Wednesday, December 25, 2002

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us... John 1:14

It is Christmas day at last. The waiting of Advent and the anticipation of Christmas Eve are over. The Word has become flesh. Simple words but what an enormous weight of meaning they contain. The Word, who IS God, now is revealed as a human being living among us!

Whatever our concepts about God, except for this manifestation in Jesus, I expect they have very little to do with the flesh. We know what flesh is like we are flesh and live in the bodies of our humanity. We can choose many adjectives to describe flesh why not think of a few? This is what we know it proscribes our living from birth to death. And God, what words can we choose to describe God? Think of a few. Some are antonyms for the words we chose to describe the flesh, aren't they?

The wonder of our faith is that we believe that this God we know came in this flesh we know so well, and dwelt among us! The incarnation is an overwhelming thought, that God the Source of all that is would take the limitations of our humanity, of our creature hood, upon Godself and appear in our midst, living a human life.

Why, we are driven to ask, why would God do that? The Bible from beginning to end shows us a God who is ever trying to reveal Godself to us. That is what the covenant is all about, and the giving of the law, the establishment of a kingdom, the correction of the exile, and the return of the remnant. When we still fail to know and follow God, in the fullness of time, God comes, limited and weak, in flesh, just like us, to show us God. Our God is one who wants to be known by us, who wants to be in relationship with us. And God takes on our limitations just so that we can begin to truly know God. God would not bother to do that, if it were not for God's great love for us - that love which first loved us, which calls us to know and follow, which commands us to love each other with the same love God shows us in Jesus.

The incarnation has such implications for our own living, doesn't it? Belden Lane has put it this way: "The one great practical truth of the incarnation is that the ordinary is no longer at all what it appears. Common things, common actions, common relationships are all granted new definition because the holy has once and for all become ordinary in Jesus Christ." If the humanity of Jesus could reveal God, then all of life our life is a mask for the holy, too. Behind the masks of our ordinariness, the holy lurks, waiting to be revealed in us. God in flesh appearing then and now. May God make us channels for the vision God would reveal in the world through us.

Reflection: Take time today to let the love of God surround and fill you until it overflows in love for others. Let the holy in you shine through.

Prayer: We are overwhelmed by your love, O God. You chose to come to us as one like us. Help us to truly see you in Jesus and follow in his steps. Teach us to will one will with you so that you can reveal yourself through us. Amen

Hazelyn McComas

All contents copyright 2002 by the Wisconsin Chapter of the Methodist Federation for Social Action. Permission is granted to United Methodist congregations, individuals and groups to reproduce and distribute this devotional without charge. All other use requires the advance permission of the editor.