Verse for reflection: St Mathew 1:1
Continuing with St Athanasius’s input:
Men had three ways to know about the All-Merciful God.
- One, they could look up to the immensity of heaven and by pondering the harmony of creation come to know its Ruler.
- If not the first, they could atleast converse with holy men and learn more about God.
- The third option was to lead a good life merely by following the Law.
As the story of the creation proceeds, instead of following any of the three aforementioned paths, men invented for themselves other gods of various kinds. Instead of worshipping the Creator, they revered the creation/creatures. What was God to do to renew His Image in mankind so that men might once more come to know Him?
When a portrait that has been painted on a panel is destroyed due to external stains, the artist does not throw away the panel, but the subject of the portrait comes and sits for it again, and then the likeness is re-drawn on the same material.
Even so was it with the All-holy Son of God. He, the Image of the Father, came took our body from a spotless virgin without the agency of a human father and dwelt in our midst, in order that He might renew mankind made after Himself, and seek out His lost sheep. (St Athanasius, On the Incarnation).
To be continued..
In Christ,
Rincy John
