{"id":5766,"date":"2020-08-01T08:00:18","date_gmt":"2020-08-01T00:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=5766"},"modified":"2021-10-07T05:38:06","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T21:38:06","slug":"255-grace-gods-own-parable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=5766","title":{"rendered":"253. Grace: God\u2019s Own Parable"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><sup>30\u00a0<\/sup>How sick is your heart, says the Lord\u00a0God, that you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen whore;\u00a0<sup>31\u00a0<\/sup>building your platform at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square! Yet you were not like a whore, because you scorned payment.\u00a0<sup>32\u00a0<\/sup>Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!\u00a0<sup>33\u00a0<\/sup>Gifts are given to all whores; but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from all around for your whorings<\/span>.<\/strong> [<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Ezekiel 6:30-33<\/span>, <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>NRSV<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/e\/ea\/Ezekiel-icon.jpg\" alt=\"Russian icon of the Prophet Ezekiel holding a scroll with his prophecy and pointing to the &quot;closed gate&quot; (18th century, Iconostasis of Kizhi monastery, Russia)\" width=\"414\" height=\"536\" \/><span style=\"color: #008080;\">\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Russian_icon\">Russian icon<\/a>\u00a0of the Prophet Ezekiel holding a\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Scroll\">scroll<\/a>\u00a0with his prophecy and pointing to the &#8220;closed gate&#8221; (18th century).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">After narrating that creative parable as an opener, Piet Fransen turns to what he calls \u201cGod\u2019s own parable\u201d in the Word of God.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He starts off with a couple of Old Testament passages. From Isaiah 49:15 , he wants to say that Scriptures actually speak <em>against<\/em> any erroneous suggestion of God\u2019s wrath, or God turning away, or God insisting on punishment. Because, as in Hosea 11:4, God shows tender loving care.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Ezekiel 16:3-33<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">But it is the \u201cgripping language\u201d of Ezekiel 16:3-33 by which Fransen wants to highlight the Old Testament\u2019s allegorical history of Israel:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">her \u201cguilty crimes\u201d;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">her origin in pagan lands [\u201cno God\u201d];<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>un<\/em>-loved; <em>un<\/em>-wanted; <em>un-<\/em>worthwhile;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">BUT, God wished her to \u201clive\u201d;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">she grew up, but remained \u201cnaked\u201d and \u201cconfused\u201d;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">AND YET, God entered into covenant with her;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">God clothed her and made her \u201cexceedingly beautiful\u201d;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In time, her renown spread far and wide for she was \u201cperfect\u201d on account of God\u2019s gift;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Then came the crash: thinking herself great and beautiful, she became a harlot and <em>prostituted<\/em> herself [\u201cprophetic language\u201d about idolatrous Israel].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the Old Testament, \u201cprostitution\u201d and \u201cfornication\u201d are terms employed to speak against idolatry, the covenant-betrayal, the renouncing and forsaking of God as the one true God, the rejection of eternal love, and the belief in false deities.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">God must punish Israel more severely than others. Still, \u201cin punishment lies also forgiveness, for God remains ever faithful to His first love\u201d. Hence a <em><u>new<\/u><\/em> covenant [Ezekiel 16:59-63].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>So what, then, would you say the OT is all about?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Salvation history threads through God\u2019s covenant with Israel in the Old Testament as <em>the outstanding fact<\/em> and as the prelude to the everlasting covenant made in His Son. Around this covenant, we can link all the major facts: creation as pure gift of love; divine promises to the patriarchs; calling of Abraham; Exodus from Egypt; reign of the kings; prophets to call Israel back from \u201cprostitution\u201d. Humanity may abandon God, and the Old Testament demonstrates that while humanity is capable of and does actually and repeatedly abandon God, God does not abandon humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In all this, God\u2019s undying love is the key. So, when we get to the New Testament, Christianity opened with that love testified, perhaps most succinctly, in John 3:16 \u2013 \u201cFor God loved the world so much that He sent His only Son, so that anyone who believes in Him shall not die, but shall have eternal life.\u201d <em>That<\/em> unique love of God is manifested in Jesus Christ. Not just in words, but <em>concretely<\/em> in deeds &#8211; all \u201cthe small, daily marvels narrated in the Gospels, but above all the final consummation of the cross.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Old Testament was a long love story of the people of God repeatedly breaking covenants one after another with God, and of God forgiving His people, and coming back to them with a new covenant each time one was broken.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So what, then, would you say the Old Testament is all about? In the section on \u201cThe Covenant of grace\u201d, Fransen says the Old Testament \u00a0is \u201cone long hymn of praise to the love which God showed to His chosen people.\u201d In describing divine tendency, the Old Testament\u2019s central theme is always God\u2019s covenant freely entered with His people, which harbours fidelity, compassion, patience, forbearance, love and mercy, even in the face of a fickle and faithless bride<em>!