The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

by Brennan Manning

Israel’s concept of God needed clearer definition, for God is not inhuman but will wear humanity, as He ultimately does in Jesus, far beyond the limits of humanity as we know it, so that He can be everything we are and are not. Now God raised up the prophets, burned into their consciousness a lively awareness of His presence, and sent them to reveal Him in a warmer, more passionate manner. Though Israel had played the prostitute whoring after false gods, the prophets cry the constancy of God in the face of human infidelity: “Israel, don’t ever be so foolish as to measure my love for you in terms of your love for me! Don’t ever compare your thin, pallid, wavering, and moody love with my love, for I am God, not man.” Human love will always be a faint shadow of God’s love. Not because it is too sugary or sentimental, but simply because it can never compare from whence it comes. Human love, with all its passion and emotion, is a thin echo of the passion/emotion love of Yahweh. In the Sinai wilderness the covenant God was faithful and just. Israel was faithful. They were related. But if Israel became unfaithful, logic and human justice required no further pursuit of Yahweh. He sees the contract broken, picks up His briefcase, and walks out of court. The relationship is ended. But we cannot apply human logic and justice to the living God. Human logic is based on human experience and human nature. Yahweh does not conform to this model. If Israel is unfaithful, God remains faithfu...