Incarnation Nation

Have you noticed how Christian theologians love big words? Justification. Redemption. Sanctification. Propitiation (my personal favorite). And a special one for Calvinists (who are the intellectuals of Protestantism), Supralapsarianism. And of course our Christmas term, Incarnation. So what is “incarnation”? Is it a certain type of flower? A certain kind of soup (con carne)? The word literally means “enfleshed,” and refers to something or someone taking on human flesh. “Incarnation” refers to God coming into history as a human being – one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith – the mystery we celebrate at Christmas.

I find it interesting that the prominent philosophies taught in the first century tended to believe that anything physical – flesh and blood – was inherently inferior (if not evil). The very thought of God taking on human flesh was unacceptable. And yet, that is the story of Christmas. The apostle John famously wrote, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The Eternal Word (Logos) of God, the Word that was with God in the beginning and was God, became flesh. I love how the Message paraphrases this verse: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”

One of the earliest hymns of the church was composed by the apostle Paul to celebrate the incarnation:

“Who, being in very nature God,
     did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own             advantage;
    rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8).

Jesus did not need to strive for divinity (unlike our original parents in the Garden) because he was God. Beyond that, Jesus did not seek to hang on to his divine rights, power and authority. Instead, “he made himself nothing,” literally, “he emptied himself.” As God, Jesus considered himself to be nothing, he poured himself out, pouring himself into humanity, God becoming “enfleshed.” In doing so, Jesus could have come into the world as a king or a famous philosopher. Instead, he “took the form of a servant.” Jesus came into the world to serve the Father, but also to serve humanity. Jesus came as a Servant-King, intentionally choosing a humble birth and a humble lifestyle. In the end, Jesus went even further, humbling himself by dying in the place of us all.

The mystery of the incarnation communicates several very important ideas:

1.     It tells us something about God. When we think of the fact that “God is love,” we see God taking extreme measures to have a free, love relationship with his creatures. God took the initiative to restore humanity back into a full relationship with him. Nothing is more important to our Father than our freely-chosen, freely-expressed love relationship with him.

2.     It tells us something about humanity. When God initiated salvation, God did so by entering into human history, becoming a human being. God’s “Plan A” involves an intimate partnership with humans, the pinnacle of God’s creation. Not only did God not give up on us, God became one of us in order to draw us back to himself. In fact, Jesus came as a perfect, sinless human being, and in doing so, not only perfectly represents God, Jesus perfectly represents human beings as God originally designed them (us) to be. Jesus came to restore our relationship with God; Jesus also came to restore our full, human potential.

3.     It tells us something about the way God works. I suppose God could have waved a magic wand over creation and “fixed it.” It might have been easier for God to wipe out humanity and start over. Instead, God entered into human chaos pain and brought life out of death. All God’s goals are relational and all God’s methods are relational.

So when you see a picture of the Holy Family with shepherds and wise men gathered in a barn, you aren’t just seeing a sentimental symbol of Christmas. You are seeing one of the greatest miracles, and one of the greatest mysteries, in all of human history. Indeed, you are seeing the pinnacle of human history. Everything changed from that moment on, and you and I are invited to enter into the miracle and renew our commitment to God’s plan for our lives. Look how he loves us!