a true father never leaves his child really alone..
The parent whom it seemed had left their child1,
but had to let them choose to truly trust
themselves to larger truth, which reconciled
would give the knowledge which would fit, & must
be what's appropriate to what is known.
The good must be known as a friend would be,
by interlocking friendship from what's shown,
experienced together, where love's free-
ly given and received, coercion's not
a part, with what manipulation breeds -
(to grow a child who is as a robot).
The bad is to be known by diff'rent leads,
as science keeps us distanced from what's known;
objective understanding, where life's seeds
are kept apart from facts and data shown.
The both remain as mysteries, and needs
be, while we have experienced the one,
and know the other only as desire2;
instead of t'other way around. The son
of true humanity has lit the fire,
the sacrificial altar underneath,
will call for whole burnt offerings, with pow'r
of resurrection, New Creation's chief3.
Athenians mistook Paul's news that hour
but somehow got it right that Christ's consort*
was Resurrection, which made him stand out4,
enabled so to sire a new cohort
whom he would never leave to walk about!
1 Genesis 3: God appears to have left the ADARM (Male & Female, from Gen1:26-27) alone, when snakey enters the scene. Jesus appeared to be alone many times (especially as he cries the prayer of Psalm 22 from the cross), but as he said in his prophecy: "The time is coming, and is already here, when all of you will be scattered, each of you to your own home, and I will be left all alone. But I am not really alone, because the Father is with me." (John 16:32 GNTD) as he lived out the word of God to the first Jesus (meaning saviour), which Jesus of Nazareth was named after, that said "Joshua, no one will be able to defeat you as long as you live. I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will always be with you; I will never abandon you. Be determined and confident, for you will be the leader of these people as they occupy this land which I promised their ancestors. Just be determined, be confident; and make sure that you obey the whole Law that my servant Moses gave you. Do not neglect any part of it and you will succeed wherever you go. Be sure that the book of the Law is always read in your worship. Study it day and night, and make sure that you obey everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for I, the Lord your God, am with you wherever you go.”(Joshua 1:5-9 GNTD)
noting that here the Hebrew word for Jesus is used, Joshua; so that, in the Greek translation of this passage made years before Jesus (LXX), it uses the identical Greek name that is used for Jesus in the Gospels (Iesous).
And Jesus himself (Mat 28:20) and some leaders among his early followers (Hebrews 13:5, Philippians 4:4; John 14:16-23) quoted this idea, or this passage itself, to his followers who were about to experience difficulties, death and experiences which would really feel like "desertion". Note also that built in to the prayer of Psalm 22 is a deep commitment to be asking this question of a God who IS there, despite or deeper than, our puny experiences (or lack thereof) of him. There is his experience of us. He who is the ground of our very being!
2 We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a mortal, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do; for I don't do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate. Since what I do is what I don't want to do, this shows that I agree that the Law is right. So I am not really the one who does this thing; rather it is the sin that lives in me. I know that good does not live in me—that is, in my human nature. For even though the desire to do good is in me, I am not able to do it. I don't do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do. If I do what I don't want to do, this means that I am no longer the one who does it; instead, it is the sin that lives in me. So I find that this law is at work: when I want to do what is good, what is evil is the only choice I have. My inner being delights in the law of God. But I see a different law at work in my body—a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body. What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ! This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God's law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin. Romans 7:14-25 GNTD
3 There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death. What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending his own Son, who came with a nature like our sinful nature, to do away with sin. God did this so that the righteous demands of the Law might be fully satisfied in us who live according to the Spirit, and not according to human nature. Those who live as their human nature tells them to, have their minds controlled by what human nature wants. Those who live as the Spirit tells them to, have their minds controlled by what the Spirit wants. To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace. … But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to—if, in fact, God's Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ lives in you, the Spirit is life for you because you have been put right with God, even though your bodies are going to die because of sin. If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his Spirit in you. … In view of all this, what can we say? If God is for us, who can be against us? Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son—will he not also freely give us all things? Who will accuse God's chosen people? God himself declares them not guilty! Who, then, will condemn them? Not Christ Jesus, who died, or rather, who was raised to life and is at the right side of God, pleading with him for us! Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death? … No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below—there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:1-6, 9-11, 31-35, 37-39 GNTD
* Certain Epicurean and Stoic teachers also debated with him. Some of them asked, “What is this ignorant show-off trying to say?” Others answered, “He seems to be talking about foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching about "Jesus and Anastasia (resurrection)" (Acts 17:18 see GNT footnote).
4 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children— “My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.” Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Heb 12:1-13 NRSV-CI
Further prompts for this way of thinking in me.
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