BitterSweetLife

The World Takes an Unexpected Twist


Jesus brought his glory down here and set it loose among us, knowing full well that it would force us to confront the real shape of the world, which would force us in turn to see the real nature of God—to be jarred and horrified and amazed and overjoyed, and then to do the supernatural thing, and repent.

People who had spent their lives categorizing “righteousness” and sorting people into “clean” and “dirty” baskets were suddenly faced with the thing itself. God in person. Jesus on earth. Divine Law in radiant, abrasive human form.

Many of them preferred their religious micromanagement businesses and hurried away from Jesus to write venomous articles denouncing his frequenting of sports bars, and add a few more notches to the holy sticks they used to beat on people who “didn’t measure up” in any one of about a hundred ways.

Meanwhile, the angels were weeping and laughing right along with the people who knew that Christ could really heal their fractured lives. When Jesus lived and died and lived again, all heaven broke loose. It was wild, it was messy. As the Pharisees pointed out, it was totally unfair.

But mercy is never fair. It was the world-wide fourth of July, and perjurers and thieves and adulterers and murderers everywhere threw their sins into the cross and cheered.

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