Whale: the Man in the midst

Thursday, November 24, 2016
Thanksgiving (U.S.)
Meditation:
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
—Matthew 3:13-17 (ESV)
Quotation:
It is God Himself, personally present and redeemingly active, who comes to meet men in this Man of Nazareth. Jesus is more than a religious genius, such as George Fox, and more than a holy man, such as the lovable Lama in Kipling’s Kim. He himself knows that he is more… The Gospel story is a tree rooted in the familiar soil of time and sense; but its roots go down into the Abyss and its branches fill the Heavens; given to us in terms of a country in the Eastern Mediterranean no bigger than Wales, during the Roman Principate of Tiberius Caesar in the first century of our era, its range is universal; it is on the scale of eternity. God’s presence and his very Self were made manifest in the words and works of this Man. In short, the Man Christ Jesus has the decisive place in man’s ageless relationship with God.
He is what God means by ‘Man’. He is what man means by ‘God’.
… John S. Whale (1896-1997), Christian Doctrine, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966, pp. 101,104 (see the book)
See also Matt. 3:13-17; Isa. 9:6; Mic. 5:2; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:1-2,32; 8:56-58; Col. 1:17; Heb. 13:8
Quiet time reflection:
Lord Jesus, You are God in the flesh. CQOD Blog email RSS
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