The Incarnation

The book The Holy Longing just keeps blowing me away. I'm in the middle of reading about the incarnation - the fact that "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood." (John 1:9-14). If you've grown up in the church like me, you've heard that before and you've become a bit numb to the idea that Jesus was born, lived for 33 years, died and rose again.

What has been sinking in as I read this book is the immensity and the consequences of the the incarnation. The huge idea for me is that the incarnation isn't just about Jesus' 33 year son earth, but about something that is still going on and is just as real as when Jesus walked the earth. This is huge to me: The Word didn't just become flesh and dwell among us for a while - it became flesh and continues to dwell among us. The book talks about the idea that when we say "We the body of Christ" is not an exaggeration or a metaphor. The bible never tells us that the body of believers replaces Christ's body, nor that it represents Christ's body, nor that it is Christ's mystical body. It says simply: "We are Christ's body."

Bear with me. I'm know I'm not going to do a good job summarizing my jumbled thoughts around 80 pages into a few paragraphs. I think this says it well:

If it is true that we are the Body of Christ, and it is, then God's presence in the world today depends very much upon us. We have to keep God present in the world in the same way as Jesus did. We have to become God's physical hands, feet, mouthpiece and heart in this world.....As God once acted through Christ, so he now acts through those who are conformed to the image of his Son and whose behavior pattern is in imitation of his.

Bear with me if I'm the only person who doesn't get it. There might even have been a time in my life where I understood all of this. I'm re-learning it now.