Awesome with Such Intimacy

The God of Jesus Christ is both transcendent and intimate, fearsome and tender, all at the same time. In the story of the two disciples who walk, unwittingly, with the resurrected Christ on the road to Emmaus, Jesus doesn't return from death as a conquering warrior seeking revenge but as a patient teacher who walks alongside those who are frightened and confused. Like the Renaissance master Raphael who could depict both God's majesty riding storm clouds and his intimacy in the Christ child pressing his cheek up to Mary’s, we're called to embrace both aspects of God's nature. This challenges our expectations of divine power: God's strength is revealed not in domination but in persistence, not in punishment but in presence.