Jenson on "Christological maximalism"

This is from Lutheran theologian Robert W. Jenson‘s essay “With No Qualifications: The Christological Maximalism of the Christian East,” found in the collection Ancient & Postmodern Christianity: Paleo-Orthodoxy in the 21st Century – Essays in Honor of Thomas C. Oden, edited by Kenneth Tanner and Christopher A. Hall:

The Father has defined his deity itself by the appeal of that man, “Father, forgive them”: to be God is to be the one who says “Yes” in that exchange. That is why there is hope of salvation. The Father has defined his deity itself by that man’s hospitality to publicans and sinners: to be God is to justify the ungodly. That is why we have hope of salvation. It is because the Father has defined deity by that man’s permission to piggyback our prayers on his, sharing his address to “Father,” that we can pray with certainty of hearing. Shifting, for a moment, to metaphysics, it is because that Father has defined being by Jesus’ promise to be with us, that a loaf and cup here and now can be his body and blood. And so forth through as much of the Gospels’ story as needed for any homiletic or confessional occasion.

What if Jesus were in fact a sort of male Shirley MacLaine? And he were risen to be the Son? Then that is the kind of God there would be. Almighty Boopsie in heaven. What if Jesus were in fact a liberal politician? And he were risen to be the Son? Then standard Protestantism would be true. What if Jesus were in fact an unconditionally accepting therapist? One can only set one’s nightmares in order.

Mary is the Mother of God. Unus ex Trinitate mortuus est pro nobis. One of the Trinity is a Palestinian Jew who came eating and drinking and forgave sin and prophesied implausible glory. Jesus saves. These and more sentences like them are the great metaphysical truth of the gospel, without which it is all religious palaver and wish fulfillment and metaphorical projection. Jesus really is Lord because he is one of the Trinity, and that is our salvation.