The Messiah Is A Mystery

The presence of the Messiah is a mystery. . . . There is something surprising, unexpected about the appearance of salvation, something which contradicts pious opinions and intellectual demands. The mystery of salvation is the mystery of a child. . . . A child is real and not yet real, it is in history and not yet historical. Its nature is visible and invisible, it is here and not yet here. And just this is the character of salvation. Salvation has the nature of a child. . . . Only he who can see power in weakness, the whole in the fragment, victory in defeat, glory in suffering, innocence in guilt, sanctity in the sinner, life in death can say (with Simeon): Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. ~Paul Tillich