Good morning…
In our final Listening Group of the semester, I intended to unwrap Chapter 3, but by “mistake” I read aloud excerpts from Chapter 4, a chapter entitled “God’s Compassion for the Rebellious.” I shared aloud these introductory words before we slowly read, reread, and reflected on the parable of the prodigal son found in Luke 15:11-24.
“You may wish to begin by considering a sentence that I once saw on a coffee mug: God is crazy about you – and there is nothing you can do about it. At first I thought it was a little frivolous. But by the next day, I started saying it to myself, because I’m convinced that it’s something most people don’t really believe. How does that phrase strike you? How likely is it that God is crazy about you, and not merely tolerating you?” (Jan Johnson’s Meeting God in Scripture, 34)
Since our final class meeting, I have become increasingly aware: we are all rebellious. We set off to fulfill our own desires, distancing from God. We squander our wealth on wild selfishness. We spend everything insatiably, more stuff, more comfort, more immediate gratification. When a spiritual famine finally sets in, we begin to feel our deep, deep need. We hire ourselves to other gods, who use us to meet their own needs. We long to fill our aching soul, but anything-other-other-than-God gives us nothing. Starving every other option first, we eventually come to our senses: “I need God.”
Learning by experience, we all wander far away from the heart of God’s home, yet …nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39, NLT).
Our own rebellious parts and our own rebellious people squander and starve before waking up, turning around, returning home to God’s endless love. At this crazy time in our crazy world, we lean into one undeniable truth: God is crazy about you – and there is nothing you can do about it. When we soak in God’s inescapable love, with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of mind, we naturally overflow with Christ’s life-giving love.
Our friends. Our parents. Each stranger. Each enemy. Our spouse. Our children. Each in-law. Each outlaw. Through God’s relentless love filling our eyes and our actions, our verbals and non-verbals, we help everyone around us come to their senses: God is crazy about me – and there is nothing I can do about it.
…Sue…
