Nothing Cut and Dried

Perhaps you have noticed that life can be messy, downright confusing, even very head-scratching at times?

The world is complex. Black and white solutions seldom stick. People don’t do what they should. The obvious to me is not universal. I used to think I knew what was right. On some things I still hold true, in other matters I find myself muddled, even confused.

And then there are those who speak for God. I used to do that with more confidence than I do now. Not that I doubt God, but clarity becomes clouded with issues, morals, values, and beliefs. The end doesn’t always justify the means, we cannot legislate faith, behavior, or choices to impose on others. How do we stand for freedom and grant the same courtesy and right to those with whom we disagree?

How God operates, thinks, decides, and ultimately judges is mind-blowingly beyond me. In the revelation of Jesus’ life death and resurrection God revealed himself as a father; loving, forgiving, personal, kind, and for us, not against us. But, how he applies all those qualities in this fractured world is where we easily trip over our finite explanations and distorted vision of the reality of things. We can’t help it. We are not all knowing, all seeing. We are not God.

One example. Imagine you’re God and your son, Jesus, will be born in Bethlehem during the reign of King Herod. The culture is violent, the Romans and Jews have a mutually beneficial alliance of sorts. Justice is selective and at times ignored, not for the greater good, but for the expediency of a paranoid tyrant.

Jesus is born and the rumors of a king circulate and infiltrate Herod’s palace. A decree is issued for all male babies in the region to be killed in order to quash the possibility of a rival heir emerging. Jesus is carried into exile in Egypt by his bewildered and frightened parents. Other mothers wail and grieve as they bury the bloodied corpses of sons brutally murdered under the swords of the king’s soldiers. How many sons die for God’s son to live? Why did God allow it?

How do we answer the question? It’s still not black and white, particularly if my son is dead. I have no clue about Jesus, or God’s son incarnated. I’m living close up to real events with no perspective that perhaps eventually comes with history and reflection. Where is God for me?

The only way we can process is to trust the faithfulness of a good God in the midst of a broken and very compromised and distorted world. In this world life is seldom fair, injustices frequently go unchallenged, evil seems to prosper. Innocent people get hurt, run over, ignored, abused, and disregarded. Even those who should know better, the religious leaders, become duplicitous, power-hungry, and settle for compromises with those who hold influence and purse strings. That was the case in the time of Herod’s murderous decree, the Pharisee’s rejection of Jesus’ messianic claims; ultimately exonerating Barabbas and crucifying the Son.

All this to say that it’s not easy understanding, believing, having faith – sometimes. Perhaps even a gentle reminder for us to be less hasty in speaking for God with absolute clarity of understanding, when perhaps we don’t really know with deep wisdom. It may even be more powerful for believers to be quieter in speech and more active being salt and light in a dark and often tasteless world. Most of us yearn for more warmth and light and are hungry for food that deeply satisfies hungers we find hard to articulate.

God himself invited those searching for him to taste and see before debating and always understanding. Taste and see that God is good. Such a possibility is only found in relationships and community where people are kind, forgiving, generous, accepting, and unconditionally loving. Those are qualities that may lead to a revelation of the greater truth of God’s goodness in a dysfunctional world.

The fact that innocent babies died when Jesus was born is not because God does not care, or that he approved. It was evidence of the need for a Savior in a world infested with evil that had no problem killing to hold onto power. Of course, eventually the baby Jesus would sacrifice his life for the sake of others to combat the source of all evil. That’s not fair either, and filled with more mystery. The journey never ends, neither will the questions.

I am left with the simple response of yielding to the God who holds all things in his hands and heart. Learning not to speak too much on his behalf when I can’t even begin to explain why I continue to fail when I know so much! 🙂

Salt and light is not just religious cliché. It is kindness, empathy, and love. James Blunt wrote this song for his father diagnosed with cancer. Fortunately he recovered…. I think the song communicates a powerful expression of love between father and son… how much more with God and us.