on the Incarnate Son…

NOTE: This is part 5 in a series -- which I did not intend on "politics and social concern." Last week, I ended the post by saying:

I believe there are 5 great confessional understandings of the Church concerning

1. God

2. Humanity

3. Jesus Christ

4. Salvation and

5. The People of God -- The Church

that will ground, inspire, shape, and commission us. Together, these 5 will provide us with a compelling framework for multiplying God’s Kingdom presence in our world today. While I think any one of the above is reason enough, I think holding all 5 together will compel us to engage our world as an act of worship, gratitude, and love.

This week, I am focusing on our confessional understanding of the Savior we worship -- Jesus Christ!

Every generation and culture endeavors to proclaim Jesus in relevant and compelling expressions. The challenge for all of us is to do so in a manner that is consistent with Scripture while conscientiously attempting to eschew our own cultural bias. Across time and cultures, Jesus has been presented as a mystic, monarch, a guerilla revolutionary, an ascetic, a rock star, a sufferer, a gun-toting patriot, a capitalist, a CEO, a socialist, a communist, a delusional utopian, a seer, a zen master, wise teacher, hippie, and, even, "Buddy Jesus." Some are mutually contradictory, and others have little or no connection with Jesus, as presented in the four Gospels.

Therefore, it remains the Church's responsibility, as best we can, to present a biblical, historical Christ free of cultural bias. Our confession and presentation of Jesus must be intentional, clear, and inviting. We must also be resolute not to allow the biblical, historical Jesus to be hijacked and coopted into cultural narratives that are not in alignment with the Scriptures that reveal Him in all of His paradoxical fullness:

His deity and His humanity,

His sufferings and His glory,

 His incarnate meekness and His cosmic majesty,

 His servanthood and His lordship,

 His merciful love and His just judgment,

His Kingdom that is both small and vast.

By His own introductory announcement: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1.14), the Christ of the Gospels sets Himself on a collision course with every kingdom, culture and generation. His self-introduction is a salvo across history and civilizations that He will not take sides. His Incarnation and His Kingdom confront both Rome and Israel, Pilate and Herod, Priest and Pharisee, Zealot and commoner with the new reality that invades the planet in the incarnation of the Son. His grace invites a "transformative surrender" while His truth shakes the foundations that inform power, prejudice, and pride. No one can escape His judgment, and no one is disqualified from receiving His mercy. His mission was never merely to improve life for the fallen Adam and Eve or to protect civilization by reinforcing moral righteousness. His mission was to call a broken and unrepairable creation -- all nations and peoples-- to repentance while offering Himself as a ransom for all sin. Jesus is God's radical and unforeseen response. What was true in the first century is true in the twenty-first as well.

While we confess the reality of the Incarnation, I wonder if we leave ourselves vulnerable to misaligning Jesus with causes, ideologies, policies, and ethics when we do not reflect on its theological significance and practical implications. What reflection might protect us from perpetuating fresh expressions of past sins like crusades, inquisitions, violent conquests in the name of Jesus and the king, human trafficking (slavery), aligning with the Nazis, racism, etc? Let me suggest three truths about the Incarnation that might frame our reflections, protect the integrity of our worship and mission, preserve our unity, and position our voices to be prophetic exiles in the kingdoms and cultures we inhabit.

First, the self-emptying of the Son. The Incarnation is not merely the confession that "in Christ, all the fullness of the deity dwells." (Colossians 2.9) Nor is it simply the confession that "the Word was made flesh and lived among us" (John 1.14). The Incarnation is not merely the question, "Was Jesus fully God and fully man?" The Incarnation should cause us to ask, "What kind of man did God fully become?" The circumstances around His birth give us ample pause for reflection. His birth was modest, His parents common, and His demeanor average. In other words, there was nothing about His birth, family, or appearance that commanded attention or suggested position. Consider afresh these words from Philippians 2.6-7:

> 6 Though he existed in the form of God

did not regard equality with God

 as something to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself

 by taking on the form of a slave,

by looking like other men,

 and by sharing in human nature.

