Church of the Holy City

Our Blood, Commingling, Virginal, with Heaven

Our Blood, Commingling, Virginal, With Heaven
Rev,. Dr. David J. Fekete
April 8, 2012
Easter Sunday

Matthew 28:1-20 Psalm 136

In our reading from Matthew this morning, Jesus tells his disciples, “Surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.” This is the promise of the incarnation. This is the promise of the story that begins with Christmas, when the Light came into the world, through the story’s climax on Easter, when God and Man became fully one. It is the incarnation of God in the form of Jesus Christ that brings God to us mortals here on earth and in the spiritual world when we cross over. The incarnation which climaxes in Christ’s resurrection, makes God a power that we can understand. It makes God a person with whom we can communicate in a love relationship. And it gives God the power to reach us whatever state we are in through His own very Humanity.
I would like to expound these points by reflecting on a poem by Wallace Stevens. It is a poem all about religion, and has references to God’s incarnation, to Jerusalem, and to heaven. One stanza in particular contrasts Christianity with the Roman view of gods. It compares Jove, the Roman king of the gods, with Jesus. Wallace Stevens is difficult to understand, but I think if we let his words wash over us, and if we just let the images arise in our minds, we will get at his meaning. The passage goes as follows:
Jove in the clouds had his inhuman birth.
No mother suckled him, no sweet land gave
Large-mannered motions to his mythy mind.
He moved among us, as a muttering king,
Magnificent, would move among his hinds,
Until our blood, commingling, virginal,
With heaven, brought such requital to desire
The very hinds discerned it, in a star. (Sunday Morning, Stanza III)
The Roman god Jove lived high on a mountain top, up in the clouds. He presided over the affairs of humanity according to his divine whims. We had essentially no free will according to the Roman world view. Fate determined our whole existence. The course of our lives was woven out in a thread at the time of our birth. When Jove wanted us to do something, we had no power to resist his divine will. He was a god in the heavens, we were humans on earth and there was no bridge between us. So Wallace Stevens says,
Jove in the clouds had his inhuman birth.
No mother suckled him, no sweet land gave
Large-mannered motions to his mythy mind.
There are myths about Jove coming down to earth. And when he does so, he interacts with humanity however he pleases, without regard to our consent. So Stevens, again,
He moved among us, as a muttering king,
Magnificent, would move among his hinds.
These lines conclude Stevens’ reflection on the Roman god Jove. The stanza then moves on to a reflection about Jesus. In the lines about Jesus, we see a different God entirely. Jesus is a God whose very blood commingled with our own, when He was born a baby by Virgin Mary. About Jesus, Stevens says,
Until our blood, commingling, virginal,
With heaven, brought such requital to desire
The very hinds discerned it, in a star.
The star Stevens mentions is, of course, the star that the wise men followed, that came to rest above Baby Jesus. And I think that Stevens captures the idea of incarnation beautifully. Our blood commingled with heaven in the form of Jesus Christ. While no mother suckled Jove in the clouds, Stevens implies just how human Jesus was by suggesting that the infant was suckled by His very human mother.
Jesus’ humanity gives us several gifts. First, through His own Humanity, God can come to us through Himself. Jesus has a Human form that partakes of the very matter that He created. Before the incarnation, God came to humanity through inspiration from the heavens. With the resurrection, God comes to us through His own Human Form. You could say that God comes to us Human to human. Jesus went through every developmental stage that we go through. Jesus learned truths as we do; Jesus formed a rational mind that made decisions for Him; Jesus lived an adult life of service. This means that wherever we are on our own developmental path, Jesus was there and can come to us through His own Humanity. This gives Jesus total power to cut through any infernal blockage we might be experiencing and to bring us His infinite goodness. This, Jesus does through the power of His resurrected Humanity.
Another gift that Jesus’ humanity gives us is a way for us to understand and relate to God. We can understand a God in Human Form. We have stories about Jesus’ life on earth. We have stories about God in the flesh that give us an understanding of what God is like and how God acts. Jesus is a God we can understand. Jesus is a God we can relate to. We can love a human being. This is what Jesus gives us. We know that God is infinite. But our minds are now and always will be finite. Our minds can never understand infinity. In fact, when we try to comprehend how vast the universe is–and even in its vastness it still is finite–we have difficulty grasping its dimensions. How much more difficult would it be to comprehend God’s infinity! If God were only infinite, there would be no way for us to grasp God’s nature. There would be no way for us to relate to infinity. The infinite God would be forever beyond our finite grasp. But we can understand and relate to God’s Divine Humanity. The Infinite God is within Jesus as our soul is in our body. And we come to that infinity through Jesus. That is why Jesus says, “No one comes to the Father but through me” (John 14:6). It is through Jesus, that we come to the infinite God. It is through the humanity of Jesus, that we can approach God’s infinity. It is Jesus’ Divine Humanity that we can relate to and form relationship with.
Finally, Jesus as God on earth shows us the ways of God. In the Old Testament we have prescriptions and directions about how to live. With the New Testament we see these prescriptions acted out. With the stories about Jesus, we can see how God would act and react to various situations. We can thus understand how we are to act in those same situations. And we can figure out how to act in other situations by considering those stories. I once asked a friend of mine what I should do in a certain situation I was perplexed by. His response illustrates perfectly what I am talking about. He asked simply, “What would Jesus do?” We know enough about Jesus’ life that I think we can answer that question in most of the situations we go through. Our footsteps can walk the same path that Jesus walked. We can follow Jesus and live a life in accordance with His own Divine life. That would be our goal, anyway. We can embody the love, the patience, the forgiveness, and the compassion that Jesus showed while He was on the earth. The Human God Jesus showed us the way for us humans to approach godliness in our own lives.
Jesus said, “Surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.” He will be with us as a presence in His Divine Humanity. He will be with us in our hearts as we form a loving relationship with this God-Man. And He will be with us in our own lives as we embody the things He stood for, the things He lived for. God came to earth on Christmas. He lived the life an ordinary human would, but with this difference: Jesus completely united this Humanity with His own Divine soul. While we weren’t on the earth when His own feet walked the dust of Palestine, Jesus still walks beside us on the streets of Edmonton as the risen and glorified Divine Human.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, we give you thanks that you have taken to yourself your great power and that you reign. You have conquered death in your resurrection and shown us the glorious gift of eternal life in you. We pray that you be with us always, as you have promised that you will be. Give us open hearts so that we may receive the inflowing love from your Divine Humanity. Be with us as we walk this path here on earth, and be with us as we make ready our souls for our eternal life in heaven with you. Enlighten our pathway so that we may follow in your footsteps. For you came to earth to bring us back home to you; you came to earth to show us the ways of God; you came to earth, lived, died, and were reborn in order that we may be one with you and you one with us. Praise be to you!

Lord, we ask for your peace to descend upon this troubled world. Where there is conflict and war, let there be understanding and peace. Inspire our leaders, and the leaders of other nations to govern their people with compassion and with your Holy Love. Where there is famine and thirst send your generosity. Where there are natural disasters, may help come from good neighbors and from compassionate governments. Where there is want and unemployment, lend your patience and hope.

Dear Lord, we ask you to send your healing love to all suffering in body or soul. Lord, be with all who are in need of your healing presence and power.