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Communion meditation for November 30:
We've seen in the sermon this morning that the incarnation calls attention to the kind of God we worship and serve. He is not a God who stands aloof and withdrawn when we suffer. Even in the OT, we see that Yahweh is a God who suffers with His people, who laments over Israel's rebellion, who is deeply and passionately involved in the life of the world. The incarnation is a dramatic new thing; but it is perfectly consistent with the way God has revealed Himself throughout the OT.
One of the things that the incarnation clarifies is the PURPOSE of Yahweh's involvement with His people. The incarnation reveals that Yahweh comes near, comes near as a man, in order to GIVE Himself for His people. The one who IS life, who is the Lord and Giver of all life, who gives life to all living things, gives Himself to us that we may live.
Jesus puts this quite dramatically in John 6. It is clear that He is talking about the incarnation, and the whole work that He came to accomplish. He comes "from heaven"; this is "Christology from above." And He comes from heaven to give Himself for the life of His people, for the life of the world. Even more dramatically, Jesus says that He has come from heaven to be the FOOD of His people, to give them life through giving His flesh and blood as their meat and drink.
Here is one of the great mysteries of incarnation: That God the Son became incarnate, came among us as a man, so that He might become our food. The Son of God became flesh to give His flesh as our bread, so that we might have life, and have it abundantly.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, November 30, 2003 at 06:45 AM
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A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
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