The Puzzle of God

Jesus presented the nature of God to us in a puzzle of two pieces. Both pieces of the puzzle are necessary to illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God. We supplied one of the pieces for the two piece puzzle. He supplied the second piece. Our contribution was the evil that we did to him. 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. Jesus’ contribution was his answer to the evil that we did to 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). By assembling the pieces together, Jesus presented to us the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'.

We discover 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 evil 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). We discover that even his torturers and murderers are included within the scope of his love. He forgave them. If even those who did evil to Jesus are included within the scope of his love, is anyone excluded? We discover that Jesus spent all of the coin of his flesh and blood to purchase for us the gift of sweet forgiveness. He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself. Never has he spent more for anything else. Doesn’t the exorbitant cost of the purchase reflect the prodigious size of his love for us?