A few years ago, I was trying to think in a fresh way about Christmas. I thought about the incarnation. After all, that’s what Christmas is about. It’s not about a baby, shepherds and a manger. That’s the circumstances and the story. The shocking point of the plot, though, is that God became a human being. And when Jesus was resurrected, he was still a human being, scars and everything, with an appetite for fish.
Perhaps Jesus’ human body is different since He ascended back to heaven. But He still plans to eat and drink wine at the great wedding banquet. John saw Him in Revelation as “one like a son of man,” with eyes, feet, hands and a mouth. It seems that Jesus will always be both human and divine—forever.
Back to the incarnation. It’s a weak analogy, I will say in advance. But it helped me imagine the immensity of the decision of the second person of the Trinity to come to earth as a baby, grow up in a human body and allow His created beings to torture and kill Him.
Imagine you build one of those Lego worlds. Little plastic men, little plastic trucks. Then imagine your world rebels against you. The little Lego men and women hate you. They refuse to stay put where you wanted them. They fight you. If you could, would you become a Lego, enter their world, teach them how to be good Legos, and let them attack and torture you? Then, when you were resurrected and came back to your normal world, you would always and forever be both human and a plastic Lego. Would you do that?
For God to become flesh and dwell among us is a far greater thing than for you to become a Lego. Think about that this Christmas, and may God bless us all with a sense of wonder.
Steve Woodworth
President