Nearness

Sunday, December 6, 2020

Isaiah 40:10-11

See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,

    and he rules with a mighty arm.

See, his reward is with him,

    and his recompense accompanies him.

He tends his flock like a shepherd:

    He gathers the lambs in his arms

and carries them close to his heart;

    he gently leads those that have young.

Dear Friends,

I was handed a Sunday School theology from a young age where “all we like sheep have gone astray; we had turned to our own way. And the Lord laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all.” Whew. That’s a heavy theology for a young child. While I loved the pastoral picture of sheep who rest by quiet waters and find comfort in green grass, there was a dark and scary underbelly alongside this serene picture. Under the calm and safe surface lurked punishment, anger, wrath, and hell because we like sheep were nasty, rotten creatures whom God couldn’t come near to because of our nastiness. And the only way God could come near is if God put our nastiness onto Jesus and have him killed. 

So how does this picture from Isaiah match the one I was handed? If the power of God is revealed through the One who gathers us close, that within the depth of vulnerability God gently bestows love to us, drawing so near to us, then where does the theology I was handed come from? 

There seems to be this misguided fear in some religious people. This fear claims people won’t come to Jesus or won’t place their faith in Christ without the fear of hell prodding them into heaven and paving their way. Like the great and awesome Love of Christ for this world isn’t compelling enough in and of itself. This wrathful, excited-to-punish, ready-to-catch-you-in-your-sin, type of God I was (probably unintentionally) handed isn’t what I see through Jesus Christ at all. If Jesus came to reveal the Father and everything Jesus did was to point humanity to the heart of God, then I see that God looks nothing like that version I was handed. God isn’t the One who is so disgusted by your nastiness that God had to avoid coming too close. And your nastiness did not make Him kill his kid so God could finally accept you. The story of Scripture is one where God does whatever God can do to draw near to you, in the current state you’re in. 

While I believe hell is real—and most of us have experienced hell in many ways already—God was willing to do anything to remove hell from you. The hell-removing nearness of God was seen in a garden, in a covenant, in wrestling with Jacob, in a cloud and fire, in a Tabernacle, in the vulnerable womb of a teenage girl, in the multiplication of bread and fish, in the communion table of bread and wine.

Friends, this hell-removing nearness of God handed us a new theology when God hung from that cross. Through this sacrificial love, all the power of hell became undone. 

The power of God isn’t in punishment or wrath towards humanity but in the nearness of God who draws you gently close like a shepherd with his sheep. That’s power beyond power, love beyond love, grace beyond grace, life beyond life. 

God has come near as God has always been. May you draw near to God because there’s absolutely nothing that can separate you from God’s love. 

With (love),

Bethany