We have heard the words "keep watch", "stay awake", "be ready" often these last few
weeks. We have been lighting one candle at a time. Mary and Joseph are still making their way
to the creche, and the Wise Men have a long way to go. We’ve been told (wisely!) to savor
the Advent season, not to rush straight to Christmas. But what exactly are we waiting to
celebrate? The "birth of Jesus" is certainly a reasonable answer. God incarnate is another
answer that those more theologically inclined among us would probably give. The question,
however, still remains: what are we waiting to celebrate, and more importantly, what does
it mean for us?
I have decided not to make a fool of myself and pretend I have some insights to offer
into the theological mystery of the Incarnation. After all, it's called a mystery for a reason!
What I would like to do instead is to share with you some reflections on the implications
of the Incarnation, and perhaps on the misconceptions about the Incarnation, and what it
all means for us. This, as we will see, truly is Good News, and at the same time it is pretty
scary stuff.
First of all, there is the issue around the event itself. Was the Incarnation a once and for
all deal that had never happened before, and was never to happen again? I have to confess
that I don't quite believe that is was. Of course I'm not denying that the birth and life of
Jesus were exceptional. Quite the contrary: after all, history was profoundly changed as a
result, and we are still feeling the aftershock of those events after more than 2,000 years. I
do believe that Jesus' birth and life were an exceptionally clear example of what being truly
human and truly divine looks like.
However, by emphasizing how inconceivable, utterly other Jesus' life was, we kind of
bailed from what I believe was God’s plan all along: to allow us to grow into our own
divinity. The funny thing is that this idea may sound radical and perhaps even heretical
today, but it is firmly embedded in the writings of the early Church fathers, who I think
would have agreed with me. But don't take my words for it. See, for example, what St.
Cyril of Jerusalem (who lived in the fourth century) has to say about this:
"Now that you have been baptized and have put on Christ, you have become conformed
to the Son of God. Hence, since you share in Christ it is right to call you Christs." Or look
at the first page of the Bible, that tells us the story of how the first human was created in
the image of God. But wait, there is more! The Eastern Orthodox Church has a lot to say
about the process of theosis, which is "the transformative process whose aim is likeness to
God", quoting Wikipedia. In other words, this is exactly what I was referring to when I said
that God’s plan, all along, was to allow us to grow into our divinity. To be clear, growing into and realizing our divinity does not translate into becoming God. I don't believe that you
or I can speak a word and create a parallel universe just like that, pronto. However, the
whole idea of being able to transform ourselves and realize our divine potential is simply
mind blowing. To me this is Good News, or even Great News. That's one of the things
Jesus came to teach us about, and more importantly, to fully live into as a perfect example
of what realizing one's divinity while retaining one's humanity looks like.
But, there is a catch. As I said at the beginning, this leads to some scary stuff. For
example, we have been outsourcing being "God-like" to Jesus for a very long time. But,
outsourcing being "God-like" is not going to cut it anymore if we realize we are called to be
divine. It becomes our responsibility. Sure, there are cases where we are utterly powerless
and can only put things into God's hands, so to speak. I have been through some of those
moments, and I am sure many here can relate. Sometimes even simply realizing that can be
a great relief. Often, this is the beginning of a powerful healing process. However, in many
other cases we are invited to play the role of active co-creators with God, and as I said
outsourcing "being God-like" to Jesus is not going to cut it anymore.
I have what I believe is a perfect example of that: building the "Kingdom of God" or
"Reign of God". If you read the Gospels, you quickly realize that this was truly Jesus'
obsession. Scholars of the Bible disagree on almost everything, but they are all in agreement
that the Reign of God was a primary concern for Jesus. Time and again Jesus reminded us
of our role of active co-creators in bringing about this incredible reality, which is not up in
the sky, available to us only when we die, but within us and among us, as Jesus time and
again taught us.
What is this Reign that we are invited to co-create with God? I believe that it is
something that runs deep in our DNA here at St. Martha's. It is about utter inclusion, with
no preconditions. It is taking care of the poor, the immigrants, the oppressed minorities, the
disenfranchised. It is about welcoming everyone, no strings attached. It is, in other words,
summed up by one of the most abused and misunderstood words in our culture: it is about
Love.
Now, I have to confess that at some point in my life I started feeling that the word "love"
was used way too often and almost started to feel like a cliché. I almost got tired of hearing
it. The problem, it turned out, was with my limited understanding of this word rather than
its use in church. In my mind the word love was still mostly about warm and fuzzy feelings.
While it can certainly mean that, there is way more than that to this word. A tricky word
indeed. For example, the option to love is what John the Baptist (whom we hear about a
lot during Advent) chose when he firmly denounced the powers of injustice of his time. By
doing so, he acted as co-creator in bringing about God's Reign. I believe we are called to do
the same in our own times.
So let us wait for the birth of Christ in this season of Advent. And when Christmas
comes, let us celebrate with great joy the mystery of the Incarnation. But let us not lose
sight of the fact that, perhaps on a smaller scale, we were also born in a manger (or cave, pick
your birth place!) in Bethlehem; a star announced our birth also; wise men did come to visit
us too. You get the point. Let us all reclaim our divine image and accept God’s invitation
to become active co-creators of God’s Reign here on Earth. It’s a huge responsibility (hence
the scary part I was talking about at the beginning!) but we are never, ever alone in this.
I wish you all a blessed Advent.
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