Thursday, January 10, 2013

Gregory Nazianzen. Jesus, God Incarnate

“For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him [Jesus] should all the fulness dwell—for in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily… (Col 1:19, 2:9).”


St. Gregory Nazianzen: “Jesus was baptized as Man, but He remitted sins as God (Matt. 3:13; 9:6) — not because He needed purifying rites Himself, but that He might sanctify the element of water. He was tempted as Man, but He conquered as God (Matt. 4:1-11); yea, He bids us be of good cheer, for He has overcome the world (John 16:33). He hungered, but He fed thousands; yea, He is the Bread that gives life, and That is of heaven (John 6:32-58). He thirsted, but He cried, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink (John 7:37-39).” Yea, He promised that fountains should flow from those who believe. He was wearied, but He is the Rest of those who are weary and heavy laden (Matt. 11:28-30). He was heavy with sleep, but He walked lightly over the sea. He rebuked the winds, He saved Peter as he began to sink (Matt. 14:25-31). He is called a Samaritan and a demoniac, but He saves the one who came down from Jerusalem and fell among thieves (Luke 10:30-37); the demons acknowledge Him, and He drives out demons and sinks in the sea a legion of foul spirits (Luke 8:28–33), and sees the prince of the demons falling like lightning (Luke 10:18). He is stoned, but is not taken. He prays, but He hears prayer. He weeps, but He causes tears to cease. He asks where Lazarus was laid, for He was Man; but He raises Lazarus, for He was God (John 11:34, 43). He is sold very cheaply for thirty pieces of silver, but He redeems the world and that at a great price, for the Price was His own blood (1 Pet. 1:19). As a sheep He is led to the slaughter (Isa. 53:7), but He is the Shepherd of Israel, and now of the whole world also (John 10:11-16). As a Lamb He is silent, yet He is the Word and is proclaimed by the Voice of one crying in the wilderness (John 1:23). He is bruised and wounded, but He heals every disease and every infirmity (Matt. 4:23, 9:35). He is lifted up and nailed to the Tree, but by the Tree of Life He restores us; yea, He saves even the robber crucified with Him (Luke 23:43); yea, He wrapped the visible world in darkness (Matt. 27:45). He is given vinegar to drink mingled with gall (Matt. 27:34) – He who turned the water into wine (John 2:1–11), Who is the destroyer of the bitter taste, Who is Sweetness and altogether desire. He lays down His life, but He has power to take it again (John 10:17, 18); and the veil is rent, for the mysterious doors of Heaven are opened; the rocks are split, the dead arise (Matt. 27:51, 52). He dies, but He gives life, and by His death destroys death. He is buried, but He rises again; He goes down into Hell, but He brings up the souls; He ascends to Heaven, and shall come again…”For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then He shall render unto every man according to his deeds (Matt. 16:27).” (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, (330-390); Bishop of Constantinople from 381 to 390. Oration 29, para. 20 -  some Scripture references added as unobtrusively as possible for those who want to read these truths about the Lord Jesus Christ directly from the written word of God)