I do not embrace all of Mr. Willimon's theology but I sure am in agreement with him on this subject.
That God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. 2 Cor. 5:19a
That God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. 2 Cor. 5:19a
God in Motion
Most people in our society appear to want God to be generic,
abstract, vague, distant, and arcane. “God? Oh, can’t say
anything too definite about God. God is large and indistinct.”
For many of us God is this big, blurry concept that we can
make to mean about anything we like, something spiritual,
someone (if we have any distinct notions about God)
whom we can make over so that God looks strikingly like
us.Ruin’d nature now restore, Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to thine.
abstract, vague, distant, and arcane. “God? Oh, can’t say
anything too definite about God. God is large and indistinct.”
For many of us God is this big, blurry concept that we can
make to mean about anything we like, something spiritual,
someone (if we have any distinct notions about God)
whom we can make over so that God looks strikingly like
us.Ruin’d nature now restore, Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to thine.
In Jesus of Nazareth, God got physical, explicit, and peculiar,
and God came close—too close for comfort for many.Jesus
Christ is God in action, God refusing to remain a general
idea or a high-sounding principle. Jesus Christ is God in
motion toward us, God refusing to stay enclosed in God’s
own divinity. Many people think of God as a vaguely
benevolent being—who never actually gets around to
doing anything.
and God came close—too close for comfort for many.Jesus
Christ is God in action, God refusing to remain a general
idea or a high-sounding principle. Jesus Christ is God in
motion toward us, God refusing to stay enclosed in God’s
own divinity. Many people think of God as a vaguely
benevolent being—who never actually gets around to
doing anything.
It is as if we are threatened by the possibility that God
might truly be an active, intervening God who shows
up where we live. We’ve designed this modern world,
controlled by us, functioning rather nicely on its own,
thank you, everything clicking along in accord with
natural laws, served on command by technological
wonders of our creation.So who needs a God who
relishes actually showing up and doing something?
We modern people are loath to conceive of a God
who is beyond our control or a world other than the
one that is here solely for our personal benefit.
might truly be an active, intervening God who shows
up where we live. We’ve designed this modern world,
controlled by us, functioning rather nicely on its own,
thank you, everything clicking along in accord with
natural laws, served on command by technological
wonders of our creation.So who needs a God who
relishes actually showing up and doing something?
We modern people are loath to conceive of a God
who is beyond our control or a world other than the
one that is here solely for our personal benefit.
This is the deistic God of the philosophers, a
minimalist, inactive, unobtrusive, noninvasive, detached
God who is just about as much of a God as we moderns
can take. There’s a reason why many thoughtful modern
people seem so determined to sever Jesus from the
Trinity, to render Jesus into a wonderful moral teacher
who was a really nice person, someone who enjoyed
lilies and was kind to children and people with disabilities.
To point to a peripatetic Jew from Nazareth who
wouldn’t stay confined within our boundaries for God
and say, “Jesus is not only a human being but also God,
” well, it’s just too unnerving for us enlightened modern
people to handle. Note how frequently many people refer
to “God” and how seldom they refer to “Christ,” and you
will know why the statement “in Christ God was
reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor.5:19) is a
threatening disruption to many people’s idea of a God
who stays put.
minimalist, inactive, unobtrusive, noninvasive, detached
God who is just about as much of a God as we moderns
can take. There’s a reason why many thoughtful modern
people seem so determined to sever Jesus from the
Trinity, to render Jesus into a wonderful moral teacher
who was a really nice person, someone who enjoyed
lilies and was kind to children and people with disabilities.
To point to a peripatetic Jew from Nazareth who
wouldn’t stay confined within our boundaries for God
and say, “Jesus is not only a human being but also God,
” well, it’s just too unnerving for us enlightened modern
people to handle. Note how frequently many people refer
to “God” and how seldom they refer to “Christ,” and you
will know why the statement “in Christ God was
reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor.5:19) is a
threatening disruption to many people’s idea of a God
who stays put.
From The Best of Will Willimon (Abingdon, 2012.
Check out Will’s novel,Incorporation, a wild ride through
the contemporary church – satire and slapstick with
serious theological intent. Available from Cascade
Press https://wipfandstock.com/store/incorporation.
Check out Will’s novel,Incorporation, a wild ride through
the contemporary church – satire and slapstick with
serious theological intent. Available from Cascade
Press https://wipfandstock.com/store/incorporation.
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