did not fight back. He did not answer the evil that we did to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. He did not require "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24)(Matthew 5: 38-48). He did not release the three-headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution from the dungeon of his broken heart to devour us. Instead, through his bloody wounds, Jesus released the Angel of forgiveness. Through his bloody wounds, Jesus released the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil.
"… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10)
We took from him his flesh and blood. Jesus, however, did not give us what we took. He made a substitution. Jesus substituted bread and wine for flesh and blood. He transformed his sacrifice into a banquet. He invited his enemies who still had his blood on their hands into his tent to serve them a meal of bread and wine at his table. Who treats enemies so generously other than the God who loves us? The most Holy Eucharist is Jesus’ announcement that he is giving us a second chance - a do-over! The serpent expected that our evil to God would destroy God's love of us. He expected God to react in kind - that God would give us a taste of our own medicine. Surely, the serpent reasoned, the vile insolence of creatures directed against their creator would extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for the children of Adam and Eve in God's most Sacred Heart! God will finally realize that the children of Adam and Eve are his mistake. Fortunately for us, the serpent was wrong.The atrocity did not work as the serpent planned. Its failure to adversely affect God's love for us was utter, abject and total. In fact, the atrocity backfired on the serpent. It doublecrossed him (Psalm 57:6). The atrocity hoisted the serpent on his own petard. The almighty had made himself weak and, in weakness, his strength was made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:9). God exploited the atrocity. He put the atrocity to work for his own purpose. He used it as a foil. AS A FOIL, THE ATROCITY HIGHLIGHTS AND EMPHASIZES AND INTENSIFIES AND MAGNIFIES AND AMPLIFIES AND ACCENTUATES AND UNDERLINES THE SIZE, SCOPE AND DURATION OF GOD'S LOVE FOR US.
What, exactly, was Jesus' answer to the evils
that we did to him?
Jesus answered the evils that his enemies did to
his flesh and blood by giving them a place
at his table and a meal of bread and wine
under his tent.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).
Think of what Jesus has in store for his friends!
But as it is written,
Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him
(1 Corinthians 2:9).
Love summons the presence of God and the presence of God summons love. It is a two way street. Love and the presence of God are one and the same (1 John 4:8). "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20).
““Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you. And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things which you made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if they did not have their existence in you, they had no existence at all. You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.””
What is the Source of our joy?
Our joy results from the discovery of God
(1 John 4:8).
The discovery of God is the fount of our delight.
A Christian is a child of Adam and Eve who loves.
Look! The bush is burning but is not consumed!
We rejected the Love Note that God had sent us
to answer th question, ‘Who is God?’.
We tossed the Love Note into the fire
to incinerate it.
But, lo and behold, God's love for us was
not consumed (Exodus 3:1-3).
Like Moses, let us turn aside to see this
great sight (Exodus 3:1-3).
This great sight demands closer
attention and warrants further investigation.
Verification of the Love Note
We rejected the Love Note that God sent us
in the cruelest of ways.
We tortured and killed him.
We made him suffer and die.
We impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly
impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
We spurned the God who loves us.
We did not requite his love.
Rejection, however, served as a foil that
highlighted and emphasized
and intensified and magnified and amplified and
accentuated and underlined the love of God,
prodigious in size, inclusive in scope and forever
in duration.
Out of cruel rejection,
we discovered the nature of God and
the discovery verified the Love Note.
Jesus answered our rejection of his love.
The asymmetry of his answer to our rejection
revealed the nature of God to us.
It revealed that the Love Note that God had sent us
was genuine.
If the Love Note were counterfeit, his love for us
would have faded as we tortured him and would have died
when we killed him. But it did not.
His love for us survived the evils that we did to him.
His asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him
guaranteed the authenticity of the Love Note.
God's love for us is real.
We rejected him; he did not reject us.
He continues to love us despite our rejection
of him.
Jesus turned his sacrifice into a banquet - his murderers into his dinner companions - by treating his enemies to a place at his table and a meal of bread and wine under his tent. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).
Shields up! Activate your early warning system. Detect the insults that evil hurls at you from all directions in order to knock you off the cliff. Prepare yourself. Incoming! Forewarned is forearmed.
Levelling up
Pull me back, Lord.
Pull me out of my catastrophe.
Pull me up from the level of the loveless beasts
who scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition
with the other loveless beasts
among the ruins of Eden.
Pull me up to your level, Lord - the level of
our loving God.
Love has the property of buoyancy. It is a flotation device that lifts us up from our dire predicament scavenging for scraps in cutthroat competition with the other loveless beasts among the ruins of Eden to the penthouse of the kingdom of our loving God.
The gauntlet of life has many sharp edges. Love is the grease that lubricates the sharp edges of the gauntlet of life. Love streamlines our passage through the gauntlet. Love optimizes it.
Love serves our self-interest. Love is the grease that lubricates the wheels of our escape through the hostile desert of godlessness.
Love is the treasure of heaven that moths and rust cannot corrupt and thieves do not desire to break in and steal (Matthew 6:19-20).
Spending the coin of his flesh and blood
"Let us test him with insults and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is and
make trial of his forbearance" (Wisdom 2:19).
At and about the Cross, Jesus spent the coin of his
flesh and blood to purchase for his enemies -
yes, that's right, for the executioners who
tortured and killed him -
the gift of love
in the form of sweet forgiveness.
