Bridging the distance
God spoke to Moses as the “I Am” (Ex 3). That name implies God’s eternity, which is entirely outside of time. Philosophers have observed that the “I Am” has no history and thus cannot suffer the agonies of our developing world. Looked at this way, God seems remote, even alien.
Yet the God of Moses had compassion on the suffering of his people. In the Gospel Jesus tells his disciples that his Father reaches out through the very human heart of Jesus (Mt 11). Jesus is embedded in our history. He is immersed so far in the human condition that he was, as Hebrews says, “tempted in every way that we are” (Heb 4).
God made human beings in the divine image, endowed with wisdom and freedom. Still it is hard for our minds to bridge the distance between the eternal and the world of time. Only the heart of Jesus in which we can see the ‘humanity of God’ can enable us to bridge that gap.
Prayer:
I praise you, O my God, because you are divine. I thank you for the humanity of your Son. Through him lead me to yourself.