Creation: the First Revelation of the Cross
Genesis 1: 1ff “In the beginning, when God created the universe, the earth was formless and desolate…”
God was the creator of the world. That beauty of creation and that everything in the world always reminds me of the greatness of God in nature. Everywhere in the world stand as means to appreciate the goodness of God and of his power and might.
However, aside from the reality of good and beauty of creation, there is problem of suffering in the world. This reality of suffering has a lot to do with the way God created the world. Creation was God’s first Trinitarian action: “And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us…”(Gen 1: 24). From the tremendous act of love, from nothing something came to be. When God created the world, everything was destined for the good. The end of all that exists is the good. God as the creator of the good is the destiny of everything that exists. The creation, though created by God who is in Himself the ultimate Good has not fully attained perfection. The perfection of everything requires time and process. Processual is the term proper for the movement of everything towards perfection. The imperfection of the world was marked by the presence of evil and sin. That is why the process of separation and struggle between good and evil is present in the world. There is suffering and pain!
The law of nature describes this reality of natural survival that someone is to die for somebody else to live. If one needs to survive, one has to eliminate the other. The weak have no place to live while the strong dominate the powerless. That then is suffering. That then is cross. Why is there suffering in the world?
Since, one of the characteristics of the world is processual; it is rather true that suffering is but a necessary element to discover the presence of God in a difficult and suffering world. C.S. Lewis says “God whispers in our pleasure but shouts in our pain. Pain is His megaphone to rouse the dulled world.” The world being temporal and finite reveals the need for a processual movement to see God in creation.
The reality of suffering in the world must be seen from the eyes of God as the Creator, revealing Himself as the eternal God into the world that is temporal and finite. It was God’s way of expressing the tremendous love by creating a place and time where he wanted Himself to be known. His greatness moves Him to enter into time by providing us things that hold His mysterious and tremendous power and love. Suffering then becomes the process towards knowing and understanding God. The event of suffering does make a person ask the question “why?” and this creates an avenue of a deep quest for the reason and meaning of suffering. “Why do I need to suffer if God is all good and all powerful?” is one of the common questions of those who are in trouble about anything in their life. The awareness that the world was imperfect becomes the positive step towards making it perfect. St. Paul says “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” To transcend every experience of pain and suffering in the world is the common call of creation to all. Since everything that exists was done by someone who is God himself, creation must be seen always from the eyes of the Creator. The world was created with reason and purpose, and so nothing in the world happens by accident or chance. God is therefore the centre of every thought and reflection about everything in creation. All that has been especially question about the presence of suffering is God’s ways of expressing his ways of knowing him in the reality that is filled with imperfection. The world is destined to God alone and it will be perfected in Him alone.
Genesis 1: 1ff “In the beginning, when God created the universe, the earth was formless and desolate…”
God was the creator of the world. That beauty of creation and that everything in the world always reminds me of the greatness of God in nature. Everywhere in the world stand as means to appreciate the goodness of God and of his power and might.
However, aside from the reality of good and beauty of creation, there is problem of suffering in the world. This reality of suffering has a lot to do with the way God created the world. Creation was God’s first Trinitarian action: “And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us…”(Gen 1: 24). From the tremendous act of love, from nothing something came to be. When God created the world, everything was destined for the good. The end of all that exists is the good. God as the creator of the good is the destiny of everything that exists. The creation, though created by God who is in Himself the ultimate Good has not fully attained perfection. The perfection of everything requires time and process. Processual is the term proper for the movement of everything towards perfection. The imperfection of the world was marked by the presence of evil and sin. That is why the process of separation and struggle between good and evil is present in the world. There is suffering and pain!
The law of nature describes this reality of natural survival that someone is to die for somebody else to live. If one needs to survive, one has to eliminate the other. The weak have no place to live while the strong dominate the powerless. That then is suffering. That then is cross. Why is there suffering in the world?
Since, one of the characteristics of the world is processual; it is rather true that suffering is but a necessary element to discover the presence of God in a difficult and suffering world. C.S. Lewis says “God whispers in our pleasure but shouts in our pain. Pain is His megaphone to rouse the dulled world.” The world being temporal and finite reveals the need for a processual movement to see God in creation.
The reality of suffering in the world must be seen from the eyes of God as the Creator, revealing Himself as the eternal God into the world that is temporal and finite. It was God’s way of expressing the tremendous love by creating a place and time where he wanted Himself to be known. His greatness moves Him to enter into time by providing us things that hold His mysterious and tremendous power and love. Suffering then becomes the process towards knowing and understanding God. The event of suffering does make a person ask the question “why?” and this creates an avenue of a deep quest for the reason and meaning of suffering. “Why do I need to suffer if God is all good and all powerful?” is one of the common questions of those who are in trouble about anything in their life. The awareness that the world was imperfect becomes the positive step towards making it perfect. St. Paul says “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” To transcend every experience of pain and suffering in the world is the common call of creation to all. Since everything that exists was done by someone who is God himself, creation must be seen always from the eyes of the Creator. The world was created with reason and purpose, and so nothing in the world happens by accident or chance. God is therefore the centre of every thought and reflection about everything in creation. All that has been especially question about the presence of suffering is God’s ways of expressing his ways of knowing him in the reality that is filled with imperfection. The world is destined to God alone and it will be perfected in Him alone.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire