Incarnation

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Incarnation

Harry Burggraaf

“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.”
(John 1:14)

“If Jesus was born today
it would be in a roadside motel,
marked by neon lights and a ‘no vacancy’ sign.
A policeman, working late,
would be the first upon the scene.
Later, at the expense of a TV network,
an eminent sociologist,
the host of a chat show
and a controversial author
would arrive with their good wishes,
-the whole occasion to be filmed as part of the
‘Is This The Son Of God?’ one hour special...”
(Steve Turner, adapted)

The Christmas cards have started to arrive in our letter box. Is it really that time of the year again? Cards from people we haven’t seen for years and are not likely to see for years to come, if ever. We, of course, will reply with predictable conformity. Little guilt offerings for not staying in touch in a more meaningful way, or failure to recognise that in the pilgrimage and transitions of life it is all right to put a full stop after some contacts and relationships because new ones have taken their place.

But then, there is a fair amount of mushy sentimentality about Christmas, as ninety percent of the cards bear witness.

I have come to appreciate the cards which show up some of the social games we play in this season. Like the one with the couple, stranded on a deserted island, surrounded only by coconuts. The woman has just opened her Christmas present, a lovely coconut. The man has his present (the shape of a coconut) still wrapped. The caption reads: “Oh wow! What a riot Herb! Now you open yours.”

Or the card with the little boy talking to his toddler friend – “I’ll have to consult my psychologist, my parents believe in Santa Claus”.

Christmas is a mixture of authenticity and sham, of tinsel and truth, of hype and hope, of sentimentality and sobriety; as captured in the satirist’s ‘Christmas Mix’:

“Mary and Joseph, the virgin and child,
shepherds and angels meek and mild,
Howard and Beazley, Costello and Crean,
headache and tiredness, speech from the Queen”.

It would be easy to toss out the hype, as a family I know used to do, with Calvinistic severity – no presents, no Christmas trees, no candles, no last minute shopping, no hectic exchange of cards. Only Christ!

But Christ is always wrapped in culture. The first Christmas was full of the donkeys, cattle and shepherds of an agricultural society. Rome and Herod played their political games. Astrologers, of all people, visit the King of kings. The stench of dung, around the manger then, can hardly have been more pleasant than the press of sweaty bodies and the ring of cash registers in busy shopping centres today.

Which is not to say, of course, that we should not be discerning. So much of the culture of Christmas today trivialises the wonder and glory of the “Word become flesh”. We must continue to point people to the substance of Christmas – God taking on human identity, becoming sin for us, “so that we might become the righteousness of God” (2Corinthians 5). However, we will recognise that in 2000 the incarnation is not in a stable and straw and the dusty streets of a Middle East village, but in the holiday resort and shopping mall, in the pinball parlour and the corporate Board room, in the research laboratory and the university lecture theatre. The Kingdom of God, as the rule of Christ, is seeded and grows in all areas of life, especially where God seems most abandoned. Incarnation means that we take seriously the context and the shape of the place and situation where we would like to see the presence of the Kingdom.

It is the mission of God's people to ‘be Christ’ wherever we are and whatever we do. Somehow, within the tawdry tinsel and the cheap commercialism of the Christmas season people must see the glory, grace and truth of God.

Meanwhile back to my Christmas cards. What sentiments shall I express? The jingle bells and merry cheer of the season? Or the unsettlng words of Mary announcing the radical agenda of the King -

“My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour...
for the Mighty One has done great things...
He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but he has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
but he has sent the rich empty away.”
(Luke 1:47ff)

May the tsedeq (justice) and shalom (well being) of God be yours this Christmas season.

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