The Conversation

The relationship of question and answer passes from the Cruxifixion, through his bloody wounds, to the Resurrection. It ties the Crucifixion and the Resurrection together into a conversation. The Crucifixion is the question. The Resurrection is the answer. The conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.

The relationship of question and answer weaves its way through his bloody wounds to connect the Crucifixion and the Resurrection together into a conversation - the greatest conversation that has ever taken place between us and our God! Are you privy to the conversation?

Are you Privy to the Conversation?
Have you read the Autobiography of God? Have you viewed God's Self-Portrait?

The most important conversation that ever took place between humanity and God is the conversation in which we asked the question, "Who is God?" and God dispatched his dearly beloved Son from heaven to earth to supply the answer. 'Answer their question', the Father instructed the Son. Pursuant to his Father's instruction, the Word of God conveyed the knowledge of God from heaven to earth. Are you privy to the conversation? There is absolutely no doubt that you have heard both sides of the conversation: our question and God's answer. However, there is equally no doubt that you have never viewed what you heard as two sides of a single conversation - the head and tail of the same coin. You have not put two and two together, yet. It is important that you put two and two together. Therefore, let me not keep you in suspense. The conversation to which I refer is the conversation between the Crucifixion and Resurrection. The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are not independent, unrelated events. They are the two sides of the same conversation. The Crucifixion was our question to God. The Resurrection was God's answer to us. The relationship of question and answer weaves its way through his bloody wounds to tie the Crucifixion and Resurrection together into a conversation. The conversation between the Crucifixion and Resurrection is the field in which the treasure is hidden Matthew 13:44 . Dig it up. Get the truth straight from the horse's mouth. Listen first to what the Son of God said about himself in the conversation before you listen to what others have said about him elsewhere. In answering the question, "Who is God?", Jesus wrote the autobiography of God. He painted God's self-portrait. He gave us a high fidelity representation of the reality of God. In a glorious burst of epiphany, the truths that emerged from the conversation between the Crucifixion and Resurrection illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God. Have you distilled the truths from the conversation? Can you repeat the answer God gave us? "Who is God?" Can you answer the question? Yes or no? Are you curious about the answer? Have you tried to discover the answer? Was your attempt to discover the answer a success or a failure? If you have yet to discover the answer, can you narrow the field of your search to a few square miles? If you have discovered the answer, can you put the answer into words? Perhaps, a sentence or two?

We searched for the answer to the question, "Who is God?", and found it in the conversation between the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

The Interrogation of God
We gave him the third degree and he confessed

The punctuation that stands between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection is his bloody wounds.
His bloody wounds are a question mark.
The relationship of question and answer weaves its way through his bloody wounds to tie the Crucifixion and the Resurrection together into a conversation.
It is the most important conversation that ever took place between humanity and God.
Are you privy to the conversation?
The swine squealed and the dogs barked their sharp questions at him.
Lash, thorns, nails and spear were our questions.
"Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?' we asked as we jabbed him with questions.
'Friend,' He whispered his gentle answer to us though his bloody wounds.
His bloody wounds are the mouth of God.
Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
The good news of great joy is preached through his bloody wounds.
By his bloody wounds we are healed.
Witness the truth by watching the traffic through his bloody wounds.
On a cataract of blood, his life was carried through his wounds out of his body.
Through his wounds, buckets of blood poured.
But, not a drop - not a drop - of his love for us followed his life through his wounds out of his body.
His most sacred heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us.
He let our evil take his life but not his love for us.
He kept what was more important to him.
His love for us was more important to him than life itself.
He refused to let our evil transmogrify him into the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts.
Our love of symmetry requires us to answer an evil question with an evil answer.
Our God destroyed symmetry by giving an assymetric answer to our evil question.
The gentleness of his answer is surprising given the harshness of our question.
Thank God his answer did not mimic the tone of our questions!
Thank God his thoughts are not our thoughts - his ways are not our ways!
Rejoice and be glad!
Despite the evil we did to him, Our God continues to love us nonetheless.
We tortured and killed him.
He suffered and died.
Yet, he did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us.
He emerged from the dead still alive and still in love with us.
That he did not stay dead is the proof of the power of Jesus.
Nobody emerges from the dead.
He did.
That he did not stop loving us is the proof that our conception of divinity as power is incomplete.
Divinity is also love.
His power made paradise for us.
His love for us makes paradise sweet.
Power demands respect.
But love demands love.
Who is our God?
Our God is the combination of power over us and love for us - absolute and perfect.
Our God is our almighty lover.
Whom shall we fear?
Of whom shall we be afraid?
Will our almighty lover ever let us down?
Will he ever disappoint?
Reality is reliable.
We can depend on the reality of his love for us.
His love for us is the rock on which the wise build their house.
Build your house on his love for us.