Thought for the Day

"The Body of Christ takes up space on earth. That is a consequence of the Incarnation. Christ came into his own, But at his birth they gave him a manger, for 'there was no room in the inn.' At his death they thrust him out, and his Body hung between earth and heaven on the gallows. But despite all this, the Incarnation does involve a claim to a space of its own on earth. Anything which claims space is visible, Hence the Body of Christ can inly be a visible Body, or else it is not a Body at all. The physical body of the man Jesus is visible to all, his divine sonship only to the eye of faith, just as that Body as the Body of God incarnate is visible only to faith. That Jesus was in the flesh was visible fact, but that he bore our flesh is a matter of faith. 'To this man shalt thou point and say, 'Here be God' (Luther).' "

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship. Chapter 30: The Visible Community

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