The asymmetry of his answer to the
evils that we did to him surprises us.
Our Creator endured the brazen insolence of his
creatures.
Wow!
His tolerance gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4).
The exorbitant cost of the gift
Jesus did not pay for the gift of forgiveness
by drawing upon
his unlimited divine resources.
He paid for the gift by drawing
upon his limited human resources.
He spent all of them.
He kept not a penny in the bank
in reserve for himself. He has never spent more
for anything else.
"Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13) (John 12:24).
What makes us born again?
From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love
(Romans 5:5).
The transfusion of love is invigorating.
It vivifies us.
It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3).
Why didn't Jesus just use the words of the Bible
to convey the message of the most Holy Eucharist?
Why didn't Jesus just use the words of the Bible
to convey
his message? Why did he also convey his message
in the
language of flesh, blood, bread and wine?
Our God is a practical God.
Jesus translated his asymmetric answer to the evils
that we did to him into the language of
flesh, blood, bread and wine for a practical reason.
For the most part, the children of
Adam and Eve were illiterate. They couldn't read
and write.
The language of flesh, blood, bread and wine
is a simple language that the illiterate can understand
assuming it is spoken properly - assuming
those who speak the language of flesh, blood,
bread and wine get the movement right from the
flesh and blood of sacrifice to the bread and wine
of forgiveness - from sacrifice to banquet.
When the real presence of God distracts us from the real message of God that Jesus expressed to us through the most Holy Eucharist, something is wrong. Jesus deposited an apocalyptic revelation about the nature of God into the most Holy Eucharist. Can you articulate the message? Do you have the words?
Customarily, tent and table are reserved exclusively for family and friends. Jesus answered the evils that his enemies did to his flesh and blood by giving them a place at his table and a meal of bread and wine under his tent. He turned his sacrifice into a banquet - his murderers into his dinner companions. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).
Sacrifice versus Banquet
The most Holy Eucharist is both sacrifice and
banquet - both/and not either/or.
In his performance at the battle of the Crucifixion, by
the asymmetry of his answer to the evils that we did
to him,
Jesus demonstrated a love of God that
was revolutionary in size, scope and duration -
radical in the extreme.
Customarily, tent and table are reserved
exclusively for family and friends.
This was the
conventional wisdom.
Jesus, however, upended the conventional wisdom.
He turned conventional wisdom on its head.
Jesus showed us a love that was more radical -
more extreme - than a love for just family and friends.
Jesus let his enemies whose hands still dripped
with his blood into his tent and
welcomed them to sup bread and wine with him at
his table.
He transformed a sacrifice into a banquet -
his murderers into his dinner companions.
Jesus turned the sacrifice of flesh and blood
into the bread and wine of forgiveness.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).
At his table,
his enemies took from him his flesh and blood.
To give us what we took, however, would make us guilty
and him the occasion of our guilt.
So Jesus did not give us what we took.
He made a substitution -
a propitious substitution.
Instead of flesh and blood,
Jesus served his enemies bread and wine.
Eat! Drink! Your sins are forgiven!
Begin again!
Wow! Now that's love at its peak - perfection in love!
There is more to the most Holy Eucharist than the
mere presence of Jesus
There is more to the most Holy Eucharist than his
mere presence. In the most Holy Eucharist,
a performance is taking place - a demonstration of
divinity.
The most Holy Eucharist is not a seance
at which a magician with mysterious
ontological powers
conjures up the presence of God.
The flesh, blood, bread and wine of the most
Holy Eucharist convey an apocalyptic revelation
about God. They convey meaning.
Presence is an over-simplification of the
most Holy Eucharist.
The over-simplification distorts its meaning.
The most Holy Eucharist is more complex
than mere presence - much more.
Damaging the ability of the most Holy Eucharist
to convey its message
The most Holy Eucharist consists of
four elements arranged in two pairs.
Bread and wine are a pair.
Flesh and blood are the other pair.
The Word of God (John 1:1) used both pairs
to construct the message of the most Holy Eucharist.
The ommission of either of the two pairs of four
elements of the most Holy Eucharist damages its
ability to convey its message.
Both pairs are
essential to the message.
Both pairs are equal in weight.
In the most Holy Eucharist are a presence and a message.
Both are real.
In the most Holy Eucharist are a presence and a message.
Both are real.
The message that Jesus deposited into the most Holy
Eucharist is an apocalyptic revelation about the
nature of God.
Jesus' message, however, is more important than
his presence.
Presence is mute. But message is loquacious.
Message speaks to us. Presence does not.
At Mass, Jesus, the Word of God (John 1:1),
opens his mouth to speak to us.
"Man shall not live by bread alone but
by every word that proceeds from
the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).
Through his mouth, Jesus utters
the most Holy Eucharist.
The most Holy Eucharist is the
"word that proceeds from
the mouth of God".
Through the most Holy Eucharist, Jesus eloquently
tells us about
the love of God, prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
forever in duration.
Turning the Love of God into a sweet,
comestible confection
On Sundays, we retreat to the tent of our God
to sup at his table on the bread and wine of forgiveness
to satisfy our hunger and slake our thirst for the
love of God, prodigious in size, inclusive in scope
and forever in duration.
Sundays are not days off for Jesus.
On Sundays, Jesus does his work at Mass.
He dons his apron and
works in his kitchen to confect the bread and wine
of forgiveness from the flesh and blood of his
sacrifice.
