The Foolishness of God

     I was struck by something someone said the other day. It was this: "Of the three persons of the Trinity, Jesus is the one I most relate to." I scoffed a little under my breath thinking "typical Gentile thing to say - of course Jesus is your favorite. You wouldn't be part of this whole thing at all if it weren't for Him".

     I scoffed because I believe that we should strive to relate well to every person of the supernatural, mind-blowing Being that is God.* Not just the part of God that we are comfortable with. If you notice that there is One of this mysterious Three that you have difficulty relating to, pray to God you don't stay such a stranger to Him forever. This was my train of thought: "How can this guy say he relates less well to some of the persons of the Godhead???!!!"

     Don't get me wrong, I understood where this guy was coming from {I think}. He expressed that Jesus was personal and relatable as a human being just like we are. He went on to say that the Holy Spirit has that whole "ghost"/elusive thing going on so that's hard to relate to, and then I think maybe said something about the Father feeling more distant/less relatable. {Difficult though it may be, let's try not to draw freudian conclusions from this statement..haha}.

     Still riding this train of thought, I suddenly found myself on the receiving end of my own judgement I was so swiftly passing on him {Holy Spirit much?}.
   
     I realized that I, personally, relate least well to the person of Jesus Christ. {Kettle caller = me.}
 
     The Father I know well.  I think for many people the Father is an easy concept and person to know. His will is supreme. He is to be prayed to. I think even people who don't believe in God have this general idea who God is and what they tend to picture is actually characteristic of who the Father is. For me, He has always provided, always protected. He looks after me. He directs. Jesus said He came not to do His own will but the will of the Father's. The Father is who I submit and surrender to. But He is oh-so-loving as well. He is safety. He is security. Like studies of children with involved fathers certainly testify, it is the involvement of my loving Father who provides for me so well that enables me to be independent, motivated, and free.

     The Holy Spirit I also know well. That is because I have tasted and seen. Experience is the best teacher and the Holy Spirit knows how to teach well. The experiences He has taken me through are unexplainable except by experience. If one has not experienced the power, presence, and fruit of the Holy Spirit, it is not likely that one would find the Holy Spirit relatable. So if that is you pray to God for more of the Holy Spirit's presence! The remarkable thing about God - and I think this thing is marvelously displayed in the Holy Spirit - is that there is always, always, always more. So you ask for more today, but remember, even as He answers with Himself there is still more to ask for. For me the Holy Spirit has been the most fun, the most mysterious, the most powerful, the most transforming presence I have ever known or ever will know.

     Then there is Jesus. He has existed eternally, yes. But He also appeared in bodily form in a specific point in history. That point in history was a little before my time. He feels a little distant. I believe in my heart that He exists and that He walked this earth and was who He said He was. But I definitely have a hard time wrapping my mind around Him and what He did. I thought how easy it must be for many to understand the "Father" idea of God  - provider, protector, providential guidance and in control of all things. I thought of how accessible and personal the Holy Spirit is to those who accept Him (And even to those who don't. I have heard of and know personally people who have had crazy experiences with the supernatural power that is God's Spirit and yet don't accept God on the whole.).  As I thought on these things, I realized the truth of what Jesus said about Himself. He is "the stone that the builders rejected".  Jesus makes the audacious claim that He is the bread of life, that his bread is His flesh, and that He will give it for the life of the world. Jesus goes on to say that anyone who feeds on and drinks of Him will live forever. (John ch 6 beginning in verses 35 and following).

When He said this, many people who had been following Him up to this point turn away.

After saying these things, after making claims that He is providing the way the only way to eternal life and that He is doing this all in accordance with the Father's will...
...people leave. It is too much.

God is a man?

Sacrilege.

You are just a man. You look just like us. You wear dirty, human skin. Our God is too holy for that. You blasphemer.

Yet God Himself promised it would happen this way**

"He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed."

I may never comprehend this ludicrousness with my mind alone. I hope I may begin to comprehend it though if my heart, soul, and strength join in the task. And maybe through your eyes too I might begin to know Jesus better.

"Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength."

bunnytrails: 

*"strive" is maybe not the best word to use- Holy Spirit works in us to grow us in relationship to Himself - but I didn't know how else to form that sentence.

**about 600 years before Jesus appeared on the scene. (Isaiah 53)

You are patient and loving. You are slow to anger and so full of mercy. You don't desire that any would be lost but that all would come to repentance. You are perfect and holy. You are limitless. How can I understand You? How can I possibly. Ever. Understand You.

But I confess that instead of even trying at all in the face of that daunting task of knowing You, I turn in fear. I give up. I give so little. I give so little effort. I know my inadequacy. I'm scared. I'm scared I can't know You. Because I have tried, but there is so much to know. And not just of You but of everything in creation. And I could spend my entire life studying one portion of that creation - be it the planets and stars, one of the any 8.7 ish million species on earth, the psychology of humans, the weather, archeology, geology. And there could still be many things I do not know. 

I am selfish. It is easier to not know. To not try. To not keep seeking, learning, growing, asking, knocking.

Thank You. Oh dear God, thank You that I don't have to do this alone. I don't have to dedicate a career to becoming an expert in who You are. I will do all that I can, to the best of my ability, with the mind You have given me. I will do this with all of my heart. With all of my soul.

But what I know in part, You are revealing, in Your timing, to the whole. Let me learn with the whole. Let me comprehend You with every sinew and ligament. With every bone and muscle. With the follower of Jesus who is so similar to me. And with the follower of Jesus that is so different. With the follower of Jesus who is so easy and the one who is so hard. With the one I always agree with. And with the one who always seems to disagree with me.  If only they could see what I see and know what I know than we would be just the same and it would be so simple! {And we would know You so much less}. 

I know that Your way is what I actually need. This stretching and growing. I do not want to be blind like the men in the old Indian story who all feel a different part of the same elephant and think they know how to describe what it looks like. You, Father, cannot possibly ever be understood if those who are in Christ hold to our own opinion stronger than the truth that is the whole. You are doing the forming and growing of Your Bride. You are doing it. And I want to be part of this perfect unity. I want to be part of this bigger thing that You are doing. Thank you for choosing a way that forces humility on me. {It is not for me to know if there is any other way I could have learned it.}

Father put Your will inside of me  -  of us -  may we together share Your desires. May we see what You see, weep for that which You weep for. May we truly hear each other. May we truly listen. May we learn from our weaknesses and grow in our strengths.