Advent: God's Skin

John 1:11-14

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Each Christmas we celebrate the coming of our Lord.  And how did he come?  In the flesh.  Flesh, human body, material body, physical body, physique, figure, build, anatomy, frame, shape, soma, form.  This is how he came to us.  In the womb he was a fetus, a pre-born.  Out of the womb he was infant, child, adolescent, teenager, young adult and adult.

Sometimes it is easy to let Jesus Christ float three feet above the ground, missing all the small stones to stumble over, all the puddles to step in, all the thorns to prick the fingers and the brow, all the bone-tired weariness, all the dust in the nostrils.  But he did not float above the earth during these days.  He was truly and indeed human—the supreme human being, flawless and frail.

Somewhere between the spiritual reality of our personal relationship with him and the reading of the Christmas text we can leave off his flesh.  This we must never do, particularly in light of John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

This is the Incarnation.  This is the orthodox Christian doctrine that the Son of God was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary and that Jesus is true God and true Man.  The incarnation is God moving into our neighborhood, as Eugene Peterson has so wonderfully rendered the text.

This affirms so many things. This affirms that God is sovereign and can do anything he wills--including putting himself in skin.  This affirms God’s creation of the human body. This affirms you and me as his creation.  That the Spirit of God would descend and wrap himself in epidermis is a truth we cling to by faith.  It is the truth we celebrate each Christmas.

Thought for the Week: When Christ put on our mantle of skin he repeated his words of creation, “It is good.”

Copyright M.R. Hyde 2012