8 I am not a mere character Initially, God, coming out of anonymity and revealing who He really was in His own drama, did not appeal to everyone. Only those who were able to experience God’s presence, to really meet Him, could fully grasp the meaning. It was as if God was saying: “For you, now I am here your God because I entered our common drama, but from the beginning till the end of time I am the only one who is. Remember, in our drama, I am not a character, but the one who is acting it. You only see my mask, only hear the words of my role intended for you to understand. However, I am none of those things – I am the only one who is.” For the people of today, it is also something very difficult to grasp, because they themselves do not comprehend it either. Just like the Israelites in past times, each of us has adhered to his or her role and has identified with our own role so deeply that we believe that the same holds true for God. God is great, powerful, loving, jealous, forgiving… But these are all just additional roles of a father or a mother which we project on to Him! The true God is just who He is. The other things are just how WE want to see Him because that’s the way we want to see things. And what if we do not want to see it this way? This is even more common today. As the abundance of traits traditionally ascribed to God becomes a hindrance, we become scared and reject God Himself: “How could God be jealous? That’s a clear case of selfishness!” And yet, we really do not mind God Himself, but only His all too human mask, which He put on in the Old Testament times, and moreover, only out of His love. 9 A distant God If God had revealed Himself immediately as not being the one man considered Him to be, at that actual moment He would probably have lost His authority which was firmly associated with His paternal role. If He had been free to say something like: “Look, I’m not just your dad, I’m everyone’s dad. And actually, that’s also just your imagination. To be a father, I would have to be a human like you.” But this is taboo! Intimate confessions and authority are mutually exclusive, especially to children who have not yet come of age to be able to play the role of a father or a mother themselves. Back then, the whole of the Israeli nation were children of God. Therefore, Moses needed to go toMount Sinai again, this time under all the people’s eyes. Even then, he encountered God in intimate proximity. However, in the people’s eyes, the very same scene observed from afar looked quite different: On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of Spirituality Studies 1 (2) Fall 2015 75 (7)
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