The Incarnation, and its significance for the Christmas message
By William Lyon Tupman. Fourth Sunday after
Advent – All Saints Church, Hove.
18th
December, 2016. Bible passages used (NRSV): John 1:1-14; Luke 1:34-37; Matthew 1:23;
John 3:16-17.
During
Advent, we are exploring the Incarnation. Over the past couple of weeks, first our
Youth Worker Faron and then Fr. David have offered their thoughts on the
Incarnation, and now I’m here to offer you my perspective on what the
Incarnation is, and how significant it is in understanding the Christmas
message. So, what exactly is the Incarnation? The Prologue
of St. John’s Gospel is a good place to start with this.
John 1:1 In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He
was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came
into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has
come into being 4 in him was life, and
the life was the light of all people. 5 The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6 There
was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He
came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through
him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to
testify to the light. 9 The true light, which
enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was
in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not
know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and
his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all
who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of
God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will
of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the
Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as
of a father’s only son, full
of grace and truth.
And it’s that
verse we’ve just heard which tells us what the Incarnation is. The Incarnation
is the event during which the Word, who was involved in Creation, became flesh,
and lived among us. The Word is Jesus Christ. The Word became flesh by when He
was born of the Virgin Mary on that first Christmas Day, and He lived among us
during His ministry here on the Earth.
But how is the
Incarnation different from any other birth? Well, for a start, most babies are
born of two human parents; this is not the case with Jesus. Mary was a Virgin,
as we learn in Luke 1:34 when she affirms this to the Angel Gabriel. Gabriel
responds in the following verses, explaining that she has conceived by God, in
the form of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, being divine, means that God is
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shares in His divinity and is also God;
Joseph is therefore Jesus’s step-father or foster-father.
As well as the
nature of Jesus’s birth being different from anyone else’s, Jesus’s very nature
is, at least in part, different to our nature, and this adds to the
significance of the Incarnation. The difference is this: Jesus has two natures.
But how can someone have two natures? One of the Church councils, the Council
of Chalcedon in AD451, concisely explains this; the council arrived at the
conclusion that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine. He has a human
nature and a divine nature, but is still one Person – He is one Person but has
two natures. He is the human Jesus who pleaded for the cup of suffering to pass
from Him, and who wept, showing human emotions just like ours, at the death of
Lazarus in John 11, before showing his divinity by raising him using His
miraculous divine command, by walking on the water, performing all of His
miracles, and opening to us the gate of life by defeating death.
In just a week,
it’s Christmas – the time when we commemorate and celebrate the Incarnation,
which is Christ’s birth and therefore God’s very presence on Earth. Because of
the Incarnation, in the words of Matthew 1:23, Jesus is Emmanuel – God with us.
And He comes to us through, by, in, and because of love. As St. John records in
his Gospel, God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son to save
us from our sins, that whoever believes in Him may not perish, but have eternal
life. The Incarnation is a great gift from God to us, and it’s free for us. God
Himself corrects and heals the errors which Adam and Eve made, and thus heals
and restores all of humanity with it. God’s offer of a relationship with Him,
our salvation, His love and peace are offered to all of us, and we are grateful
to accept.
God is with us –
physically by the Incarnation, and spiritually He is still with us all today.
God is omnipresent; He is present everywhere, at all times and in all places,
and He leads us by His example for us to follow, by the power and inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. The Incarnation and Christmas remind us of this marvellous
reality, our forgiveness, absolution and liberation from sin, and the
restoration of our relationship with God. And we can all enjoy this
relationship with God; whether we are regularly here at Church or not.
Maranatha: Come,
Lord Jesus! Amen.
