Advent worship for 2011 continued at Crafton Heights on December 18 with an exploration of who it was who made the longest journey in order to be present at the Nativity for that first Christmas. Our Scriptures included Philippians 2:5-11 and John 1:14
What does the number one grossing movie of all time have to do with a gathering of 318 leaders of the church that took place in 325 AD, and why should you care about that?
Well, for starters, what is the number one grossing movie of all time? It was released in 2009…it won three Oscars, essentially all of which have to do with visual effects…it stars Sam Worthington as a paraplegic Marine who adopts second identity… Yes, the movie is Avatar, which has grossed nearly $2.8 billion worldwide.[1]
Have you seen this movie? It’s a good one, and the Oscars for the artwork are well-deserved. It is a lush and beautiful world. Avatar is but the most popular of a long line of Hollywood blockbusters that center on the theme of an alien presence who comes into the home world disguised as one of us, but who we, the movie-going public, know to be quite different. Think about Men In Black, Battlestar Galactica, or, for those who favor the older films, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. All of these stories explore the possibility that an alien race has managed to infiltrate our own – they sound and look and smell and act like us, but at the end of the day, they are not us… and that usually has deadly consequences for all kinds of people (and aliens!).
OK, that’s the movie. How about that church meeting? In the opening years of the fourth century, Constantine united his Empire militarily and politically. He became a follower of Jesus, and was concerned that the church, too, be united. However, there was a dispute raging within the Body of Christ at that time, and it centered on the question of who, or what, was Jesus?
Some folks, such as the Ebionites, taught that Jesus was an ordinary man who somehow, at his baptism, became filled with the Spirit of God and that allowed him to do things that no one else had ever done. He was a human who was transformed by the power of the divine – just like Jake Sully, in Avatar, was a human who, through mysterious means, became one of the Na’vi people.
Others, often called Docetists, said that Jesus was God, and not human. Oh, sure, he acted like a man, but that was just for appearances’ sake. In reality, they said, Jesus was God in a man-suit, the Divine impersonator. If you’re a Battlestar Galactica fan, I suppose, that makes Jesus a Cylon “skin job”.
Emperor Constantine and his mother, Helena
When Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of the Roman Empire, the logical question was, “what kind of Christianity?” Two of the more powerful voices involved in that discussion were men named Arius and Athanasius. Arius taught that Jesus was created by God at some point before the Garden of Eden. God knew what was going to happen, and so Jesus was conceived and made to be a sort of Divine “Plan B”. Athanasius, on the other hand, said that Jesus shares eternity and divinity with God and the Holy Spirit – that there has never been a time when Jesus was not. God, from eternity, has always existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even though the human presence of Jesus was felt on this planet for three decades some two thousand years ago.
Although the Emperor was not a trained theologian, he saw that there were some problems, and he called the leaders of the church to come together in the town of Nicaea, in Turkey. While there, they debated the merits of Arius’ and Athanasius’ arguments, and, believe it or not, the argument (which actually lasted for most of the fourth century) came down to a single letter – an iota, the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet – in one word.
Everybody agreed that Jesus was something special. But who was Jesus, really? The first draft of the document the church leaders proposed said that Jesus Christ, the begotten Son of God the Father, is of one substance with the Father. The Greek word there is “homoousios”. A minority of scholars, however persisted in saying that Jesus Christ, the begotton Son of God the Father, is of like substance with the father. That word is “homoiousios”. The question at hand was this: is Jesus God, or is Jesus like God?
For fifty-six years debate went on (and you thought a 22 minute sermon was tedious!), until in 381 the Council of Constantinople approved a statement that we now as the Nicene Creed, and which says, “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father…”[2]
And now, somewhere in the sanctuary, I hear a voice crying…pleading… saying “Make him stop! Please, dear Lord…who cares? I didn’t come to church this morning to be lectured to about a church argument from 1800 years ago. I hear that voice. And listen: if it was only an 1800 year-old argument, I wouldn’t waste your time or my breath. But it’s not ancient history – it’s the question of the hour. Who, or what, is Jesus?
Throughout Advent, we’ve been talking about the people we meet at the Nativity. We’ve looked at Wise Men and Shepherds, at Joseph and Mary. But we can’t stop this series until we look into the manger. Who is laying there, and, depending on whether you can believe the Christmas Carol, “no crying he makes…”?
Jesus is there. Baby Jesus, in the manger. Who is he?
If you go with the Ebionites, and some Gnostics and other folks, well, that’s just your typical baby boy. Nothing special about that child at all – a human being just like you and me. Exactly like you and me. When he grows up, he’ll have some exploring and some explaining to do, but now – he’s a baby. End of story.
And if you pay attention to the Docetists, you’ll think that no, this baby lying in the manger is actually the greatest hoax ever perpetrated – because the God of the universe has come down and put on a little baby suit so that he won’t be recognized. He looks like a baby, smells like a baby, and cries like a baby – but he’s really God, just biding his time for a few decades until it’s time to make his move.
