#god&039;s pathos

[biblebloodhound]

The Parable of the Tenants (Matthew 21:33-46)

Because we cannot see God, it’s too easy to treat the Lord as if he were an absentee landowner.

Illustration of the parable of the vineyard workers, in the Codex Aureus of Echternach, c.1040 C.E. “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect…

[cmariottini]

The God Who Suffers - Part 3

The God Who Suffers – Part 3

Claude MariottiniEmeritus Professorof Old TestamentNorthern Baptist Seminary To read The God Who Suffers – Part 1 of this post click here. To read The God Who Suffers – Part 2 of this post click here. All these references (the ones mentioned at the end of Part 2) which indicate that God enters into the sufferings of his people are affirmed by the statement of a prophet who spoke out of the…

[biblebloodhound]

Isaiah 9:18-10:4 – The Reality in Front of Us

Isaiah 9:18-10:4 – The Reality in Front of Us

Surely wickedness burns like a fire;    it consumes briers and thorns,it sets the forest thickets ablaze,    so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.By the wrath of the Lord Almighty    the land will be scorchedand the people will be fuel for the fire;    they will not spare one another.On the right they will devour,    but still be hungry;on the left they will eat,    but not be…

[cmariottini]

The God Who Suffers - Part 2

The God Who Suffers – Part 2

Claude MariottiniEmeritus Professorof Old TestamentNorthern Baptist Seminary In my previous post on The God Who Suffers – Part 1, I wrote that the God of the Old Testament is a God who chooses to identify himself with his people in their suffering. The view that God chooses to identify with Israel and enter their history raises an important question: does God suffer with his people? According to…

[cmariottini]

The God Who Suffers - Part 1

The God Who Suffers – Part 1

Claude MariottiniEmeritus Professorof Old TestamentNorthern Baptist Seminary Few people today truly know the God of the Old Testament. Most Christians focus their study of Scriptures almost exclusively on the New Testament. For many, the God of the Old Testament is a violent God, a God of wrath, and an evil deity. Consequently, the view of a God who suffers with and because of his people is…

[biblebloodhound]

Hebrews 10:26-31 – On Rejecting Divine Love

Whenever God’s people drift away and slide into unhealthy or damaging ways of living, God’s love is not okay with it.

 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has…

[biblebloodhound]

Jeremiah 3:1-5 – Spiritual Adultery

The pathos of G-d calls us to better than hanging out in a dark emotional shame lounge of sordid characters drinking cheap dandelion wine and smoking nasty cut-rate cigars in smelly old leisure suits.

“If a man divorces a woman    and she goes and marries someone else,he will not take her back again,    for that would surely corrupt the land.But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers,    so why are you trying to come back to me?”    says the Lord.“Look at the shrines on every hilltop.    Is there any place you have not been defiled    by your adultery with other gods?You sit like a…

[biblebloodhound]

Amos 8:1-7 – A Prophet’s Perspective on the Powerful and the Poor

Those with power, position, and privilege must continually be vigilant to use such influence for the benefit of all persons – not just themselves or people just like them.

This is what the Almighty Lord showed me: a basket of ripe summer fruit. He asked, “What do you see, Amos?” “A basket of ripe summer fruit,” I answered. Then the Lord said to me, “My people Israel are now ripe. I will no longer overlook what they have done. On that day, the songs of the temple will become loud cries,” declares the Almighty Lord. “There will be dead bodies scattered everywhere.…

[biblebloodhound]

Luke 19:41-44 – The Place of Tears

Jesus stood and looked affectionately and longingly at the city… and he wept.

Man of Sorrows by James B. Janknegt, 1990 “As Jesus came to the city and observed it, he wept over it.  He said, ‘If only you knew on this of all days the things that lead to peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes.  The time will come when your enemies will build fortifications around you, encircle you, and attack you from all sides.  They will crush you completely, you and the people…