He Stoops, He stoops!

Psalm 113

⁴ The LORD is high above all nations,

            and his glory above the heavens!

 ⁵ Who is like the LORD our God,

            who is seated on high,

 ⁶ who looks far down

            on the heavens and the earth?

 ⁷ He raises the poor from the dust

            and lifts the needy from the ash heap,

 ⁸ to make them sit with princes,

            with the princes of his people.

It’s not just that he stoops to behold the heavens and the earth; he stoops, he humbles himself to be born of a virgin.  He goes even further, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” Philippians 2:8).  He leaves the shelter and freedom of eternity to share, to have koinonia, communion, fellowship, participation with us within created time.  He who does so is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of our time, yet he humbles himself and is born at a specific time and place within time.

Don’t ask me how that can be; it is sufficient to know that it is.  It is a mystery, Christ in us, and all things are created in and for him.  “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15-17).  When our English translation says that “by him all things were created” it misses the fact that the word translated “by” (evn) can also be translated “in.”  That is why Paul goes on to say “in him all things hold together.”

In our koinonia with him we ourselves are drawn up from time into eternity.  We who have a specific beginning within time, will have no end, but will dwell with him forever in eternity.  That is one of the hidden meanings of the incarnation, his participation in our carné, our flesh.  We, who were transitory, have him as our anchor within the veil, in the Holy Place, in the tumultuous love of the Threefold God, where perfect peace and joy flow on for eternal years.                                                                                                                                             ~ Dom Anselm +