The Painful Love of God

I've been spending some time reflecting on love and the cross of Christ. What a disturbingly beautiful expression of love: God joined humanity to show us love. And God -- through the person of Jesus Christ -- let us nail him to a freakin' piece of tree. He let humanity spit in his face. He let people grab his hair and wack him with sticks. Jesus winced as humanity made a mockery of God. And then he asked God to forgive them. He said, "Please forgive them...they don't know what they're doing." (Lk 23.34)

Why??

There's no logical answer. It doesn't make sense. Jesus simply loved humanity. And it must have hurt. So much.

When I, for just a moment, catch a glimmer of God's love for creation, I am moved to tears. My stomach knots, and I want to puke. My head feels heavy; I can only whisper "thank you." It hurts to be loved by God.

I'm trying to wade through theories of the atonement and gain a breadth of perspectives. I'll be posting excerpts and reflections of those enamored by Jesus. Through this journey of seeking to understanding love, I don't want the cross to become a token of attained knowledge or attained forgiveness. May the cross of Jesus Christ be a raw symbol of ardent love. May this symbol drive me to my knees in thankfulness. May the cross compel me to live a life of love, justice, and mercy.

"If you've ever known the love of God, you know it's nothing but reckless and it's nothing but raging. Sometimes it hurts to be loved, and if it doesn't hurt it's probably not love - maybe infatuation. I think a lot of American people are infatuated with God, but we don't really love Him, and they don't really let Him love them. Being loved by God is one of the most painful things in the world, it's also the only thing that can bring us salvation and it's like everything else that is really wonderful, there's a little bit of pain in it, little bit of hurt." - Rich Mullins