Jesus enters the stage of the Mass not merely to
display his presence to us as a peacock displays its
feathers so we can admire its panache.
He enters the stage of the Mass
for a live performance because he
has an apocalyptic message to deliver to us.
At Mass, Jesus, the Word of God (John 1:1),
opens his mouth to speak to us.
"Man shall not live by bread alone but
by every word that proceeds from
the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).
Through his mouth, Jesus utters
the most Holy Eucharist.
The most Holy Eucharist is the
"word that proceeds from
the mouth of God".
The most Holy Eucharist eloquently tells us about
the love of God, prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
forever in duration.
At Mass, Jesus turns the love of God into a sweet
confection.
The dynamic transformation of
the sacrifice of his flesh and blood
into the bread and wine of forgiveness
is the tangible expression of the love of God.
Jesus makes the abstract concept of
forgiveness concrete.
It becomes tangible - comestible.
As bread and wine, we can touch forgiveness, drink it
and eat it. It fills our bellies. It is no longer
abstract. It is real.
Eat!
Drink!
Fill your bellies!
Your sins are forgiven!
Eucharistic Revival
In the most Holy Eucharist are a presence and a message.
Both are real.
Jesus speaks to us in the language of
flesh, blood, bread and wine.
Flesh, blood, bread and wine are a vocabulary
that all creatures of flesh and blood understand.
Flesh, blood, bread and wine are the building blocks
with which Jesus constructed his message.
Jesus is present in the most Holy Eucharist because
he has something to say to us.
What is Jesus telling us?
If you don't understand the message, you are missing
Jesus' apocalyptic revelation about the nature of God.
The revelation is life changing. It gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse.
It rattles our cage. It hits us like a ton of bricks.
It takes our breath away.
The message is the strongest force on earth.
Unlock the message that Jesus encrypted into
flesh, blood, bread and wine to revive
the most Holy Eucharist.
There can be no Eucharistic revival unless and
until we decode the message of the Eucharist.
Presence is not enough. Message is essential.
Can you articulate the message? Do you have the words?
Jesus constructed an apocalyptic revelation about the nature of God using the raw materials of flesh, blood, bread and wine.
Jesus worked in the kitchen. He confected a meal of bread and wine for his enemies who still had his blood on their hands in the furnace of affliction from the ingredients of flesh and blood.
Jesus encoded an apocalyptic revelation
about the nature of God into
the most Holy Eucharist
Jesus encoded an apocalyptic revelation
about the nature of God into
the most Holy Eucharist.
It is the same message repeated
over and over and over
again at every Mass.
He confronts us with it.
He challenges us to come to grips with it.
He wants us to reckon with it - to struggle with it.
Like the blow of a sledgehammer,
Jesus pounds us over the head
and about the body with it.
He sticks it in our faces.
He pokes us in the eyes with it.
He rubs our noses in it.
Jesus accosts us with it.
By means of the message, Jesus
puts us on the spot and on the clock.
Have you deciphered it yet?
Have you figured it out?
Can you articulate it?
Do you have the words?
Unless you decipher the message,
you do not understand the nature of God.
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2).
The takeaway of
the most Holy Eucharist
In the most Holy Eucharist, Jesus answered the evil
that his enemies did to him. His answer was so
important that he did not delegate its delivery to
a subordinate. He delivered it himself.
Of course, he is present. He has something important
to tell us.
The
takeaway of the most Holy Eucharist is not his
presence. The takeway is his answer.
Do you know his answer to the evil that his enemies did
to him?
Can you articulate it?
Do you have the words?
What emerged from the Foil?
The atrocity of the evils that creatures
perpetrated against their creator
served as a foil that highlighted and emphasized
and intensified and magnified and amplified and
accentuated and underlined the love of God,
prodigious in size, inclusive in scope and forever
in duration. We didn't deserve forgiveness. But, he
forgave us anyway.
He did not wait for our conversion to forgive us;
he forgave us to bring about our conversion.
Who gives gifts to his enemies
who still have your blood on their hands?
Jesus did
not give the gift of forgiveness to his enemies because
they deserved it.
Jesus gave the gift of forgiveness to them because
he loved them.
What a God is our God! What a delight!
Immortal love
No. Jesus does not just love us.
Jesus loves us even though we tortured and killed him!
Wow! Now, that’s love!
Isn't it strange that the evil we did to him did not
extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us
in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by
even the slightest degree?
Who is this God whose love for us survives the evil that
we do to him?
His love for us does not die!
It is immortal!
Jesus' answer to the evils that his enemies did to him is the Good News of Great Joy.
What is the glorious victory?
The monster of the Crucifixion offered Jesus
a demotion from the level of
our loving God to the level of the
loveless beasts who scavenge for scraps in
cutthroat competition with the other
loveless beasts among the ruins of Eden.
Jesus refused the offer.
He declined the demotion.
He refused to be dethroned and cast down into
catastrophe as Adam and Eve were cast down.
Victory was the intransigence of his love for us.
Passing through the gauntlet of evils,
Jesus clung to his love for us, held tight and refused
to let go. Tenacious is God's love for us!
Evil suffered an ignominious defeat because the dial
that controls God's love for us is in his hands not
ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and
is locked in place. Not even our evil can budge it!
THE TRIPLE CROWN OF DIVINITY IS THE LOVE OF GOD
The Triple Crown of Divinity is
the love of God,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope,
and
forever in duration.
