Let’s get a little more sophisticated this morning. We just had another fine Christmas Eve service. We read the words born of the virgin Mary in the creeds. We mean that God was one of us-deity was incarnated-the spirit god took o9n flesh.John’s Christmas story does not look like a christmas story,but it is the key to understanding christmas in a new way.
Quick Greek the Word in Greek is logos, where we get our word, logic or study as in biology from. God’s logic became flesh, perhaps God’s wisdom or vision was made flesh, became one of us.by the time of Jesus his religious compatriots had mad ethe link between biblcial Wisdom and the idea of the logos, a rationality, meaning, purpose in the world. Instead of talking about biology, the early theologians talked about God’s logos entering into the very life of Jesus.What does it mean to have God incarnate, god in the flesh? In a long process the term became identified with God’s Wisdom and indeed God’s instruction, God’s Torah. Here not only is jesus Emmanuel, god with us, but it is heightened as God is with us in the flesh. God tents, takes up residence here with us, in the flesh.the Sheltering One who gives us shelter from the storm resides with us.
Heen-The comparison of “the Son” with the angels is introduced in Hebrews 1:1:4. What does it mean to speak of god’s own in utero, as a nursing infant? What does it say of a God who enters fully into a created condition? We are so determined to emphasize the divinity of jesus, we often lose track of his humanity, even at this time of year. The old jesus Christ superstar asked why was jesus born in such a backward time in such a strange land? Does God’s logic have to correspond to ours?
Son language had long been the word for a speical relationship, beyond biology.At the enthronement of Jesus at the right hand of God (a reference to Psalm 110:1; cf.; Hebrews 1:13), Jesus becomes “as much superior to angels as the name [kyrios, “Lord,” see Psalm 110:1; cf. Philippians 2:9] he has inherited. Then follows a “chain” (catena) of Old Testament citations that compares the “Son” to “angels” to evidence the superiority of Jesus (Hebrews 1:5-14).We continue to want Jesus to be more angelic than human, more spiritual and less physical.
It is somewhat difficult for us, perhaps, to understand the necessity of such an involved midrash on the relationship between Jesus and the angels. What lies in the background, however, is the death of Jesus. The theological question being addressed is, “How can the earthly Jesus who was crucified by the Romans be ‘more excellent’ than angels, who -- though created -- are of the spiritual order? On the face of it, the claim seems foolish. Incorruptible spirit should trump weak and mortal flesh. Why did the Son of Man, for a time, descend “lower than the angels?” The Son of God becomes vulnerable and weak flesh in order that the power of death might be There is, for example, the light/darkness contrast of John 1:4b-5 that complements the “radiance/reflection” language of Hebrews 1:2. These visions of the Son born to Mary in terms of light, radiance/reflection (apaugasma can mean either), and glory are stunningly apt this time of the year. That radiance is not any less in the form of Jesus, as a baby, or an adult. That radiance was shown in teaching, in healing, in an attitude that spoke christmas in action.
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