Two Stages of a Single Unit of Apocalyptic Revelation

Jesus published an apocalyptic revelation about God in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of space and time. Our job is to propagate the publication from the point and place of its obscure origin, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. The apocalyptic revelation gets garbled and cannot be propagated unless we, ourselves, understand it.

The apocalyptic revelation unfolded onto the fabric of reality in two stages: 1) the foil and 2) the payload.

In the first stage was his ignominious defeat. In the second stage was his glorious victory.

The foil of the apocalyptic revelation emphasized and intensified and magnified and amplified and accentuated its payload.

In the foil, 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 payload of the apocalyptic revelation 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).

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, he 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.

Jesus did battle with the monster of the Crucifixion. From the scabbard of his prodigious love for us, Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness to slay the monster. Forgiveness killed the monster dead.

What a paradox! Evil illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. 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.

By juxtaposing ignominious defeat and glorious victory, Jesus gave us a glimpse of God - a high fidelity representation of the reality of God - the best approximation of God available to the children of Adam and Eve in the hostile desert of godlessness.

We cannot appreciate the significance of the payload without considering the payload in conjunction with the foil. The greater was the evil that we did to him, the greater is our astonishment over his answer to it. His answer gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4). The combination of our evil and his forgiveness - the odd couple of epiphany - is the strongest force on earth. It gives Christianity its magic, Jesus his charisma, us, our joy and bishops and clergy the power to change the world. It creates the need to turn aside, like Moses, to see the great sight (Exodus 3:1-3). His answer is the Good News of Great Joy. 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.

It is appropriate now to exclaim, Wow!.

What was the victory that Jesus won? Can you articulate it? Do you have the words?

Evil offered Jesus a demotion from the level of our loving God to the level of the loveless beasts who scavenge for scraps among the ruins of Eden in cutthroat competition with the other loveless beasts. Jesus refused evil's offer. By his refusal, Jesus won his victory.

In his confrontation with evil, Jesus refused to descend from the penthouse of the kingdom of God to the basement. Jesus refused to allow evil to reproduce itself within him (Matthew 5:38-40). Evil did not find a foothold in Jesus. 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.