The magificent
diadem of the three jewels of love
- size, scope and duration -
emerged from the dunghill of evil
in which we baptized Jesus.
The baptism was a macabre experiment in which we
tested Jesus by subjecting him to an atrocity.
"Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is and make
trial of his forbearance" (Wisdom 2: 19)
We tortured and killed him -
we made him suffer and die -
we impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly
impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
His asymmetric answer to the atrocity that we
perpetrated against him surprised us and verified
the genuineness of God's love for us.
If God's love for us were counterfeit, it would have
faded as we tortured him and died when we killed him.
But, it did not. His love for us survived the
evil that we did to him.
Its survival is the apocalyptic revelation.
The dawning of the Triple Crown of Divinity
from the foul foil of atrocity
illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God
in a glorious burst of epiphany.
It peeled back the mystery of God.
It lifted the fog.
“The people which sat in darkness
saw great light; and to them which sat
in the region and shadow of death
light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79)
(1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).
Love is locked in The vault of his most Sacred Heart
His most Sacred Heart is an impregnable vault
(Matthew 6:19-20).
The three variables that
measure love - size, scope and duration - are
filled to the brim and are locked in place in his most
Sacred Heart. Not even atrocity
can reduce them!
Wow! That's love at its peak!
THE PERFECTION OF LOVE
The three variables that measure love - size, scope and
duration - filled to the gills with maximum values,
show
that
Jesus is the perfection of love.
Are there any limits to the size, scope, and duration of God's love for us? Can the love of God be constrained in any way? Can it be suppressed? Can it be smothered? Is there any way to reduce it - to make it less than it is?
Jesus initiated the process of our salvation by planting the seed of love in the toxic soil of our stony hearts. He began our rehabilitation. His love for us jump started the process of depetrification (Ezekiel 36:26).
What was Jesus' answer to the evils
that we did to him?
In his answer to the evils that his enemies did to him,
Jesus encoded the love of God,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
forever in duration.
Jesus delivered his answer for the first time
on the battlefield of the Crucifixion at and about
Calvary more than two thousand years ago.
Jesus repeats his answer
over and over and over again in the giving
and the taking of the most Holy Eucharist
at every Mass.
In the most Holy Eucharist,
we take from Jesus his flesh and blood. However,
he does not give us what we take.
To give us what we take would make us guilty
and him the occasion of our guilt.
So, Jesus makes a
substitution - a propitious substitution.
Instead of flesh and blood, Jesus gives us bread
and wine.
Jesus answered the evils that his enemies did to
his flesh and blood by giving them a place
at his table and a meal of bread and wine
under his tent.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).
He confronts us with the love of God.
He challenges us to come to grips with it.
He wants us to reckon with it - to struggle with it.
Like the blow of a sledgehammer,
Jesus pounds us over the head
and about the body with it.
He sticks it in our faces.
He pokes us in the eyes with it.
He rubs our noses in it.
Jesus accosts us with it.
By means of his answer to the evils that
we did to him, Jesus
puts us on the spot and on the clock.
By letting us experience for ourselves
a close encounter with the love of God itself, -
not mere words about the love of God -
Jesus attempts to transform us.
No close encounter with the love of God itself;
no transformation.
Jesus is highly confident in his theory that
love begets love - only love begets love.
So, he loved us first.
"We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19).
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God"
(Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2).
Jesus delivered his answer to the evils that we did to him for the first time in his battle with the monster of the Crucifixion at and about Calvary more than two thousand years ago. He had announced his answer at the Last Supper. We tested his answer by baptising him in the dunghill of evils on the battlefield and He graciously verified it for us. His answer echoes repeatedly over and over and over again in the 'give and take' of the most Holy Eucharst. His answer reverberates from the point and place of its obscure origin, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. Each 'give and take' of the Holy Eucharist is a reverberation. Take away the 'take' from the 'give and take' of the most Holy Eucharist and you muffle the echo and distort its meaning.
We are not alone and forsaken (Matthew 27:42 - 46). God has not abandoned us to our crosses. God has already delivered to us the means of our rescue. He has stockpiled it in the Valley of Tears. The problem is that our conception of rescue is different than God's conception of rescue so we do not understand the secret that God revealed to us from the platform of the Cross. The secret is in plain sight but is hidden from us by our misunderstanding. We think that rescue means that God will eliminate our crosses or extricate us from them. God will transform the Valley of Tears into a kinder, gentler, more hospitable place for us to live (Isaiah 11: 6-9). God, however, thinks that rescue means something else. Instead of the elimination of our crosses or our extrication from them, God rescues us by using our crosses to challenge us to resist them. God wants us to address the challenge of the cross. Resistance is how we meet the challenge of our crosses. Resistance is how godless people are transformed into People of God. How so? God knows that the only way to resist our crosses is by love. Love is the only cushion that we can put between ourselves and our crosses. Love is the "grease" for the wheels of our passage through the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, and into the promised land. God wants us to keep the reservoir of our hearts filled to the brim with love because love and love alone stops our crosses from crushing us under their oppresive weight. Love and love alone turns us into superman with the strength to pick up and carry our crosses across the finish line. “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).
What was Jesus' Answer to the evils
that his enemies did to him?
Jesus answered the evils that his enemies did to his
flesh and blood
by giving them a place
at his table and a meal of bread
and wine under his tent.
He did not debit the evil that his enemies
did to him from their account.
He gave his enemies the gift of forgiveness.
