God with us
The love of God
The faithful have tried in many variations to describe the love of God in a multitude of pictures and to bear witness to it from generation to generation. They saw God as a shepherd, king, judge, tireless and passionate lover, faithful husband, loving father and mother ... but still: did they understand this God? When "He came to His own home, His own people received Him not." (John 1,11)
Israel's experience and knowledge of God in the Old Testament are a "testament" for us. We have inherited them. They are part of our faith. Christ was a Jew. His faith in God, His life and His message cannot be understood without the Old Testament. Today we talk of a God who became man, a God of Grace; we talk of Holy Spirit and Trinity. For many people, including Christians, these are incomprehensible statements. But against the background of the Old Testament image of God you may be able to better understand these dogmas.
God with us - Jesus Christ
In spite of Israel's deep and intense experience of the closeness of God and in spite of the bold pictures describing their experience, God Himself surpassed the highest hopes and expectations: He became a human being. Jesus ("God is salvation") is the "Emmanuel" (God is with us). In Him, the Old Testament name of God is fulfilled in a special way (Exodus 3,14) In Him God Himself has become visible, can be heard and touched. He shows us how God is. This is why His disciples could say: " ... we testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us; that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you ...(1 John 1,3).
God Yahweh came so close to us human beings in Jesus Christ that we were able to kill Him. In the person of Jesus Christ, in His actions and words, God Himself overcame all distance to man. "He is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17, 28). Even a sinner can now be sure of God's closeness. But has God become more comprehensible to us men through this "touchable closeness"? It does not make it easier for us to believe. Had this Jesus of Nazareth not existed, it would be absurd to even think of God becoming man!
Jesus Christ is the "self-representation" of God in history. John experiences this Jesus and comes to the conclusion that "God is love" (1 John 4,8). The essence of this love is to seek closeness to man, to follow him, to lift and set him up, to console and heal him to give hope and confidence. Like a good shepherd, God looks for the lost sheep and carries the weak lamb on His shoulders. Like a pelican who feeds his young with the blood of his own heart, He gives His life. He dies like a grain of wheat so that new life can come from it. He becomes bread, allows Himself to be broken and distributed, pressed like grapes. These experiences, images, symbols are all signs of one reality: God loves us.
