Humanity, the Sad Song of Creation.
Let us turn our attention to humanity for a moment. What are we, good, bad, indifferent? I would say not one of those, but all of those. Man is a contradiction. Pascal describes man this way. “What a chimera, then, is man! what a novelty, what a monster, what a chaos, what a subject of contradiction, what a prodigy! A judge of all things, feeble worm of the earth, depositary of the truth, cloaca of uncertainty and error, the glory and the shame of the universe!”[i] In us all is greatness, yet in us all is wretchedness. We construct orphanages and Auschwitz. We speak of peace but fight wars. We kill carelessly in a selfish fit then become heroes in a moment. We are full of such possibility but drained by our on depravity. Born to us is Mother Teresa and Jeffery Dommer. I think the best portrait one can draw of humanity was done by William Wordsworth. He wrote, “But hearing often times The still, sad music of humanity.”[ii] We are sad music. We are both beautiful and depressing to experience. Dismal yet inspiring to enjoy. This contradiction is not original to us. Before the fall, man was just beauty, harmony, simple, created great. Now, we are a contradiction. Humanity is a paradox of glory and shame and into this paradox Jesus stepped becoming the divine paradox. Jesus became as we did, except His contradiction was that he became the God/man.
As Gregory of Nazianzus, so eloquently states, “That which he has not assumed, he has not healed,”[iii] Christ assumed all of humanity to heal all of humanity. Christ’s humanity is a matter of soteriology, the study of salvation. Christ had to be fully human to fully save us. Migliore states it well, “If God in Christ does not enter into solidarity with the hell of our human condition, we remain without deliverance and without hope.”[iv] He can’t redeem what he has not experienced. This is the theological necessity of Christ humanity. Redemption rests on the absolute fact that God became man to raise man back to his proper place of relationship. The Word became flesh, humanity in all its greatness, the second Adam walked with the shamed of the earth to redeem there shame and unveil there potential for greatness. Part of Christ’s mission was to experience life. He had to become man to the fullest, thus to give us life he lived. He did not become man’s wretchedness but man’s greatness. It was in the violence of the cross he became our wretchedness. The cost of love was in him, being willing to become what he is not so others could become his adopted siblings (Rom 8:16-18, 29-30). His life filled every portion of what it is to be human. He is a standard to measure ourselves by and by this standard we are both condemned and redeemed. His identification with us is our eternal life (John 17:3; Gal 2:20). Jesus was authentic humanity. Human life as it is truly to be lived. He became as humanity was, is and is to be. Charles Finny has a practical definition that highlights the authentic nature of Christ's humanity. “Christ was in all respects a perfect human being, possessing both a human body and human soul, with all the attributes of a perfect man.”[v]
Readings : Heb 2: 8-11, Heb 4:14-16, Heb 5: 7-9
In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
Heb 2: 8-11
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Heb 4:14-16
During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
Heb 5: 7-9
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End Notes
[i] “Blaise Pascal,” http://www.dividingline.com/private/Philosophy/TopPage/Pascal_Quote.shtml
[ii] 2010 Popular Quotations, edited by Thomas W. Handford, SAGE DIGITAL LIBRARY VOLUMES 1 - 4 (Albany, OR. USA: SAGE Software Version 2.0 © 1996) p. 353
[iii] Gregory of Nazianzus, Epistle 101 in Christology of the Latter fathers, library of Christian classics, vol. 3, ed. Edward R. Hardy (Philadelphia: Westminster press, 1954), p. 218
[iv] Daniel L. Migliore, Faith seeking understanding: an introduction to Christian theology (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing company, 1991) p. 146
[v] Charles Finny, “Theology lectures” SAGE DIGITAL LIBRARY VOLUMES 1 - 4 (Albany, OR. USA: SAGE Software Version 2.0 © 1996) p. 196
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