Reformátusok Lapja, 1968 (68. évfolyam, 8-12. szám)
1968-12-01 / 12. szám
10 REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA of humanity than this birth. How much like a blessed bay is tbe mother’s womb out of which such a ship sets out for the sea of life: What an elevated thing life becomes which has this kind of a beginning! Imagine, what a comfort, what heroic and moving beauty there is in a musical composition that has this birth as its prelude! .... How different appears suddenly the role of the humble maid servant in this light: a mother, who gives birth. The family receives a new meaning, the dignity of home is lifted up, and the star stands still above it. One fact shines before us, like a volcano, that there is no greater thing on earth than love and goodwill; it becomes evident that life is the greatest cause, the dearest gift, supreme privilege, one single opportunity never to repeat itself, the greatest in all creation. From here spring the abundant waters which give eternal title to human dignity; from here spring the roaring mountain streams of optimism which call to us with the inspiring awe of halleluja: it is a joy to live! Although, this shining glory will fall under the shadow of Good Friday. Thirty-three years, and this babe wrapped in swaddling clothes will he undressed. Oh, burning nakedness! Those petal-hands and those roselike feet will be pierced with brutal nails and blows of the hammer driven by merciless people. Oh, fierce cruelty! This brow will be crowned with thorns, this face will be spit on and slapped, because the poorest, the loneliest, the greatest sufferer will he mocked at — that He is the king of kings. Oh, hellish shame! On this earth, on which so much pain passes through, every agony will disappear like a healing sigh when He is thirsting on the cross; and in one moment of eternal damnation the cycle of judgement and suffering will stop — when He cries up there, “My God. my God why hast thou forsaken me?” No human fate or tragedy, that means suffering, disappointment and failure could be felt more deeply or more widely affected than the suffering of the babe in swaddling clothes. Every possibility is met; there is no human joy or human pain, human promise or human disappointment outside of Him. No matter, whether you look for beauty and glory, or for sorrow and pain in man and life, you cannot bypass Him — because He is the ultimate limit, the Zenit and the Nadir. This paradox is the projection of sin. However, the Christmas light shall not he darkened by the forebodings of Good Friday. The joy shall not freeze on the face of the angels and the joyful hymn shall not be stopped; moreover, grace will triumph over sin, life over death, joy will triumph over suffering, cries of greatfulness over shrieks of pain — because in the sign of the babe in swaddling clothes there is III. God. This is the secret of incarnation which cannot be understood in its depth by the wisest man, yet in its simple and wonderful reality it can he understood by every child and by the most ignorant. God became flesh in the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. Listening to this Word of God, we feel what a plan, what a decision, m hat a great predestination was revealed in the sign of the bade in swaddling clothes. Only after this (revelation) can we really understand what great love must have filled the time before time, to inspire the creation, to bewail and hate sin and to prepare the redemption if at once it both gave and accepted the incarnation as tlie only one and eternal sacrifice. Tiny petal of life, fallen onto the straw of a stable, tiny hud, you came from the prime forest of God’s eternal love; more than that, you are the prime forest, you are its spring and you are the author of this spring! Only a child, a tiny sign, yet through it shines the glory of God’s counsel, God’s saving plan and victorious love — like the sun of noontime shines through the stain-glass pictures of cathedrals, like the catching flame on lamp shades brings shining understanding into scribbled lines, like the Word of God gleams out of hieroglyphics as wisdom and history. Yes, through the tiny sign of the child, the eternal love of the Father becomes visible — the obedience of the Son, the conceiving power of the Holy Ghost, the inward and busy life of the Holy Trinity. In Him we feel atonement; the warm flood of grace begins in Him; springs of renewed birth hurry through like breeze after breeze spraying pollen and rushing to victory. Yes, this sign fills us with great certainty: how sure victory is over sin and death if this child is the saving God! How effective a help He is, if He applies Himself. How eternal His love, acquired in the council of peace with His Father. How true His word; how strong His arm; how cleansing His reward must he if He is the Word made flesh! He who was in the beginning who was with God and who was God. How compelling His call, how consecrating His nearness, how transforming His friendship — and how flourishing and lifegiving His alliance will prove, if we know that He is the second person in the Holy Trinity! What could he left out? Only one more tiling. Can you say that of this precious sign IV. you are a part, too? Can you say that He was horn for you. and that you were horn for Him? Put, therefore, into His hands your time, your talent, your wealth, your ambition — because He is asking for it, because He is worthy of it, and because this means refuge and life for you. Are you in Him? Oil say, did you deny yourself for His sake? Did you contradict the world because of Him; did you feel sorry for that which contradicts Him in your heart and for what you have sinned against Him? Did you confess your sinful nature to Him? Did you entrust yourself to Him, as the clay consigns itself to the hands of the potter, to shape you according to His eternal plans? Can you confess to Him
