God is poor

‘I hope you’ve dared somewhere along your journey to say “I love you” to someone. We’re afraid to say it because we’re not sure it will be accepted and given back. If we say “I love you” and don’t hear it back, it’s as if we’ve dropped our pants and exposed ourselves.

I use that shocking image because that’s exactly the nakedness of God on the cross. God said “I love you” to the world. Good took that great risk of looking stupid, and we didn’t say it back. God hangs there naked and vulnerable before his enemies who will not believe in the love of God.

The fate of God, it seems, is to be poor, to be given and not received, to fail. We share as Christians in the eternal fate of God: not to succeed, to be poor and often look foolish and defenseless. Once you say, “I love you,” you stand foolish and exposed until the other says, “I love you, too.” Such is the fate of God.’ [from the Price of Peoplehood quoted by R. Rohr]

God loved us so much and he really meant it. He was not only  saying “I love you” but he really showed us the cost of his love for us. Jesus– the God-with-us, is saying to us everyday “I love you”. Until we say to him, “Jesus I love you too and I meant it”, he would remain there vulnerable before us. Because he loves us so much, he comes to us everyday to see us his beloved. ‘His day would never be complete, until he sees us’…the people he loves. He comes in various ways: in a friend who needs company, in a stranger needing direction, in a person looking for  a shoulder to lean on, in someone looking for a friend, and in million other ways. The call for us, “Have we embraced his love?”