Shaped by love
An overriding question in all the readings for the 5th Sunday in Lent is are we people driven by obedience to earn our reward, or shaped by our experience of God in whom there is only love?
We can see this struggle in this morning’s reading from Jeremiah (31: 31-34) with the covenant being reframed from obedience of the people so that God will reward them to people shaped by God’s generosity and mercy already experienced, and offered to all creation. The Law moves from rules one needs to obey to earn God’s favour, to rules that allow the people to live as beacons of God’s generosity and mercy, both in how they treat each other, and in how they treat all others.
John's version of the story of Jesus is so very different from the other three. God only speaks here, not at the baptism. There is no transfiguration. The angst of Gethsemane is moved to here and replaced with determination. In John the cross is central and changes everything. Here we are in chapter 12 heading into the last supper. About 35% of John's gospel tells the story from the last supper and events leading up to the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
For John the cross becomes the point we see Jesus through, and through Jesus we see God. It is the point we see world history through. It is the mirror we are invited to see ourselves in. When we look through Jesus crucified and risen to God John hoped his hearers imagination would be blown apart and they would begin to see the world and all that is in it in a new light, God’s light. As N.T. Wright says, it is the day the revolution begins. The revolution of generosity, mercy, inclusion, justice and aroha. I wonder how limited our imagination is, and whether we are willing to allow it to be blown apart by God’s generosity and love for all people and all creation.
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