He gave them a pardon.
Love radically inclusive in scope
"Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13) (John 12:24).
But, this assertion, found in the Bible,
is not quite true. It is inaccurate.
It is merely a trite restatement of the
conventional wisdom.
Jesus upended the conventional wisdom.
He turned conventional wisdom on its head.
Jesus showed us a love that was more radical -
more extreme - than laying down one's life
for our friends. How so?
Jesus laid down his life not for his friends
but for his enemies (Isaiah 55:8-9).
What god but our God would make
the ultimate sacrifice for his enemies?
What god is the equal of our God?
Who is his peer?
Is anyone excluded from the scope of God's
love for us not even his enemies?
What is your translation of the most Holy Eucharist?
At the Last Supper, Jesus translated flesh and blood
into bread and wine.
At and about Calvary,
his enemies put his translation to the test and
verified its validity.
How do we translate the most Holy Eucharist into
plain English?
Can you articulate it? Do you have the words?
Does our answer to the evils that are done to us conform to Jesus' answer to the evils that his enemies did to him? Or do we materially deviate from the precedent set by Jesus?
The Substitution of Forgiveness for Justice
We deserved punishment. Instead, Jesus rewarded his
enemies with the gift of forgiveness.
The gift of forgiveness cancelled the punishment that
we deserved.
It nullified it.
His enemies did not deserve forgiveness; yet,
Jesus gave them it anyway.
For justice, Jesus substituted forgiveness.
What does this asymmetric
scenario tell us about the nature of our God?
Aren't punishment and reward the odd
couple of epiphany?
But, do they not illuminate the
darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious
burst of apocalyptic revelation?
What inference about the nature of God can we draw
from the events that unfolded on the road
from the Last Supper to Calvary?
At the Last Supper, Jesus announced the substitution
of forgiveness for justice. At and about Calvary,
his enemies put the substitution to the test and
verified its validity.
They discovered from their macabre test that, indeed,
Jesus had shifted
the paradigm.
"LET US TEST HIM WITH INSULT AND TORTURE,
THAT WE MAY FIND OUT HOW GENTLE HE IS AND
MAKE TRIAL OF HIS FORBEARANCE" (WISDOM 2: 19)
The bread and wine of the most Holy Eucharist are the
vessels that hold the love of God,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
forever in duration.
Jesus himself confected them as the gauntlet of evils,
through which we put him to the test,
tortured and killed him.
Out of the dunghill of evils, the jewel of forgiveness
emerged.
Out of the sacrifice of his bread and blood,
the bread and wine of forgiveness energed.
Jesus manifested a radical audacity.
His enemies are unworthy. They do not merit a
place at his table and a meal under his tent.
From Jesus,
his enemies deserve just punishment.
"an eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot"
(Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48).
Instead of giving his enemies the punishment that they
justly deserve for taking his flesh and blood,
Jesus rewards them with
a place
at his table and a meal of bread
and wine under his tent.
The meal that Jesus serves his enemies is the
avatar of forgiveness.
Who is this strange and wonderful God
who shows hospitality not just
to his family and friends but to his enemies as well?
The cost of Jesus' answer to the Evil that we did to him
Jesus' answer to the evils that his enemies did to him
wasn't free.
The answer was expensive.
Its cost was exorbitant.
His payment was non-refundable.
Jesus paid for it with the coin of his flesh and blood.
He paid all of his limited human resources.
He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself.
He has never paid more for anything else.
The greater were the evils that we did to him,
the greater is our astonishment at
the size, scope and duration of his love for us.
Dinner is ready here and now. Come as you are. Eat! Drink! Your sins are forgiven! Leave changed.
In went the flesh and blood of sacrifice; out came the bread and wine of forgiveness. Here is the sequence of events. We tortured and killed him. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. He forgave us. Jesus proceeded from sacrifice to forgiveness - from the sacrifice of his flesh and blood to incorporating the abstract concept of forgiveness into a meal of bread and wine - not vice versa. Don't reverse the order of events. Don't get the order events backwards. Jesus did not proceed from bread and wine to flesh and blood. Don't you!
"LET US TEST HIM WITH INSULT AND TORTURE, THAT WE MAY FIND OUT HOW GENTLE HE IS AND MAKE TRIAL OF HIS FORBEARANCE" (WISDOM 2: 19)
What did we discover from the macabre experiment
in which we subjected Jesus? What did our baptism of
Jesus in the dunghill of evil reveal?
What was the result of the test?
When we cracked open the egg of epiphany, what was
the epiphany that showed itself to us?
What knowledge of God stepped from behind the curtain?
Sweet is the truth that Jesus announced to us
about the nature of God at the Last Supper and
that we put to the test to verify its validity
at and about Calvary!
Can you articulate the sweet truth?
Do you have the words?
The ravenous Consumption of the Love of God
Why go to Mass?
To express love in the form of forgiveness,
the Word of God (John 1:1) fed his enemies a meal
of bread and wine that he had confected from the
raw materials of his flesh and blood in
the furnace of his own affliction (Isaiah 48:10).
The physical act of satisfying their hunger and
slaking
their thirst made the abstract concept of
forgiveness concrete.
It becomes tangible - comestible.
As bread and wine, we can touch forgiveness,
drink it and eat it.
It fills our bellies.
It is no longer abstract.
It is real.
