Love and Fury
Can
God be both?
When
asked to quote a Christian scripture, the most likely response invariably will
be John 3:1, “For
God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone
who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Jesus
had said this to Nicodemus, a scholar of Jewish scripture, a leading Pharisee
and member of the Sanhedrin, the supreme council and tribunal of the Jews
during postexilic times headed by a High Priest and having religious, civil,
and criminal jurisdiction.
In Jesus’ actions, the casting out of seven demons from Mary
Magdalene, which tradition says that Nicodemus had also attempted, but failed;
and in Jesus’ teaching; Nicodemus could sense that Jesus was the Messiah that
the Jewish people were waiting for centuries.
As a scholar of Jewish scripture, discovering Jesus, was the
ultimate prize of his scholarly search; and more, attaining “eternal life”.
What could be more precious?
But like the rich man (Matthew 19:16-30), who kept every
commandment of God, but was unwilling “to sell everything that he had and give
it to the poor” in exchange for eternal life; Nicodemus too demurred; did not give
up his position in the Sanhedrin to follow Jesus.
But Nicodemus did use his position in the Sanhedrin to be of
assistance to Jesus at critical points in Jesus’s life even in the face of
accusations from his detractors in the Sanhedrin.
·
When the chief priests and the Pharisees
wanted to arrest Jesus (Festival of Tabernacles), Nicodemus reminded his
colleagues in the Sanhedrin that the law requires that a person be heard before
being judged (John 7:50–51)
·
After the Crucifixion of Jesus, Nicodemus
came with the customary embalming spices, and assisted Joseph of Arimathea in
preparing the body of Jesus for burial (John
19:39–42)
Perhaps that was God’s purpose in his life. Not to openly follow
Jesus, but be available when his services are needed.
Does this instance in the Bible also
provide us with a direction that not all are called to “give up all” for Jesus;
that we are called to do what we can to be of assistance to those who have
given up all for Jesus?
So, we know of God’s love, “that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him
shall not perish but have eternal life.”
But, why did God have to put Jesus through a gruesome passion and
most contemptuous of death?
Because God’s marvelous plan for man was
not quite working out.
First, Eve and Adam, allowed themselves to be beguiled by the serpent,
rather than hold fast to what God had told them, “But of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Gen 2:17
Then, “… human beings began to increase in number on the
earth …The Lord saw
how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and
that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the
time.”
The Lord regretted that
he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So,
the Lord said, “I will wipe
from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the
animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret
that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of
the Lord.” (Gen 6:1-8)
Noah and his family escaped the floods in the Ark God had
instructed Noah to build.
Again, human being began to increase in number on the earth. Like
Noah, before him, God called Abraham, “Go from your
country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” (Gen
12)
God wanted to personally shepherd His people, and
minister a set of people – the Israelites - to teach them His laws, put His
Spirit upon them, so that they will not be like the past generations whom he
had to remove from the face of the earth, to start afresh.
He was with the Israelites all the way, supporting
them in eliminating all enemies that stood in the way of their mission to occupy
the Promised Land.
His protection was on the Israelites at
all times when they depended on Him.
Despite
inducements of silver, gold and houses from Balak, the King of Moab, an enemy
of Israel, Balaam the Prophet, would not curse the Israelites, who were camped
to do battle against the Moabites and other tribes, for God had commanded
Israel to take over the neighboring lands.
This is
a fascinating story, ‘Balak Summons Balaam’, spread across three chapters
Numbers 22-23-24. Balaam did not want to oppose Balak openly for fear of being
killed, nor did he want to offend God. So, he played along, and managed to
annoy both, Balak and God.
When
Balaam was going to the field of battle with Balak’s princes in tow, to curse
the Israelites (supposedly), the donkey, on which Balaam the prophet was riding,
after a while stopped moving. It would not budge. In fact, it moved to the edge
of the wall and nearly crushed Balaam’s foot.
Thrice
Balaam beat the donkey to move. The donkey was mortified with fear. There was
an Angel of God, standing on the road with his sword drawn. The donkey spoke to
Balaam and told him as much. Balaam could not see the Angel of God, only the
donkey could. Finally, the Angel of God revealed himself to Balaam. Balaam was
saved by his donkey from being slain.
When
man resists listening to God, God has to speak through the mouth of a donkey to
make man do his will.
If
Balaam tested God’s patience, the Israelites were a people apart. God’s
patience had its limits.
In the
divided kingdom of Israel – Ephraim (the Northern kingdom) and Judah (the
Southern kingdom) - God continued to protect Judah until the reign of King Josiah,
the God-fearing king of Judah. The kings that followed only fueled the greed,
theft, embezzlement, debauchery and Idolatry.
Jeremiah
22:17 gives us an idea of their abasement:
“But
you are always thinking and looking for ways to increase your holding by
dishonest means. Your eyes and your heart are set only on killing some innocent
person and on committing fraud and oppression.” (Jeremiah 22:17)
God
raised up “that fierce and impetuous people”; “dreaded and feared”; “their
justice and authority originate with themselves”; the Chaldeans (aka Babylonians)
to ‘swoop to devour’ Judah; which led to the destruction of the temple in
Jerusalem in BC 587.
In the Book
of Habakkuk, the prophet is amazed that God would use Israel’s enemy and the
cruelest of the lot to teach Judah a lesson. When Prophet Habakkuk argued with
God and accused Him of not caring for His people, God said, “look around you”:
sin was rampant. The people had to be punished, by the most ruthless: the
Chaldeans.
We are familiar with the proverb, “Hell hath no
fury as a woman scorned” (a line in the play, The Mourning Bride, by
William Congreve), suggesting that no one can be angrier than a woman who
has been rejected in love.
Being scorned and rejected is possibly the worst affront
a human being suffers. For underlying the contempt and disdain is the relative
social position or standing of the person in society. The wherewithal to fight
back is limited, if indeed, fighting back was even an option.
God was not in that position, but His Son
would be.
God unleashed His fury through the Chaldeans on the Israelites.
He had them taken into exile to Babylon.
Then God again, flipped. His eternal hope in his people
was rekindled. How many times, really?
God in His mercy allowed the Israelites to return to
Judah to rebuild the temple. God achieved the return to Judah through Cyrus the
Great, his “anointed king” who defeated the Chaldean and ruled in Babylon [“to
his messiah, to Cyrus, whom I [Yahweh] took by his right hand to subdue nations
before him” (Isa 45:1)].
But,
the Israelites in due time were back to their disobedient self. Prophets who
were sent to them to mend their ways were persecuted, humiliated, and killed by
the kings who ruled them.
Such was
the sin of the people, that Jesus in Matthew 10:15 proclaimed, “Truly I tell you;
it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for
that town.” The people had rejected the disciples that Jesus had sent to the
town, reminiscent of the mistreated prophets of the Old Testament.
The God
of Love, the Shepherd, the First Minister to the Israelites, tried everything
possible, including His capacity to unleash fury; even going quiet for 400 years,
when no Prophet was given to the Israelites.
Finally,
God gave His only beloved Son to become the sacrificial lamb. To die once and
for all, and never again. To save the world from sin. To redeem His people from
Satan’s hold. To grant salvation to those who would believe in Him, that they
may have eternal life.
Today,
we can take St Paul’s exhortation to heart, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as
you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy
Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
That we
may see only the ‘Love’ side of God, and avoid all that would invite his ‘fury’.
Wednesday,
April 22, 2020
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