...twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” - Matthew 27:29
A god who needs protecting is no god at all. In particular, a god who needs human beings to take offence on his behalf and to violently protect his reputation and honour is no god. If he is a god, let him contend for himself. Let's be straight: a god who is this brittle, this fragile, this needy - he is nothing. An idol. Emptiness.
What difference does it make that God - the God we see in Christ - willingly submitted to mockery and scorn? Surely at least this: every Christian crusade, every Christian blasphemy law, every time a Christian says 'well they wouldn't get away with mocking Islam in this way' - this is always a misunderstanding and diminishing of God. It does not serve his glory for us to try to fight for him; rather in so far as we are able we conceal his glory. His glory is revealed at the cross.
Christians serve a God who is big enough, strong enough, secure enough, that without his own glory being threatened in any way he could endure mockery and abuse from creatures he had made. Indeed, we serve a God who could take that very mockery and abuse and turn it into the most stunning revelation of his own glorious love: the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He does not need us to take offence on his behalf. He does not need, or ask for, our defence.
Let us not transform him into an idol, imprisoned by his own fragile glory.
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