One
of the most staggering truths of Scripture is that God became an embryo. God traversed
an unfathomable rift to enter our world to demonstrate the greatest truth of
all: that He is a saving, loving, redeeming God. A great Christmas hymn verbalizes
this truth: “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see/hail the incarnate Deity/pleased
as Man with men to dwell/Jesus our Emmanuel” (Charles Wesley). It’s a scandalous,
preposterous truth. It’s a tale meant to be told.
It was scandalous –
I always thought that we don’t lend nearly enough of our imagination to the
drama that happened between Joseph and Mary. Imagine as a man, knowing
indisputably in your heart that you had not consummated your relationship with
your intended spouse, only to be told, “I’m pregnant.” Imagine having to deal
with the gossip and snide remarks of neighbors and relatives to the extent that
it must have seemed a great mercy to leave home and make the arduous journey to
Bethlehem, and later, briefly Egypt. Of course, an angel assuaged Joseph’s misgivings—a
kindness that must have been absolutely necessary. But I think we tend to
airbrush away the tabloid tawdry appearance this pregnancy caused.
It was preposterous
– Preposterous is the textbook definition of a miracle. Miracles defy natural, rational explanation. What if your neighbor
started declaring
himself God-incarnate? It wouldn’t take much of that before psychological
behavioral experts showed up. The Bible indicates that even Jesus’ own family
found these claims extraordinary, to put it mildly: “When
his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He
is out of his mind’” (Mark 3:21). The message of Christmas sounds ludicrous.
And yet, it is at the very center of Christian Theology. The Gospel writers
started out with this outlandish claim, "The virgin will conceive and give
birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means God is with us)”
(Matthew 1:23). God voluntarily emptied himself of His heavenly rights to
become a human. Only by becoming a human could He rescue humans. He lived
sinlessly to rescue sinners (2 Corinthians 5:21). He was born so that He could
die in our place. He was resurrected to prove it worked!
It’s truth meant to be shared! Christmas is a scandalous, preposterous, miraculous truth.
God gave us an indescribable gift. If this is true (and I am persuaded that it
is), then this is the most needed message that we could relate to anyone. And
yet, so often, I keep it to myself. My feelings of intimidation overwhelm my
heart of compassion. My concern about being alienated from my neighbors if I
share this Good News with them leaves them alienated from God. Fear flattens me
out. “What is this? An article or a confession?” Yes. Pray with me, that God
will help me find courage to share this Good News with more urgency and frequency,
and I’ll do the same for you.
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