Jesus rises from the dead, trampling down death by death, and yet, in all that trampling, he still bears the marks of his own being trampled-down. The risen Christ is a wounded Christ. If Christ is the Image of the Invisible God, and if seeing Jesus means seeing the Father (Jn. 14:9), we must bear it being asked, “what does it mean that the hands of the Hand of God have holes in them?” We hail Christ as the “Wounded Healer” mustn’t we pause to wonder more simply “what is a wound?” …
Read more"Nika!" a brief little Bright Week reflection
On the bread we use for Holy Communion we stamp the ancient Christian motto: IC XC NI KA at the four corners of the Cross.
Read moreA unified witness of salvation
p/c Chris Karidis via unsplash
In the beginning humans are created in a state on deep and utter union: Adam and Eve share communion with God, communion with one another, a kind of communion with the rest of the created world, and —often forgotten in theological accounts of prelapsarian life— unified within themselves. This is, in God’s words, “very good” (Gen 1:31). It is a blessed state (Gen 1:28). Union is, also, not just how we are made, it is what we are made for.
Read moreJesus among the lampstands: a Palm Sunday pre-game
p/c Karsten Würth via unsplash
We should recall from Exodus (25:31–39; and 37:17–24) that the lampstand in the Tabernacle, which was a picture, a microcosm, of the heavenly throne-room, was made in the likeness of a tree. Each of its arms were branches that bloomed into almond blossoms on which were set the seven lamps. It was a tree whose fruit was light. It was another burning bush, but a burning bush that had grown into full maturity.
Read moreDividing to multiply: preemptive wedding thoughts
Over at Logos I wrote a piece last year about the theme of Division-Multiplication in Scripture. You can read it here, if you’d like. As we approach an All Saints wedding this weekend my thoughts are drawn to the creation of Eve and to the way that marriage is itself a picture of this pattern of Division-Multiplication.
Read moreAnnunciation
p/c Thom Masat via unsplash
This Tuesday is the Feast of the Annunciation —the annual celebration of the day, nine months prior to Christmas, that the angel Gabriel came to Mary to announce the conception of the infant Christ in her womb. We confess in the Creeds and in the words of the eucharistic liturgy that Christ became incarnate by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary and yet we often fail to marvel at the wonder of this. For it is not as if Christ was merely born Christ was conceived —The second Person of the Godhead not only underwent mammalian birth but also mammalian gestation. Oh the long-suffering patience and obedience of the Son to submit to fulfilling the whole span of human experience!
Read moreThe foxes
Those in power here, both the pharisees and Herod, are afraid of the power of Jesus. And the best policy for those who rule in fear is to exercise dominion and control over others by spreading fear. Spread the worry and bring the upstarts to heel in being anxious about tomorrow’s troubles.
Read moreIncommensurate goodnesses
p/c Victor Camilo via unsplash
I remember being pushed in a stroller by him through the wild labyrinthine corridors of queues of Disneyland; I remember being asked “are you buckled in?” and “are you hungry?” by him when I was a kid. And now here I am asking similar questions of him. Now I am pushing the cart around. Now I get the valet ticket, now I grab the car, now I have to remember where the car is, etc.
Read moreLifted-up Lent
p/c Orkhan Farmanli via unsplash
Transfiguration leading down into Lent
p/c Allesandro Bellone via unspalsh
Like Peter we finish-off the season which included Candlemas, the visit of the Magi, the Baptism of Jesus, the Wedding at Cana, and Jesus’ proclamation in the synagogue that he has come to proclaim good news to the poor and freedom to the captive, with awestruck desire to keep it going like this: “Let’s build three tabernacles…” (Matt 17:4). But keeping it going like this is not the answer. The tabernacle served for a season in God’s story to keep the glory (Ex. 25). But now we come to that moment where the glory must break-out (Is. 9:1-2, 58:8; Matt. 4:16). We can no longer be kept safe from its fiery burnings, from the living flame of love (Ex. 3:2-3; Song. 8:6; Is. 33:14).
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