Lessons on the Incarnation

For us and for our salvation

he came down from heaven;

he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,

and was made human.

 

One of the benefits of teaching is all the learning that is gained. It’s been exciting to go on this journey of reading about the Nicene Creed and learning of 1^st century Christians and their many contributions to the faith.

Part of the class objective is to tell the stories of early Christian figures in order to connect them to our current reality and to encourage students to live their faith in public spaces. As I looked for an interesting story, I stumbled upon the story of St. Frumentius. If you have yet to hear of him, I encourage you to read this article from Christianity Today that does a great job in retelling the story and sharing the impacts we see today. One of the things that most interested me was the lasting impact that Frumentius and his brother had on what we now know as Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church these brothers founded over 15 centuries ago has survived hostility from Rome, the rise of Islam, and the multiple colonization efforts seen throughout history. And much like the theme of our class, their life imitated the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

As seen from the portion above of the Nicene Creed, last week we taught on the Incarnation, a topic that continues to be relevant today, including in the differences we see with sects or Muslims. I hadn’t read Athanasius’s On the Incarnation until now, what a great way to explain the incarnation! As I read and researched, I was grateful for the work of so many before me who have been able to explain and explore the depths of the incarnation, even considering the mystery that remains. It was wonderful to be reminded of the fact that God, the Creator of all things, came down in the form of a human and lived among us. To see that He decided to die in our place and since God can’t die, He took the form of a human and that way, live under the Law, teaching us what it means to truly be human.

Here I share another great resource which is the video the Bible Project has put on “Covenants”. It’s amazing to see the reason for the incarnation explained and seen since the Old Testament in the 4 covenants God made with individuals and the Israelites. Although throughout we see these individuals and nations breaking these promises, in Jesus we see the faithful covenant partner we’ve all failed to be.

If you’ve had conversations with Muslim friends revolving around the divinity of Jesus, you might’ve been stuck trying to explain Jesus’s humanity and divinity. It’s a complicated topic! Thankfully, we have the hypostatic union to help us understand and share this. As Christians, we all affirm that Jesus was 100% human and 100% God. Here I will link a nice 3-minutevideo that does a great job at explaining what we mean when we say Jesus was fully human and fully divine.

Theology without application is rendered useless, praxis therefore is a testament to true knowledge. In times like these I am thankful for brothers and sisters who with their creativity, put melodies and words to concepts that otherwise can seem distant. Santiago Benavides, a Christian songwriter from Colombia wrote a song called “Dios Tambien” (God too). Below is the translated portion for the beginning:

God too

Was an immigrant

God too had to flee

God too

Was displaced

He too was depressed and unwilling to continue

God too lost his child

God too tasted loneliness

God too was without friends

When he most needed their solidarity

God too, God too

God too went through pain

God too, God too

God too cried

 

And that is the beauty of the incarnation, that just as seen in Hebrews 4:14-15, we have a high priest who can sympathize with us because he lived among us. In the same way we learn this characteristic of Jesus, He invites us to participate incarnationally in missions. Sadly, the term “missions” has gained a negative connotation, associated many times with colonialism and as the “white man’s religion”. In response to this erroneous view of missions, the concept of Mision Integral or Holistic Mission, was formed in Latin America by theologians like Rene Padilla (Ecuador), Samuel Escobar (Peru), and Orlando E Costas (Puerto Rico). By looking at God incarnated, we learn missions is more than sharing a plan of salvation from future doom, it is sharing the good news that transforms us today. It is seeing others as image bearers of God, imago dei, not another number or statistic. It means crying and speaking up at the sight of injustice around our communities because we too grieve and pray for His kingdom to come.

As I look at the national outcry of racism and discrimination happening throughout the time of preparation for this class, I wondered what Jesus’s response would’ve been had His ministry taken place today. In looking at the incarnation, I realize that is the question we as Christians are invited to enter, we are invited to leave the spaces and communities we grew up for the good of those in the margins, for my neighbor, because Jesus has done the same with me. To love, with that Agape love, that isn’t based off what I feel or might gain from my neighbor. To be hurt, to cry, to pray, to speak, to live alongside the weak and the powerless.

How has the incarnation challenged you in this time of quarantine or protests? Would love to hear your thoughts!