Repairing The Breach

Hosanna? What is it like when God comes to us? Who is this God who we wait for at Advent, to save us? To repair the breach? In Luke 19 we read of Jesus coming into the city in an atmosphere of triumph and rejoicing. His followers spread palm leaves and sing ‘Hosanna!’ But what kind of triumph will it be? Many of the Jews singing on the streets of Jerusalum thought it would be the triumph of a warrior God, leading an army to wipe out the Roman oppressors. Many readers of the Bible since then have thought it was the triumph of a kind of brilliant sleight-of-hand, in which God is a punitive God who demands someone to punish, and sort of splits himself in two so that he can take the punishment on himself and therefore beat himself at his own game. But is that what Jesus is like? We read in Luke 22 how Jesus responds when his disciples attempt to use violence to retaliate against the Romans, and when the mob beat and mock him, and eventually nail him to a Cross. Does he let his disciples raise their swords to defend his unimpeachable honour? Does he demand restitution before he forgives the mob? No. 96