Leadership Connexion Winter 2022

Incarnat
BEHOLD, THE WORD B
“Silent night, holy night, all is calm...” Maybe not...
BEHOLD, THE WORD BECAME FLESH.
The New Testament proclaims the beauty and wonder of
the Incarnation, the Word made fl esh. Matthew’s Gospel
states that Jesus’ name would be called ‘Immanuel’ which
translated means “God with us.” Luke likewise tells the
wonder of the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary so that her
child would “be called holy-the Son of God.” Mark is subtle.
Mark’s opening sentence simply states “The beginning
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Mark’s
Roman audience would have been aware of other gospels
declaring others to be a son of God. The Priene Calendar
Inscription hails Caesar Augustus as a savior of the world,
who will make wars to cease, and who will create order
everywhere. Whereas Caesar Augustus was a
human who was supposedly deified, Jesus Christ
is God who became flesh. Quite a contrast.
Paul continues the incarnation theme with expressions like
“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth
His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law…” Paul
also states that “He is the image of the invisible God, the
fi rstborn of all creation.” Could Paul have been any clearer
than this description, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity
dwells in bodily form…”? The writer of Hebrews adds his
voice with comparable expressions like “He is the radiance
of His glory and the exact representation of His nature...”
Whereas Matthew, Mark and Luke give an earthly
perspective of the nativity, John seems to pull back the
curtain to give a cosmic view of Christmas. John starts
his Gospel with the description of the Word who existed
before time, was with God, was God, created all things
and who gives life and light to all. This Word, John states,
became fl esh. He and the other disciples beheld “His glory,
glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth.” John, probably countering some form of incipient
Gnosticism, states in his fi rst epistle that “What was from
the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen
with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with
our hands, concerning the Word of Life—and the life was
manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim
to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and
was manifested to us.” John is clear that the disciples’
experience with Jesus was no phantom or theophany.
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