The Hidden God

Job 23:8 “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,and backward, but I do not perceive him;9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
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Luke 17:20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” [15] 22 And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. [16]
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It seems that Job experienced something that has, according to some, been common to our era - a hidden God. Certainly the end of his story is full of divine revelation, but in the thick of his trials, God feels a bit distant. Jesus predicted this same feeling for the age that would come after him. The disciples had the luxury and the responsibility of knowing him in the flesh, but we believe without seeing. Thanks to doubting Thomas, we even get an extra blessing for believing without seeing. Nevertheless, we long to see, sing songs about seeing Him, and look forward to seeing Him just as we are fully seen.
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Jesus describes "his day" as though he will shift from being a man to something more like how I understand the Holy Spirit to operate. He will not be confined by conventional rules of time and space. This is not to say that Jesus will cease to be a man - I believe this is His eternal form, but it seems, from his own description, that we will expect and desire him in a way that he will not come. How exciting!

I am a Dog

Matthew 15:21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. [11]
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I have really had a hard time with this account of Jesus. It seems as though his love for the chosen people, Israel, is greater than his love for us "dogs". In this account it would seem that they are his children and we, the gentiles, are an afterthought. Surely this can't be the same Jesus that died for the whole world? Why would the man who welcomed little children, touched social pariahs and ate with sinners treat this woman this way? Was it because the Canaanites had been treating the Jews like dogs? Was it because this woman had treated someone in her life like a dog? In other words, was Jesus disciplining her for something, or testing her, kind of like with the rich young ruler or others who had baggage? I hope so because I cannot conceive of Jesus actually viewing this woman as less than human. And yet, when I read the passage it opens up all kinds of insecurity in me, fears that God might not love me or want me. Where does this come from? Is this fear justified? The Psalms tell us that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. But that is only the beginning. As we get to know God, we learn his love, because perfect love casts out fear. So is my insecurity about this passage related to an insufficient knowledge of God's love? I think yes. And I bear witness to this, that as I have wrestled with this passage and with God, like Jacob, seeking his blessing, He has taught me these two things. He loves me too much to let me go through this life without growing, and in order for anything to grow, it must be intentionally and skillfully broken down. I am a dog and God's love will make me a man.

Copies of the True Things

Hebrews 9:23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
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"Copies of the true things" calls to mind C.S. Lewis' Great Divorce, in which heaven is depicted as a world of truer nature. Everything there is denser, harder, more vivid and real. By comparison, we are the ghosts. This is an interesting paradigm to have in mind when reflecting on Jesus' resurrected miracles. He walked through walls, and yet also ate fish! What kind of body did he have? Perhaps he could do whatever he wanted because - He is God. But perhaps these are clues to how the copies of true things relate to the things themselves. While I don't really know what it wouold mean to say that Jesus was a copy of God, I think I do understand and affirm the idea that if Jesus was something like God's zerox, he was different from our sense of what that would mean. We are imperfect copies of a perfect idea - the ideal person you or I was created to be. Jesus, on the other hand, is the perfect representation of his father even though he is in the shape of imperfect man. We imitate him in this aspect so that we might enter into a great likness of God, and therefore of our truer selves.