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 lives. Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid? Will our almighty lover ever let us down? Will he ever disappoint?
To neutralize the the serpent’s anti-God propaganda, Jesus commandeered a cross - the instrument of our woe - and repurposed it to offer us a contradiction.
Armageddon is here and now. We are not fighting for something in the hereafter. The battle is now. Now is the time to join Jesus in the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the Valley of Tears facing off against Evil toe to toe, cheek to jowl. Christianity is not a sport for spectators. Christians partake in the fray.
God launched an invasion into the Valley of Tears (Hail Holy Queen). "Cry 'Havoc!,' and let slip the dogs of war" (Shakespeare). God, however, did not send a military general at the head of an army bristling with weapons into the Valley of Tears to wage war against the infidels (Matthew 26:53). He sent something more powerful than an army (Isaiah 55:8-9). Instead of an army, He sent a Love Note.
"Who are you, God? Identify yourself! Friend or foe? Are you for us or against us? Are you a philanthropist or a misanthrope?" To answer the question, ‘Who is God?’, God sent us a Love Note. What a comforting answer to creatures who are being chewed up into bits and pieces by a multitude of crosses in the Valley of Tears! "What a paradise it is for a soul when the heart knows itself to be so loved by God." . Jesus is the expression of God's love for us. He is the vehicle that conveyed love from heaven and deposited into the Valley of Tears. Does the fact that the Word of God was a Love Note instead of a threat or some other message bear any significance? The Love Note was published in the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we baptized Jesus in a boiling pot of torture, suffering, killing and death . Jesus deposited forgiveness into the pot - not revenge, retaliation or retribution. The ingredient that Jesus deposited into the boiling pot of his baptism tells us all we need to know about God. Have you read the Love Note? Are you privy to the conversation between God and humanity that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection? We shouted our sharp question at him with lash, thorns, nails and spear. Our sharp question punctuated his body with bloody wounds. The punctuation marks were question marks. What would be his response to the evil we did to him. At the time, we did not know. We had no idea. God was a stranger to us. Thankfully, he did not respond to the evil that we did to him in kind. Thankfully, he did not give us a taste of his own medicine. Thankfully,he changed the tone of the conversation. He whispered his gentle answer back to us. His answer was asymmetric - radically asymmetric to the evil that we did to him. By forgiving us, Jesus declared that he is our friend not our foe. Our God is no longer a stranger to us. Our God is no longer a faceless God. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus showed us the face of God. And the face of God is forgiveness.
God sent us a Love Note to dilute the toxicity of the Valley of Tears. Jesus was the first drop. Our job is to turn the drop into a flood. God wants us to become Love Notes like Jesus. He wants us to irrigate the Valley of Tears with love to turn it into the gardens of the new Eden here on earth. Our job is done here and now not hereafter and elsewhere. Our job is to pour the sweet syrup of love into the toxic brew held in the Valley of Tears.
Jesus entered the Valley of Tears to hold a conversation with us. “Who are you, God? Identify yourself. Friend or foe?” We shouted our question at him. He whispered his answer to us. The conversation took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The conversation was an interrogation. We gave Jesus the third degree.
