“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.“
Colossians 1:15
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AUGUST 2, 2024
As we have seen this week, our God is too high, too glorious, too—everything—to be fully known. And yet God has revealed Himself. God has always been revealing Himself as love, compassion, goodness. God is not untouchable or unmoved. He allows us to see Him, as though through a glass dimly.
One thing that set God apart from the gods of the polytheistic world is that Israel’s God commanded them not to create any kind of idol, or image, in their worship. Whatever they might use to depict God would fall short. (And whatever we use to depict God—including our words, ideas, and systems—will too).
But then God Himself provided us with an image: Jesus.
In the incarnation, God took on flesh and showed us what God looks like. The body of Jesus is our icon, the one expression of God that cannot be improved upon.
And not only this, but the body of Jesus on the cross demonstrates what God looks like. Does God overcome with violence? No, God invites us, knowing that rejection is an option and may cost His own body and life to redeem. Does God destroy His enemies? No, God would rather be killed by His enemies than kill them. Does God hate? No, God loves at any cost. Does God fight evil with evil? No, God is overcoming evil with goodness, with love, mercy, compassion.
We live in a world not so unlike the Roman world that saw “virtue” as fulfilled in wealth, power, and might, enforced by violence. We, too, tend to think that influence is best wielded through strength and force, that God will come next with a sword and that it is too costly to love our enemies (much less lay our lives down for them).
But Jesus shows us otherwise. In Jesus, we see what God looks like, how God responds to us, to the brokenhearted, to the suffering, to greedy, to powerful and mighty.
God responds with graciousness and compassion, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and mercy. As He always has and always will.
May we worship this God with our body, mind, soul, and strength for eternity.
Questions for reflection and discussion:
- What do you learn of God in Jesus?
- How is it shocking that God reveals Himself in human form even to the point of humiliated death with His enemies victorious over Him?
- How have our own imaginative images of God fallen far short or even led us in the wrong direction?
- How do we worship God?
Church Reading Plan:
- Today, August 2: Jeremiah 29; Mark 15
- Saturday, August 3: Jeremiah 30-31; Mark 16
- Sunday, August 4: Jeremiah 32; Psalm 1-2