Why is God Jealous?

A few places in the Bible, God is described as a jealous God. Perhaps most well known in the book of Exodus when Moses is given the 10 commandments. Coming in at number two on the top ten is the following:

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God…

It seems weird that God would ever be jealous of anything because, well, it is God we are talking about. Isn't God above being jealous? Maybe.

First it is worth noting that jealousy and envy are two different things, but we often confuse them. Many times we think of being jealous of someone who has something that we desire. For instance, if I see my neighbor have a cool house or new toy or physical physique I might say that I am jealous of my neighbors house, toy, body. And so when we encounter the ten commandments and read God is jealous, we wonder why would God ever be jealous? God does not need anything, and even if God did need something, God could create it! However this is not what jealousy is.

Desiring an object that your neighbor has is not jealousy, that is called envy. We envy things like homes, toys of physical characteristics. We might even envy our neighbor’s partner or our neighbor’s job. When we want what our neighbor has, we are envious not jealous.

Jealousy is not about desiring an object our neighbor has, but about desiring the relationship our neighbor has with that object. You may not desire your neighbor’s partner, but you desire the type of relationship your neighbor has with their partner. You may not desire the boat that your neighbor has, but you desire the joy your neighbor has when riding the boat. You may not want your neighbor’s physical body but you may want the attraction that your neighbor gets from others due to their physical characteristics.

God does not desire a thing, but God desires the relationship we have with things. God wants to be in relationship with you and when you are in relationship with something else (such as money or fame or success) God is jealous. God knows that your relationship with these other things (idols) are not good for you spirit or your community. God is not jealous because God is lacking in some way. Rather God is jealous because God desires so deeply to be in relationship with each one of us.

God is not envious, but God is jealous.

Christianity is Unrest

There are a lot of us who look to religion as a source of comfort and security. It makes sense because we all feel a sense of dis-ease in our lives. We all are looking for stability and an anchor. We all need a steady foundation to jump off from into this world of adventure.

The problem is that Christianity is not, despite what it looks like, a traditional religion. It is the one religion that attempts to dismantle religion by undercutting the notion that religion saves. It is, as Christians say, Grace that saves us - not our own actions or works.

If Christianity is not a traditional religion that attempts to get people to do the right things in order to save themselves, what is Christianity? Søren Kierkegaard called Christianity a state of unrest. That may only be mildly surprising. Perhaps you have heard it said that Christianity comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable? Hearing that Christianity is really a state of unrest is not what is necessarily notable here.

What is notable is what Kierkegaard points out to us: this unrest is initiated by God: “Christianity is the most intensive and strongest form of unrest thinkable. Christ’s coming is intended to disturb life. Where one wants to become a Christian, there will be unrest; and where one has become a Christian, there unrest follows.”

Here we are confronted with the idea that God is the one who gives us this unrest. But why? Why would God initiate a state of unrest in us? I thought God was in the work of rest and peace not unrest and restlessness.

It is this state of unrest that is the engine of our lives. The unrest is the point. The point is to see that in all of life, the thing that gives energy to us all, is an unrest or what we might call a contradiction. No matter where you look, outside or within, contradiction is woven into the fabric of creation. We are busy trying to root out this unrest/contradiction all the while the fabric frays. The more we try to root out the unrest or contradiction in our lives, the more it will explode in the world and many times it explodes in unhealthy ways. You see the unrest is the very engine of our lives, it is the thing that gives us energy. Until we come to peace with the unrest in our lives then we will erupt with violence.

The Comic Book Collector - A Parable

There was once a man who collected a particular comic book. He buys the newest comic book each week it comes out and faithfully puts it into one of those clear bags to help preserve it. He has been doing this for years and his collection is almost complete. Every edition except #3. He has never been able to find issue #3.

In all his travels, he visits every comic book store he can find. He attends festivals and conventions in an effort to find issue #3. No matter where he turns, no one has issue #3.

After a while, the man brings his entire collection to the publisher. He speaks with archivist of the publisher and shows off the entire “almost complete” collection. Even the archivist has never seen such a compete collection of this comic and is impressed. The man asked the archivist if it is possible to have a copy of issue #3 from the archives. To which the archivist says they will look into it.

Two weeks later, the archivist called the man and said, “Good News my friend! Your collection is complete!”

The man became confused and said, “Thanks for the call, but I still am missing issue #3. How is my collection complete?”

“At the time of these early editions, the typesetter made a mistake and it turns out that your issue #4 is technically issue #3! The whole printing system is off by a number and so that makes your collection complete!'“ exclaimed the archivist.

At the sound of this Good News the man grew angry and said, “I have searched high and low for issue #3 and everyone has kept me from getting it. And now even you are in on these efforts to thwart me! I know there is an issue #3 out there and I will not let you keep me from getting it.”

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Maybe you can understand the reaction of the collector. Maybe you too have heard someone say to you, ‘you are complete and beautiful!’ but you refuse to accept or hear it. Many of us, myself included, are convinced and addicted to a sense about ourselves - that we are incomplete. We cannot accept that who we are is loveable and complete. We believe that there is an issue #3. That there must be something “out there” that we are missing, and that only if we had it, then we would be complete. When we are confronted with an idea (the Good News) that we are complete, we resist and even reject the idea. We are dependent on the story we have told ourselves that we are incomplete. So addicted in fact that any news to the contrary is not “good” at all.