|
2. God’s Painful Struggle to Save Humankind
World Scripture
When man is sore troubled, the Shekhinah says, “How heavy is My head, how heavy is My arm.” If God suffers so for the blood of the wicked, how much more for the blood of the righteous. Mishnah, Sanhedrin 6.5 (Judaism)
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Matthew 23.37
“In all their afflictions He was afflicted” (Isaiah 63.9). So God said to Moses, “Do you not notice that I dwell in distress when the Israelites dwell in distress? Know from the place whence I speak with you, from the midst of thorns [the Burning Bush], it is as if I stand in their distresses.” Exodus Rabbah (Judaism)
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. The more I called them, the more they went from Me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and burning incense to idols. Yet it was I that taught Ephraim to walk, I took him up in My arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of compassion, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them. Hosea 11.1-4
The Enlightened One, because He saw mankind drowning in the great sea of birth, death and sorrow, and longed to save them, for this was moved to pity. Because He saw the men of the world straying in false paths, and none to guide them, for this He was moved to pity. Because He saw that they lay wallowing in the mire of the Five Lusts, in dissolute abandonment, for this He was moved to pity. Because He saw them still fettered to their wealth, their wives and their children, knowing not how to cast them aside, for this He was moved to pity. Because He saw them doing evil with hand, heart, and tongue, and many times receiving the bitter fruits of sin, yet ever yielding to their desires, for this He was moved to pity. Because He saw that they slaked the thirst of the Five Lusts as it were with brackish water, for this He was moved to pity. Because He saw that though they longed for happiness, they made for themselves no karma of happiness; and though they hated pain, yet willingly made for themselves a karma of pain; and though they coveted the joys of heaven, would not follow His commandments on earth, for this He was moved to pity. Because He saw them afraid of birth, old age, and death, yet still pursuing the works that lead to birth, old age, and death, for this He was moved to pity. Because He saw them consumed by the fires of pain and sorrow, yet knowing not where to seek the still waters of samadhi, for this He was moved to pity. Because He saw them living in an evil time, subjected to tyrannous kings and suffering many ills, yet heedlessly following after pleasure, for this He was moved to pity. Because He saw them living in a time of wars, killing and wounding one another; and knew that for the riotous hatred that had flourished in their hearts they were doomed to pay an endless retribution, for this He was moved to pity. Because many born at the time of His incarnation had heard Him preach the Holy Law, yet could not receive it, for this He was moved to pity. Because some had great riches that they could not bear to give away, for this He was moved to pity. Because He saw the men of the world plowing their fields, sowing the seed, trafficking, huckstering, buying, and selling; and at the end winning nothing but bitterness, for this He was moved to pity. Upasaka Sila Sutra (Buddhism)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
It is natural that we want to protect our loved ones, even with our very life. Such is the original ideal of creation. The same is true for God, who loves His children. He became a sorrowful God who has had to invest His very life. (206:24, October 3, 1990)
I cannot count the days I spent in tears and lamentation after I came to know this world of God’s inner heart. Who could even dare to imagine that God was stricken with grief? He created the first human ancestors as His children and tried to raise them to be His eternal object partners in true love, yet they took the path of the Human Fall. Who could imagine God’s misery and humiliation, even as He walked His providence of salvation for tens of thousands of years? Anger exploded within Him over the injustice of it all. His heart sighed in lamentation. God should be the Father and King of glory, but the enemy Satan stole His throne and His position as Parent. Although God is clearly alive and carrying out His providence, people say, “God is dead,” and they mock and mistreat Him. Still, He perseveres on the path with patient endurance, waiting for the day when human beings will come to understand this truth.
Because God conducts His providence on a foundation of true love—which calls us to live for the sake of others—and on the basis of eternity, He does not just annihilate the universe and begin again after seeing His children descend into the bottomless pit of the Human Fall. With the power of His omniscience and omnipotence, He could have judged the world and Satan at once, smashing them to pieces. Though He has this power, He chose to absorb all the contempt and accusation into Himself. He voluntarily placed Himself in a prison-like environment, because He is our Father. Ladies and gentlemen, have you spent even one day before our God, our Father, shedding tears of repentance because you empathize with Him? How can you stand before God and still close your eyes as if to block out how He bites His tongue and endures us human beings, who inherited the lineage of the Devil and became the tools of Satan? How can you be so insensitive to how God anxiously looks forward to the day of His liberation and release? (May 1, 2004)
When Jesus was on the cross, God had to turn away and allow His beloved Son to be killed. Who knew the wretchedness in God’s mind and heart at that moment? The Bible does not explain it, but wasn’t there some reason why God could not intervene to prevent His Son’s death?… Likewise, we think that God should have stood on the side of His chosen ones. Seeing them suffer persecution wherever they went—beaten, decapitated, and burned in pitch—we might ask, “Why was God not able to prevent this?”32 Instead, you should think how grievous and distressed God was that He could not exercise His almighty power to save them. How can we still say that He is the Most High God? (64:222, November 12, 1972)
What kind of God is our Father? He has walked the most tragic path through the course of history. He has suffered tragedies more horrible than any human tragedy. When God saw His children languishing in sorrow and suffering and despair, He did not say, “You deserve it.” Our Father worked to save His children pierced with sorrow by placing Himself in greater sorrow; He worked to save His children moaning in pain by going to a place of even greater pain. He did not hesitate even to go to His death to save His children who were on the verge of death. Once we understand this, how should we live? If we see a pitiful old person on the street, bent over with age, we should think, “That is what my Father must look like as He seeks after me.”
When we see a laborer’s swollen hands, we should think, “My Father’s hands are even more torn up and swollen than his.” When we see a pitiful beggar, we should think, “This beggar is not a beggar; instead he is my Father,” and humbly bow our heads. God’s heart is embedded even in lives that appear insignificant and wretched. We should shed tears with the understanding that each of these people is our Father, and then we should cast aside our dignity and help them. This is the only way we will come to know God. (8:345-46, February 28, 1960)
|