Incarnation means...?

To state the obvious, today is the day after Christmas. And...what do we do? The day after Easter is easy. Hurrah! Jesus is risen! We can celebrate the gift of salvation, the beauty of life’s victory over death, the relief of forgiveness of sin for as long as we want. But, Christmas. Jesus is born. Then what?

There are many trite things that can be said (and, to be fair, that have been said) about the “true meaning of Christmas” and “the reason for the season.” Those are all good things. But I think there’s a bit more to it than focusing on the nativity, giving and sharing with the less fortunate, and investing valuable time in friends and family, all in the name of the baby Jesus.

There are various feelings that come with the day after Christmas--relief, disappointment, anticipation, weariness, etc. That’s probably because we don’t really know what to do with a baby savior. We don’t know what to celebrate, what to be thankful for, beyond that which comes on Christmas Day, specifically. We know how to anticipate His coming in the days leading up to Christmas. We’re kind of at a loss after He gets here.

But think about it. It is a representation of the full meaning of the covenant that we have with the Lord as His people. Christmas is so hard to comprehend because everything about Christmas says that that which is impossible is, in fact, possible. Gods don’t become human. Gods don’t live like dirty, poor, reviled humans. Gods don’t die. And human bodies don’t rise from the dead. But God says “Yes!” to all of these impossibilities.

Jesus’ birth--this first appearance of God incarnate to man--is the beginning of the promise that we love, the promise that says God is with us “always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). The name “Immanuel” means “God with us.” This goes beyond the few months between Christmas and Easter. It characterizes the way we walk in faith daily.

We are celebrating the fullness of our covenant and the character of our God as we celebrate Christmas, and this goes beyond Christmas Day. This is sacred time, when we are reminded that our God does not stand aloof and separate from us, but enters our lives, willingly and humbly.

So, maybe it is a little trite, but that’s just because it’s almost too simple to be true. God is with us. But that isn’t all. Just as Jesus was God incarnate, we are called to live lives of incarnational spirituality. We are called to live fully in this world and in the covenant that we have with the Father, just as Jesus did. This is the essence of what it means to be a “whole person.”

When we think of “incarnation,” we think of Jesus’ entrance into the world. It’s more than that. Incarnation involves connection and relationship. Jesus’ incarnation is a manifestation of who we are called to be as His disciples--people of connections and relationships, and of connections to God and to man.

Not only does Jesus’ birth remind us of what we are promised, it also reminds us of who we are called to be.

“But to all who did receive Him,
He gave them the right to be
   children of God
to those who believe in His name,
who were born,
not of blood,
or of the will of the flesh,
or of the will of man,
but of God.
The Word became flesh
and took up residence among us.
We observed His glory,
the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father
full of grace and truth . . . .
No one has ever seen God.
The One and Only Son --
the One who is at the Father’s side --
He has revealed Him.”
--John 1:12-14, 18

Amen.

Erin E. Daugherty
Abilene Christian University