26th June 2025
The highest and the lowest
When I woke up one morning, the words ‘zenith’ and ‘nadir’ randomly popped into my mind. It seemed a good way to describe Jesus, kind of like the Alpha and the Omega, but I had to look up nadir to make sure I understood the meaning. Zenith is defined as the highest point on the celestial sphere, as when something is directly above a certain point. Nadir is the opposite, the lowest point.
Jesus is indeed the highest in every way, but he became the lowest for our sake. In Ephesians 4:9 (NTE – – The New Testament for Everyone, A Fresh Translation by N.T. Wright), we read: “When it says here that ‘he went up,’ what this means is that he also came down into the lower place, that is the earth.” As with other verses, there are differing opinions as to what this means, but it’s most likely referring to the Incarnation. Jesus emptied himself to become a human, a servant even, obedient to death. In becoming one of us, he came to the nadir of our life on earth – dying just as we do.
A theological principle often attributed to St. Gregory of Nazianzus states, ‘That which is not assumed is not redeemed.’ Jesus assumed every aspect, every part of being human and in the process, we have redemption. He even assumed death by dying on the cross. Death has been swallowed up in life because Jesus was willing to not just lower himself to our level but to become the nadir, to assume and redeem us in our fallen, dying state. Jesus is indeed the zenith as the Son of God, who rescued us by lowering himself all the way down to our level.
First published on 27 May 2025, at www.gemsofgodsgrace.wordpress.com a personal blog which is not sponsored by Grace Communion International.
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Study by: Tammy Tkach About the author: |
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