A little nibble of the Revised Common Lectionary
Sunday’s scriptures are: Psalm 89:1–4, 19–26, Romans 16:25–27; Luke 1:26–38
Pristine Cartera Turkus
We celebrate Jesus’ birth at Christmas, but do we really know what we are celebrating? Its significance? The theology behind it? Why did God need the humble Virgin Mary? Probably most at SLC would answer yes, we know what we are celebrating, but the significance of Jesus’ human birth is something that is always good to dig into because the vastness of the gift keeps giving more and more each time we dig in.
The significance of Jesus’ birth has to do with the very nature and work of the Trinity and humanity’s place in relation to our Triune God. Of course the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus, is co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit. We confess this in the Nicene Creed. Along with being co-eternal with the Father, Jesus is “of one substance with the Father.” The English word “substance” is a little lacking here, its meaning encompasses of one “essence” or “nature” with the Father. But, God the Holy Spirit interacted with the human woman, Mary, and she became pregnant with and gave birth to a human baby boy. This is important theologically because we confess that Jesus was “incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.” So when we confess that Jesus is of shared substance with the Father, we can also say that Jesus is of shared substance with humanity through the DNA he received from his mother, Mary. In fact, this is confessed in another creed, the Formula of Chalcedon: Jesus is “of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood.” This grace draws humanity into a relationship with the Trinity that the Law could never accomplish…this is how Jesus is our Great High Priest, our intercesor…we share flesh with Jesus and Jesus shares divinity with the Trinity…he is how God has revealed himself to us and how we have the direct access to God that was impossible before the incarnation.
Kristin Malcolm Berry
Again, why is this important? Jesus is the savior of humanity. He must be God because “only God can save.” (Affirmed at the Council of Nicaea) He must he human because “what is not assumed is not redeemed.” (Affirmed at the Council of Constantinople) “Only God can save” is clear enough, but what does “what is not assumed is not redeemed” mean? This statement, in my opinion, is the heart of the gift of the incarnation. Through Jesus’ human flesh, through the humanity that he shares with all humans, Jesus became humanity’s sin. (2Cor 5:21) And through his divinity, his ability to save, he gifted his righteousness into our flesh. Jesus assumed humanity’s sin into his human flesh on the cross in order to put it to death and in its place, to gift us the redemption that eternally saves. He is fully God and fully human; this is the mystery of the second person of the Trinity.
This sacramental union of finite flesh and infinite divinity extends into how our Triune God continues to operate in the world today. Of course Christ is “in, with, and under” the bread and wine of Holy Communion, finite elements that hold the infinite. By the same token, because we have been baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, Christ, through the Holy Spirit, operates in, with, and under humanity. This is seen in the ELCA’s motto, “God’s Work, Our Hands.” Jesus is in, with and under all of the love that flows out of SLC into our community and into our world at large. He is in, with, and under handmade quilts, Hearty Meals, Life Packs, Backpacks for Kids, Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets, our music programs, youth Servant Trips, prayer breakfasts, our building and grounds maintenance, missions support, pastoral care, ushers, disaster relief, worship greeters, Eucharistic ministry…I could go on and on, but Jesus is revealed in all of your acts of service. God through Christ is also revealed in the brokenness and frailty of the humanity that we serve, again, sacramentally in the same way he was revealed in Christ’s brokenness and frailty on the cross. Thanks be to Mary for her faithful willingness to be the Mother of God. Thanks be to God for his self-sacrificial love.
Silverdale Lutheran 