DAILY BYTEThe idea that we have been developing in these devotions this week is that God’s enduring love and presence is inextricably woven into human history and the story of our lives. This idea is not peripheral to our faith but lies at the very heart of what we believe as Christians.
For this is what the incarnation, the coming of Christ, is all about. God with us. God stepping into our human condition. God changing history by becoming a part of history. In just a few days’ time the season of Advent begins, which helps us to prepare for the celebration of Christmas. It’s a season for us to reflect deeply on what the coming of Christ really means.
The incarnation was the pivotal event in human history. It was the defining moment in the story of the world.
I came to understand this in a whole new way last year when I visited Moscow, and was exposed to the rich artwork of the Russian Orthodox tradition. As I entered church after church I was struck by the overwhelming emphasis on the incarnation that is reflected in the artwork there. The cross certainly is important, but it gets nowhere near the kind of exposure that Mary and the Christ-child and the relationship between the two receive.
This points to a beautiful insight in the Orthodox tradition, and that is that the decisive moment in salvation history occurs in the incarnation. In our Protestant tradition we’ve tended to emphasize the cross as the decisive moment in salvation history. For us that’s where it really happens. But for the Orthodox church, in the long story of humanity’s fallenness and struggle with sin, the tide turned the moment God entered the world in Christ.
Of course, each tradition focuses on a different dimension of the great mystery of salvation, and so both are true, and cannot be separated from each other. The incarnation and the cross are indispensable to each other, like two sides of the same coin. But there’s a rich and compelling insight that comes from the idea that Christ’s saving work began the moment he entered the world in human form. It’s a reminder of the redeeming, transforming power of Christ’s presence.
What part of your life do you need to open more to the saving presence of Christ?
PRAY AS YOU GO
Come Lord Jesus Christ. Come and roam the corridors of my heart. Come and wander freely within me. Come and cast your light on whatever darkened corners you may find. Come and breathe the fresh wind of your Spirit into whatever parts within me have grown musty and stale. Come and dismantle whatever barriers to grace you may encounter. Come and bind up my brokenness. Come and speak your words of comfort and peace to the sad and fearful parts within me. Come Lord Jesus, and be within me the Saviour and Redeemer that you are. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 1:18-23
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. His mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
"Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,"
which means, "God is with us."
