I think it's fairly easy to "see" God in creation--even creation which is "red in tooth and claw" as some 18th Century poet put it, even nature with its hurricanes and tornadoes and floods. But, so often, it is hard to see God in history--to see the sovereignty of God in history--both the BIG HISTORY of the world and in our personal histories. Yes, things really are a mess, and it makes us wonder where God is in all that.
So to affirm that God has come into history in Christ is to affirm something astounding. God did not come in to history in Christ to "magically" change history, but to live, as we do, in history, with all the limitations we expereince there. Jesus weeping at the death of Lazarus is revealing of how very much he was immersed in the day to day history we all live, how much he experienced all the griefs we experience. (And, though we don't have much reporting of this in the Gospels, I believe he likely also experienced all the quiet and ordinary moments of joy we also experience.)
The Jesus' history, as Peterson points out, is not an "heroic" history, a history that is triumphant in the way we usually think of triumph--it's not a success story. It is a salvation story--a saving of us (and the whole world) that takes us and our immersion in history seriously. We can't escape the nitty-gritty of our lives--we are saved in the midst of that nitty-gritty. (And, the nitty-gritty becomes sacramental...)
I love these lines from Peterson (p.139): "Reading our way through these history-saturated pages of Scripture, we gradually get it: This is what it means to be a woman, a man--mostly it means dealing with God, God using the authenticating reality of our daily experience as the stuff for working out his purposes of salvation in us and in the world." I have to admit there are times I'd really opt for less authenticating reality in my life! So often, I prefer "the ideal"--in relationships, in my church, in the Church...And, I can get terribly "moralistic"--it sure beats laying down my life and my way and my agenda...
So, what do y'all think?
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This section was tougher for me because I can't think of anyone who embraces suffering or even mess (including "messy" people), so it's hard to walk away from fleeing mess or fixing it or distancing myself from it.
Yet, it's clear to me that I am most connected with Jesus as Savior and Lord when I understand and see my own position of mess. I see this all the time as a pastor, too. Folks come to church in the midst of acknowledging their mess; churches are full for a few Sundays after a war starts or after 9/11; we are far more ready to see our need for God when our own moralism isn't working.
So, my head sees the logic, but my heart still craves escaping suffering.
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