He has revealed himself. He has emerged from the inaccessible light in
which he dwells. He himself has come into our midst. This was the
great joy of Christmas for the early Church: God has appeared. No
longer is he merely an idea, no longer do we have to form a picture of
him on the basis of mere words. He has “appeared”. But now we ask: how
has he appeared? Who is he in reality?
“A child is born for us, a son given to us and dominion is laid on his
shoulders; and this is the name they give him: Wonder-Counsellor,
Mighty-God, Eternal-Father, Prince-of-Peace. Wide is his dominion in a
peace that has no end” (
Is 9:5f.). Whether the prophet had a
particular child in mind, born during his own period of history, we do
not know. But it seems impossible. This is the only text in the Old
Testament in which it is said of a child, of a human being: his name
will be Mighty-God, Eternal-Father. We are presented with a vision that
extends far beyond the historical moment into the mysterious, into the
future. A child, in all its weakness, is Mighty God. A child, in all
its neediness and dependence, is Eternal Father. And his peace “has no
end”.
God has appeared – as a child.
[photo credit
News.va]
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