The Mystery of the Incarnation (or why Jesus may not be Stewie from Family Guy)

As we approach Christmas, the mystery of the Incarnation is thrust upon us; if we can pause among the glittery distractions of the season.

In the Nicene Creed we Christians state the following:

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.
Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.

The creed came about in an effort to define the God/Man nature of Jesus. Sometimes we respond to questions about Christ's divinity and humanity with the statement that Jesus was both "fully God and fully man." We likely say this far to carelessly, and if Jesus does a miracle we place that in the "divine" box, and if Jesus weeps or eats fish that goes in the "human" box---as though Jesus flipped between the two rather than walking the Earth as a single unified person.

Some thought reveals why the Incarnation is rightly called a mystery. How does godhood, marked by limitlessness, co-exist fully with human nature, marked by inherent limitedness. A mystery indeed.

Philip Yancey analogizes to his relationship with guppies. Despite his love and care, his fish always fled at the sight of his massive head. To truly relate to them he would need to somehow become one of them.

Immanuel (God with us) is the Creator of the world entering our fish tank. But that analogy leaves plenty of questions unanswered.

To what extent did God simply put on a "guppy suit" and to what extent did He limit himself to the guppy brain. Did baby Jesus wet his pants because he was acting like a baby or because he was a real baby who literally did not know how to use the bathroom?

Was Jesus playing dumb like Stewie (the baby genius from Family Guy) or did the one through whom all things were created somehow tie his godly hands behind his back.

Some friends of mine were quite disturbed at the thought that Jesus might not always "know the script." Giving Jesus too much human uncertainty and doubt seems to slight his divinity. Yet, if Jesus was merely a cosmic actor playing a role to perfection was he fully man?

I certainly do not have the answer, but I personally have been challenged by N.T. Wright and others to explore the possibility that putting more flesh on the bones of Jesus makes the Incarnation more amazing, not less. A Son of Man who literally discovered his calling and relied on the same type of relationship to the Father that is available to us takes away excuses and opens a world of possibilities that, no doubt, must be explored carefully.

There are heresies on all sides, and the middle path is a mystery that we (with our limited space/time dimensions and fish sized brains) will never fully comprehend. But that does not mean that the enormity of the Incarnation should not be thought about. There is no better time than Christmas.

.