| Today Brueggemann brings in Jurgen Moltmann to comment on this pathos of God. Moltmann has considered the way in which classical Christian theology has asserted the apatheia of God. It has done so by acknowledging the suffering of the Son in which the Father does not participate. Moltmann has shown, against that propensity, that in Trinitarian thought the Father as well as the Son suffers: To understand what happened between Jesus and his God and Father on the cross, it is necessary to talk in trinitarian terms. The Son suffers dying, the Father suffers the death of the Son. The grief of the Father here is just as important as the death of the Son. The Fatherlessness of the Son is matched by the Sonlessness of the Father, and if God has constituted himself as the Father of Jesus Christ, then he also suffers the death of his Fatherhood in the death of the Son. Father and Son are so linked - so as one - that there can be no separation between what happens to one or the other. For me, this brings home the depth of God's pathos. So connected - always - in all situations - no matter what happens. Our God is not distant - but utterly hanging in there with us through what may even appear to be the end of all things. Not only is God alongside us, God is experiencing the trauma and the disorder and the pain and the powers that would put an end to us. That is an image of great power and - for me - comfort. When I hear this - even when I may have moments of feeling abandoned - God is there in my abandonment. Really present like our Lord, Jesus, in the Lord's Supper. No distance - full participation. Connection: We are never far from our God. Our God is actually quite close even when we seem to feel distant and lost and broken. O God, whose heart is close to the people, we treasure your presence in and through all things. Amen. |
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