The entire cosmos was created by and through Jesus. And yet Jesus was created within and through the cosmos. He birthed creation; creation in turn birthed him. The Creator set in motion a world with laws and properties and means of reproduction that set the stage for his own self to be born. The origin of all life allowed himself to be born like all living things are born. The Creator—in the mystery of all mysteries—somehow became created.
But even though the world was made through him, it didn’t recognize him. Not right away anyways. Some still haven’t recognized him.
Much of the time, if I’m honest, I don’t recognize him.
Here is, I think, an essential aim of faith: to learn to recognize Christ. Within Creation. In the real World. Perhaps especially in those places and times, people and manners, in which we would otherwise be prone to miss him.
The mystery of the incarnation teaches us that there’s more going on than we might see. And even when we do see, there is still much that we are missing. And while there is always the very real possibility that we might miss him, there also exists the possibility that we might notice him.
Some moment when something deep within us says to the Creator, “Oh, yes! I am from you!”
