What Path Takes Us to Perfection in our Understanding of God or, at least, as Close to Perfection as Possible Here on Earth?
Do you want to upgrade your understanding of God? How do you do it? How do you turn a low fidelity understanding of God into a high fidelity understanding of God - a poor approximation of God into the best approximation of God that exists in the Valley of Tears?
Jesus pitched his tent among us to testify to the truth about God. "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth [about God]" (John 18:37). However, Jesus did not testify with words. Jesus testified by deeds. By his deeds, Jesus testified to us.
In only one circumstance in heaven and on earth did Jesus invest all of his limited human resources. He did not make such an extravagant investment multiple times. He did so only once. "for my strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Jesus defortified himself. He doffed the invulnerable armor of divinity, donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood and, dressed like us, entered the scrum at the line of scrimmage cheek to jowl with us, toe to hoof against evil. THE SON OF GOD BECAME ONE OF US - AN EQUAL TO US IN OUR HUMANITY - A PARTNER WITH US IN OUR SUFFERING.
In the scrum at the line of scrimmage, we took from Jesus his flesh and blood even though they belonged to him not to us. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.
Only through the happening of this outrageous atrocity was Jesus given the opportunity to answer the evil that we did to him. The outrageous atrocity that creatures perpetrated against their Creator set the stage for our Creator’s response. Our Creator, however, did not answer the evil that we did to him as expected (Mark 12:9). His answer surprises us. It gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4). He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34 ) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35 (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45). Wow! The unexpectedness of his answer is a bolt out of the blue!
At the Last Supper, Jesus equalized his flesh and blood and our food and drink (Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59). He put the equal sign between them. Out of love for us, he made the equation. IN MAKING THE EQUATION, JESUS SHIFTED THE PARADIGM (Wikipedia). JESUS TRANSUBSTANTIATED THE TAKING OF HIS FLESH AND BLOOD INTO THE SERVING OF THE BREAD AND WINE OF FORGIVENESS - THAT WHICH WAS BAD INTO THAT WHICH IS GOOD - HIS BLOODY WOUNDS INTO THE FLOODGATES OF FORGIVENESS - A SACRIFICE INTO A BANQUET - MURDERERS INTO DINNER COMPANIONS - AN IGNOBLE DEFEAT INTO A GLORIOUS VICTORY - VERY BAD NEWS INTO THE GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY - A LOW FIDELITY UNDERSTANDING OF GOD INTO AN UPGRADED, HIGH FIDELITY UNDERSTANDING OF GOD. The paradigm shift was unilateral, gratuitous and unconditional. The pyrotechnics of the parameter shift give Jesus his charisma and Christianity its magic. They illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. The equalization of his flesh and blood and our food and drink and his subsequent demonstration of the validity of the equation unequivocally demonstrated that the our God is head over heels in love with us (1 John 4:8).
If you want to approach perfection in your understanding God, there is only one place to go. You won't find God anywhere else but on the road from the Last Supper to the Crucifixion. The road from the Last Supper to the Crucifixion is the only place at which Jesus deposited the answer to the question, 'Who is God?' in the highest concentration. The answer to the question, 'Who is God?' is the treasure of Christianity. Now that the location of the treasure of Christianity is pinpointed for you, grab your shovel, take it and yourself there, dig up the treasure and make yourself rich. CHRISTIANITY IS A TREASURE MAP FOR TREASURE HUNTERS ENGAGED IN A TREASURE HUNT. THE CROSS OF CHRIST (1 Corinthians 1:17) MARKS THE SPOT OF THE TREASURE (Matthew 13:44). AN "X" MARKS THE SPOT. Rally 'round the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17). The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. The Good News of Great Joy does not get any better than this.