Have a Holly, Jolly...Moment of Reflection on the Incarnation

One of the central claims of the Christian theological tradition is that God became incarnate a little over 2000 years ago (more precisely, the second member of the Trinity -- the Son -- became incarnate). Even if you don't believe this claim, it seems like it should still strike you as something very beautiful. Personally, the incarnation has always seemed like such a beautiful thing to me, even in those all too frequent seasons where I find myself feeling more agnostic than religious. Oxford Theologian, Alister McGrath, puts it well:

"What sorts of things does the incarnation tell us about the 'God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?' Perhaps most obviously, it tells us that the God with whom we are dealing is no distant ruler who remains aloof from the affairs of his creatures, but one who is passionately concerned with them to the extent that he takes the initiative in coming to them. God doesn't just reveal things about himself -- he reveals himself  in Jesus Christ. Revelation is personal. It is not given in a set of propositions, a list of statements which we are meant to accept, but in a person. It is to Christ, and not to the creed, that the world must look for redemption. The creed points away from itself to the one hope of redemption, to Jesus Christ. It is not the creed but the astonishing act of God in history to which it bears witness which is the source of the saving power underlying the Christian proclamation. Christianity has always insisted that man can know -- not just know about -- God. God does not encounter us as an idea, but as a person. We may know much about the President of the United States, or the British Royal Family -- but that doesn't mean that we know them. For someone to be known means that they want to be known -- there must be willingness on their part to let us know them. But God goes further than this. He takes the initiative in approaching us, in disclosing to us that he wants us to know him. God reveals himself to man, and by revealing himself, discloses his love for man and his desire to enter into relationship with him. Just as the waiting father encountered the returning prodigal son, so God encounters us. The incarnation speaks to us of a God who acts to demonstrate his love for us. That 'God is love' (1 John 4:8) is a deep and important truth -- but far more important is the truth that God acted to demonstrate this love. 'In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him' (1 John 4:9). Actions, as we are continually reminded, speak louder than words. That 'God is love' could be misunderstood as a static timeless universal truth; that 'God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life' (John 3:16) makes it clear that God is dynamic, a living God, who acted in order to reveal the full extent of his love for us. The incarnation speaks of a God humbling himself in order to make himself known to us, to call us back to him, to reveal the full extent of his love toward us...Christianity does not teach that man has to climb a ladder into heaven in order to find God and be with him -- rather, it teaches that God has come down the ladder in order to meet us and take us back with him. We don't have to become like God before we can encounter him, because God became like us first" [1].

Merry Christmas.

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footnotes:

[1] From Studies in Doctrine by Alister McGrath.