Blog #15 Emmanuel, Eternal LOVE in time

Blog # 15 Emmanuel, Eternal LOVE in time When I was growing up as a boy Babe Ruth was identified as the King of Swat. He was recognized as the greatest batter in baseball at that time. Whatever it took to bat the way He did he had it. We can think of what this entailed, availability of a ball field, a pitcher, a bat, a full swing, years of practice, coaching and encouragement, challenging and doing better than the competition. After Babe Ruth’s conception, even before he was born , his DNA, configuration of genes and other factors were such that it would be possible for him to emerge as the King of Swat. In a sense, even before he was born Babe Ruth was already and not yet a King. I am fascinated and instructed by how many and well these and other considerations are similar to those we can identify and appreciate in the identity and experience of Jesus as the King of Love. Even before He was born , ‘from all eternity’ as we have come to say it , “In the beginning” as the first words of the Bible have it, and as St. John expresses it by harking back to those first words of Genesis, “ In the beginning was the Word, the Word was in God’s presence, and the Word was God.” God is Love, perfect, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful. The Father is Love. The Word is Love. The Holy Spirit is Love. The PERSON of Jesus , Emmanuel, God-Among-Us, is the Person of the Word born on earth as one of us in all things but sin. In God’s loving eternal plan a ’field’ was provided for the ETERNAL WORD to play out in a limited way on earth the perfect unlimited love of the Father. A moment in history, an identified location, a specified family line, a certain talent bank, genetic structure, and ‘flesh’ would all go to make up the ’batting field’ where this eternal love would be lived. Jesus (Savior) would be the name by which this eternal love on earth would be known, As the development of a King of Swat takes time, so it is with the development of a King of Love. As Babe Ruth even had to learn to stand and then to walk, so the Eternal Word of God was sent as part of His mission to learn all the rest of us have had to learn in our quest for happiness and our destiny in God’s love. But in a special way Babe Ruth had to learn the ins and outs of batting and the game of baseball. So Jesus had to learn the ins and outs of the human experience of perfect divine love on earth. That would mean learning how to forgive, be patient, trusting, suffer, pray, listen, work, rejoice, and all else that goes into perfect love. In Babe Ruth’s batting career in all the games in which he played one game was his best game., with baseball being the game he played best. So with Jesus there was an experience of the best of what He did best , love. That was the experience of the day and the hour He died on the Cross. “There is no greater love than this…” Budding baseball players looked to Babe Ruth for inspiration and instruction in the game of baseball and the skill of batting as he did. He drew the interest of those who wanted to bat well. And no doubt many of us learned from imitating Him. Jesus promised to draw to Himself all who “lift Him up” , discovering and experiencing the meaning and power of His death which is love. But we are not only called to imitate that love, but to share it, He in us, we in Him, playing out His love throughout the course of our lives ( Gal 2: 19 - 20) * We do not know and love Jesus merely as our teacher or our coach, but as our life! Thank You, Jesus ! * Gal. 2: 19 - 20 I have been crucified with Christ and the life I live now is not my own; Christ is living in me. I still live my human life, but it is a life of faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Rom 6: 3 - 8. Are you not aware that we who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Through baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life…If we have died with Christ, we believe that we are also to live with him Note : live in the present tense. John 10 : 27,28. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life. Note: hear, know, follow, give, all in the present tense. John 10 : 10. I came that they ( my sheep) may have life. John 1 : 11 - 13 To his own he came, yet his own did not accept him. Any who did accept him he empowered to become children of God. These are they who believe in his name___ who were begotten not by blood, nor by carnal desire, nor by man’s willing it, but by God. John 3: 3. I solemnly assure you, no one can see the reign of God unless he is begotten from above. John 5: 24. I solemnly assure you, the man who hears my word and has faith in him who sent me possesses eternal life. John 14 : 5. I am the life.