Friday, February 18, 2011

We can Boast

Christ crucified between two thieves
Rembrandt

God the Son is so utterly and completely Lord that He can enter a womb and be born as man, hunger and suffer weakness, die on a cross, and yet all the while remain wholly Himself, the living Creator of heaven and earth who needs nothing of what He has made.

To heretics who can't bring themselves to believe that God can so thoroughly identify Himself with His world and to the timid orthodox who want to maintain a buffer (however thin) between God and His creation, the orthodox answer is, Our God is great enough even for this; He is great enough even to become week, poor, empty, man. To those outside the church, who scoff at our crucified God, we can boast: "Our God can die. Can yours?"

Thus, and only thus, do we make our boast in the Lord, our Lord Jesus.

~From The Four: A Survey of the Gospels by Peter J. Leithart