Glory be to the most high God.
Today’s reading on the Orthodox Church calendar are all about man trying to reckon with the Glory of God. Reading the account in the Book of Ezekiel personally gives me goosebumps; as if the appearance of fire, lighting, gemstones, radiance and creatures far too wonderful and astounding to fully comprehend, Ezekiel then sees a manifestation of God that causes him to fall down upon his face, totally overwhelmed. I think that image is what is key here, that in the last verse it is when Ezekiel is facedown before God, overwhelmed with His glory, that is when God chooses to speak. That is when Ezekiel is most receptive, when there are no distractions because the glory of God is overwhelming everything, that place where it is just him and God is when God can get his message across clearly.
So what does this mean for us? Well on the one hand, it reinforces the importance of us realizing God is a glorious God and acting accordingly for us to hear Him and being in a relationship with him. This impacts us in many different areas of life, especially the importance of worship. Psalm 47 states:
“Clap your hands, all you nations;
shout to God with cries of joy.
How awesome is the LORD Most High,
the great King over all the earth!”
Knowing that he is so glorious, and being able to enter into his presence also tells us something else: that he finds us worthwhile. To this effect, look at the humility yet recognition the psalmist uses in Psalm 8:
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings [c]
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet”
I think at times it is hard to walk the line between righteous humility and full out pride. How often do we take pride in our own characteristics that we think we have given ourselves, rather than the fact that God has created us just, “a little lower than the angels” and has put his whole creation under our feet? Just look at the things that man has accomplished, the way we are able to move both earth and sea to construct things, mine resources, shape the land and even go into space. But all our advancements would not have happened if God did not enable us to achieve them, everything we can do speaks further to the Glory of God, who can do it all and more without batting an eyelash. But how often do we use that to build ourselves up. We would rather tend to think that we are gods ourselves instead of being “little lower than angels.” There is more honor in being a servant of the living God than there is being a false god.
But before I get too ahead of myself, I would just like to remind those reading this that today is the day on Orthodox Calendar is Ascension Day. The 40th day of Easer in which most mainline Protestant denominations and the Catholic church celebrates Christ’s ascension into heaven. So pretty much all the scripture reading for today has a common theme of man beholding God’s glory. Read all about it @ good ole @ Wikipedia!
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."
Here God stoops down to our level, instead of maintaining the position of absolute glory that we see in Ezekiel, contrast that with our rude state. Although some people would like to pretend to be, we know we are not gods, our mortality alone is proof of that. And that is the issue that Christ comes to address. He is not only a God who stays up on high that we may fall before him, but one that comes down to us so that we may sit and learn at his feet. This is evidence of his love for us and in it one thing remains the same, that to be with God we must still recognize his glory, whether in the form of flesh or a state far too wonderful for us to comprehend. And let us remember that when God does speak, we should listen and obey. Something I know I need to work on each and every day, especially in the face of trials when I want to enact my own plan or feel that God is non-responsive. To this I leave you with the words of the great commission found in Matthew, let us remember that this is our fundamental mission with a promise:
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
He created us, gave us authority, and was with us
Then he came down to redeem us, gave us authority again to preach his word, and promises to remain with us. Thank you Jesus, Amen.
2 comments:
Exegesis 17 May 2007
Matthew 28:16-20, Hebrews 2:5-18, Ezek. 1:1-14, 24-28
Yes, as we turn our eyes heavenward in remembrance of the Ascension our thoughts can’t help but focus on the glory of the Risen One. How He too was made “a little lower than angels” and “suffered death” for several reasons. First so He could “taste death for everyone” and also so He could destroy the power of death in each of us. Once again we ask the question with the psalmist, “who is man that you are mindful of him?” and the resounding answer the Jesus gives is in Hebrews 2:11, “Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.” We are the same family! Christian when you are lonely and wearied by this world if you but remember this declaration by the Son of the Most High God your heart will be made light once again! Your troubles will seem as nothing as you recall that you have been called by name by the One who understand you in your innermost being.
Like Ezekiel you will struggle to find words to describe what you see and the feeling of being in the presence of the Lord. We can all understand the inadequacy of our language when it comes to describing the things of God. We can associate with Ezekiel and he repeatedly uses phrases such as, “something like,” “seemed like,” and “appeared as.” When we see the duality and at the same time the oneness of the Son of Man in His divine nature and His human nature we are mystified by this unexplainable mystery of our faith. We are reminded again and again by our encounters with Him or His hand of that He is greatly to be praised. By a word spoken to us in season or a need met or prayer answered He shows us who He is as we follow His ways. We remember ”because He himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.” What glorious news for the Christian who desperately wants to serve the Lord Most High! If we allow Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, to help us in our temptation, He will. He does not make empty promises to the descendants of Abraham for He upheld His covenant with the patriarch and will keep it with us with even more promises added to it.
Why is this important to the Christian? Are these things available to us to help us lead happy lives? The answer, we all know, is a definite “NO!” Why should we remember the Great Commission on this day of remembrance of the Ascension? Because this is the foundation of our faith: Christ crucified, buried, and risen from the grave demonstrating that He is indeed the Son of God, the Savior of the World, for as Paul wrote, if He did not rise from the dead our preaching is in vain. Our preaching is not to ourselves or others who believe but to those who have not seen and heard. That is our sacred duty. To show and tell others what we have seen and heard and experienced in the presence of God. How He calls us friend, brother, child, and the list goes on. To give them the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins because of the tender mercies of our God. And the proof that He is indeed God is His resurrection, without which, the Ascension would be impossible.
On this day made beautiful by the remembrance of our Lord and Savior let us not be content to keep this faith to ourselves, but with Ezekiel search our vocabulary to find words to describe the Christ event! Let us rely on Him to help us in our search for Him, for He is near to us, lo to the end of the age.
Well said, especially about the fact that Elijah utlized relative terms to convey what he saw. The majesty of God simply cannot be absolutely described by Man, it would take away from the infinite nature of God.
I am also encouraged by your desire to make an appeal to the fact that we do experience God moving in our lives and we need to recognize and take courage in those instances and oppurtunities. Furthermore if we were made "a little lower than the angels" and Jesus was "not ashamed" to call us brothers, then we should feel likewise about referring to His Lordship in our lives.
But what does that mean? Does it always mean being thrust into public situations where we have to raise our our hands meekly like "I'm a Christian, nice to meet you" or can it just be stopping and realizing in the middle of frustration - "Hey, I am a child of God, He's got this."
I try telling that to myself every time I get overwhelmed in recent days and then I go ahead and take a nap. End up waking up just a little more clear-headed. Working on keeping that inspiration in my mind. No wonder the Lord said "bind these words upon your heart."
Peace,
Obinna
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