When we eat and drink the bread and
wine of the Eucharistic meal, we wonder,
'Who, exactly, is this almighty God who forgives
even the atrocity that we perpetrated against
him?'
We go to Mass to eat and drink the bread and wine
of the most Holy Eucharist. We go to Mass
to consume the love of God,
prodigious in size,
inclusive in scope and
forever in duration.
Consumption of the love of God transforms us.
It sustains us.
It gives us life.
Consumption cannot be done remotely
over the television.
Indeed, the love of God is present everywhere, but
only at Mass do we consume it.
Love in the form of forgiveness was announced
at the Last Supper.
The validity of the announcement was put to the
test at and about Calvary and verified.
We consume it whenever we eat and drink the bread
and wine of forgiveness at Mass.
How do we know for sure that God loves us? He serves us a meal of bread and wine even though we tortured and killed him - even though we made him suffer and die - even though we impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. His love for us survived the evil that we did to him. The intransigence of his love for us that we put to the test in atrocity and verified makes us certain. The tenacity of the love of God gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4). "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2). Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid (Psalm 27)? Will our almighty lover ever let us down? Will he ever betray us? Will he ever disappoint (Romans 8:31)? What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight!
The Catholic Mass
Jesus is present at Mass because he has something to
tell us in the most Holy Eucharis.
What does he say? How does he say it?
At Mass, Jesus - not
the priest- delivers a message to us.
The message is so important that Jesus
delivers it himself as he delivered it to us originally
from the Cross at and about Calvary.
The message is not in
the homily of the priest, but in the Most
Holy Eucharist.
It is the same message over and over and over again.
He pounds it against us. He confronts us with it.
He challenges us to come to grips with it.
Unfortunately,
many Catholics get stuck
on the presence of Jesus at Mass and miss his message.
They are hung up on the presence and cannot move
beyond it.
The presence of Jesus interferes with
the message of Jesus. Presence eclipses message.
The Mass, however, is not about
the presence of God.
The Mass is about the message of
God.
The presence of God is incidental to the message
of God.
The presence of God is not the Good News of
Great Joy. The message of God is the Good News of
Great Joy.
Unstick yourself! Take the next step! Go beyond
the presence of Jesus to the message of Jesus.
Start asking yourselves,
'Why is Jesus
present at Mass? What is his message? How does he
deliver it?
(See, the Mass)
The serpent was Doublecrossed by Atrocity
The serpented hated us.
His hatred was born out of
jealousy.
There was no room in the world that God created
for humanity and angels like him.
There is not enough of God's love to go around.
Humanity diluted God's love.
Hence, he sepent held the opinion that God had made
a mistake in making us.
So, the serpent embarked on a campaign to alienate
us from God and God from us.
He formulated a plan. He knew that God would become
one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner
with us in our suffering. At that moment, the serpent
would strike. Using us as his proxies, we would
perpetrate an atrocity on the God who
doffed his invulnerable armor of divinity and
donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood -
the God who disarmed - the God who defortified
himself.
The serpent expected that our evil to God
would destroy God's love of us.
He expected God to react in kind - that
God would give us a taste of our own medicine.
Surely, the serpent reasoned, the vile insolence of
creatures directed against their creator
would extinguish the bonfire of love
that burns for the children of Adam and Eve
in God's most Sacred Heart!
God will finally realize that the children of
Adam and Eve are his mistake.
Fortunately for us, the serpent was wrong.
The atrocity did not work as the serpent planned.
Its failure to adversely affect God's love for us
was utter, abject and total.
In fact, the atrocity backfired on the serpent.
It doublecrossed him (Psalm 57:6).
The atrocity hoisted the
serpent on his own petard.
The almighty had made himself weak and,
in weakness, his strength was made perfect
(2 Corinthians 12:9).
God exploited the atrocity.
He put the atrocity to work for his own purpose.
He used it as a foil.
As a foil, the atrocity
highlights and emphasizes and intensifies and
magnifies and amplifies and accentuates and
underlines
the size, scope and duration of God's love for us.
Jesus commandeered the atrocity and used it to
confirm for us that the love of God is prodigious
in size, inclusive in scope and forever in duration.
Love in the form of forgiveness emerged from
the atrocity.
Love in the form of forgiveness was
the result of the test - the blessed byproduct of the
atrocity
Through his bloody wounds, the sweet syrup of love
in the form of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
(Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28)
poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute
the toxicity of the atrocity
in the same way that sugar cubes
dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee.
Dilution is God's solution
to the problem of evil.
Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness
to slay the monster of the Crucifixion.
Forgiveness killed the monster dead
(Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43)
(Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35 (Luke 7:47)
(Matthew 5:45).
The tenacity of the love of God gobsmacks us.
It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4).
While we were unrepentant (Matthew 22:10) sinners (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6) with his blood still on our hands, Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19). Love begets love. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love. The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3). Love is passed in buckets from Jesus to us and from us onto the fire. Christianity, when done right, is a bucket brigade of love. Find the fire and extinguish it with love.
THE METHODOLOGY OF JESUS
The methodology of Jesus was unconventional,
counterintuitive.
Jesus worked under the belief
that love begets love - only love begets love.
Furthermore, his confidence in this modus operandi
was so high that he himself mounted a Cross
to demonstrate
its truth.
Jesus led by example.
He donned the jetpack and flew to show us
that we, too, can fly.
From the platform of a Cross,
he showed us our potential.
He demonstrated the maximum values
for the three variables that measure
love - size, scope and duration.
