The metaphor of Jesus as God's Son has struck me in a new way. Why would God have a son? Well he wouldn't except in the sense that we are all creations of God, all God's sons and daughters. But also it apparently is Jesus who claims so intimate a connection as to be One with the Father. As far as I know Jesus never claimed that he was God's Son, as we understand it, though he refers to God as Father. Actually we could all declare ourselves sons and daughters of God if we knew his love as deeply as Jesus did. Of course in Jesus' time the son is more important than the daughter for a lot of cultural, historical and probably religious reasons.
But as I think of the metaphor in terms of what my own sons mean to me, I know that I would give my life rather than have theirs taken. God would too, except that God "so loved the world" that his love is possibly best understood in terms of a love so great that a father would even give his son to the task of demonstrating that love. Jesus makes God vulnerable in his suffering and death. God suffers in seeing this death. But God suffers in seeing the pain and suffering and unnecessary deaths we all cause one another. We love desperately as if there is not enough love to go around. We love as if God's love is not infinite. We love in small boxes and tight places. We love forgetting that Jesus asked us to love one another as he loved us. He obviously had the faith if not knowledge that such divine love is possible even for you and me.
