Isaiah’s vision of the
suffering servant seems to indicate God does not deal with transgressions the
same way we do. We hold onto grudges and make people pay for momentary slights
and hardly ever forgive unless we are sure the offending party is sufficiently
sorry. God in Jesus does what no one expects by entering into and bearing the
pain that must grieve God the most; the beautiful and terrible human mind that
imagines and constructs ways to maximize pain and shame while delaying death as
long as possible. But God picks up the pain of all of our inhuman history and
bears the suffering we consider a sign of God's judgment or bad karma or rotten
luck so as to bring peace to all including those who could care less about
anyone else. So aren't there consequences for transgressions? In this
life the consequence is found in the transgression itself. A life of corruption
can never relax. A life of violence is never safe. A life of excess is
never satisfied. But the poor and the put upon and those who bear the brunt of
the transgressions of others wait for another day and in that day – if we can
believe the scriptures – the last will be ushered in ahead of the first.
Whether they are also gatekeepers remains to be seen. If they are I hope they
are as merciful as the God who let them cut in line ahead of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment