___
As the
Bible says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
Presumably, it's not fearful to fall into the hands of a dead god, an idol who
never shocks or demands anything of you, who is no more than a fake, a godlet, a
mere projection of your fondest desires and silliest wishes. Out in Galilee—a
dusty, drab, out-of-the-way sort of place, just like where most of us live—the
disciples of Jesus were encountered by the living God. That Jesus could not only
give death the slip but also be in Galilee suggests that the risen Christ could
show up anywhere, anytime. And that’s scary.
The
modern world has many ways of turning us in on ourselves, eventually to worship
the dear little god within. Christianity, the religion evoked by Jesus, is a
decidedly fierce means of wrenching us outward. We are not left alone peacefully
to console ourselves with our sweet bromides, or to snuggle with allegedly
beautiful Mother Nature, or even to close our eyes and hug humanity in general.
A God whom we couldn't have thought up on our own has turned to us, reached to
us, is revealed to be someone quite other than the God we would have if God were
merely a figment of our imagination—God is a Jew from Nazareth who lived
briefly, died violently, and rose unexpectedly. This God scared us to death but
also thrilled us to life.
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