When Jesus was laying in the manger, did he know what was coming? Was God simply pretending? When he grew up, did he need to go to school? After all, if he was fully God, wouldn’t he know everything already (in which case, he would be the absolute perfect lab partner, right? “Hey, Jesus, can you take a look at this theory for me…?”)
Or was Jesus only a baby, a normal child who grew up and one day was saddled with this “God thing” that came upon him, much like the lead character in Monty Python’s Life of Brian, in which an unwitting young Jew is mistaken for a prophet and becomes a reluctant Messiah?
Paul, writing to his friends in Philippi, addresses this question. He says that Jesus always was, and is, and always will be. He existed with God the Father before any creation began, and will be for eternity. But because of his love for God the Father and for the creation itself, Jesus emptied himself. He set aside certain aspects of his divinity so that he would become fully and utterly human.
Those who wrote the Nicene Creed understood this, because the lines of the creed which follow those I’ve already read are these: “For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.”
Image by Ariel Carver, taken from "I WIll Hold My Candle & Other Stories for Christmas" ©2011
The theological term is “incarnation” – from the Latin incarnatio. In meaning in and caro meaning flesh. In flesh. Enfleshed. Jesus, the Son, in flesh.
That, beloved, is the amazing gift of Christmas. We have come to worship a God who knows us because of the humanity of Jesus – and it is precisely in that knowing that our salvation lies.
Think of who you are. Not who you want to be, or who you are afraid of becoming; not who you wish others to believe you to be, or who you used to be, or who you’re going to be when you finally stop fooling around and get your act together. Who you are, right now. God, in Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, knows that you. And God, in Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, loves that you. There is no part of you that is unknown to God. There is no one in this room that is unloved by God.
I spoke with a man who struggles with anger, and he wept as he told me of the time that he raised a hand to someone else. That’s a serious problem…but do you suppose that there was ever a time when Jesus looked at someone and said, “You know what I’d like to do? I’d like to pop you in the mouth right now…” I think so! He was human. I mean, there’s no indication that Jesus ever went off on someone, but he was human – he had to be tempted to do that.
In the same way, to those of you who struggle with sexual purity: isn’t it possible – no, isn’t it likely – that Jesus looked at someone and said, “You know what I’d like to do? I’d like to kiss you on the lips right now…”? Again, there’s no record of his thoughts there, but remember that Hebrews 4:15 says “For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.” If Jesus was human, Jesus was tempted.
Some of the temptation and pain that Jesus endured are recorded in the Gospels. Have you been lonely? Do you remember Jesus’ anguished cries in the Garden of Gethsemane, “will none of you wait with me? No one?”
Who hasn’t struggled with pain and fear of the future? It sure seems like Jesus did. As his own death approached, what did he say? “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me…”
The fact that Jesus is fully human and fully God should be of great comfort to anyone who recognizes their own humanity. The essence of the Christmas story is that whatever it means to be a human being, Jesus is that. And at the same time, whatever it means to be God, Jesus is that, too. Jesus is God for humanity and at the same time is humanity for God. What amazingly and wondrously good news for those humans who want to know God!
Listen to me: four weeks ago I started talking about Advent and I told you that it was originally a time of confession and repentance. It’s been called a “little Lent” because of the ways that we are invited to consider our own brokenness as we prepare for the birth of the Savior. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s hard to do that. I mean, we’re supposed to have “the holiday spirit” and all that. We can be in a rush to get to the angels singing “Gloria” and the star shining brightly and Good Christian Men Rejoicing. I know. I’m partly to blame, because I’m picking the songs here.
But here’s the deal. It’s December 18. The next six days are, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest and darkest days of the entire year. I know, Andy Williams and Johnny Mathis and I don’t know who else want you to believe that this is “the most wonderful time of the year…the hap-happiest season of all”, but I can’t ever seem to get there. I love the holiday, but it’s dark and cold and I miss the people who have been here before…I miss the way it used to be…I am enraged by the things that are wrong…and sometimes I feel guilty for not being all happy clappy at Christmas. I hate the dark, and I miss the light.
So here’s what I want to invite you to do. Enter into the darkness of these next six days. Look at your self. Your real self – not the self you present to others. Look at your humanity, and all that is wonderful about that, and all that troubles you about that. Talk with God, in Jesus’ name, about the things that you wish were different, and about the things you are glad for. Engage. Reflect. Confess.
And then, let’s meet together again on Saturday night. By then the days will be getting a little longer. And we’ll have some candles to hold. And we’ll approach the manger together, and behold
the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, no made, of one Being with the Father… For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.
Engage your human self this week, and give that human self to Jesus. And come Saturday night, we’ll ask Jesus for a bit of His Self.
He will not say no.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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