(Companions in Contemplation, Ben Campbell Johnson, 2009, pg 110)
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.
John 14:11
The Son’s being in the Father is like the bird being in the air or the fish being in the sea. As the air fills the lungs of the bird and the water fills the gills of the fish, so the Father fills the Son. The Father and the Son are like the fetus in the mother and the mother in the fetus. In one sense they are two but in another they are one.
From all eternity the Son is begotten of the Father; he has always been Son, the Eternal Son. In the days of his flesh the Christ remained in the Father and the Father continued in his Son. Even now the Son has taken into that relationship the earthly experience of humanness – limits, pain, vulnerability. In the incarnation he not only brought God to us, he ascended and took us into God.
Indeed, this initial participation is hidden in the mystery of God. We cannot understand this mystery, but we can contemplate it and thereby enter into it. By virtue of his incarnation and ascension we are in the Son and he is in us as we are in God.
Let yourself become as intimate with Christ as Christ is with God!
Jane Note: Ben's life journey was craving and achieving this intimacy. He now has fulfilled his hope. As we read and contemplate, may the craving that comes only from a spiritual journey move us into closer intimacy with our Lord.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.
John 14:11
The Son’s being in the Father is like the bird being in the air or the fish being in the sea. As the air fills the lungs of the bird and the water fills the gills of the fish, so the Father fills the Son. The Father and the Son are like the fetus in the mother and the mother in the fetus. In one sense they are two but in another they are one.
From all eternity the Son is begotten of the Father; he has always been Son, the Eternal Son. In the days of his flesh the Christ remained in the Father and the Father continued in his Son. Even now the Son has taken into that relationship the earthly experience of humanness – limits, pain, vulnerability. In the incarnation he not only brought God to us, he ascended and took us into God.
Indeed, this initial participation is hidden in the mystery of God. We cannot understand this mystery, but we can contemplate it and thereby enter into it. By virtue of his incarnation and ascension we are in the Son and he is in us as we are in God.
Let yourself become as intimate with Christ as Christ is with God!
Jane Note: Ben's life journey was craving and achieving this intimacy. He now has fulfilled his hope. As we read and contemplate, may the craving that comes only from a spiritual journey move us into closer intimacy with our Lord.