The Scandal of The Incarnation by Hans Urs von Balthasar

Author:Hans Urs von Balthasar [Balthasar, Hans Urs von]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9780898703153
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2012-09-28T04:00:00+00:00

The mystery of the Virgin

(114) The first formed man, Adam, received his substance from the untilled and still virgin earth (‘for God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground’, Gen 2:5) and was fashioned by the Hand of God, that is, the Word of God (for ‘all things were made through Him’, John 1:3, and ‘God took dust from the earth and formed man’, Gen 2:7). Similarly, the Word, recapitulating Adam in Himself, very fittingly received from Mary, who was still a virgin, the birth which made recapitulation possible . . . Why did God not take dust again? Why did He make the formation come from Mary? Precisely so that there was not some different formation, that it was not some different handiwork which was saved, that it was the very same one which was recapitulated, the likeness being preserved.

III 21, 10

(115) [The prophets] who proclaimed Him as Emmanuel, born of the Virgin, were showing forth the union of the Word of God with His own handiwork. They were announcing that the Word would be made flesh, that the Son of God would become the Son of Man, that the Pure One, in a pure way, would open that pure womb which regenerates men in God, that pure womb which He Himself made to be pure.

IV 33, 11

(116) Consequently, the Virgin Mary is found to be obedient, when she says, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy word’ (Luke 1:38). Eve was disobedient; while still a virgin, she did not obey. She had Adam for a husband, but she was nonetheless still a virgin, for in Paradise ‘they were both naked and not ashamed’ (Gen 2:25). The reason for this was that they had only been created a short time before and so had no understanding of the procreation of children. They had first of all to grow up; only then could they multiply. Just as Eve, by disobeying, became the cause of death for herself and the whole human race, so Mary, betrothed to a predestined man and yet a virgin, by obeying, became the cause of salvation for herself and the whole human race. This is why the law gives the name ‘wife’ to a woman who is betrothed to a man but still a virgin, thereby indicating the circular movement from Mary back to Eve. What was bound could not be untied without a reversal of the process of entanglement. The first bonds had to be untied by the second, so that the second might set free the first. And, in fact, this is what happened: the first entanglement was untied by the second bond, the second bond playing the role of loosener of the first. This is why the Lord said that the first would be last and the last first (cf Matt 19:30; 20:16). And the prophet made the same point when he said: ‘Instead of

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