God Made Man
Do you think Jesus was right with being the sacrifice for all humankind's sins?
Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” - John 3:14-21
What if Jesus had not been crucified, but lived a long life? Would the light he brought to the world have continued to spread? Or would the flame have dimmed or burnt out?
John's Gospel points to the signs that Jesus was and is divine, God in human form, come to save us from ourselves. I wonder how much of an influence on Jesus becoming human had.
As God, he could do anything, but in human form, even if he could continue to do anything he wanted, he experienced what we experience. He knew fear, anxiety, anger, frustration, sorrow.
He knew pain as well.
We tend to give God human characteristics, making it easier for us to understand God, but what if the first hand experience of what we suffer as humans was a real eye-opener for God?
What if the compassion He felt for us before became even greater, having become one with us.
Is that what God was after?
Did he become like us to know us better? And did it make God even more merciful?
We will never know what God experienced as one of us, but we can know what God experienced for us, and that is the point of John's Gospel. If we just think about what Jesus went through, perhaps we can try to be better ourselves.
More to come...