Today I will tag on what Alison says is the 2nd step in recasting sin.
(From Yesterday) What I would suggest is that it is exactly this paradox that is also present in the recasting of sin. The two steps by which the understanding of God was recast are also, simultaneously, steps in the recasting of sin. In the first step it is exactly in the degree to which the understanding of God is separated from death that the fulness of the human nature of death becomes apparent. This is so because there is no longer any divine necessity or fatality about death: whatever death is, God has nothing to do with it. That is to say, it become apparent not only that death is simply as something which just is, but, precisely because of the resurrection of Jesus, it becomes present as something which need not be.
The second step shows that death is not merely something which has nothing to do with God and which need not be, but that as a human reality it is opposed to God. It is not only that our representation of God is inaccurate, needing refocusing, but our representation of God is actively contrary to the understanding of God which God wishes to make known. That is to say that death of this man Jesus showed that death is not merely a biological reality it is also a sinful reality. To put it in another way: it is not just that death is a human reality and not a divine one, but as a human reality it is a sinful reality. God in raising Jesus, was not merely showing that death has no power over him, but also revealing that the putting to death of Jesus showed humans as actively involved in death.
I really appreciated Alison's note: "our representation on God is actively contrary to the understanding of God which God wishes to make known." Death is not of God. It is contrary to the whole vision of the shalom of God. When we play in death's arena, we all fall down - we find ways to make death rule us - we go along with war-making - we find ways to scapegoat. In other words, we participate in a life that is not the gift that was given to us. Instead, we take the gift of life and bend it and twist it in many and various way so that death will somehow fit into our pictures of God. But once the tomb was emptied and death was left in a position of less than imagined power, God's shalom is once again the way of life in front of us - the power to transform - to heal - to create - to step forward along the ways of mercy and kindness and radical love. All of which is meant to be power-less within the realm of death's grasp. So - death - to hell with you. God Reigns!
Connection: One of the reasons I like Alison's remarks here is that there are so many voices that try to put God in a box and that box is often pieces of boxes that have been thrown around since the beginning of time. And yet, there is no box here - not even the box of death. Our God will be the God that God is - open up even the power of death and the grave to life present now and available in and through all threats.
O God of life, remind us to trust in you alone when the power of death attempts to lead us around and make a hell of our lives. It is through your power of unending love that death will not rule us. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment