As we continue our Lenten fast and reflection, as we consider the pain in this world and the Incarnation I want to share a few pieces from the pen of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
"No man can look with undivided vision at God and at the world of reality so long as God and the world are torn asunder. Try as he may, he can only let his eyes wander distractedly from one to the other. But there is a place at which God and the cosmic reality are reconciled, a place at which God and man have become one. That and that alone is what enables man to set his eyes upon God and upon the world at the same time. This place does not lie somewhere out beyond reality in the realm of ideas. It lies in the midst of history as a divine miracle. It lies in Jesus Christ."
As Paul wrote 'He is the image of the invisible God.' -Colossians 1:15
With the incarnation making it possible to bring both the Glory of God and the pain of this world into our gaze, consider the depth of the incarnation. In one such reflection Bonhoeffer writes:
"Ecce homo!- Behold the God who has become man, the unfathomable mystery of the love of God for the world. God loves man. God loves the world. It is not an ideal man the He loves; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find abominable in man's opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility, the real man, the real world, this is for God the ground for unfathomable love, and it is with this that He unites Himself utterly. God becomes man, real man. While we are trying to grow out beyond our manhood, to leave the man behind us, God becomes man and we we have to recognize that God wishes us men, too, to be real men. While we are distinguishing the pious from the ungodly, the good from the wicked, the noble from the mean, God makes no distinction at all in His love for the real man. He does not permit us to classify men and the world according to our own standards and to set ourselves up as judges over them. He leads us ad absurdum by Himself becoming a real man and a companion of sinners and thereby compelling us to become judges of God. God sides with the real man and with the real world against all their accusers. Together with men and with the world He comes before judges, so that the judges are now made the accused."
This week we stand with the hungry of this world, just as Jesus has always stood with them.
"No man can look with undivided vision at God and at the world of reality so long as God and the world are torn asunder. Try as he may, he can only let his eyes wander distractedly from one to the other. But there is a place at which God and the cosmic reality are reconciled, a place at which God and man have become one. That and that alone is what enables man to set his eyes upon God and upon the world at the same time. This place does not lie somewhere out beyond reality in the realm of ideas. It lies in the midst of history as a divine miracle. It lies in Jesus Christ."
As Paul wrote 'He is the image of the invisible God.' -Colossians 1:15
With the incarnation making it possible to bring both the Glory of God and the pain of this world into our gaze, consider the depth of the incarnation. In one such reflection Bonhoeffer writes:
"Ecce homo!- Behold the God who has become man, the unfathomable mystery of the love of God for the world. God loves man. God loves the world. It is not an ideal man the He loves; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find abominable in man's opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility, the real man, the real world, this is for God the ground for unfathomable love, and it is with this that He unites Himself utterly. God becomes man, real man. While we are trying to grow out beyond our manhood, to leave the man behind us, God becomes man and we we have to recognize that God wishes us men, too, to be real men. While we are distinguishing the pious from the ungodly, the good from the wicked, the noble from the mean, God makes no distinction at all in His love for the real man. He does not permit us to classify men and the world according to our own standards and to set ourselves up as judges over them. He leads us ad absurdum by Himself becoming a real man and a companion of sinners and thereby compelling us to become judges of God. God sides with the real man and with the real world against all their accusers. Together with men and with the world He comes before judges, so that the judges are now made the accused."
This week we stand with the hungry of this world, just as Jesus has always stood with them.
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