In my suffering and death
You suffer with me on a cross of sin
God with me feeling God-forsaken
God with me in my fear
God with me on my own
God with me without anyone to help
Excluded outside the city gate
Your suffering alleviates my guilt
In Your forsakenness I find God’s company
In Your humilation You have raised me up
And my brokenness is transformed into joy
You turn my death into Your life
And I am bound to You
Where You are, there I will be
You give me new life
not like the old
It is Your own resurrection life
And I am hidden in You
I take joy in my Salvation...
It is shaped by You
Geared toward You
Because of You
I find myself with gifts
to share Your love
to demonstrate Your grace
to everyone I know
Your love transcends all my relationships
You open me up to others
Therefore my place is among the people
alongside the suffering
My purpose is to love my neighbour
lifting up the humilated
cherishing the scorned
just as Jesus did for me
Hey everyone. I've really been enjoying some books at uni recently dealing with Jesus' death and resurrection. In pondering all this over, I just wanted to blog my thoughts and hopefully pass on something of how profound a thing was God's action in Jesus. The above poem sums it all up. Here I've expanded a little more
Christian hope is found only in Christ - that's why it's called Christian hope. It is not 'any old hope' - it is charcterised by Who Jesus is and so it is unique.
Truly Christian hope always looks to Jesus alone - only in Jesus is God fully known.
So who is God revaled as in Jesus??
In Jesus we meet 'the Crucified God'
Jesus' cry captures everything...
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
It is right here, in Jesus' God-forsakenness, His brokenness, that we find God's company - God with us - God right by our side, identifying and suffering with us - taking on our burdens.
Not only this but Jesus' innocence makes His suffering able to atone for our sins.
Thus in Jesus we meet a God:
- who understands the worst of human disgrace and shame
- who fully understands death and God-forsakenness
- who understand hopelessness, despair
- who knows what is is like to face sin
- Yet overcomes our sin alleviating our guilt thereby reconciling us to God
His death is meaningless without His resurrection
Let us not miss out half the story -
Jesus' death offers a hope: forgivenss and reconciliation to God
Jesus' Resurrection proves this hope REAL and RELIABLE - hope that was able to survive death!!
In Jesus death God offers us His hand of understanding and forgiveness...
In His Resurrection He pulls us through death, suffering and God-forsakenness into resurrection life!!!
This life is not like the old life of damaged relationships, isolation and purposelessness. Rather because it is given by Christ, it is necesarily Christ-defined - taking a particular form. This Christ-shaped form is both relational AND redemptive!
It is relational in that just as Christ suffered alongisde humanity on the cross, we are to get alongisde the isolated, scorned and oppressed - that they may know God's company in their seemingly God-forsaken situtation. Resurrection life restores and builds relationships.
It is redemptive in two ways:
- As we show Christ shaped love, people are liberated from a sense of isolation, rejection and exclusion
- As we show Christ shaped love, people meet Jesus Himself and see Salvation. Forgiveness and reconciliation to God beckons that they may respond.
In this we ourselves are liberated from isolation and purposelessness. Our Christ-shaped life opens us up to one another creating and restoring relationships. Jesus heart to love one's neighbour becomes our purpose, goal, and calling.
We are set free for eachother. Loving others become our ultimate calling, commandment and purpose. This is what all your gifts and talents are for - this is what the Christ-shaped uniqueness in you is for.
