Jesus presented himself to the world as a teacher. His subject was, the ’stuff' of God. (Living in a highly politicised culture with complex political structures, he spoke of it as God’s ‘kingdom’.)
As all good teachers know, actions speak louder than words. Jesus knew this too. So, on various occasions he chose to do something, rather than say anything.
One such moment was his arrival in Jerusalem in the final week of his life. Aware that his ‘kingdom’ metaphor was being misunderstood, and that people wanted to make him their actual king, Jesus arranged to ride into the city seated on a donkey. His entirely visual message proclaimed: ‘Yes, I may be a king, but I am absolutely not the kind of king that you are imagining. God comes in humility, not in power.’
As a general rule, the people around us do not want to be preached at. So when it comes to proclaiming the God’s forgiving love, we do well to use actions rather than words.
If we try to tell people what God is like, they will tend to shrink from the religious nature of the conversation, or get locked into theoretical arguments. So let us, instead, show people what God is like. When they find themselves loved and forgiven they will begin to understand.
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