Week 7—Thursday Romans 8:22-23
Week 7—THURSDAY
THE FLESH MADE BY HIM AND FOR HIM
We now are ready to come to an important conclusion: If the “flesh,” standing for the material, was made by Christ and for Christ, then when Jesus Christ came in the flesh he came to his own. The flesh was prepared for his coming. There was a preparito evangelica—a preparation for the gospel in the flesh—the material was prepared by him and it was prepared for him. Just as the seed and the soil are made for each other, so the material became the matrix of the new order. It was not a resisting enemy, but a cooperating friend.
The material world responded to Jesus. It is said in Romans: “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God . . . because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:19, 21). The whole of lower creation with the touch of Christ upon it longs earnestly for the revelation of the children of God—longs earnestly that all be Christian. For then all will treat nature more justly and more kindly and more creatively. Nature will share the redemption of the children of God. Therefore, nature “waits with eager longing,” literally “on tiptoe” to see the end of its being, namely, to be Christian.
No wonder nature, made by Jesus and for Jesus, was responsive to him. He used the parable, an earthly happening, to express a heavenly meaning. He walked on the water as if nature were riding its Master on its shoulders as a crowd will carry its hero on its shoulders. He turned water into wine, as if to show in one act what he is doing over an extended period—turning water through the vine into wine. When on the Mount of Transfiguration his face glowed with unearthly splendor as if showing in one moment what takes place on a lesser scale when soul and body accord well. He multiplied the loaves to feed a multitude as if to bring to an instant the process of the multiplying a single grain into a hundred. Nature was sympathetic and pliable in his hand as if listening to its Master’s voice.
O Lord of the earth and sky and sea, we thank you that Nature heard you speak and obeyed instantly, felt your touch and knew it was the touch of the Hand that made her. Teach us how to live with the material so that body and soul well in accord will beat our music vaster. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I have Nature as my Mother, so I shall dedicate and reverence her.