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Thoughts Coaxed through the Backdoor of My Mind

Is something wrong with me that I struggle to write about Christian holidays for Christian holidays? It seems expected; prompts and requests abound. But somehow, I can’t bring myself to respond on paper or screen. Every attempt comes out artificial, strained, or stale. Morsels with wondrous potential seem only half-baked, far from ready for reader savoring.

I ponder faith deeply during these times, seek fresh insights, talk them over with God. That when Jesus died on the cross, in that moment, He took all the sins of the whole world committed through all time right into His God-man Self, became a vacuum ingesting all heinous evil ever, then somehow said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:24, NIV). In that moment, His moment of greatest weakness, He revealed God’s power supreme to the world.

Or that Jesus’ death wasn’t to appease the out-of-control anger of a wrathful god, but to pay death’s demanded ransom. Our one, true God loves us all so much that He only sends His wrath against the evil run rampant that gave death its authority on this earth. He sent His Son to redeem, revealing His perfect goodness, grace, mercy, wisdom, sovereignty, and love that never leaves.

Or that somehow Jesus’ incarnation, death, and resurrection allows him not only to empathize, to suffer alongside, but also to heal our hurts with His own. Somehow beyond my comprehension, because Jesus died and rose again, all my hurts were/are/will be healed for eternity. Thank You, Lord.

These truths, planted as seeds in my brain by Brian Zahnd through his “poetic theology of the cross,” The Wood Between the Worlds, based on God’s Word, mixed with ideas originally presented by Wiesel, Dostoevsky, and Bonhoeffer, I’m still absorbing, therefore can’t write for others on cue. Never can. As Mary had to ponder Jesus’ wonders in her heart (Luke 2:19, NIV), so must I. But maybe I can coax a word or two through the backdoor of my mind.

Maybe for next year, I’ll begin my Easter contemplations early in July.

* * *

Work Referenced:

Zahnd, Brian. The Wood Between the Worlds. Downers Grove, IL, InterVarsity Press, 2024.

Photo by Cdoncel on Unsplash

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