Jesus holds open the door. (Part 2)

Jesus holds open the door

Part 2: God’s masterplan of salvation achieved through the love and sacrificial suffering of Jesus

Christ holds open his arms in love, held in place, not by nails, but by his compassion. The love of God cannot be restricted, pinioned in place by human actions; he is always free, unrestrained. If his arms are stretched out, it is because he wants it so. This has been long understood, and is Christians’ triumphant song of God’s loving purposes, achieved, not simply despite of, but through the evil, hatred, anger and fear of humankind. This is what makes the redemption that Christ offers so effective. In Christ, God does not over-rule our human actions; he does not replace what we want with what he wants; he does not miraculously transform our desires to become like his own. Instead, God uses our hatred in order to achieve the triumph of his love. If those who killed him had held back, thought again, somehow found softened hearts and a glimmer of compassion, Jesus would not have died, and the redemptive love would not have flowed. God could not have forced this; salvation could not have happened if he had. It had to be our free choice. Did God manipulate us, trick us, make us dupes of his masterplan? There is no reason to think so. Jesus gave his all to exhort us to turn again and find God; to repent of our sins; to receive forgiveness and love; to embrace life. And still we killed him. I say “we” for we must not hide behind the illusion that it was someone else who did this. Christ’s death is a cosmic drama of universal significance – this is the very thing that gives it its power. We recognise the common humanity we share was what caused the crowd to shout, “Crucify!”. So, we were not tricked, more it was God’s understanding of us, his Fatherly love, which enabled him to foresee what we would do, and use it to turn the tables on us, resulting in the triumph of love and life, not hatred and death. God’s respect of our freedom is clearly seen in how even this event needs to be embraced by each individual in order to realise its power, and we are equally free to ignore or reject its message.