Only in God

I love so very much the following:

One of the books that influenced me as a student was by a grand old Scottish theologian David Cairns. Its title was The Faith That Rebels. Cairns was protesting against an interpretation of the gospel that turned it into an invitation to submit; he saw it as an invitation to rebel. He pointed out that there is no case in the Gospels of a man or woman being brought to Jesus for healing, and Jesus saying: "Accept your suffering; it will purify your soul." There is no such case. In every case that is recorded, Jesus immediately responds by action to heal the sick, to cast out the evil spirit. His ministry was a ministry of active challenge to all the powers of the devil, whether in the disease that racks the body, the evil spirit that torments the soul, or the corruption and hypocrisy that poisons the body of society. It was a faith that rebelled. And yet, at the very end, there is submission: "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit"; and - immediately following - the great shout of victory: "It is finished." This, it seems to me, brings us to the very heart of mission in Christ's way. There is an active and uncompromising challenge to all the powers of evil, yet it is also a totally vulnerable challenge so that (and here is the profound mystery) the final victory is God's and not ours. In what seems like defeat, the victory of God is actually won. There is new life, one that does not end in death but begins from death. It is therefore a life that death cannot touch."
--Lesslie Newbigin, Mission in Christ's Way (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1987), 25-26.