I dislike billboard slogans like, “Jesus is the solution” of “God will fix your problems.” What sorry, cheap theology! As we are coming up to Advent in a little over a week, I am thinking about the scandal of the Incarnation.
“…who being the expression of God’ essence… emptied himself and took expression as a slave, becoming in appearance human… humiliated himself, being obedient up through death, the death of a cross” (Phil 2:6-8)
No one in their imagination creates a suffering, humiliated god who makes himself a slave. Particularly charlatan Christians and prosperity preachers want nothing to do with a god who willfully puts himself at the bottom of human ranking. They preach a god who makes people (themselves) rich and makes all one’s problems magically vanish.
That is not Jesus. Jesus understands suffering and humiliation. Jesus entered the chaos of human existence. He does not remove it. However, he still enters it. As the Risen-Incarnate Jesus, he embraces us and walks with us through the brutal side life. In creation, God breathed order into the midst of chaos and brought about life that exists within chaos (Gen 1). In the same way Jesus breathes order and Life into the midst of the chaos of our lives.
I need to
clarify that I need no sympathy. My life
has been easier than over 99% of the world’s population. Still, I know that at those times of chaos,
Jesus was there. Also, I tend to believe
beneath our active imaginations that would create a god who is above it all, we
essentially long for One who comes down to us. I do.
The Incarnation is a glorious scandal!
Lord, help me this coming Advent season to evermore appreciate your Incarnation. Amen.
Good word, Rod. I assume you would still say Jesus is the solution to many human problems, even though the phrase is prone to misuse.
ReplyDeleteYes. For example, Jesus is the solution to the purposeful-life crisis of my students -- something I want to post about soon.
ReplyDelete