Christmas Mystery

Every Christmas I find myself turning to the Prologue of John's gospel, 1:1-18, for reflection. The gospel of Luke records the familiar birth narrative (Luke 2:1-20) - the journey to Bethlehem, no place to stay but a stable, the babe wrapped in strips of cloth lying in a manger, the angels and the shepherds. But the prologue of John probes the mystery of the birth.

The Word who was in the beginning of time entered time-space history.
The Word who was face to face as an equal with God became fully human - one of us - a human being with all its limitations and frailties, pain and struggle.
The Word who possessed everything that made God to be God embraced the dependency on God that is inherent to being human.
The Word through whom the world was created became a part of the world he created, taking the form of a helpless, vulnerable infant.
The Word in whom was life - God's life - took on the physical, mortal life of a human being.

The gospel writer used poetic imagery to describe the mystery of the incarnation - God robing the Divine Self in human flesh and living in our midst. (The original language carried the image of pitching one's tent, a reference to when the glory of God filled the Tabernacle at Mt. Sinai, Exodus 40:34.)

Mystery - mystery is that which is beyond our understanding. It is that which we cannot explain. Because it is beyond our ability to understand or explain, mystery is also beyond our ability to control or manipulate.

We humans like to know and understand. We like to be able to explain things scientifically. We like to be able to control and/or be in control. In short, we don't like mystery. Maybe that's why many, today, view the Christmas story as fake news.

But mystery is an important part of life, particularly the spiritual life. It reminds us that we are not God. Without mystery, we live as though we were God. Without mystery, we spend our energies manipulating and controlling in order to get our own way. Mystery calls us to something greater than our own desires and needs and agendas. Mystery calls us to surrender ourselves to that which is greater, to that which is worth giving our lives to.

The gospel writer did not seek to explain the mystery of the incarnation. He merely described it. And the Word became flesh.

What the writer did explain was the outcome of the Word becoming flesh. The Prologue speaks of two outcomes.

First, we catch a glimpse of Who God is and what God is like. And we beheld his glory, full of grace and truth. In Jesus, we see the beauty (glory) of God's character. We see the grace of God in action. We see what God is really like (truth). (We humans like to create God in our own image.)  No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son ... who has made him know, vs. 18. Through the mystery of the incarnation, we can know what God is like. We can know God's ways.

That knowing leads to the second outcome of the Word becoming flesh. We become the recipients of God's grace. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace, vs. 16. We live in relationship with God as the beloved children of God.

I cannot explain the mystery of the Word becoming flesh. But I can describe the character of God that Jesus revealed. I can describe my experience of God's grace. I can describe how my life is different because of God's transforming grace. There is no mystery there.

And so, this Christmas, I turn again to the Prologue of John's gospel to sit with the mystery of Christmas and how my life has been transformed because the Word became flesh.