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As I sit down to continue the theme of 'how God intervenes in human affairs' it has suddenly hit me what a loaded question it is. Think of the connotations of 'intervene'. We use it to refer to some one or something 'outside' gaining entrance, getting 'inside'. How anthropocentric! As if we humans can define the inside into which God may, or may not, be inclined to intrude. As if this planet, this solar system, this physical universe, were somehow 'ours', our sphere of existence, and we ask whether and how God inserts Himself into this territory of ours. The reverse is surely nearer the truth. The universe is God's (He made it) and we are given both the permission and the privilege to inhabit it, as are ants (much more numerous than humans) and antelopes (much more graceful than humans) and anemones (much easier on all the senses than humans). But we have it on good authority that although not a sparrow will fall to the ground without it being an important event in the mind of the Creator, we are of more value than sparrows. We share the image of God; we are God's expression of Himself in flesh and bone, fashioned - literally - out of the very stuff of nature, and with life breathed into us. And the message of Christmas is that God 'became' one of us too, in Judea, some two thousand or so years ago. There is a sense in which this may be called an 'intervention', but let us cast aside all thoughts of intrusion. The spirit of the Universe took on physicality, the heartbeat of the Universe took on a heart, the mind of the Universe took on a brain, the message giver of the Universe took on vocal chords, the pointer of the Universe took on fingers. This is the message, the exhortation, of Christmas: "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2 v. 5-7 RSV)The key word is 'emptied'. It is such a powerful word. The source of all power left most of those powers aside, and accepted the limitations of flesh and blood. To see, the Creator of light now needed eyes; to hear, the Creator of sound now needed ears; to speak, the eternal Word (who was from the beginning and made all things) now needed a tongue; he could be hungry and tired, as we are; as a baby defenceless and dependent; and as a grown man the victim of cruelty and injustice, 'even death on a cross'. If this is the extremity of the solution, it should give us some indication of the extremity of the problem. We cannot do justice to the nature of the problem, nor to the true meaning of the solution, unless we take a right view of how extreme was this 'emptying'. God is always the Giver. At Christmas we celebrate the awe-inspiring realisation that He gave Himself - for us humans and for our salvation. This is why Christianity is so offensive, so hard to accept. God is worshipped as Creator in many creeds; God as the inspirer of prophets is common ground, and acceptable to many - while only disputing who are the prophets most to be trusted. But that God should 'become flesh and live among us', that is a real stumbling block, that is a real point of division (or 'crisis' to use the Greek word). The Christmas message is not cosy - or comforting. It is a challenge more than anything, and a warning: this is how extreme the problem was, and is. I pray that my eyes may be truly opened to understand the depth of my need, as well as the depth of His love, that even this self-emptying was not shunned, for my sake. |
