The Mediating Word 2 – an excerpt from Christian Meditation

An excerpt from the section entitled

“The Mediating Word” from Christian Meditation by Hans Urs Von Balthasar

 

Hence, basically, Christian meditation can be nothing but loving, reflective, obedient contemplation of him who is God’s self-expression. He is the very explanation of God and his teaching to us. “Anyone who goes beyond this does not possess God, but anyone who remains within this teaching possesses the Father as well as the Son” (2 Jn 9). This “remaining” means believing, and this faith is granted eyes to look through the man Jesus and see the divine: “Anyone who [really] sees me sees the Father” (Jn 14:9). In Christian meditation we are enabled to perceive the state and attitude of God not only in Jesus’ words but also in all his states and acts. When Jesus is angry (as Mark frequently mentions), when he brandishes the whip, we perceive how and why Yahweh, the jealous God, is angry. When he weeps over Jerusalem, which “was not willing”, he reveals the sorrows of the Lord of the Covenant on account of his love that was squandered in vain. When he lets himself be asked for something—by his Mother in Cana, by the Roman centurion in Capernaum and by the Gentile woman in Syria—and thereby “persuaded”, he shows how persevering prayer ultimately wrenches the desired favor from God’s heart (Lk 18:1-7). When he does not hesitate to leave the two beloved women in Bethany without an answer and apparently in the lurch, he demonstrates in advance that on the Cross he will feel forsaken by his Father, although he knew beforehand that “the hour is already here in which you will leave me alone. . . . But I am not alone, for the Father is with me” (Jn 16:32; cf. 8:29). When from the viewpoint of this world it would seem that God abandons us, even and precisely then he does not.

 

 

Balthasar, Hans Urs von. Christian Meditation. Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

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