4 minute read
God in Man Made Manifest
by Robert Mohns
In a recent interview, a man introduced as the champion of progressive news bemoaned the human condition, claiming it has come to lack the “progressive gene type.” He concluded that humanity has no capacity for progressive thought. The progressivism that he spoke of may be defined as the ascendancy of progress especially, but not exclusively, by human achievement.
He noted, for example, that the achievement of the eradication of malaria in Egypt—a country beset with this disease for more than 8,000 years of recorded history—did not gain major media attention. In the same way, he argued, tens of thousands of advances, whether of human origin or naturally occurring, get passed over. Instead, the human condition has become one-dimensional in its capacity for crisis and chaos.
There is a Tennessee Williams story, “Something by Tolstoi,” about a man named Jacob Brodzky whose beloved decided to end their courtship to pursue vocational success. Fifteen years later she returned with the key to the man’s shop in her hand, the key her beloved Jacob had given her before she left, in the belief that one day she would return and he would be waiting for her. But the man, so beset by years of consuming disappointment and despair, did not recognize the key nor his beloved even when she stood in front of him. She departed, never to return, and the man lost the love of his life a second time.
These stories manifest for us the broken, fallen human condition. We can neither know God, who is true love, nor do we have any capacity to pay attention to Him. Bound to crisis and chaos, exhausted and blinded by disappointment and despair, we do not recognize the Lord, nor what He has accomplished to redeem us—not even when He is right before us in the Christmas creche nor when He is lifted upon the throne of His cross.
He comes into your very flesh in Holy Baptism, in His Holy Supper, in the communion of the saints, in the proclamation of His Word.
The One who is the Key to David’s House, who opens what no one can close and closes what no one can open, and who holds the keys of death and Hades… He remembers You, whether you forget Him for 15 seconds or 15 years. His love for you is stronger than your love for Him. It is an unrequited love that cannot be deterred.
This One has given to you His Church, the keys to His kingdom, holy absolution, and the forgiveness of sins. And He has set you in this time to make manifest to the nations what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do.
The season of Epiphany begins with God speaking through the Magi, to the Lord’s bride who had long forgotten her first love. And every day throughout Epiphany, God continues to speak to His people through the various manifestations of the Lord’s presence—from the powerful witness given at our Lord’s baptism, all the way through to His transfiguration, leading to the greatest manifestation of the Lord at His suffering, death and resurrection. This was not only for the sake of His Israel of old but for all peoples.
God makes Himself manifest to us as well through Word and Sacrament. He is making it clear that Jesus is your Lord, your Saviour, your first love, your life, and your salvation. It is easy, in our mixed-up world and our broken and despairing lives to forget what matters most. By His greater manifestations, God puts to naught all the manifestations of sin and brokenness in our lives.
The Lord gave His bride, Israel, Simeon of old, Lazarus, the thief on the cross, and Stephen, among others, to proclaim the Lord’s appearance to save His people. It seems to me that the pace at which the Lord is expanding the Church Triumphant today continues to make manifest the Lord’s salvation.
The Lord gave to His bride, Israel, the Magi. In the same way, the Lord is giving His Church here in Canada the nations of the world. As they appear on our shores, they also ask: “Do you know who this Christ fellow is and where I may I go that I too may worship Him?”
Both in Word and deed God continues to make manifest His salvation. And you are part of that witness, both with your life and with your death!
Grant us grace to see Thee, Lord, Present in Thy holy Word – grace to imitate Thee now And be pure as pure art Thou That we might become like Thee At Thy great Epiphany And may praise Thee ever blest, God in man made manifest (LSB 394:5).
