March 1, 2020
Matthew 4:1-11
Scripture only says “God is” twice. God Is Holy and God Is Love. The rest is a mystery, and everything else we say about God is a metaphor. That is something Dr. Frank Tupper taught and those of us lucky enough to call him our teacher, got to hear that lesson firsthand. I was reminded of that and numerous other lessons yesterday as I read all of the comments and tributes pouring in for Dr. Tupper and his family. He passed away Friday night and almost immediately upon hearing the news students far and wide began offering such tributes.
It is this idea of God being love, in its truest form, that captured me all those years ago. The thing is, I’ve always known God in this way, even before I became Dr. Tupper’s student, but I had never heard the idea explained in the way Dr. Tupper explained it. His words confirmed everything I had always held to be true, even though I didn’t have the words to explain it myself. Since that class I have shared this idea of God as best I can, whenever I’ve felt the time was right. Truth be told, I’ve probably shared it even when the time wasn’t exactly right, because that’s just what I do when I believe something so passionately.
Now this idea that God is Love came during Dr. Tupper’s lecture he titled “The Problem with God Today” a lecture about Atheism and the problem of evil and suffering. This problem of evil and suffering has existed from the beginning of time, and we know that when we listen to the Old Testament selection from today’s Lectionary offerings,
Gen. 2:15-17, 3:1-7: 2:15 “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” …
3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; 5 for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.”
Couple this problem with evil and suffering with the idea of an all-powerful God and it can become easy to understand why some begin protesting. This is when you hear questions like, “if God is all-powerful (omnipotent) then why do bad things happen to good people?” or statements that if God really loved us then would not have happened. Oftentimes, without even realizing it, they are protesting the idea of an all-powerful God because in our world if one is all powerful then one will always use that power to make everything good. And while such an idea sounds nice, in order for God to be Love, making everything good all of the time would be to work against the very nature of love because to actually love another is to limit one’s involvement, to limit one’s self, in the choices and experiences of the other. There must be an object to be loved and that object is most often called the Beloved. And God is Love in relationship to the Beloved. A Love that is never controlling – always freedom giving and therefore self-limiting.
This is a radical proclamation. It demonstrates that love is not a choice of God. In the Old Testament, God is described as the God who loves Israel, while in the New Testament we discover the unique concept that God is love. In the Jesus Story we find that love is not a choice, but a given. God’s love precedes the creation of God’s beloved and does not hinge on the appeal of the beloved. God’s love explains creation and shows that God is vulnerable because vulnerability is built into all life in the created and creaturely world, for invulnerability is impossible. God is vulnerable to the rejection of the human creature of self-deception and presumption. The power of love is liberating and empowering, voluntary and vulnerable, but neither God nor God’s power is self-evident or coercive. This type of love is uniquely God.
The unique concept that God is love is challenged most by the atheism of evil and suffering. Some easily conclude that the radical perversity of evil and the immeasurable magnitude of suffering contradict the affirmation of an all-powerful God who lovingly creates and guides the world. Such incomprehensible evil and suffering can be viewed as a contradiction to the affirmation of an all-powerful God of love, but that is only because human love is conditional. Our limited understanding of the concept of love makes this form of atheism so troubling. Human love, in its conditional form, can easily cause people to ask the “why” question. In response we should see that God’s love is not controlling, because to control is to love oneself, not the beloved and this is counter to the very essence of God. In the un-controlling true nature of God’s love, we discover just how much we are loved.
This, it seems, is what the devil, force of evil, or whatever you want to call it, couldn’t seem to understand when encountering Jesus in the wilderness. Maybe in all of the other encounters with people, they succumbed to the temptation to gain more perceived power, but not Jesus. This was surely baffling. Why would any person not gobble up all of the power they could? Isn’t life all about the power grab and asserting control over others? Isn’t that the way to freedom? Maybe this is why the devil led Jesus to three (3) different places and made three (3) different attempts to get Jesus to assert his powerful nature. These are simply questions that come to mind, as none of us really know what the devil was thinking, but all of us definitely know what temptation feels like, and I suspect we know a little something about what it feels like to succumb to those temptations.
Jesus, though, gave us a different understanding. His approach to such temptations gives us insight into who we were truly created to be, who we are in our own essence. Each and every time Jesus turned away from the temptation, turned down the tempter, Jesus showed us the way. Gave us the blueprint we need. It was the blueprint to an authentic and true life of freedom. The blueprint to a new beginning.
************************
God is Holy and God is Love. And in every situation, all the time, whether it involves joy and celebration or evil and suffering, God always does the most God can do. Dr. Frank Tupper said those words to me and countless other seminary and divinity school students and I believe we are all better for it, even if we thought we knew it before he said it. He came to that understanding because of his own experience with the evil and suffering that comes from watching a disease ravage the one you love and take them from you early in your time together. And as hard as it must have been to reject the temptation to blame God, or reject God, ultimately, he didn’t. Instead Tupper discovered the God who is Love in the truest sense – God who is always with you, everywhere. God who is never controlling and whose love is always freedom giving. Jesus knew that God too and my prayer is that all of us find the courage to know God in the same way.
[PRAYER]
Amen!
