At the heart of Christian faith is the belief that Jesus is not just your ordinary guy. It is not just that Christians believe that Jesus is a good teacher, or prophet. Instead, Christian belief is that in Jesus there is something more going on. For Christians, it is not just that Jesus reaches some higher level of enlightenment because of his closeness to the Divine.
Something stranger and more profound is claimed by Christians.
The Christian conviction is that somehow, in holy mystery, the Divine actually comes to us in Jesus. In a unique way. The Celtic Iona Community sometimes refer to this mystery by calling Jesus the Holy Human One. The Wisdom of God and the Word of God are other ancient ways of pointing to this delightful mystery. The author of Matthew favours the term Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us’. The much neglected Nicene Creed, dating from the 300’s, states poetically that Jesus is: ‘God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God’.
Profound, strange words that change things.
Think for a second; those stories of Jesus reaching out to those living on the underbelly of society are no longer simply nice moral tales that encourage us to be kind to the ‘needy’. Instead, they expose the nature of the Divine.
When Jesus talks theology with women, who were deemed unworthy and second rate, not only does Jesus point to living in a way of radical inclusion; Jesus tells us that this is what God is like.
That God is about abundant welcome and extravagant love.
And if you think a little further into the story, the profoundness can be unsettling.Â\ For Christians there is always the issue of the cross; the barbarous murder of the one at the centre of this faith. In light of the cross, it must be asked – can it really be that God comes to us in Jesus? That here we taste something of the Divine? If this is so, we see what happens when we push the Divine to the limits, throwing all the violence, jealousy, doubt and abuse at God that we can muster. How does the Holy One respond? In non violence, in mercy, in forgiveness.
For Christians, the cross is not the end of the story. However it is a part of the story that cannot be skipped over without missing the greatest icon of God’s very being.
Here we see God who would rather appear to lose than to retaliate, God who would rather absorb our violence than inflict it, God who would rather pour out forgiveness than punishment. And I think, in our deepest selves, we long for such a God. This corresponds with something deep, ancient and true within us.
However, this cross at the heart of Christianity is not simply to be academically accepted or rejected. It is to be engaged and wrestled with, tested and chewed in body, mind and soul, because it actually changes lives from the inside out.
If you would like to explore this mystery with us in the Highlands, wherever you are at with Christian faith, you are very welcome to join us.
Rev. Sally Douglas
