Does He/She expect us to have a clue?

I guess what I've been trying to get my head around is this: When God Almighty visited the earth in the flesh, as a man named Jesus, the eternal "Son" (integral beloved familial part) of God, he did a new thing. A really, really new thing. It was so new, in fact, that if you were a Jew at that time and you knew your holy Scripture, then you would have very little choice but to believe that who Jesus said he was could only be a lie, and the power by which he did things must have been a dark power. I'm just saying, God had laid out some things about himself from the very beginning, about being separate, and holy, and an upholder of justice. Though mercy was certainly in God's vocabulary, I would argue there was much more emphasis on purifying Israel and thus not expressing a lot of mercy for others.

In any case (why am I having such a hard time articulating this?), these days we tend to think we have God pretty much figured out. He has spoken, and so we have his Word, and it's a somewhat final Word. We can list off the things or kinds of people he loves (of course he loves all people, but he especially smiles upon the meek, the pure of heart, the peacemakers, the ones who go to church regularly, the ones who don't listen to vulgar music or watch bad movies - see how we add to this list??, etc). Likewise, we can easily, maybe too easily, list off his hates including deceit, theft, ummmm homosexuality and abortion. I'm not saying anything yet, don't jump to conclusions!

I'm only saying that when Jesus came, the people who thought they were close to God and obedient to his Word, it turned out that God was doing something that, if anyone else had been in charge of it, it would have been blasphemous and abhorrent. But since God Almighty was doing this new thing through Jesus, it was beautiful and holy and wonderful and GOOD NEWS! But if I were a Jewish woman, I would have been scandalized... or maybe, more accurately, just unable to grasp what was happening. God nailed to a tree? What? Why?

So if God were to appear now, what would he say and do that would absolutely scandalize me? What do I think I have figured out about him that I simply misunderstood? How many times have I read my own interpretations into what he says and does, and drawn from these ... judgments, assumptions, hatreds? It's not about me. My point is really, how can God expect us to have any idea what's going on, when in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, he totally upset all of that? Totally turned it on its head. How can He expect us to have a clue! That's all i'm saying.

This is a freeing, if somewhat confusing and possibly even angering, thought. But I kinda like that he is secure enough to change things up when he wants. lol I just think it is upsetting for the analytical, black-and-white minded American Christian. We don't like mystery or surprise or ambiguity or TRUST. Unfortunately that means we wouldn't get along very well with Yahweh.

I guess the real question is whether he did change anything between Old and New testaments. Was he consistent all the way through? I think He IS consistent, but his actions seemed to communicate totally different emphases to the people.

I often wonder, what if I could just read the Bible without all the added interpretation of 2000 years of Christendom, and theology, and the culture that surrounds all of this. Of course it's impossible but would I look at Jesus the same way? I think if I only had his words, and the stories of his life, Christianity for me would hardly resemble what Christianity is today and what it is in my mind. Now that's scary. I'm trying to figure out how I can have this fresh-eyes approach to the Scriptures, somehow...