Concerning that matter, let me share a story that someone envisions a great gathering in heaven. It seems that all the people who ever lived have assembled before the throne in order to be judged for their lives on earth. However, they were far from a submissive crowd. They had complaints to make. It was a lot like a clergy meeting at the Annual Conference, or sessions of the Administrative Board some of us have known.
One group of complainers consisted of Jews who had suffered great persecution. Many had died in gas chambers and concentration camps. How could God judge them? What could he know of their suffering? “Who is God, that he should be our judge?” they cried.
There was a group of slaves who had suffered the indignities of indentured servitude. How could God possibly judge them?
And a group of homeless people who had spent far too many nights on far too many streets. How could God know how they felt?
Their chorus of complaint was joined by the voices of poor folk….people who had sweated and toiled but had never been able to make ends meet.
Next came the sick ones and sufferers….each with a complaint against God. How could God judge them, they thought. How lucky God is to live in heaven where all is sweetness and light….no tears….no worries….no fears….no hungers….no inhumanities.
So a commission was appointed to draw up the case against God. It was simple. Their conclusion was that before God could judge them, God must first endure what they had endured in their troubled world. So instead of God judging them, they judged him. Finding God guilty, they issued a verdict. And the verdict was that they sentenced God to live on earth as a human being and be personally submitted to the painful and troublesome knocks of life. A list of particulars was read. One after another, they shouted them out.
Let God be born a Jew.
Let God be born poor.
Give God hard work to do.
Let God be rejected by the people.
Give God for friends, only those who are held in contempt.
Let God be betrayed by one of those friends.
Let God be indicted on false charges, tried before a prejudiced jury, and convicted by a vacillating judge.
Let God be abandoned.
Let God be tortured.
Let God be lonely.
The let God die.
As each group announced its sentence on God, cheers of approval went up from the throng. Then, suddenly, there was silence. A long silence. No one moved or made a sound. There was utter silence in heaven. Because someone quietly pointed out to the multitude that God had already served that sentence.
