“How will anyone know that You are pleased with me and with Your people unless You go with us? What else will distinguish me and Your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Then Moses said, “Now show me Your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim My name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” Exodus 33:16-19
“For needful it was that neither His light should be unseen, nor His glory without witness, nor His goodness unenjoyed, nor that any other quality observed in the Divine nature should in any case lie idle, with none to share it or enjoy it. If, therefore, man comes to His birth upon these conditions, namely to be a partaker of the good things in God, necessarily he is framed of such a kind as to be adapted to the participation of such good. For as the eye, by virtue of the bright ray which is by nature wrapped up in it, is in fellowship with the light, and by its innate capacity draws to itself that which is akin to it, so was it needful that a certain affinity with the Divine should be mingled with the nature of man, in order that by means of this correspondence it might aim at that which was native to it.”
Gregory of Nyssa (335-394) in The Great Catechism, Part II, The Incarnation, Chapter 5.
Happy Boxing Day from Denver, Colorado (pictured above) to my friends and readers in Australia, Canada, the UK and other places where the holiday is observed.
Two things grip us when we reflect on today’s Scripture and the thoughts of Gregory on the incarnation. We are partakers of the good things of God and His design for us is our participation in His work.
Moses was boldly leading God’s people and pointedly asked God to show Himself faithful, to show His glory. Only when we pursue God and partake of His goodness and generosity, do we have anything to give to others.
This text contains the word “compassion” in it too. Spoiler alert: That’s the word I have chosen as my word for 2020. May we partake of the goodness, mercy and compassion of God and participate in dispensing it generously.
Father in heaven, make it so by the Holy Spirit today, in 2020, and beyond. Do it so the watching world will see Your glory, know that You are the living God, and see that You are with us! Hear my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.