Bruderhof Communities - God the Rebel by G. K. Chesterton

"That a good man may have his back to the wall is no more than we knew already; but that God could have his back to the wall is a boast for all insurgents forever. Christianity is the only religion on earth that has felt that omnipotence made God incomplete. Christianity alone has felt that God, to be wholly God, must have been a rebel as well as a king. Alone of all creeds, Christianity has added courage to the virtues of the Creator. For the only courage worth calling courage must necessarily mean that the soul passes a breaking point - and does not break.

"... In a garden Satan tempted man: and in a garden God tempted God. He passed in some superhuman manner through our human horror of pessimism. When the world shook and the sun was wiped out of heaven, it was not at the crucifixion, but at the cry from the cross: the cry which confessed that God was forsaken of God."

Wow. I don't think I've ever grabbed onto like that, but it seems to make some sense, at least on the surface. God tempted God. God tested God. Jesus actually had/experienced doubt, and did not break to it, or break in it. It probably actually worked to solidify Him in His flesh at this point, working to point Him even more towards Calvary, working against whatever doubt Satan might have been flinging at the same instant. While modern tellings, movies, etc, have this almost as a second temptation from Satan, this observation/thought makes more sense of what's written.
- posted by Rick @ 11:10