Can it indeed be that God dwells on earth?
If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you,
how much less this temple which I have built!
If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you,
how much less this temple which I have built!
Poets and saints have often echoed the words of Solomon as we contemplate the majesty of God. The second sonnet in John Donne’s La Corona, entitled Annunciation:
Salvation to all that will is nigh ;
That All, which always is all everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Lo ! faithful Virgin, yields Himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb; and though He there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He'll wear,
Taken from thence, flesh, which death's force may try.
Ere by the spheres time was created thou
Wast in His mind, who is thy Son, and Brother ;
Whom thou conceivest, conceived ; yea, thou art now
Thy Maker's maker, and thy Father's mother,
Thou hast light in dark, and shutt'st in little room
Immensity, cloister'd in thy dear womb.
That All, which always is all everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Lo ! faithful Virgin, yields Himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb; and though He there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He'll wear,
Taken from thence, flesh, which death's force may try.
Ere by the spheres time was created thou
Wast in His mind, who is thy Son, and Brother ;
Whom thou conceivest, conceived ; yea, thou art now
Thy Maker's maker, and thy Father's mother,
Thou hast light in dark, and shutt'st in little room
Immensity, cloister'd in thy dear womb.
Pondering God’s majesty first sojourning with the Hebrews in the Sinai desert; and then abiding in a tent at Shiloh; reigning in Jerusalem from Solomon’s temple; and finally immensity cloistered in thy dear womb: leads us to the incomprehensible mystery of Incarnation. How can it be that “God has visited his people” as a human being?
In many ways European and western culture abandoned the thought a long time ago. Philosophers – who are more influential than we like to think – once described God as a tinker who creates a fascinating universe something like a watch, winds it up and leaves it to wind down in its own time. He will not intervene in its course; it will be entirely governed by its own natural laws of physics and chemistry.
But Jews and Christians cannot rest with that; we know God so much better. We have heard Moses invite the Lord to come travel with us:
The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a person speaks to a friend…. Moses said to the LORD, “See, you are telling me: Lead this people. But you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said: “You are my intimate friend; you have found favor with me.”
Now, if I have found favor with you, please let me know your ways so that, in knowing you, I may continue to find favor with you. See, this nation is indeed your own people.”
The LORD answered: “I myself will go along, to give you rest. “
Moses replied, “If you are not going yourself, do not make us go up from here. For how can it be known that I and your people have found favor with you, except by your going with us? Then we, your people and I, will be singled out from every other people on the surface of the earth.”
The LORD said to Moses:” This request, too, which you have made, I will carry out, because you have found favor with me and you are my intimate friend.”
We travel through time and space as intimate friends of Jesus, happy to be in his company, amazed that he should go with us.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.