“Time is in his hands […] but he is also in the hands of time” (Helmut Thielicke)

“Christ is not just the one in whom the world was made and who is coming again. He is also the one who has come, who was born in Bethlehem, who was tempted with us and alongside us, who died with us and alongside us, who thus bears the pressure of history with us and alongside us, who is in solidarity with us. He does not march alone in cosmic sovereignty over the world. He also enters the ship and is with us as it is battered by the waves (Matthew 8:23-27). He makes himself an object of what happens in the same way as we are. If he is the Lord of history he is also its member. Time is in his hands (Psalm 31:15) but he is also in the hands of time. He grows, achieves maturity and wisdom, is subject to his parents (Luke 2:51f.). He comes under the control of men. If we are to call him Redeemer we must see him under both aspects.”

(Helmut Thielicke, German theologian (1908-86))