The imagery of Christmas usually focuses on scenes of the Nativity – a babe born in Bethlehem who was the Savior of the world. And that is all true. We celebrate that historical event today.
But what is its significance?
I am not smart enough nor educated enough to fully contemplate that question. However, Anglican N.T. Wright, Bishop of Durham and a favorite theologian of mine, has a lot to offer in this regard.
Expounding on the above imagery, Bishop Wright suggests that not only is Christmas good tidings of comfort and joy, but also it's about “incomprehension, rejection, darkness, denial, stopped ears, and judgment”.
“It is about God shining his clear, bright torch into the darkness of our world, our lives, our hearts, our imaginations – and the darkness not comprehending it,” says Wright.
In our recent “discovery” of, and participation in, a more mainline Lutheran church, my wife and I have been enriched over the past few weeks regarding teachings on the Incarnation. And the nuances of the Incarnation are precisely what Bishop Wright is talking about.
He points out that the liberal theology of three decades ago, which denied Christ’s deity, is left wanting when you link Genesis, “In the beginning God made heaven and earth,” and the Gospel of John, “in the beginning was the Word”.
We need to re-learn the difference between mercy and affirmation, he declares. (We need to understand the dissimilarity) “between a Jesus who both embodies and speaks God’s word of judgment and grace and a homemade Jesus who gives us good advice about discovering who we really are”.
This has life-altering implications for those of us who desire to follow Christ. You can read the full text of Bishop Wright’s thoughts here. They are taken from an article in Christianity Today.
You can also click here for an innovative visual nuance concerning the Incarnation. It's a video my son Gregg created and used in a sermon a week ago.
When the Word became flesh, to paraphrase Wright, it was the coming together of heaven and earth.
Merry Christmas!
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