Blog
gospel
Fri, Apr 10th
Here it is, best I can say it: God has always existed and has never needed anything or anyone. He has community within his very being, Father, Son, and Spirit. This community is perfect and selfless and full of joy. Out of desire to share that joy, God created. He made birds and flowers and wine and sex and people. And everything was good.
He told the people to enjoy the creation, to drink in its beauty as evidence of its beautiful creator. But the people mistook the beauty of creation for something ultimate. They rejected the creator. And since that time, the beauty of creation has failed us. We've marveled at roses only to watch them wilt. We've collected trinkets and gadgets and fine things only to see them break or fail. We've reveled in sex only to have it betray us with diseases or unwanted pregnancies.
In his love, the creator could not leave us in this desperate state, always longing for ultimate beauty but finding it nowhere in the creation. So the creator entered creation. God became flesh. Jesus walked the earth and showed us what true beauty is. He taught us to love our neighbors and our enemies. He taught us to care for the sick and the poor and the marginalized. He taught us that there is neither slave nor free, male nor female, but that all people are of equal value and worth in the eyes of God. And most importantly, he laid down his life in the most captivating display of courage and love that history has ever seen.
In the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, the beauty of God was revealed again. Here was a perfect man substituting himself for imperfect people and the judgment they deserved for rejecting their creator. No longer is there need to clamor after beauty in created things. Ultimate beauty is plainly made known in the cross. And therein lies unimaginable joy, forever.