Forwarding an outstanding post from the great
blogger who channels the second martyred and first protestant Archbishop of
Canterbury:
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Mild He lays His glory by
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon
him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men (Phil 2:5-7)
It
is a curious thing for God to become man; for the Word to become flesh and
dwell among us. We are about to celebrate the day when the Son of God was born
a baby in Bethlehem; when Christ emptied Himself and laid His glory by; born
that man no more may die. He surrendered aspects of His divinity to assume the
mantle of humanity: as the ancient creeds remind us, He was fully man and yet
fully God.
The
Incarnation is complex theology wrapped in an unfathomable mystery, and here is
not the place to unpack the nuances of kenotic doctrine. Those who wish to
focus on the absurdity of human omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence miss
the point: in both His human and divine natures, Jesus was and is perfect love,
incomprehensible peace and unadulterated truth.
He
spent nine months in Mary's womb, floating around in amniotic fluid. Now why
would the only begotten Son God do that? Some say that He wasn't really God,
but one who attained a sort of enlightenment, a bit like Buddha. Others are
happy to believe that he was a prophet who foretold or forthtold the purposes
of God; who showed his followers a better way, a bit like Mohammed. Still
others are happy to believe the mystery of divine chimera; Jesus as a sort of
Ganesh-like elephant man, strutting his stuff in the pantheon of gods.
But
Jesus is also called 'Immanuel', meaning 'God with us'. If He was and is the
same yesterday, today and forever, he is not merely enlightened, prophetic or
mysterious; he is the Lord, the Creator, the Spirit, for the Three are One and
of one substance.
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes
to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son
also may glorify thee:
As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they might know
thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
I have glorified thee on the earth: I have
finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own
self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
I have manifested thy name unto the men which
thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and
they have kept thy word.
Now they have known that all things whatsoever
thou hast given me are of thee.
For I have given unto them the words which thou
gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out
from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I
am glorified in them.
And now I am no more in the world, but these are
in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name
those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. (John 17:1-11)
God
emptied Himself of His glory in order that we might be saved - and all who call
on His name will be saved. John Calvin writes: "In order to exhort us to
submission by His example, he shows, that when as God he might have displayed
to the world the brightness of His glory, he gave up His right, and voluntarily
emptied Himself; that he assumed the form of a servant, and, contented with
that humble condition, suffered His divinity to be concealed under a veil of
flesh."
Mild
He lays His glory by, under the veil of flesh: Immanuel, God with us, veiled as
a baby in the womb of a young girl called Mary. His creation glory has gone;
his salvation suffering has begun; his resurrection glory is yet to come. In a
way, Jesus was scourged and crucified in the womb.
God
incarnate waiting to be born, waiting to suffer, waiting to die, waiting to be
raised.
As
we await the birth of the perfect baby boy, the advent of the Promise, let us
reflect on the magnitude of the glory He laid by, that we no more may die.
posted
byArchbishop Cranmer at 10:57 am Permalink http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2013/12/mild-he-lays-his-glory-by.html
I2C 131221a Phi 2v5to7 Card from ppCranmer / I2C
/ 131221 1328 / I2C 131221a Phil. 2:5-7 Card from ++Cranmer
