There is a gospel hymn that
asks us the question regarding Jesus Christ: “Who is He?” The chorus responds, “
‘Tis the Lord, the King of Glory.” Every time we read the gospels
we are confronted by the person and life of Jesus Christ. Who is He? Such is a question as old as Christianity. I recently
came across the following reading from one of the early church Fathers, Bishop Hippolytus, who resided in Rome around the year 215 AD.
“This is He who was
hymned by the angels, and seen by the shepherds, and waited for by Simeon, and witnessed to by Anna. This is He who was inquired
after by the wise men and indicated by the star. He who was engaged in His Father’s
house, and pointed to by John, and witnessed to by the Father from above in the voice, “This is my beloved Son; hear
ye Him.” He is crowned victor against the devil.
This is Jesus of Nazareth,
who was invited to the marriage-feast in Cana, and turned the water into wine, and rebuked the sea when agitated by the violence
of the winds, and walked on the deep as on dry land, and caused the blind man from birth to see, and raised Lazarus to life
after he had been dead four days, and did many mighty works, and forgave sins, and conferred power on the disciples, and had
blood and water flowing from His sacred side when pierced with the spear.
For His sake the sun is darkened,
the day has no light, the rocks are shattered, the veil is rent, the foundations of the earth are shaken, the graves are opened,
and the dead are raised, and the rulers are ashamed when they see the Director of the universe upon the cross closing His
eyes and giving up the ghost. Creation saw and was troubled; and unable to bear the sight of His exceeding glory, it shrouded
itself in darkness.
This is He who breathes upon
the disciples, and gives them the Spirit, and comes in among them when the doors are shut, and is taken up by a cloud into
the heavens while the disciples gaze at Him, and is set down on the right hand of the Father, and comes again as the Judge
of the living and the dead.
This is the God who for our
sakes became man, to whom also the Father hath put all things in subjection. To Him be the glory and the power, with the Father
and the Holy Spirit, in the holy Church both now and ever, and even for evermore. Amen.”
(From ‘Against the Heresy of One Noetus – Hippolytus – 3rd Century)
