Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
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Head of Christ (1648/detail) by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669)
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Jesus: The Jewish Teacher
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From Total Power to Mutuality
Sunday, March 1, 2015
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| Most humans feel that God's love and attention must be earned, and then they deeply resent that very process. (I know no other way to explain the passive and even passive-aggressive nature of many mainline Christians.) In my experience, people spend more time fearing God and trying to control or manipulate God than actually loving God. They never knew that such love was even possible, given the power equation. When one party has all the power--which is, for most people, the very definition of God--the only natural response is fear, hiding, or seeking to manipulate the situation. The true give and take of a love relationship is just not possible. The only way this pattern can be changed is for God, from God's side, to shift the power equation and offer us instead a world of mutuality and vulnerability. Jesus is the living image of this power-shift, God changing sides from power to powerlessness (where we of course eventually find ourselves, too). Rest of Article HERE |
