Today is the birthday of my niece, Hannah, who passed away from leukemia several years ago. I wrote about Hannah in my book, The Gospel of John: When Love Comes to Town. There I quote from Karl Barth, who said:
“God shows Himself to be the great and true God in the fact that He can and will let His grace bear this cost, that He is capable and willing and ready for this condescension, this act of extravagance, this far journey. What marks out God above all false gods is that they are not capable and ready for this. In their otherworldliness and supernaturalness and otherness, etc., the gods are a reflection of the human pride which will not unbend, which will not stoop to that which is beneath it. God is not proud. In His high majesty He is humble. It is in this high humility that He speaks and acts as the God who reconciles the world to Himself.” (Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of Reconciliation 4/1, ed. G. W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance {Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1956}, p. 159.)
I go on to say,
“It’s not only extraordinary theologians who get at this act of extravagance. Ordinary people living extraordinary lives get at it as well, living out the far journey close to home: sick kids caring for others, single moms working for their kids rather than partying to get their kicks, stay-at home dads staying home for their kids and corporate people choosing corporate solidarity with the people rather than the corporate climb. They do this because they see themselves as participants in God’s far journey through his Son.” (The Gospel of John: When Love Comes to Town {Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2010}, p. 222).
Even when battling with cancer, Hannah continued to care for others in their sickness, bearing witness to God’s light in dark places. The memory of her life brings the light of witness home to me today. May we all experience and bear witness to God’s far journey of humble love today.
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