“If I had asked people what they wanted they would have said a faster horse.” -Henry Ford
If God asked most Israelites of old, or most Jews, Christians or Muslims today what they wanted, their answer would be more secular, political, coercive power, i.e. violence, to dominate others and make them obey them and become good, or else “to see to it” if others will not do things their way they will pay dearly for it in the currency of pain or death. In essence, if people were asked by God what want today, they would still want what they wanted at the time of Jesus and before, namely, a faster war-horse or some development there of in order to sustain or increase the power of violence under their control.
But, what did God give the Jews, the Christians, the Muslims and all humanity to free them forever from all that ails and afflicts them? He gave them knowledge of Himself and access to Himself and to His own Power, i.e., unconditional and everlasting love (agape) of all under all circumstances. How did the Holy One do this? He did it by enfleshing His own Word (logos), by sending His own Son, to live among Jews and goyim and thereby make visible the invisible love that is God for all to securely live in and for all to securely live by in time and in eternity. Yet, as baffling as it is, Jews, Christians, Muslims and most human beings keep wanting a faster war-horse.
“The horse is a vain hope for deliverance, despite its great power it cannot save” (Ps 33:17).
Words that Jesus the Jew knew well and knew to be the truth. A truth that He lived by unto death—and Resurrection.
-Emmanuel Charles McCarthy