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Fransen stresses \u201cGod\u2019s graciousness and fidelity\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the Old Testament, Yahweh\u2019s two attributes are <strong><em>mercy<\/em><\/strong> and <strong><em>fidelity<\/em><\/strong>. No wonder Cardinal Walter Kasper writes a book titled \u201cMercy\u201d which he insists in the subtitle is \u201cThe Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life\u201d. This same principle is taken up by Pope Francis, a fellow Jesuit of Kasper, in a call to the Church to celebrate a year of mercy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">New Testament authors, including St Paul, used the Greek term <em>charis<\/em> to give three meanings to \u201cGrace\u201d: as <em>Condescending<\/em> love; as <em>Conciliatory<\/em> compassion; and as Fidelity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Christ the Word made flesh, who is the image of God (Hebrews 1:3), speaks so insistently of God\u2019s love for us. The three parables in Luke 15 are told by Christ so that humanity would know that God loves us with unceasing fidelity, unimaginable love, mercy and forgiveness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The challenging question to all is whether we can in our hearts share the joy of the heavenly Father when a sinner comes home?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The meaning of the term \u201cgrace\u201d [<em>gratia<\/em> in Latin] is God\u2019s love (1 John 4:14-19). The theology of grace is therefore about God\u2019s love and of the love which God\u2019s first love has caused in us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Concerning grace in the New Testament, from the answers gathered in conversation with ordinary faithful, arguably the most fecund location for reflection is a comparison between [a] a common view of God\u2019s wrath resulting in God turning His face away from sinful humanity, <em>with<\/em> [b] Pope Francis\u2019 take on the Parable of the Prodigal Son.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">the father did not slam the door on the insolent younger son who left;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">he neither locked the door nor did he change the lock;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">he did not just stay inside, forever refusing to see the son;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">he even stepped outside the door daily waiting for the son\u2019s return;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">his face, the face of love and mercy, was forever turned <em>towards<\/em> the wayward younger son; and<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">to the elder son, who was equally insolent, he did the same.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Fransen\u2019s working definitions of grace<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Fransen has described \u201cgrace\u201d as:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">a very pure and powerful love that can change bitterness and hatred into a return of love;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">mercy and fidelity;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">God\u2019s first love for us [per St. Augustine];<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">condescending love, conciliatory compassion, and fidelity;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">a fatherly love that never loses sight of us;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">the warmth of God\u2019s <em>initial love<\/em>\u201d by which \u201cwe are made able to look up to Him again\u201d and, \u201ctogether in and with Christ\u2019s filial love, there is born in us a new filial <em>power<\/em> enabling us, in union with Him and through the strength of the Spirit, to cry in very deed and truth, \u2018Abba! Father!<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">an outflowing and inflowing life;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">a created gift which brings an interior strength, a lifting urge, a yearning for God;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">the secret of God\u2019s presence in our life;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">the mystery of God\u2019s intense, living presence in us.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Copyright \u00a9 Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh, August 2020. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to <strong><u><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"mailto:jeffangiegoh@gmail.com\">jeffangiegoh@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/u><\/strong> You can also be dialogue partners in this <em>Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry<\/em> by sending us questions for discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>30\u00a0How sick is your heart, says the Lord\u00a0God, that you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen whore;\u00a031\u00a0building your platform at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square! Yet you were not like a whore, because you scorned payment.\u00a032\u00a0Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!\u00a033\u00a0Gifts <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=5766\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh","author_link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?author=1"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?cat=1\" rel=\"category\">From Our Perspective<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"30\u00a0How sick is your heart, says the Lord\u00a0God, that you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen whore;\u00a031\u00a0building your platform at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square! Yet you were not like a whore, because you scorned payment.\u00a032\u00a0Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!\u00a033\u00a0Gifts&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5766"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5766"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6679,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5766\/revisions\/6679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}