The Incarnation: 'Monday Morning Musing - December 21, 2020'

 

 

The significance of God in the flesh often gets lost in the familiar parts of the Christmas narrative. Why was the incarnation necessary? Just so someone could die to “satisfy” the Father? Jesus as God incarnate, fully human, is more than a metaphysical commodity to sustain an atonement theory.

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The Incarnation: 'God Dwells Among Humanity'

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The Incarnation

Without getting into all the technical language details, the Prologue to John’s Gospel makes some profound declarations concerning Jesus. Jesus is the localized presence of God in the earth and Jesus is the glory (shekinah) of God. Jesus has replaced the Temple as the localization of both. That’s a pretty gutsy declaration for a Jew to make. A few observations:

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A Christmas Shocker! Matthew’s Genealogy: 'The Gospel Begins with a Challenge'

Christmas Shocker - Matthew's Geneaology

Christmas Shocker – Matthew’s Geneaology

The significance of the genealogical lists in the scripture is often lost on modern readers. No more so than in the story of Christ’s birth. The inclusion of women in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus would have been a shocking attention grabber to contemporary audiences. It would have riveted his hearers, and have had them hanging in suspense, wondering what could the story possibly be talking about? Matthew knew what he was doing with an opener like this genealogy!

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