I find this passage sickening to read. How can “good” people be so mean? But what’s really painful is when reality takes over my thinking and I realize “who am I to judge them? What makes me think I am any better?”
I like verse 43, “Joseph took a risk”. His action is one I wish to aspire to. He had a lot to loose, but acted on what he knew was right despite the power peer pressure not to.
Verse 34 is puzzling. Did God really abandon Jesus as we are so often taught? Could Jesus’ exclamation have been and expression of his human sense of abandonment rather than the reality of it? The Apostle John began his Gospel by making the point that Jesus and God are one. Could it be that God was on that cross? Could it be that God was being pierced by spikes, sword and the sting of each of the sins of each human who ever lived? Could it be that God’s heart is a cross-shaped heart? Could it be that our God is, yes powerful and ruling the world, yet also an eternally crucified God, neverendingly at every moment taking my sin upon himself?
Good Friday is good because God is good and it would be a valuable exercise to think through the meaning of good.
Great thoughts to think over in regards to where was God while Jesus was on the cross. I think it is interesting to think that He may have been there even though Jesus didn't feel Him in a human sense as expressed.
ReplyDeleteWhat is a logical explanation for the Trinity, at least God and Jesus? It is found in the gospel and in Pastor's response:
ReplyDeleteIs Jesus dying on the cross a sign of God's mercy? Not a trick question...the answer is yes; that is what the Bible says. But how can that be? Jesus is the one who died, so we see that it is Him that is merciful. How does that make God merciful. An analogy will help.
Say John Doe did something really bad, and I personally discovered it and caught him. Then I said, "John, because you have done such a bad thing, I am going to pound the daylights out of Jane Doe here." Then Jane says "John, because of my love for you, I am willing to have that done to me." How does that make me merciful? It doesn't unless I am Jane too.
So there we have a logical proof of the trinity. God necessarily was on the cross. God had nails in His hands. God is eternally crucifired, just as he provided for our salvation. God was merciful to us because God is Jesus.
Good is a relative term. Looking at the dictionary definition, "to be desired or approved of", everyone and everything can be good at one time or another given their place in time.
ReplyDeleteTo their counterparts, the 9-11 bombers were "good" because they lashed out at the "Great Satan" for their cause. Those who partook in the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Serbia were also considered good and acceptable to their peers. Most of us, from our Southern Chester County perspective, would not consider the people who engaged in this behavior to be "good".
However, from God's perspective I would imagine that since he created all things these people must somehow be good, because God could not create anything bad. He would still welcome them with open arms, just as he does me, if they turned to him. So it still seems that good stays a relative term and one cannot make a statement about "good" without going the perspective in which it is used.
There are no "good" people on this earth because we all have a sin nature within us. Thank God he continues to forgive me.
This leaves me with what view of good really matters. As I read Psalm 22 it appears to me that the only "good" in a person comes from "seeking the Lord". If I am, as the definition suggests, "desired and approved" by God then I am "good" with him and that is "good" with me. It doesn't get any "gooder" than that.