It
is as C. S. Lewis put it: the Incarnation is the supreme miracle. There is no
meaning to atonement if there is no incarnation; even resurrection requires
it. In this series we shall examine the life of Christ – and begin at the
beginning.
Matthew
– the Jewish View
It
is important to remember that Matthew wrote for the Jews. As a result, he
begins with the family tree. It is a carefully constructed table, ending with
this comment:
Mat 1:17 NIV
Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen
from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.[2]
It’s
clear that Matthew expected his readers to understand why he would start this
way; it’s not so clear to us. But he has his reasons:
- First,
he establishes the fact that the birth of Jesus contains descent from King
David – which is prophesied of the Messiah. Matthew gives us descent
through the legal line, which means Joseph. (Did you know that Joseph had
to be of the house of David?)
- Second,
by this genealogy he establishes that Jesus is fully human – he did not
step off the flying saucer fully grown.
- Note,
though, that he is careful not to allow the idea that Joseph is his
biological father – in accord with the full divinity of Christ.
In
short, we know where the kid came from. We know his family history. It
includes some unusual people:
·
It includes the
kings of Judah – great names, such as David, Hezekiah and Josiah. It also
includes the names of kings like Manasseh, who gave Judah fifty five years of
idolatry and misery, yet repented at the end.
·
It includes
ordinary people – Rahab, the prostitute who hid the spies; Tamar, who
prostituted herself with Judah and Ruth, so renowned for her faithfulness.
Many of the names in the genealogy are just that: names. Ordinary people
living ordinary lives.
This
section includes fulfillment of various prophecies. The tribe of Judah is
specified in Genesis 49:10; His family (David) in Isaiah 11:1 and the virgin
birth is given in Isaiah 7:14.
Matthew
introduces the theme of his work: Jesus is to save his people from their
sins. In short, the atonement was planned from “day one.”
Luke
– The Gentile View
Matthew’s
account, however satisfying to his first readers, tends to deter the modern
reader. Luke, however, wrote for the Gentiles. We can learn about the writer
and his purposes from the first four verses of his Gospel:
Luk 1:1-4 NIV
Many
have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled[1] among us, (2)
just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were
eyewitnesses and servants of the word. (3)
Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the
beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most
excellent Theophilus, (4) so that you may
know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
We
may note:
- Luke’s
intention is to be thorough. He tells us that “many” have tried to
document Christ before he did. Evidently those accounts were in some way
deficient, so Luke has gone back to the original sources to interview
them. This most certainly included Mary, the mother of Jesus.
- Luke
is a doctor, of the medical variety. We know from the writings of such
men that they are thorough and detailed. Luke is the researcher of today.
- Luke
was Paul’s traveling companion. As such, he no doubt had the opportunity
to speak to all the living apostles.
Luke
writes with a particular purpose in mind. He addresses the work to “most
excellent Theophilus.” This may have been a real person – the name is not
unknown – or it may have been generic, for Theophilus means “lover of God.”
Either way, it is Luke’s intention that Theophilus be solidly grounded in the
faith, knowing the certainty of the things he has been taught.
This
deals with a couple of problems:
- It
gives the lie to the idea that faith must be blind. If God requires you
to believe on no evidence at all, why was this Gospel written? It is
given to you so that you may also be certain of what you believe.
- It
is written in terms that the average person would understand; you don’t
need to be an expert in Jewish custom, tradition and law.
If
you read on in Luke’s account (more next week) you will see that he has
particular information concerning Mary, the mother of Jesus. The common Roman
Catholic worship of Mary (I call ‘em as I see ‘em, folks) is conspicuously
absent from the Gospel of Luke. But Luke must have talked with Mary, as we
have her Magnificat and the song of Zacharias in this chapter. This
contributes to one of the characteristics of Luke: he is not afraid to use a
little more ink. His orderly research and attention to detail cause most
expositors to use his order of events.
So
we have now expanded scope from “just the Jews” to that of the celebrated man
in the streets. But neither of these explanations deal with “why.” We have the
earthly viewpoints; what about the celestial ones?
John
– the Philosopher’s view
It
is worth reading John’s opening in its entirety:
Joh 1:1-18 NIV
In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was with God in the beginning. (3) Through him all things were made; without him
nothing was made that has been made. (4) In
him was life, and that life was the light of men. (5)
The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood[1] it. (6)
There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. (7) He came as a witness to testify concerning that
light, so that through him all men might believe. (8)
He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. (9) The true light that gives light to every man was
coming into the world.[2] (10) He was in the world, and though the world was
made through him, the world did not recognize him. (11)
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. (12) Yet to all who received him, to those who
believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- (13) children born not of natural descent,[3] nor of human decision or a husband's will,
but born of God. (14) The Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One
and Only,[4] who came from the
Father, full of grace and truth. (15) John
testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I
said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'
" (16) From the fullness of his grace we
have all received one blessing after another. (17)
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ. (18) No one has ever seen God, but
God the One and Only,[5][6]who is at
the Father's side, has made him known.
If
you will look at the footnotes (not reprinted in this quote from the NIV) you
can see that even the translators have exceptional difficulty with this
passage. It introduces us to the concept of the Trinity, in particular the
divinity of Christ. How, we must ask, can God come in the flesh? How can God
be more than one person – when we know that “the Lord your God is one?”
We
can but state the difficulty and say that our understanding is incomplete. We
have two facts:
- God,
the eternal, unchanging one, is One.
- God
is also three persons; one of those persons is Jesus of Nazareth, who
arrived on this planet as a baby – just like the rest of us.
There
are many explanations; we shall leave it as fact, and move on.
The
roles of Christ
John
gives us three roles which he attributes to Christ – and are clearly divine:
- He
is the creator of all things – the “agent of creation” as the philosophers
might put it. Everything in the universe was created by Him.
- He
is the life of all things – the word used means biological life. The idea
of living is taken from Him.
- He
is the Light – without Him, no one sees clearly. We take this in the
metaphorical sense; without Him, no one can know the truth. Truth, in
all its fullness, is in Him.
There
is much, much more. But I hope you can see the inherent marvel of these three
writers:
- Matthew
describes the promised Messiah, in the right genealogy. He is the
fulfillment of prophecy given to the Jews – a local thing.
- Luke
expands that to a global thing – in factual terms, invoking no mysticism.
- John
then declares to us that this Jesus of Nazareth, born like the rest of us,
is in fact the one and only God – in the flesh.
Word
become flesh
It
is astonishing. It is also the source of no end of heresy, as people seek some
other explanation. How can this be? How is it that the God of the Old
Testament would do this? That He can do it, there can be no doubt. But why?
- What
we are really saying here is that God is too high, too holy to mingle with
the likes of us. But turn that around: what are the limits of divine
humility? If our own humility allows us to descend to the level of
changing diapers, how can we limit God’s humility? Indeed, would it not
be perfect humility, as God is perfect? It would take perfect humility to
do this.
- We
are also saying that there is insufficient motive for God to do this. But
again: God is love. It would take perfect love for the sinless God to
come down among a sinful people; a perfect love.
Do
you see it? When people say “God couldn’t/wouldn’t do that” they are placing
human limits upon the attributes of God. Is He love? He is perfect love. Is
He peace? Then perfect peace.
What,
then, was the objective in doing this? He became like man so that we might
become like God. His purpose in coming was to be the atonement for our sins;
even as the Baby slept that silent night the Cross was already in view.