Ordinarily, at such a juncture, Penrod would have fled, keeping his own temper and increasing the heat of his pursuer’s by back-flung jeers.  But this was Wednesday, and he was in no mood to run from Sam.  He stepped away from the tree, awaiting the onset.

“Well, what you goin’ to do so much?” he said.

Sam did not pause to proffer the desired information.  “Tcha got’ny sense!” was the total extent of his vocal preliminaries before flinging himself headlong upon the taunter; and the two boys went to the ground together.  Embracing, they rolled, they pommelled, they hammered, they kicked.  Alas, this was a fight.

–Penrod, Booth Tarkington

This week I heard some fool on the radio proclaiming his doctrine of salvation, presumably in the context of establishing the significance of his new praise ‘n worship CD.  Without laying undue emphasis on the fact that it was entirely his doctrine, without basis to be found in Scripture or in theological tradition (the church fathers had many problems but I do not think seeker-friendliness was one of them), I will simply quote what he said: “Come just as you are.  God’s not mad at you!”

His attempt to present God as a truly unoffended party, wringing His hands ingratiatingly and offering us a depreciative moue that is calculated to convey the gravity of the distance we have put between us and Him, while downplaying the severity of the so-called eternal punishment which we have for centuries imagined ourselves to be in for, can perhaps be somewhat appreciated in light of the direction Christianity has tended toward in the past.  Our history is full of unscrupulous people who used the truth of the Law to pass condemnation on those others, usually for their own benefit.  When I commuted to the shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi every day there would always come on the evening radio this preacher from a denomination that shall here remain nameless.  He would get on and within a few minutes be hollering, “You going to Hayull, mah frayund!” regardless of which text he chose to start from.  He could have got off on Moses in the bulrushes and I would give you 2.5 minutes MTI (mean time to imprecation) until he was gleefully declaring the anticipated entrance of yet another luckless soul into perdition’s flames.  It was really bad.

But the fact that some are guilty of twisting the Gospel in one direction does not excuse us swinging the pendulum the other way.  Whether we are misrepresenting God as a chastising force we can wield at our pleasure, or as a simpering cosmic enabler who only desires that a good time might be had in perpetuity by everyone involved, we are guilty of the same sin: that of trying to force God through our grid of reality.  Not only is that an incredibly foolish thing to do, it is also dangerous.  God does not fit through created grids, and those who try to accomplish that will find out why.  They discover something they would not have anticipated.  We know that God is not some amorphous cloud of spiritual being who can be rearranged into whatever set of datapoints we prefer, and that he is more real and changeless than we can imagine.  What we do not always realize is that his changelessness often looks more like unpredictability.

What would you think of someone who never got riled?  Is that a healthy thing?  Say you had a friend with an apple tree on her property, and you came over and picked one and ate it.  Because you have a great relationship with her and she’s given you permission to eat from her fruit tree, you can count on her to be glad you are enjoying that blessing.  If she were to fly off the handle and come running across the yard to chew you out for it, you’d completely be at a loss.  That would be an unpredictable reaction based on what you know about her.

But what if you came over and tried to seduce her husband?  Supposing that at the very least she is a decent human being, would she placidly overlook such a thing?  We all know that at the very least she would ask you to leave her house, and that in a weaker moment you might have cause to fear for your life.  And although her demeanor toward you would change abruptly, her actions would be in keeping with truth and justice.  You would know that your friend loved her husband, and even that she loved you, by the severity of her explosion against any immorality involving those she loves.

Such is the changelessness of God.  All through the Scriptures we are given glimpses of outbursts of divine wrath against ungodliness.  This response is not the mere pedantic raillery of an over-zealous teacher against those unfortunate students in his classroom who have not totted up their figures correctly, carelessly missing a digit here and decimal place there.  It is the fury of the Creator God who made all things good and who set man as his steward over those things, watching men take the freedom and mercy given them by God and cunningly use those things for the utter destruction and misery of those around them.  It is the anger of a loving shepherd who desires the wellbeing of his flock, watching wolves try to tear their throats out at every opportunity.  It is the wrath of a husband who is jealous for the purity of his wife, watching other suitors try their hand with her.  A Creator or a Shepherd or a Husband who did not do these things would be worse than an infidel, for by nature those who hold these offices are endowed with the same sense of justice and righteousness and protection that we see in God.

For it is only a God who gets angry at our sin, who will also be able to truly take joy in our righteousness.  It is only a Bridegroom who burns with passion for our spotlessness, who can sit as a refiner to purify the sons of Levi.  It is only he who condemns the worshipers of the beast and its image to drink the wine of God’s wrath poured full strength into the cup of his anger, who can make glad the heart of Ephraim with wine for our rejoicing in the Lord.  Do we think it odd that we were created emotional beings?  Is it strange to us that our blood pressure should rise and our faces get red when we see wrongdoers flourish, that our very being sinks down in overwhelming sympathetic pain and sorrow for our brothers and sisters when we perceive them struggling, that the founts of joy in our hearts overflow their boundaries at the sight of goodness and integrity being lifted up to their rightful places?  We should know that in so doing we are merely doing what our Father in heaven does.

And we know that this example is not one taken out of the inaccessible heights of spiritual reality, something we have to bring down to our level in order to relate to it.  That gap was spanned for us in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He became a man not only to be placed in the arena where he could accomplish our salvation, but also to forge a new definition of what it is to be human, to show us what true godliness looks like.  And he dealt the final death-blow to the cold, compassionless legalism of his countrymen with this stunning truth of his mission: Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me.  A man sits on the throne of heaven – a man who has experienced every feeling and desire we have! – and all things must be brought under his dominion.  From the mouth of the King comes a sharp sword with which to judge the nations, and blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.  In the unlikely union of these two truths about the wrath and the love of God is to be found our salvation, for together they show us the picture of the Cross.

Brothers and sisters at Holy Cross, remember that truth this week.  It is very close to home for me after priceless time spent with a friend who truly loves me, faithfully working to bring out my real emotions (grief and anger) and help me let go of my damnable apathy.  As we reflect on the magnificence of our vision for the city of Staunton, now stretched and challenged and enlarged as it has never been before, let us see each other with new eyes: not as insignificant figures in an insipid progression of churchy and supremely uncaring value-judgments, but as parts of our own body to be loved and rebuked and cherished and protected.  It is when we truly consider Mabel’s two brown pigtails to be beautiful that we will be stung to fury when she is treated badly, and go beat the crap out of our best friend for doing it.  This is getting out of the boat relationally; this is the joy of life lived together in Christ.

Author: Jeremy Vogan

My name is Jeremy Vogan. I live in Staunton, VA with my wife and four kids. I love to write, and seek to honestly explore the intellectual and emotional implications of following Jesus as a deeply broken person in a twisted, cruel world that is full of veiled beauty and meaning. Writing is part of how I faithfully look for Jesus Christ to someday make all things new. I'd enjoy hearing your feedback! JV