What a crazy daredevil
this Jesus was!
WHO IS GOD?
The Love Note from God to us and its Verification
God could have answered the question, 'Who is God?', in many different ways. He had a variety of options. Yet, the option that God settled upon was not a threat, a warning or some other type of ominous communication. God thought that the best answer to the question, 'Who is God?', was a Love Note. The Word of God (John 1:1) is a Love Note - a Love Note from God to us. Jesus was the tangible expression of God's love for us - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8)(Luke 6:45).
The children of Adam and Eve, however, rejected the Love Note that their God had sent them. They tossed the Love Note into the fire to incinerate it. But, lo and behold, God's love for us was not consumed (Exodus 3:1-3). His love for us survived the evil that we did to him. The Love Note had transubstantiated his bloody wounds into the floodgates of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Malachi 3:10). Through them, the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil.
The fact that we burned the Love Note but God's love for us was not consumed is the engine that energizes the pursuit of God. The Love Note is an invitation to intimacy with God. It is the only thing that makes us turn aside, like Moses, to see the great sight (Exodus 3:1-3). It is the only thing that excites our curiosity in God. It makes us want to get to know him better.
The love of God is so powerful that only one drop is enough for our salvation.
Jesus deposited a drop of the love of God into the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of space and time. Our job is to propagate the drop from the point and place of its obscure origin, across time and space, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. Our job is to turn the drop into a flood.
AS OUR PROXIMITY TO EDEN RECEDED, OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GOD FADED
As our proximity to Eden receded, our understanding of God faded. God became a stranger to us (John 10:5) (Psalm 69:8) (Exodus 2:22). “And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:5). Eventually, the answer to the question, 'Who is God?', arrived at the brink of extinction. God lamented over our dire predicament, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). So, to save us from destruction, God dispatched Jesus to supply the knowledge that was lacking. His mission was to fill the earth with the knowledge of God as water covers the seas (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Jesus became the witness to the nature of God. "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth [about God]" (John 18:37). He gave his testimony not in words but in deeds - God done not God said. The venue of Jesus’s testimony is most interesting. He gave his testimony from inside the gauntlet of evil where the teeth of our crosses chew us up into bits and pieces as we make our escape through the hostile desert of godlessness. Jesus showed God to us by participating in a dynamic transaction with evil. Inside the gauntlet of evil not outside of it, Jesus accomplished his mission. Now, God is no longer a stranger to us.
WHERE DID JESUS RELEASE THE APOCALYPTIC REVELATION ABOUT THE NATURE OF GOD AND HOW DID HE DO IT?
Our escape through the hostile desert of godlessness passes through a gauntlet of evil. In the gauntlet of evil, the teeth of our crosses chew us up into bits and pieces. Our brutal baptism in the dunghill of evil generates doubt about the very existence and exact nature of God. Our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears is at odds with and materially deviates from the notion of a loving God. Adverse circumstances and a loving God are incompatible - two oxymoronic ideas. As the teeth of our crosses chew us up into bits and pieces, it is hard to believe our almighty God loves us. Moreover, their tongues are as sharp as their teeth. The tongues of our crosses broadcast powerful anti-god propaganda into every nook and cranny of the Valley of Tears. “Where is your savior now?”, they taunt us as their teeth mercilessly masticate us into bits and pieces. “Despair! Abandon hope! You are alone and forsaken. Nobody is coming to rescue you” (Matthew 27:42 - 46). The tongues of our crosses take us to the edge of despair. The argument that our crosses make with their tongue and their teeth is a very powerful anti-god argument. There, inside the gauntlet of evil, Jesus released the apocalyptic revelation about the nature of God. How? By answering the evil that we did to him. The evil that we did to him and his answer to it combined to illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. The combination is the odd couple of epiphany. From the odd couple of epiphany, we can fill in the blanks with regard to the three dimensions of God’s love for us - size, scope and duration. Our confidence in the validity of our deductions is high because the derivation of our deductions is as clear as the noses on our faces. The evidence provides overwhelming support for our conclusions:
1) What is the size of his love for us?
Jesus proved the prodigious size of his love for us by spending all of his limited human resources to purchase for us the gift of forgiveness. He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never spent more on anything else. The size of his exorbitant payment reflects the size of his love.
2) What is the scope of his love for us?
Jesus proved the inclusive scope of his love for us by forgiving his torturers and murderers. Even his enemies are included in the scope of his love. Is there anyone that Jesus did not forgive? Are no goats excluded from the scope of his love?
3) What is the duration of his love for us?
Jesus proved the intransigence of his love for us when his love for us survived the evil that we did to him. The evil that we did to him did not affect the tenacity of his love for us. He clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. Evil offered Jesus a demotion from the level of our loving God to the level of the loveless beasts who scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition with the other loveless beasts among the ruins of Eden. Jesus refused the offer. He refused to be dethroned and cast down into catastrophe as Adam and Eve were cast down.
The love of God for us is prodigious in size, inclusive in scope and forever in duration. God’s love for us is radical in each of its three dimensions.
The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it.
To neutralize the serpent’s anti-God propaganda, Jesus commandeered a cross - the instrument of our woe - and re-purposed it to offer us the counter-argument. Our crosses testify to a loveless God. His Cross testifies to a loving God. The evidence conflicts. It is up to the jury - the children of Adam and Eve - to reach a verdict.
