So, today's sermon got me thinking about Christ on the cross. So much emphasis is placed on His physical suffering, as He was tortured and eviscerated....as if it ought to be some sort of guilt trip. "Look what he endured for you. It hurt really bad. Feel guilty, and out of that guilt, try to behave." -And then the spiritualists reply with chatter about altered states of consciousness, where one is unable to feel physiological pain. (And that IS a reality; there are documented instances of people having invasive surgery while in a trance-state, under NO anesthetics, and they felt no pain. That is real. And Christ certainly was capable of invoking such a state, to save Himself any pain He would have felt.) But I say: that is missing the point.
An aleph- a term math majors might be familiar with- tends to represent an "infinite reduction," numerically. In Judaism, it is the first letter of the alphabet (aleph = alpha), and it represents the Beginning. But its written symbol also represents "God above, man below, and That which connects them. (In Sanskrit, the term "That" translates as God. -And so, one could say, That which connects God to man, is God. = Messiah. = Christ.) Anyway, to thicken the plot, in philosophical/existential terms, an aleph also represents a single point in time/space, where everything collides- none of which is minimized, but simply concentrated into a singular point of experience.
And so. Back to Christ on the cross, and His suffering. He may or may not have *actually felt the physical torture inflicted upon Him. That is beside the point; that suffering is a mere shadow, an analogy pointing toward HIM as the ultimate, holy ALEPH- that point at which ALL is concentrated into a singularity, if you will. You know that terrible feeling of guilt and conviction when you've done something wrong, and then it is doubled by the disappointment you have caused others with your actions? Shame? Regret? These are very REAL, tangible feelings we've all experienced. -Christ, on the cross, felt THAT-- the infinite WEIGHT of every wrong thing, every transgression, EVER committed by man. He felt the [rightful] rage, disappointment, and heartbreak of the Father who created us. ALL of this was poured into a 'singularity' - that time He spent on the cross. His physical pain was NOTHING compared to that. It is, practically, *beside the point.* It's a shadow and a weak analogy of the existential suffering Christ endured.
Christ IS the Aleph- that singularity at which ALL converges. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Scoff, as you may, at what was done to Him physically. -That's NOTHING compared to Him seeing your very own FACE, while He hung on the cross, experiencing punishment for every last wrong thing you ever have and ever will do. And loving you, no less. He could have called down 10,000 angels to take His place. But He didn't. He suffered, lovingly, for OUR wrongs. It is NOT a guilt-trip. It is an invitation into GRACE. It's an invitation into, "hey. You know all that stuff you don't like about yourself, and wish you could change? I LOVE YOU. Let me MOVE INTO your heart, and make those changes FOR you."
Again, friends, that is NOT shame; it is GRACE. It is the Creator of the universe saying directly to YOU, "I love you so much, I'd rather pay your debt than live without you." There IS NO guilt, shame, or hiding. IT IS DONE. He took care of it. Be free, knowing that, and do not take it for granted.
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