Now as he [Jesus] approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging … He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”… Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied, “Lord, please let me see.” (Luke 18: 35-41)
Saint Irenaeus was born in Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey) in 130 and became the bishop of Lugdunum, the administrative center of Roman Gaul and Germany, (now Lyons, France), until his death in 202.
He was one of the first great scripture scholars; his work was important in establishing the canonical (official) books of the New Testament. His only surviving major work is his treatise Against Heresies.
An interesting section of the treatise—about seeing God—is included in the Office of Readings for Wednesday of the third week of Advent.
Irenaeus is clear that to speak of seeing God is paradoxical:
“The prophets, then, foretold that God would be seen by men. As the Lord himself says: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. In his greatness and inexpressible glory no one can see God and live, for the Father is beyond our comprehension. But in his love and generosity and omnipotence he allows even this to those who love him, that is, even to see God, as the prophets foretold. For what is impossible to men is possible to God.
“By his own powers man cannot see God, yet God will be seen by men because he wills it. He will be seen by those he chooses, at the time he chooses, and in the way he chooses, for God can do all things. He was seen of old through the Spirit in prophecy; he is seen through the Son by our adoption as his children, and he will be seen in the kingdom of heaven in his own being as the Father.”
When Irenaeus speaks of “seeing” God, he means more than looking at or upon God. But he doesn’t mean that “seeing” God means fully understanding God either.
As Irenaeus explains it, “As those who see light are in the light sharing its brilliance, so those who see God are in God sharing his glory, and that glory gives them life. To see God is to share in his life.”
When Irenaeus used the word, “glory”, he must have been fully aware of its use in sacred scripture to describe the manifestation of God:
– In the days of the Exodus, the glory of the Lord appeared as a cloud leading the people and as a consuming fire on Sinai.
– It was the glory of God that so filled the temple built by Solomon upon its inauguration that no one could see. And it was that selfsame glory that Ezekiel saw, in vision, leaving the temple centuries later.
– Simeon saw the return of the glory as he held the infant Jesus in his arms in the temple and blessed God.
The words were different, but Irenaeus echoed Paul, who, at the Areopagus in Athens, quoted one of the famous Greek poets, saying, “In him [God] we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28)
Irenaeus was echoing Saint John as well: “… love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God … God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins … God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. (1 John 4:7-16)
Lord, please let me see!
20 December 2020