Why must the Redeemer be truly human?
That in human nature he might on our behalf perfectly obey the whole law and suffer the punishment for human sin; and also that he might sympathize with our weaknesses.
(New City Catechism)
Mystery, this:
the perfect life lived,
Law satisfied,
and yet
my death visited on Him.
Mystery, too
that many should live
through the death
of the world’s
only righteous Man.
And mystery –
the greatest of all! –
that God should weep
and feel
temptation’s aching power.
This mystery
clutches me and
holds me spellbound,
freed within
its wondrous, saving thrall.
The Consolations of Writing 