God's delight

There are two books to which I’ll give imaginary covers and titles. The first has a black cover with the title ‘The Lawbreakers’. The second, called ‘God’s Delight’, has a white cover.

Opening the volume called The ‘Lawbreakers’ we see that it is full of people’s names; the one at the head of the first page is a man named Adam. All of the other names, of which there are very many, are Adam’s relations and yes, each one of them is a lawbreaker.

In the second volume, ‘God’s Delight’, we see that at the head of the first page is a man named Jesus Christ. He does not appear in the first volume because he’s the perfect law-keeper. Now we need to pause at this point…

Easter is the time when many remember the crucifixion of Jesus, followed by his resurrection from the dead. He was put to death by the law-breaking people because they wished to be rid of him. His perfect humanity and his unswerving commitment to do the will of God was too much of a challenge for many people, showing up as it did, their own shortcomings. They crucified him so that his light might no longer disturb their darkness.

Back to that first book with the black cover, each of our names has been written in it because we all have broken God’s laws. God deems that to be a capital offence; we are on death row. Now here’s the good News of Easter: when Jesus was executed upon the cross, he was taking to himself that death sentence on behalf of lawbreakers. Which lawbreakers in particular?

Jesus assures us that they are all the people who acknowledge that they have broken God’s good laws and had chosen to live in a way that kept God at a distance. Having U-turned, they are now looking to Jesus to forgive and bring them close in to God; they are trusting the fact that Jesus did die in order to put us right with God.  

Looking again at the second book - ‘God’s Delight’ - we see their names are now there with Jesus. The resurrected Jesus invites you to be one of them too. Why not be God’s delight?

Condemned in my place

Nearly 2000 years ago, the city of Jerusalem was hosting what was arguably its most important annual feast – the Passover. Simultaneously, the occupying power, in the form of governor Pontius Pilate, planned to execute three criminals. Two were guilty of robbery and the third, whose name was Barabbas, had committed insurrection and murder.        

Religious enthusiasm had been building up during the course of the previous week and a rabbi by the name of Jesus was causing consternation amongst the official Jewish leaders. It was becoming more and more apparent to the ordinary people that this teacher was more than simply an itinerant rabbi. His teaching, actions, indeed his very life were like a searchlight penetrating into the souls of men and women; like a fire that threatened to burn up all the dross of religious hypocrisy. His radical approach, which showed things as they really are, was often more welcomed by those who recognised their own neediness and didn’t have much to lose but was vehemently resisted by those who wanted to maintain the status quo. So it was, that the Jewish leaders used their clout to get Jesus put on trial as one who threatened the stability of the existing social order and might even cause rebellion against the Roman occupiers.

Now it had become the custom that at the time of Passover, the Roman governor would show clemency and release a condemned man. So determined were the religious leaders that they managed to get the governor to release Barabbas and replace him with Jesus.

The executions took place by crucifixion. The Bible tells us that one of those robbers, while hanging there, hurled insults at Jesus, ‘Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us.’ The other robber was contrite and confessed that he was getting his just desserts. Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And Jesus blessed him with complete assurance.

We too may choose to scoff and turn away from Jesus. Alternatively, we can turn towards him and acknowledge where we are at, then give him our heart’s trust. If we do the latter, we can anticipate assurance of God’s love. Then, similarly to Barabbas, we’ll go free from judgement as we discover that Jesus has suffered it in our place.

What is God's love?

It’s February and we think of Valentine’s Day and along with that ‘love’. What do we understand by that word ‘love’? On the day that the engagement of Prince Charles and Lady Diana was announced a press conference was held. A reporter asked the couple, ‘Are you in love?’ Diana answered, ‘Of course we are’; Charles said, ‘whatever that is’. This latter response was somewhat disarming not least for the young Diana.

For those who have had even a limited exposure to the Christian faith, they will tell you that God is love, that’s a given. Echoing Charles somewhat, I ask ‘what is God’s love?’ Even the shallowest digging into that statement, ‘God is love’, will reveal difficulties, the first obvious one being, ‘How about all of the suffering and the evils in the world?’

In the Bible there are a good number of ways in which God describes himself. He is the God of truth, of light, of justice, of holiness and yes, of love also. If we take one of these true statements in isolation and sidestep the others, we will rapidly have a distorted view of God and may find ourselves all at sea, which might well shipwreck any semblance of faith we once had.

What can we do if we recognise this is our dilemma and want to know the truth about God? If we describe this wanting as our soul’s hunger and thirst, then we may be assured that God will not leave us empty; that’s why he sent his Son Jesus.

Using symbolism, Jesus says, ‘He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.’ And again, ‘Whoever is thirsty, let them come; and whoever wishes, let them take the free gift of the water of life.’

If we take Jesus at his word and entrust our very souls into his care, he will start to reveal to us the true nature of God: his sternness and kindness, justice and mercy, his hates and love. Yes, God’s love - and better than being simply told that he loves us we can know within ourselves that he does.