This is a topic that has always fascinated me. Yet, I do not find too many Christians bothered by it, or even questioning it. For some reason, it is very important to my faith.
I am talking about the Incarnation. The usual position emphasizes redemption. It goes back to Original Sin as a fundamental alienation from God, a separation so profound that only God could “fix it.” In this case, Incarnation is God’s action to right our original wrong.
Early Christians tried to find meaning to Jesus’ suffering and violent death. They also needed an explanation for their own sufferings. They looked to the Old Testament for answers. Semitic mentality reflected in books written 700-800 years B.C.E. In them they found laments and complaints from those righteous and just men who suffered. Job, Abraham sacrificing Isaac, etc. The suffering of the just seemed to fit the death of Jesus. The writings of Isaiah about the Suffering Servant were also seen in this light.
In the early Christian communities, these stories colored the entire story of Jesus including the meaning of his birth and life. Especially Mark, Matthew & Luke who wrote for the persecuted Christians.
Throughout centuries, Christian theology and piety continued and developed these interpretations of Jesus’ suffering and death as a means of atonement to satisfy and angry God. The purpose of Jesus’ life was linked to original sin and human sinfulness.
THUS, WITHOUT SIN, THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO NEED FOR THE INCARNATION.
This approach to God’s love is shown in his willingness to forgive us and offer us salvation.
But, my question is: What if God created everything for the Incarnation?
This view is also expressed in Scripture and Tradition. The Gospel according to John speaks about Christ as the divine Word of God who became human.
I believe that God shares love in a total way and that the purpose of Jesus’ life if the fulfillment of God’s eternal longing to become human.
Some theologians hold that the act of Incarnation was enough to save the world.
The Prologue of the Gospel according to John (1:1-18) speak of God's revelation, of how God has explained himself to us. God through the centuries has self-revealed through creation (vv.2-5), through the Old Testament word (vv.10-13), that is, through his covenants, the Mosaic writings, the prophets, and the wisdom literature. Those who believed in the ancient revelation became children of God...begotten...by God (vv.12-13). According to John, God has finally revealed himself to the utmost through the incarnation of the Word, in whom God's glory,and presence, stands as a sign of his enduring love (v.14).
The seeds for the theological development of the doctrine of the Trinity are found in the most explicit form in John's Gospel. Jesus is the personal manifestation of God in this world. In Jesus, the Word of God, holy Sophia or Wisdom in the Old Testament, through whom and in whom God created all things, became incarnate (Jn 1:14).
In the Fourth Gospel Jesus is the full revelation of a loving and compassionate God who invites us to know this truth so that we can be free (8:31-32).
I believe in God who has been revealed in Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:15-20 (written in the 60's) by unknown author is one of the most important theological statements about the person of Christ in the New Testament. Christ is praised as the icon or image of the invisible God, that is, he manifests God's presence in his person. He is called the first-born of all creation because everything else was created through his mediation. Therefore, he existed before all creation.
The late Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, once wrote: “By virtue of Creation, and even more of the Incarnation, nothing here below is profane for those who know how to see.”
If we believe in an incarnate God, in the Emmanuel (God-with-us), in the Divine who became human so that humanity could become divine (Irenaeus), then our spirituality must be Incarnational. Among other things, this means shifting some of our present paradigms:
- From an emphasis on Golgotha, to an emphasis on Bethlehem.
- From an emphasis on getting to heaven, to incarnating the reign of God, here and now.
- From wanting to leave matter and the body behind, to understanding that creation and our flesh and bones really do “matter.”
- From “private concerns” to social participation, and witness that violence, oppression and exploitation are never acceptable for a Christian.
- From an individual, personal and private relationship with God to a communal and relational spirituality that includes all of creation.
- From relationships based on position, role and productivity, to relationships based on the love of God who loved us first and calls us to that love.
I do believe that even if we had not sinned, the Incarnation would have happened, as the fulfillment of God's desire for total communion with creation!
