God’s Show

Jacob Needleman, eight years old in 1942, had an Uncle Ben
who gave him a half-dollar coin now and then. In those war years, fifty cents
felt like fifty dollars. Needleman says, in his book, Money and the Meaning of Life, “The experience of this
incomprehensible generosity from my Uncle Ben exerted a constant pressure on my
mental and emotional development, which, as I now realize, helps me eventually
to be convinced that despite all other evidence to the contrary, something like
God might actually exist in the universe.” Pg. 197.

Ben showed his love to his young nephew. He didn’t just tell
him, “I love you. You’re important and special.” He gave him the feeling of it
by coming alongside him, making a transfer of resources. That showing allowed Ben
not only to feel good, but to infer that deeper Good might also exist.

In
Jesus, God has shown the world his love. He has not only said, “I am gentle and
humble in heart,”, but, he also lies, as a baby, amidst the animal’s straw. (Mt.,11:29; Luke 2, NIV) Jesus came not
just to tell, but to show. Showing allows us to feel the feeling of the truth,
not just grasp it with our minds. John says, in 1John 1:1, “That which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have
looked at and touched.” As that baby grew up, he showed John the love of God. In Jesus, we have been shown the love of
the Father. The boundary-setting commandments etched on Moses’ tablets told of
God’s love. The touch of Messiah’s hand, the look in his eyes, the tone of his
voice—these give us the feeling of God’s love.

Holy Spirit, come. Show us, in the scriptural record, Jesus. And help us to infer, from Jesus, the deep goodness of Father, at the
center of the universe.