“I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).
There is an old Greek play in which a young man is passionately devoted to the goddess Artemis, daughter of Zeus. When this strong and courageous young man is mortally wounded, you expect the goddess to come down to comfort him in his dying moments. She does come down from Mount Olympus, and she sees the death sweat on his face and she hears the death rattle in his throat. Then she explains that no one from Mount Olympus can bear to see mortals die. Whereupon she turns and abandons him in his loneliest moment, his time of greatest need.
This, of course, is the exact opposite of what God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ does. The death sweat is on Jesus’ body, the death rattle is in His throat, the pain and the agony are all there, but His Father does not turn away. He moves into the event, He moves through it, He identifies…
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