The Son vacates His heavenly supremacy to be an incarnate newborn rather than simply appear a fully grown adult. This self-imposed incarnation elects to be helpless, small, and vulnerable. His self-emptying was intentional, not accidental or merely incidental. That neither the world He made nor the people He called recognized or received Him (John 1.10-11) makes me skeptical of powers, causes and agendas that make pretexts to do so now.

Second, the ministry of the Incarnate Son. The Gospels portray an Incarnate Son who entered into our pain, alienation, and temptations. He not only proclaimed the Good news of the Kingdom of God, but He demonstrated its arrival by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, forgiving the sinful, befriending those on society's fringe, and raising the dead. He testified concerning Himself that the Incarnate Son came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom price for the release of others. He allowed himself to become a victim of gross injustice in the courts, and as they crucified Him, he prayed for his enemies. Then, in the awful God-forsaken darkness, he bore our sins in his own innocent person. Amidst all this, He refuses to capitulate to Rome, compromise with the Priests or Pharisees, or collaborate with zealots or ascetics. No culture, king, or empire could envision the KIngdom He brought, so He comes preaching repentance, inviting followers, and announcing that God's unique Kingdom has come. All kingdoms and kings are welcome to bow and surrender before Him, but the Incarnate Son will never bow, surrender, or serve another save the Father Who sent Him.

Third, the commission of the Incarnate Son. Our reflection on the Incarnation should extend to our understanding of the commission the Incarnate Son has given "us." Should not His self-emptying and His ministry inform our understanding of our commission when He says: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (John 20.21)? Surely, our mission is to be an extension of His mission -- a congruent expression and demonstration of His presence continuing to be incarnate in and through us. Like the Incarnate Son before us, it will find us "incarnate" as God embeds us in nations, cultures, and generations -- not to be coopted but to live distinctly and simultaneously as exiles in the world and citizens of His Kingdom. What was true for the Incarnate Son is true for us --

we will empty ourselves or our entitlements; 
 we will announce the coming of the King and His Kingdom; 
 we will invite any and all to repent, believe, and receive;
 we will serve, not be served, and, like the Incarnate Son,
for the joy set before us, we will carry the cross we are called to bear.

We are commissioned not simply to orthodox belief but to orthodox likeness. We are commissioned to go, live, and be in the likeness of the Incarnate Son. We are commissioned to a lifestyle whose only credible explanation is "the Incarnate Son and His Kingdom."

Dear Ones, I believe theological reflection about the significance and implications of the Incarnation will ultimately lead us to humble ourselves before the world-- regardless of the nation, culture, and generation we are part of. Our goal is not dominion—our way or the highway. Our goal is redemption. The Incarnate Son not only inspires our worship, He defines our humanity. He directs us toward the humanity He became incarnate with so that, like Him, we will express His compassionate and redemptive devotion. Therefore, we will resist every attempt to redefine the Incarnate Son in the image of any single nation, culture, generation or political expression. Nations and movements that might try to redefine the cross-carrying, enemy-loving, neighbor-redefining, violence-refusing, culture-defying, Jew-and-Gentile-embracing Incarnate Son into a culturally partisan extremist wrapped in expressions of power, division, and coercion. We must resist, reject, and respond to every such attempt through the apostolic preaching and prophetic testimony of His word and the demonstration of His mission through us. A cultural Jesus will never be a transformative Savior. The Incarnate Son can be on no "side" save His own.

Let me close again with the "Hymn to the Self-Emptying Christ" in Philippians 2.4-11. Here in these verses, Paul clearly indicates that the Incarnation should define our posture before the world and the basis for our relationships with others.

> Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

6    who, though he existed in the form of God,

 did not regard equality with God

 as something to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself,

 taking the form of a slave,

 assuming human likeness.

 And being found in appearance as a human,

8 he humbled himself

 and became obedient to the point of death—

 even death on a cross.

9    Therefore, God exalted him even more highly

 and gave him the name

 that is above every other name,

10 so that at the name given to Jesus

 every knee should bend,

 in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

 that Jesus Christ is Lord,

 to the glory of God the Father.

Next week, we will look at our confessional understanding of salvation...

Until then... may the Incarnate Son quicken our souls to live wholly for Him and fully through HIm...