 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST AND OF THE CROSS by Bruno Barnhart, OSB Cam For Paul, the wisdom and the power of God are embodied in Jesus Christ, and released into the world in the death and resurrection of Christ. Paul can, therefore, sum up his preaching as the 'word of the cross.' It is here that the paradox of a Christian wisdom is most acutely manifested; whatever wisdom of any ultimate value that a Christian can acquire must be centered in this 'cross of Christ,' the axial event of history, the revolutionary act of God in which humanity - and ultimately the world itself - become a 'new creation.' Wisdom itself must somehow go through the inversion, the death and rebirth which is the cross. Here is the very pivot of paradox, and Paul exults in the power of God which is condensed in this point. It is the vanishing point in which all wisdom is swallowed up and the daystar from which not only light but infinite power radiates. 1. 1 Corinthians 1:13-2:16 If the wisdom of which Paul speaks is nothing but the cross of Christ, it is also, turning around the same axis of paradox, the divine Spirit itself and a consciousness of unbounded depth and breadth which he can call the 'mind of Christ.' This is not some special gift imparted to the perfect, but an interior realization of the common baptismal gift. It is in the Pauline letters to the Colossians and the Ephesians that the 'mystery of Christ' is opened to its full dimensions. All things, having originated from the pre-existent Son, are gathered once again into one by incorporation into the crucified and risen Christ. Not only the church but the cosmos itself is somehow brought into him. The image of the cross persists, like a watermark, beneath the movement of words and ideas in these texts. 2. Colossians 1:12-22 3. Col 1:24-2:3 The church is Christ's body: the physicality of this is not merely metaphorical, but rooted and consummated in the eucharistic bread and wine. Again and again in this letter to the Colossians we feel the intense gravitational force of this center which is Christ. He comes across eminently as 'spirit', but at the same time as anything but incorporeal. The image of Christ becomes that of a kind of supersolid, a 'hypermatter,' substance of substances in which not only all wisdom but all reality finds its core. A lavishness, a prodigality of light and of understanding is suggested, as faith opens to the interior fullness of the mystery. 4. Col 2:8-12 Again, as in 1 Cor. 1, Paul contrasts the futility of human tradition and speculation with the fullness that is in Christ. There is a conclusive emphasis and power in this word 'bodily', which concentrates within itself (like John 1:14) the movement of Incarnation: 'For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily.' (2:9) Through the baptismal 'burial' and rebirth, the believer participates in this fullness, possesses this fullness. 5. Ephesians 1:5-10 The letter to the Ephesians rings with the Pauline refrain, 'in Christ', 'in him.' We are to understand this indwelling corporeally, as living in the body of Christ. The mystery of Christ appears here, with conclusive scope, as the recapitulation of all things in him. Everything, in Christ, is brought together in the Oneness which is God. There is a reconciliation of creatures with God and a reconciliation of creatures - alienated from each other - in God. 6. Eph 2:13-16 Gentile converts are addressed; in Christ they have become one with the ancient people of God ( the Jews), as the dividing wall of the Jewish law is demolished through his crucifixion. It is in the body of Jesus Christ that this reconciliation takes place; all humanity is, in this crucified and risen body, potentially brought together in 'one new person.' Here the figure of the cross emerges clearly with its two axes. Vertically, humanity is reunited with God in Christ; horizontally, alienated nations are brought together as well in his body. 7. Eph 3:3-10 Paul unfolds the mystery of Christ in terms of the opening of the promise of divine salvation - hitherto limited to the Jewish people - to the Gentiles as well; that is, to all humanity. This movement from Israel outward to the Gentiles corresponds to Paul's personal vocation and mission. While this movement expresses the historical development of the mystery in concrete terms, it does not at all exhaust the content of the mystery, as is evident in the light of our other texts from Colossians and Ephesians. Once again, it is in the body of Christ that the union takes place. In this expansive realization of the body, the wisdom of God is disclosed - even to the immaterial spirits in the heavens. The Pauline letters often consist of two parts. First there is a 'doctrinal' part in which the author recalls the Christ-event (or Christ mystery): the one great happening which has brought them into a new life. Then follows a second, 'moral' part, an exhortation to respond to the gift and an instruction on how to do it. At the end of the doctrinal section of the letter to the Ephesians, the author turns from the objective Christ mystery to its realization within the individual person. It is for this that he prays. 8. Eph 3:14-19 The geometry of the mystery now unfolds within the person. First, with the language of interiority ('inner person,' 'in your hearts,' 'rooted and grounded') a center is fixed. Then, with great sweeping strokes, four dimensions are outlined. Finally, an infinite circle seems to be described around the whole; the person, in Christ, expands to the 'fullness of God.' Note the great importance that Paul - or the Pauline author - gives to knowing in this conclusive text: 'that you may have power to comprehend', 'to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.' This knowledge beyond knowing is the purpose for his writing. It is a knowledge of love which is one with love, which has become love in the knower. It is a knowing that is inseparable from being, from a divine fullness of being. This is the heart of a wisdom Christianity.
|
|
|
|
|
||
