Peter Espeut | Celebrating the incarnation

Every time I hear talk of “cancelling Christmas” I cringe. The celebration by Christians of “the Word becoming flesh” cannot be cancelled by governments or shopkeepers. Any talk of “Christmas in July” makes a mockery of a serious event which has changed the course of history.

I agree that the meaning of the Christmas event is hard to understand. The claim that God became a human being would seem to be a contradiction. For some it does violence to the very idea of who God is. How can the creator of the universe [“without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3)] become part of the universe he created? For a thinking person, trying to grasp the wisdom of the ages, it just does not make sense.

And then the claim becomes even more preposterous. God – the author of life – is then put to death by those he created! How could sensible people accept such a thing? St. Paul puts it well when he asserts that the whole mystery of Christianity is indeed “a scandal for the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23).

But for those who get it, it is life-changing.

The monotheistic Jews and the Gentiles – Paul had the Greeks in mind, preoccupied with the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle and Socrates – agreed on at least one thing: that God is “wholly other” – that divinity and humanity are polar opposites. Metaphysics agrees with theology: God is pure spirit, eternal and not limited by space or time; and humanity is material and finite, confined to occupy a small space for a brief moment, and then is gone.

The idea that the divine could become human is the most profound of contradictions – philosophically and theologically. Yet that is what Christians celebrate at Christmas: a pregnancy not of human agency; the birth of a God-man. It is mind-boggling!

MEDITATION

The events surrounding Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday are crucial (pardon the pun), and are for meditation on another occasion. But their prelude – the Christmas event – is itself earth-shaking and liberating. What theology calls “the Incarnation” – the pre-existent Son of God taking on flesh (carne) – is of the greatest significance for those of us made of flesh and bone (and soul and spirit). The status of all humanity is elevated by the Christmas event.

Humanity can’t be fundamentally evil if God chooses to become truly human. Think again, John Calvin!

The weeks leading up to Christmas we call the season of “Advent” – the season of waiting and expectation. Its icon is a pregnant woman, waiting for the life conceived in her womb to be born. But the season has dual meaning, for we also wait in hope for the second coming. All Christians are Adventists!

“Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his path straight” was the message of John the Baptist. When Queen Elizabeth would come, we made the roads on which she would travel pothole-free. We did the same for Barack Obama. John the Baptist would have us prepare for the soon-coming king by making the roadway into our hearts pothole-free.

“You brood of vipers” he called us in the gospel according to Matthew we read last Sunday. I like Luke’s account:

“John said to the crowds coming out to be baptised by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. … The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire’.

‘What should we do then?’ the crowd asked.

John answered, ‘Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same’.

Even tax collectors came to be baptised. ‘Teacher’, they asked, ‘what should we do?’

‘Don’t collect any more than you are required to’, he told them.

Then some soldiers asked him, ‘And what should we do?’

He replied, ‘Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely. Be content with your pay’.” (Luke 3: 7-14)

SELF-EXAMINATION

And so the preparation in the season of Advent is not just about baking and buying and wrapping; it is also about self-examination and repentance and changing our ways. It is our tradition to focus on examination of conscience and penance during Advent.

But with our friends, family and countrymen still suffering in the west we should focus some of our gift-giving in that direction, especially those of us with two shirts.

We do not know the date of the first Christmas, but we choose to celebrate it in the darkest days of the year (i.e. the shortest days), to better appreciate the symbolism of the light overcoming the darkness. As the days grow darker we appreciate the light more.

For unbelievers, Christmas is just about meat and drink. Cancel that if you wish; but the celebration of the Incarnation will take place, knowing that the spectre of the cross hangs over the crib and the manger.

The Rev. Peter Espeut is a Roman Catholic Deacon and Dean of Studies at St. Michael’s College. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com