paradoxum

Why can’t God just leave us? Think about it for a minute. Why can’t he or won’t he just leave us? Does he need us? Is he incomplete without us? What keeps him here? What brought him here? It’s a curious thing to consider.

I was reading the Psalms today and came across a series of interesting verses.

“To Thee I lift up my eyes, O Thou who art enthroned in the heavens!” (Ps. 123:1)

My heart began to ponder this verse and I was immediately drawn to remember the Lord’s Prayer whose opening lines are, “Our Father who art in heaven.” In my mind I could see Jesus reading Ps. 123:1 and then, in the quietness of his own heart, praying the first ‘Our Father’.

Slowly my eyes drifted across the page to the opening verses of Psalm 121: “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From whence shall my help come? My help comes form the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” And then, I read the opening verse of Psalm 122: “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD.”

I smiled as I read those verses. The God who sits enthroned in the heavens who made heaven and earth…has a house on earth. I was struck with this thought and couldn’t get past it. He is above us and far beyond us but he won’t leave us. When he chose a place to build his “house”, he built it here. He has always lived among us. We have tried to get him to leave and have often pretended he isn’t here. We don’t often speak to him and we rarely hear anything he has to say to us.

Yet he won’t leave. In fact, not only has he built his house among us, he has actually lived among us. John says that he “tabernacled” among us in the person of Jesus Christ. Living among us wasn’t enough for this God who will not go away. He had to become one of us. He has chased us into our very own skin.

I chuckle when I think of the insanity of it all! God pursues us…my mind cannot hold that thought. No wonder Jesus couldn’t just pray, “God who is in heaven”. We cannot call God “God” anymore…not after Jesus. No, he is truly and surely “our Father”. The maker of heaven and earth, the one who sits enthroned in the heavens, built his house among us, and then, became one of us. Interestingly enough, when he came, he wasn’t even welcomed into the house he built…he was a homeless Father.

And so, when I see this, I am overwhelmed. My faith struggles with tremendous doubt. This news is too good, too absurd, & too insane to be true! I don’t struggle with a God who kills, or a God who is distant, or a God who has no idea I’m even here. I struggle with a God who is close…who inhabits my skin…and pursues me. I struggle with a God who will “chase me down and finish the race” for me. I struggle with a God who not only loves me, but, even better, likes me. I struggle with a God who will no longer be called “God”, but “Father”, “Daddy”, “Abba”, or “Papa”.

I guess that’s why Christmas is more about presents and gifts and parties and musical programs and church, than it is about him. The incarnation is far too scandalous for us to let it come close…and for its glory to break the bond hat bind our minds to our false gods and religions.

God is your Papa. He is your Daddy. He built a house so he could get close to you. He chased you into your own skin. He is closer to you than your own thoughts. He knows you. He likes you. He is still waiting for some of us to come “home”. He has the fatted calf ready, and he is watching the horizon…looking for you. For others of us, He stands at the door of our hearts, and knocks, and waits. He brought the calf and the wine with him, and he waits for us to open the door.

He isn't impatient. Time is one thing he has. Christmas is scandalous. I don't know that it's possible to have a Merry Christ Mass without Papa. Perhaps some of us will figure out how to do that...I know I have far too many times...but I hope this year, I won't.