Matthew 4:1-11
Scripture only says “God is” twice. God Is Holy and God Is Love. The rest is a mystery, and everything else we say about God is a metaphor. That is something Dr. Frank Tupper taught and those of us lucky enough to call him our teacher, got to hear that lesson firsthand. I was reminded of that and numerous other lessons yesterday as I read all of the comments and tributes pouring in for Dr. Tupper and his family. He passed away Friday night and almost immediately upon hearing the news students far and wide began offering such tributes.
It is this idea of God being love, in its truest form, that captured me all those years ago. The thing is, I’ve always known God in this way, even before I became Dr. Tupper’s student, but I had never heard the idea explained in the way Dr. Tupper explained it. His words confirmed everything I had always held to be true, even though I didn’t have the words to explain it myself. Since that class I have shared this idea of God as best I can, whenever I’ve felt the time was right. Truth be told, I’ve probably shared it even when the time wasn’t exactly right, because that’s just what I do when I believe something so passionately.
Now this idea that God is Love came during Dr. Tupper’s lecture he titled “The Problem with God Today” a lecture about Atheism and the problem of evil and suffering. This problem of evil and suffering has existed from the beginning of time, and we know that when we listen to the Old Testament selection from today’s Lectionary offerings,
Gen. 2:15-17, 3:1-7: 2:15 “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” …
3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; 5 for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.”
Couple this problem with evil and suffering with the idea of an all-powerful God and it can become easy to understand why some begin protesting. This is when you hear questions like, “if God is all-powerful (omnipotent) then why do bad things happen to good people?” or statements that if God really loved us then would not have happened. Oftentimes, without even realizing it, they are protesting the idea of an all-powerful God because in our world if one is all powerful then one will always use that power to make everything good. And while such an idea sounds nice, in order for God to be Love, making everything good all of the time would be to work against the very nature of love because to actually love another is to limit one’s involvement, to limit one’s self, in the choices and experiences of the other. There must be an object to be loved and that object is most often called the Beloved. And God is Love in relationship to the Beloved. A Love that is never controlling – always freedom giving and therefore self-limiting.
This is a radical proclamation. It demonstrates that love is not a choice of God. In the Old Testament, God is described as the God who loves Israel, while in the New Testament we discover the unique concept that God is love. In the Jesus Story we find that love is not a choice, but a given. God’s love precedes the creation of God’s beloved and does not hinge on the appeal of the beloved. God’s love explains creation and shows that God is vulnerable because vulnerability is built into all life in the created and creaturely world, for invulnerability is impossible. God is vulnerable to the rejection of the human creature of self-deception and presumption. The power of love is liberating and empowering, voluntary and vulnerable, but neither God nor God’s power is self-evident or coercive. This type of love is uniquely God.
The unique concept that God is love is challenged most by the atheism of evil and suffering. Some easily conclude that the radical perversity of evil and the immeasurable magnitude of suffering contradict the affirmation of an all-powerful God who lovingly creates and guides the world. Such incomprehensible evil and suffering can be viewed as a contradiction to the affirmation of an all-powerful God of love, but that is only because human love is conditional. Our limited understanding of the concept of love makes this form of atheism so troubling. Human love, in its conditional form, can easily cause people to ask the “why” question. In response we should see that God’s love is not controlling, because to control is to love oneself, not the beloved and this is counter to the very essence of God. In the un-controlling true nature of God’s love, we discover just how much we are loved.
This, it seems, is what the devil, force of evil, or whatever you want to call it, couldn’t seem to understand when encountering Jesus in the wilderness. Maybe in all of the other encounters with people, they succumbed to the temptation to gain more perceived power, but not Jesus. This was surely baffling. Why would any person not gobble up all of the power they could? Isn’t life all about the power grab and asserting control over others? Isn’t that the way to freedom? Maybe this is why the devil led Jesus to three (3) different places and made three (3) different attempts to get Jesus to assert his powerful nature. These are simply questions that come to mind, as none of us really know what the devil was thinking, but all of us definitely know what temptation feels like, and I suspect we know a little something about what it feels like to succumb to those temptations.
Jesus, though, gave us a different understanding. His approach to such temptations gives us insight into who we were truly created to be, who we are in our own essence. Each and every time Jesus turned away from the temptation, turned down the tempter, Jesus showed us the way. Gave us the blueprint we need. It was the blueprint to an authentic and true life of freedom. The blueprint to a new beginning.
************************
God is Holy and God is Love. And in every situation, all the time, whether it involves joy and celebration or evil and suffering, God always does the most God can do. Dr. Frank Tupper said those words to me and countless other seminary and divinity school students and I believe we are all better for it, even if we thought we knew it before he said it. He came to that understanding because of his own experience with the evil and suffering that comes from watching a disease ravage the one you love and take them from you early in your time together. And as hard as it must have been to reject the temptation to blame God, or reject God, ultimately, he didn’t. Instead Tupper discovered the God who is Love in the truest sense – God who is always with you, everywhere. God who is never controlling and whose love is always freedom giving. Jesus knew that God too and my prayer is that all of us find the courage to know God in the same way.
[PRAYER]
Amen!
