We continue with another section of Walter Wink’s “The Human Being.”
Several writers have puzzled over the Bible’s lack of an anthropology. No anthropology can yet be written, however, because humanity is not yet human. The Bible displays, rather, the failure of anthropology: rebellion against our divine destiny. But Jesus did not carry his cross and suffer crucifixion so that we can escape. We are cornered by the supreme power of the incarnating Will. God wants to become human, even if God rends humanity asunder. We are threatened with universal genocide if we do not undergo an inner, spiritual death to that in us that causes our destructiveness.
Afraid…to be human…to be exactly what we are…to love ourselves without excuse…to honor the potential others have to be human – even as it might be different from the humanity I am actualizing, may be a place in which we feel comfortable but it is not the vision in which we as God’s beloved children are to be left. Fear has a way of making less of us. So often, in the church, we say things like: “Look to the cross, the death, the suffering of Jesus to see God’s love for us and to see the fullness of our humanity.” This is not a statement about something “out there.” It is a statement about - the way of our humanity…the way of our becoming…the way of living that reveals God’s presence in the flesh. It is also a way that pulls us out of the many pathways we want to make our own so that we will encounter something more of what we can and will be.
Connection: Our God expects us to be God’s beloved today…nothing more. But between now and the end of the day, it is easy to let fear and anxiety push us away from God’s expectations and replace them with our own. To often, our expectations fall far short of the vision of what it is to be truly human.
When we settle for something less than your love for us, O God, continue to push your way into our path so that we will take the risk to venture along the road you offer us within your blessed Reign. Amen.
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