Ani-hu
Before I was put in the underground [communist] prison where I now am, I once stood at the window of my prison cell and cried: "Lord, where are you?" I had scarcely finished the last word, when I saw entering the prison yard my wife, with Bianca and another sister who had come to inquire from the governor if I was in that prison. I had called to the Lord. Three sisters had come. Since then, I have made it a habit to identify them and all true children of God with the Lord himself, and I know this is not a fancy.
Whoever has met King Truth, and has known his ardent kiss, does not seek the truth any longer, does not speak the truth, but is its very embodiment. Christ is no longer the object of your thoughts. You are his manifestation. Instead of being like Christ, you are identified with him. He is the light of the world. You are the light of the world. It is the same light.
...Jesus himself identifies with us. ...When Jesus met Saul of Tarsus, he asked him: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Now the truth is that Saul had never persecuted Jesus. He had only persecuted the disciples. But Jesus knows no difference between himself and his disciples. When he speaks of his disciples, he does not use the third person. He says, "me." He knows that I am he. And every Christian ought to know himself to be identical with Christ, a part of his mystical body.
...Our Bibles translate Isaiah 48:12 with the words: "I am he. I am the first, I also am the last." The Hebrew words are: "Ani-hu ani harishon af ani haaharon," which means, literally translated: "An 'I-he' (a union between me and him) is the first, and an 'I' (which is only I) is the last." ...To be a Christian means to be an "Ani-hu," an "I-he," an intimate union between a human soul and Christ. Jesus said to Philip: "Have I been so long with you and yet thou hast not known me? He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." In the same way, a Christian can say to anyone who has known him for a long time: "He that has seen me, has seen Christ."
[RW, SISC, (c)1969]
Whoever has met King Truth, and has known his ardent kiss, does not seek the truth any longer, does not speak the truth, but is its very embodiment. Christ is no longer the object of your thoughts. You are his manifestation. Instead of being like Christ, you are identified with him. He is the light of the world. You are the light of the world. It is the same light.
...Jesus himself identifies with us. ...When Jesus met Saul of Tarsus, he asked him: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Now the truth is that Saul had never persecuted Jesus. He had only persecuted the disciples. But Jesus knows no difference between himself and his disciples. When he speaks of his disciples, he does not use the third person. He says, "me." He knows that I am he. And every Christian ought to know himself to be identical with Christ, a part of his mystical body.
...Our Bibles translate Isaiah 48:12 with the words: "I am he. I am the first, I also am the last." The Hebrew words are: "Ani-hu ani harishon af ani haaharon," which means, literally translated: "An 'I-he' (a union between me and him) is the first, and an 'I' (which is only I) is the last." ...To be a Christian means to be an "Ani-hu," an "I-he," an intimate union between a human soul and Christ. Jesus said to Philip: "Have I been so long with you and yet thou hast not known me? He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." In the same way, a Christian can say to anyone who has known him for a long time: "He that has seen me, has seen Christ."
[RW, SISC, (c)1969]
posted by CS at 6:25 PM
4 Comments:
Is this true? This cuts right to my identity. Do I want this to be true?
Well, but we say all the time that our identity is in Christ. What do we mean by that? Jesus says, "I and the Father are one." He doesn't seem worried about losing his identity. It's what he prays for us in John 17:21 "that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me." To ask, what about my identity, is maybe like my foot arguing for its independence, inisting on being known as Katherine's foot, not as Katherine.
well said...the radicalness of this post is hitting me. Wow. We find ourselves in him. We find ourselves when we identify with him. This is hard to swallow!
Once again I find myself kind of ...scared. Of Jesus, and of following him.
Being scared of Jesus ...reminds me of what one of our friends in Romania wrote about the danger of reading the Bible.
"Fear: it’s a beautiful word, though, isn’t it? Let’s admit it, we do not experience the danger posed by God’s Word on a daily basis but the scriptures declare that God’s proclaimed Word is a dangerous weapon; it almost cautions all of us, do not play with it... It is: 'living and active,' 'sharper than any double-edged sword.' It reaches the depths of our soul, in fact, it 'judges the thoughts' and it even brings to light the 'attitudes of the heart.'
Exposes hidden thoughts and the attitudes of the heart? ...Who needs this?
Certainly anyone who, let’s say, is held captive by their own desires. A prisoner. Someone tries with all their might not to hurt others, but nevertheless fires out assaults. Someone who once thought they could rule time but now realizes that they are swept away, crushed and anihiliated by it. Someone held hostage by hopelessness, self-pity and hatred.
She or he opens the Scriptures and speaks to the Saviour God so that He would address the one who longs for freedom. They cry out, 'I wait for you to free me, Lord!'"
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