In a culture—even a church culture—in which we too often overemphasize Christ’s humanity at the expense of his divinity, Augustine’s words are healing tonic. I especially like the last line: He cried in the manger in wordless infancy, he the Word,/ without whom all human eloquence is mute. (h/t Preaching Today):
Our Lord came down from life to suffer death;
the Bread came down, to hunger;
the Way came down, on the way to weariness;
the Fount came down, to thirst.
—Augustine, Sermon 78He so loved us that, for our sake,
He was made man in time,
although through him all times were made.
He was made man, who made man.
He was created of a mother whom he created.
He was carried by hands that he formed.
He cried in the manger in wordless infancy, he the Word,
without whom all human eloquence is mute.
—Augustine, Sermon 188, 2
Beautiful! Augustine is not referenced enough in “modern theology”, but he really got it. So many of the things we now understand and believe were magnified by his writings.