WHERE IS GOD?

 

Philip's request to Jesus resonates with what many among us long for: "Show us the Father and we will be satisfied!" Some ask this question in the comforts of their armchairs inside their air-conditioned offices. Tens of millions ask this as they struggle to survive from one day to the next. Where is God?

One seventh of one year's income from the richest 2,000 billionaires on earth can eradicate poverty while 25,000 people from the poorest countries, 40% of them children, starve to death every single day. Where is God?

The world's richest countries spend close to 2 trillion US dollars a year on weapons of mass destruction while the United Nations report that less than a third of that amount can provide food, water, basic education, health care, and decent housing for the poorest nations. Where is God?

The Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that over 54,000 Palestinians, a third being children, have been killed by the State of Israel's war machine since October 7, 2023. Where is God?

Jesus tells Philip over and over to believe. Believe in the words. If these are not enough, believe in the works. Believe in love!

Those of us who call ourselves Christian must embody the basic tenet of our faith: incarnation. Love in the flesh. So, where is God? Among us. Between us. One of us. Many times, a stranger... Anywhere and everywhere we experience goodness wrestling free from evil, where we find hope being triumphant over despair, where we encounter faith stronger than fear, where we see love chosen over indifference, where we experience life rising up in the midst of death. Even from under the rubble.

Love in the flesh. God is there.

*Photo of Gaza (from The New York Times)