To the Unknown God

"For as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: 'To an Unknown God.' This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I'm telling you about." The Apostle Paul as recorded in Acts chapter 17. 

"Jesus begins to show us himself and his God. Not a God of war and division, a conquering and spiteful God who demands sacrifice, but a God we can trust—even more surprising, a God who trusts us. From the Lectionary reading for Sunday, January 8, 2017. Matthew 3:13-17, Inward/Outward

Sometimes, like just now, I read something when a thought explodes in my consciousness. It's like a mental Big Bang. And when this happens it comes with many backstories that are attached to it.

I am going to begin with the thought, fill in  with a couple of the backstories and then  conclude with the thought. 

The thought--A huge part of Jesus' struggle was to convince the multitudes, including the religious leaders, that He, as God, was not anything like the god  passed down by word of mouth through the ages and read by the priests in the synagogues. It was this distinction that eventually got Him killed. "If you were God you would  deliver us from this mess. If you were God you wouldn't spend your time with the peasants and the powerless, you would align yourself with the Zealots and do whatever it takes to make our people free of Roman oppression.  God is a God of war and a God of vengeance. You are not God. You are a lying  fraud. You are no friend of the  Jews. You are worthless to us. We need to rid our world of you and continue to wait for God." Jesus began His ministry with not only the multitude but with a multitude of strikes against Him.  How  could He ever convince His people that "that god" was not Him. "That God" was the word of the writers but not the Word of God. 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God.'  "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one knows the Father who doesn't know Me." 

This "explosion" was somewhat more complicated than this, but you get the idea.

Backstory #1.  The evolution of my theology and my relationship with the "one true God", "the Unknown God" goes through many significant people.  One of the most significant, a man who now lives with his husband north of San Francisco, was at the time a college student at Baylor University. Technically I was his youth director, but early on in our friendship, he became a mentor. His college church was a unique church in Waco, the Seventh and James Baptist Church. He had a special relationship with his actual youth director in that church.  That man was affiliated with a very unique church, The Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C. I, vicariously, through those relationships was deeply affected by the writings, teachings and ministry of that congregation. To this day I am richly affected. This church has an email ministry called Inward/Outward.  I subscribed to and  receive a daily quote. This quote is from a wide and marvelous pool of resources.  Some quotes are only a couple of sentences and others are somewhat longer. The only ones that are "churchy" are the Sunday quotes from the Lectionary. These "Sunday" quotes come to my inbox every Saturday. They are written by Kayla McClurg, the editor.  Over the past fifteen years these quotes have powerfully affected my thinking and my theology.  They have affected my life. 

Backstory #2.  The lectionary is a collection of scripture dating back to the fourth century. The selected scripture is based on and follows the liturgical year. The lectionary is still used by many different denominations to provide source material for  teaching and sermons that are held in common by tens of thousands of  churches and millions of parishioners each Sunday. . Ms. McClurg bases her "Sunday" quote on the selected scripture from the lectionary.

The thought--  First of all try not to judge me that I consider the "one true God" to be the  "the Unknown God".  Taoism teaches that if you can define "the Tao" then it's not "the Tao."   I'll not delve into why I think Taosism has anything to do with this article. I"m just trying to make a point that every major religion struggles with the true identity of God--the Supreme Being, this Higher Power, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Yahweh, Jehovah, Adonai, the baby in a manger, etc., etc., etc. Please consider for those of you who trust a more literal interpretation of the Bible, "the Unknown God" is in the Bible.  That's where I got it in Acts Chapter 17. When Paul was struggling with how to tell them about God,, the Father of Jesus, while pointing at  the idols on Mars Hill he said, "Look!   That statue to 'the Unknown God'  is the God I worship". I'll leave it to you to ponder the fact that he used a physical shrine, an idol, as a prompt to explain God. Weren't people killed for that? I am not the first person to struggle with all of this. The Bible is literally true? Then please explain that story literally. Explain how a criminal offense in the Old Testament is a legitimate prop for truth in the New. Explain that to me and I'll seriously consider your position.

I'll conclude with an answer to my question "How could He ever convince His people that 'that god' was not Him?" In spite of spending His life loving and caring for people, and demonstrating the very nature of God, He didn't convince them. You know the story. The Jewish leaders and the Roman machinery had him put to death. Not just put to death but horribly tortured and brutally murdered. Whereas, He was in the short run unsuccessful in proving the nature of God, He was extremely successful in proving the nature of man. But through people who care about me, like my good friend in San Francisco, I am not only heartened by the true nature of man, but by  the true nature of God..  God may be Unknown, but He is not Unknowable.