THE THREE AXES OF GOD'S LOVE FOR US -
SIZE, SCOPE AND DURATION
The size of the love of God is
prodigious, the scope of the love of God is inclusive
and the duration of the love of God is forever.
Our God's love for us is radical in each of its
three dimensions - on each of love's three axes.
No. Our God does not merely love us.
Our God loves us even though
we tortured and killed him -
even though we made him suffer and die -
even though we impaled him on a cross as a fisherman
insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook
where he hung until death.
Wow! Now that's love.
Our God's love for us is extraordinary in every respect!
Our God is a collosus of love - a superstar.
Hence, it is not easy to love as Jesus loves us!
Few match the prodigious size of his love.
Most of us are skinflints - cheapskates.
We are parsimonious
in the spending of the coin of our flesh and blood.
We keep most of our limited human resources in the bank
in reserve for ourselves.
Few match the inclusive scope of his love. We exclude
many from the scope of our love on the
flimsiest of pretexts.
Few fall into the tiny circle of the beneficiaries
of our love. Most fall outside it.
Few match the forever duration of his love.
The tiniest adversity results in love's demise.
Our love does not survive the evil that is done to us.
Our love is stunted in all of its
three possible dimensions -
on each of love's three axes.
So, when we understand the size, scope and duration of
Jesus' love, we are gobsmacked. The prodigious size,
inclusive scope and foreover duration of God's love
for us
blasts us off of our horse (Acts 9:4).
Sweet is the truth that Jesus announced to us
about the nature of God at the Last Supper and that we
put to the test to verify its validity
at and about Calvary!
God's power made paradise for us. But it is his love
for us that makes paradise sweet. Power begets respect.
But love begets love. Only love begets love.
Rational creatures seek to taste the sweetness
of God's love for us.
It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise.
It is crazy to do otherwise.
We are disobedient not irrational.
To read more, click here
(Love is the Gold Standard against which all things Christian are Measured)
“all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well” (Julian of Norwich)
The evil that we did to Jesus and his asymmetric answer to it are the odd couple of epiphany. Jesus submitted himself to this divinely choreographed dance to reveal the nature of God to us.
At the Last Supper, Jesus announced a substitution -
bread and wine for flesh and blood. At and about Calvary,
we put the substitution to the test to verify its
validity. The test consisted of the application of evil
to Jesus. The results of the test were contained in
his asymmetric answer to it.
His asymmetric answer to the evil that we did to him
illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God
in a glorious burst of epiphany.
Our evil cracked open the enigmatic egg of ignorance
from which hatched our understanding of
the nature of God. The jewel of forgiveness emerged from
the dunghill of evil.
The light of forgiveness emerged from the darkness of
evil.
“The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow of
death light is sprung up”
(Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).
"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying,
I am the light of the world:
he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).
"Arise, shine; for thy light is come,
and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
and gross darkness the people:
but the Lord shall arise upon thee,
and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
And the Gentiles shall come to thy light,
and kings to the brightness of thy rising"
(Isaiah 60:1-3).
"Through the tender mercy of our God;
whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
To give light to them that sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace"
(Luke 1:78-79).
Click the Links Below to Behold the Wonder of our God
The Escape Settlers versus Pilgrims The Strongest Force on Earth The Love Note and its Verification Jesus broke the Mold of Kingship The Treasure Hunt What excites our Curiosity in God? The Battle of the Crucifixion The Answer to the Question, ‘Who is God?’ Neutralizing the Serpent’s Anti-God Propaganda Our Superficial Understanding of God The Economy of Paradise Poking a Hole Between Worlds King of the Hill The House Divided The Ushers who Show us to our Seats Christianity Done Right Two Stages of a Single Unit of Apocalyptic Revelation Why did God Give us Two Hands? Defortification The Dial that Controls His Prodigious Love for Us Extinguishing the Bonfire of Love The Scope of God’s Prodigious Love The Size of God’s Prodigious Love The Duration of God’s Prodigious Love The Audacity of God The Bucket Brigade of Love The Thermometer that Gauges the Temperature of the Body of Christ Flesh and Blood of Sacrifice -> Bread and Wine of Forgiveness At the Last Supper, Jesus Made an Equation Discover the Treasure of Christianity for Yourself. Make yourself rich! The only Conversation that Matters The Conversation about God is Dead! Mastering the Art of Self-Defense as Jesus Taught It The Fundamental Unit of Thinking The Scientific Method Whacking Us Over The Head and about the Body with the Sledgehammer of Truth is God’s Methodology of Salvation Don’t Tell Us What You Found; Show Us Where to Look God Open Sourced the Truth The Truth is the Highest Authority The Dunghill of Evil The Conversation between Humanity and Divinity The Symbiotic Dance Between Our Question and His Answer is the Treasure of Christianity The Puzzle of God The Autobiography of God was written in the Ink of Suffering From the Foil of Ignominious Defeat, Glorious Victory Emerged as the Day emerges from the Night, the Light from the Darkness The Only Universal Language that Survived the Tongue Twisting of Babel Jesus Translated the Mystery of God into the Language of Flesh and Blood The Language in which Jesus Spoke to Us The Mouth of God Diminishing the Prodigious Love of God A Macabre Experiment Heaven’s Customer Service Department is Busy with Our Complaints Jesus Radically Expanded The Size of His Love and the Scope of His Love - far beyond the Expansion of Love Achieved by the Good Samaritan