How Much Does God Love Me?

The Father and the Son only had two moments of contact; one at the baptism in the River Jordan and the other at the Transfiguration. “This is my Son who pleases me. Listen to him.” And the agony in the garden? Jesus did it for love of us, yes, but “for all the love he had for us he recoiled from the passion; Jesus did not want it. The only thing that made him go thru it was the Father.” (DeMello) But our Father offered no interventions that rescued Jesus. Jesus was abandoned, tortured, and cried in the garden and on the cross while the Father was silent. He shouted out his feelings of abandonment but the Father was silent. The Father did not interrupt or modify the Son’s mission in order to alleviate his pain - actually the pain they were both feeling.

                                                                     

The Father never rescued his Son from the physical pain the Son was going thru. He watched the soldiers scourge Jesus and crown him with thorns. The Father looked at the blood and the bruises. He saw the apostles disperse, leaving his Son alone. If that was my only child I couldn’t have done it. I know parents who rescue their kids from much less - being bullied by kids at school, an unfair grade on a paper, drugs. But God watched Jesus go thru all that alone. Sometimes it’s harder to helplessly watch as your loved one endures an emotional crises or disease or financial turmoil. If you can’t fix it or protect them from it you wonder about your role as a parent. We don’t know what God was feeling as he watched his Son die. It’s reported that the sky turned dark and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. God did not stop the blood from pouring from Jesus’ side even tho he could. We humans can’t always rescue because we don’t have the cash or the cure for the disease. God did have what was needed and he could have fixed it. He didn’t. Jesus’ blood drained from his wounds as he hung on the cross and his Father mourned every precious drop. When they took his Son down from the cross God our Father saw Mary hold his body. Crying over it Mary caressed her child, touched his face and smoothed his hair. God must have been glad to see someone else love his Son so tenderly. Then they placed Jesus body in the tomb.

                                                                                  
Throughout it all the Father never interrupted. He never implemented a plan B. He had sent his Son to be our servant and Jesus was killed. He did not stop it. WHY? The answer seems too crazy to be true. He loves us more. THEY love us more. More than the scourging, the crown of thorns and the nails. More than the Father’s emotional pain and the grief of his loss. Father and Son love us that much. They want us to be with them in heaven THAT much. I am worth that much to Someone. I am loved!