Torture, suffering, killing and death met forgiveness in a violent collision on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Creatures met their creator. In the meeting, Jesus revealed the nature of God to us. We made God’s acquaintance. The incandescent truth that erupted from the violent collision illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. The closest and most informative encounter that ever took place between us and our God took place in a violent collision between Jesus and the evil that we did to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.
The greatest obstacle blocking us from participating in the new Exodus is our superficial understanding of God
What is the Good News of Great Joy ? Can you give us a synopsis of it? Do you have the words? Is the answer on the tip of your tongue? Do you carry the Good News of Great Joy with you in your pocket always and everywhere? Or is your pocket empty?
Download a high fidelity representation of the reality of God from the proper context. The only context that gives us a a high fidelity representation of the reality of God is the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. There we bear witness to the story of our salvation. The story of our salvation goes like this: We tortured and killed the God who loves us. He forgave us. Wow!
Whose job is it to rebuild the gardens of the new Eden here and now in the Valley of Tears? We think its God’s job. God thinks its our job. There is a difference in opinions. God’s prevails.
What is the detail of consequence? If the detail about God were not important, Jesus would not have released it into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.
Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt. A cross marks the spot of the treasure . Grab your shovel. Make your way to the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. There, stake your claim. Dig up the treasure for yourself. Make yourself rich!
Where did the closest, most informative encounter between us and our God take place? What did we learn from it?
The Autobiography of God was written on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.
The bombshell of revelation exploded when Jesus and the evil that we did to him met in violent collision on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The incandescence of the explosion illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. We saw our God take part in a demonstration of divinity. We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. Yet, our God forgave us for the evil that we did to him. Wow! We thought our God was like us. “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,” (Exodus 21:24) was our expectation for the evil that we did to him. We expected that his answer to the evil that we did to him would be revenge, retaliation and retribution. However, his thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are his ways our ways (Isaiah 55:8). There is a difference between creatures and creator - a radical difference. The asymmetry between us and our God is breathtaking. The brutality of the Crucifixion makes the intransigence of his love for us extraordinarily amazing. “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him (Psalm 8:4-4)?
"Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?" Jesus answered our question (Luke 23:34) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Our God is the God who forgave us for the evil that we did to him. Wow! The brutality of the Crucifixion makes the intransigence of his love for us extraordinary.
His bloody wounds are the punctuation marks that our evil opened in his body. Before we knew what his answer would be to the evil that we did to him, his bloody wounds were question marks. After, they became exclamation points. There was a change in punctuation. The change in punctuation is the good knews of great joy - very good news for us.
