Babel

“The only universal language that survived the great tongue-twisting of Babel was the language of suffering. It is our native tongue. All creatures who suffer understand it. ”

Nobody signs up to dive headfirst or, for that matter, even dip his toe into the boiling cauldron of suffering unless they are insane or something important outweighs the high cost of suffering. All creatures who suffer understand this. Suffering is our native tongue. We understand that suffering is a price we only willingly pay for something that is extremely dear to us. Jesus paid the price because we are extremely dear to Him. Moreover, he paid the price not from his limitless divine resources but from his limited human resources. He paid them all for us. He kept not a penny for himself. He has never paid more for anything else. From the exorbitant price he paid for us we can deduce our value to him.

“Because suffering has the power to destroy that which passes through it, anything that survives the passage through suffering is extraordinary and attracts our attention. We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. Yet, he did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us.
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“The infliction of suffering tends to piss its recipient off. It tends to trigger the reflex to revenge, retaliation and retribution. It tends to extinguish the fire of love that burns in the heart. Therefore, when it does not, we bear witness to abnormality. We bear witness to the strange. We bear witness to the paranormal.”

Why did the Son of God become flesh?

God wanted to tell us something. God had something important to tell the children of Adam and Eve. 

"We want to tell the children of Adam and Eve that God loves them dearly", God announced to the heavenly host. What language shall we use? Shall we communicate with them in Russian? in English? in Mandarin Chinese? in Spanish? in Greek? in Aramaic?

What is the best way to communicate the message? How can we convey the message so that none of its meaning gets lost.

Since the confounding of languages that took place at Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), no universal language exists that they all understand.

Or is there?

Did one universal language survive the confounding of languages that took place at Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)?

Indeed, one did.

The universal language that survived the confounding of languages that took place at Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) is our native tongue. All of the children of Adam and Eve understand it without exception. Its meaning is unmistakable. It is the language of pain and suffering. The language of pain and suffering conveys unambiguous meaning.

The Son of God took flesh so God could communicate with us unambiguously in our native tongue. He did not use the language of angels; he used the language of the mud. 

The God who fashioned us out of the mud with his hands put himself into the hands of the mud to reveal to the mud the sweetness of paradise. The yeast of divinity came to leaven the mud of humanity with the knowledge of God. 

God let us pass him through the gauntlet of pain and suffering so we would see what emerged on the other side. God let us baptize him in evil so we would see what emerged. God let us put him through the test so we would see the results.

We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. This was the gauntlet. This was the baptism. This was the test.

Yet, he did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us. These are the facts that emerged on the other side. These are the results.

Therefore, to fairly and accurately  represent  the message that God conveyed to us requires two components not one. We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. This is the first component. This is why the Son of God became flesh. Yet, he did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us. That he did not stay dead is proof that Jesus is God. That he did not stop loving us is proof that divinity is love. 

The first component of the message was necessary in order to give us the proof.  No pain and suffering; no proof. 

On the canvas of Calvary in the pigments of pain and suffering, the Son of God painted a self-portrait of the nature of God. No other representation made by human hands matches the fidelity of the self-portrait.