That God makes himself vulnerable—
That he puts himself out there, available to be abused—
Is surely a stumbling block to those
Who find exposure a disagreeable policy
For their own lives.
They wonder but cannot figure out
Why he would put up with Satan
And the other rebels for so long—
And why he made man at all—
Only to be rejected and frustrated by him
Again and again.
But that’s just the thing,
For there was something else
Beyond rejection and frustration
To be appreciated about the creation of man—
There was that patent possibility that they would
Seek him and reach out for him and find him.
And this, my friends, was the point of it all!
But when you point out
How God wanted man like this—
Even though they know the passages themselves—
They grow a little embarrassed at this and
You’ll see there’s a burr under their saddle about it.
And they will adamantly remind you that
God does not need anything—
As if this fact erases God’s desire to love mankind.
They’re changing the subject, of course.
But is this not the best they can do
Since they are not willing to deny all scripture?
They simply do not like this part of the story
And wish it were different.
It irks them and does not fit their values.
They are hardened to it
For they do not want to be vulnerable themselves
And would really prefer not to have a God who is.
Even though they probably do not realize it on the outside,
They are pouting on the inside about the call
To turn the other cheek themselves.
And I believe that for the same cause
They would balk at the cross itself
And the vulnerability of it—
If it were not the undeniable centerpiece
Of the religion.
But they have found refuge from the discomfort of it
In what they see as Jesus’ cold duty
To provide reconciliation for sinful man.
They would rather not believe that it came from
A warm heart overflowing with a volunteering love
That would make itself vulnerable to the rejection
Of every soul it ever created—
But they’re OK with it if it comes
From an austere sense of duty
And they willingly forget that it was
For the joy set before him
That he endured it all.