The Mystery of Christmas
Growing up, I devoured mystery stories. There is something about a puzzle that just beckons to be solved. Perhaps that is why, when I first came across the term “mystery” in a theological context, I balked.
It’s not so much the idea that there are things we don’t know that throws me—after all, mysteries are there to be solved. But mysteries in the theological sense are things we can’t fully know. It’s all well and good to take certain things on faith, but the idea that we won’t ever be able to understand it—at least not this side of eternity—is jarring to one’s pride.
I wonder if that is why God chooses to give us some details but to withhold others, as a check to our pride. And, to be honest, I think what God has revealed in the Bible about these spiritual mysteries is so profound, we don’t need to spend time fruitlessly trying to puzzle out things God hasn’t chosen to reveal.
The incarnation is one of those mysteries. The actual details of how God Himself put on human flesh, how the infinite, eternal God fit Himself into time and space—and quite a small space at that!—These are details we may never know. But more awe-inspiring and wonder-filling are the details we are given, those things we do know. Take this passage from Philippians 2, for example:
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (vv.5-8)
God Himself taking on human flesh is a scientific wonder, but Jesus, an equal member of the Godhead, choosing to take the form, not just of a created being, but a servant, is even more astonishing. And this “form of a servant” was not only physical: imagine, God Himself washing feet like the lowest of slaves.—And yet He did. Jesus Himself said,
“For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
That servant’s heart, the desire to minister to, or serve, permeated His time on earth and put itself on display in the most visible way in the defining moment of His ministry: the crucifixion.
While on the cross, some in the crowd jeered at Him, saying,
“He saved others; let Him save Himself, if He be Christ, the chosen of God.” (Luke 23:35)
The wonder here is, He could have. God incarnate, the omnipotent Creator, could have saved Himself from the cross in a countless variety of ways, and yet He chose to stay on that cross, painfully laying down His life for us.
I have often heard it said that the manger stands in the shadow of the cross. Christ was indeed born to die, and that is an important aspect of the mystery of the incarnation. Not only did Christ choose to take upon Him the form of a servant, to be made in fashion as a man, He also chose to be punished for our sin.
The truest wonder of Christmas isn’t the manger, it isn’t the angels filling a quiet sky with a multitude of voices, it isn’t the spectacle of three kings from a distant land coming to greet the newborn King.
Instead, it is the mystery of a voluntary paradox: the Master took on the form of a servant, the Creator took on creature’s flesh, the Infinite and Eternal stepped within the limits of time and space—and perhaps most wonderful of all, the Sinless One took on Himself the sin of the world, that He might be our atoning Sacrifice.
Take time this Christmas season to reflect upon the wonder of and, yes, the mystery of the incarnation.
“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)