You Shall Call Him Man:
A Meditation on the Incarnation
Mid-week Advent 1
2 December 2015 – Redeemer
Dr. Martin Luther told a folk tale during one of his sermons in the hopes of getting his people to ponder the incarnation – the fact that God became man, that the Son of God took on human flesh and blood.
The tale goes something like this. One day the Devil showed up for the Divine Service. Now it was the habit of the people in this congregation to bow their heads when the words “was made man” were confessed in the Nicene Creed. (Evidently this was a custom known among Luther’s people as well in his day.) Well, as the Devil was watching the congregation he noticed a man who wasn’t paying attention, or didn’t care, or simply got bored with that custom who did not bow his head when those words were spoken. According to the tale the Devil rushed up to the man, punched him in the mouth, and said, “You gross knave, are you not ashamed to stand here like a stick and not to fall on your knees in joy? If God’s Son had become an angel, the least we would do was bow our heads. In fact we would not know how to contain our joy. And yet here you stand here as if nothing has happened.” Now Luther knew well that the story was made up and could never happen, because the devil hates Christ, but Luther liked the point of the story.
Jesus “For us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and was made man.” God became a man. The angel Gabriel announced it. The Holy Spirit accomplished it. Mary received it. And the evidence is all over Scripture. A virgin conceived a child. God and man. When Jesus was born angels from heaven declared it to shepherds. God and man. Angels protected his life from Herod’s sword – why? Because God became a man and the toddler Jesus could die. God and man. He slept and He stilled a storm. With His mouth He ate bread and fish and drank wine and with that same mouth He raised the dead. With His hands he worked in the wood shop of Joseph and with those same hands He healed the sick. God and man.
This happens nowhere else but in Christ. Other gods in other religions visit man, give dreams and visions, play with man, torment man, judge man and reward man, but only the God of Scripture becomes man, and therein lies the old custom of reverence and humility at the words, “he became man.”
The incarnation of Jesus is like Genesis all over again. Creation began with one perfect man – Adam, and God’s Word says that we were all in Adam. He is the father of us all according to the flesh. So when Adam sinned all sinned.
Think about what Adam’s sin and our sin meant for God’s good creation. Our Biblical ancestors were a mess – Cain assassinates his brother Abel. Noah gets drunk after the ark. Jacob tricks Esau and steals the inheritance from his father. Joseph’s brothers wish him dead, sell him into slavery, and lie to their father. King David commits adultery with Bathsheba and murders not only her marriage but her husband. And we belong to that same line of sinners. We could all tell stories and make confession – just as horrific, just as gross, just as deadly. Alongside those sons of Adam in the Old Testament amazingly stands God. He did not cast off Adam and Eve or Noah or Abraham or David. He used them – the Angel Gabriel even brings up David as he announces to Mary her pregnancy. Your Son will sit on the throne of His father David.
In the incarnation God once again places all of man in a single man. This one not from the dust of the ground, but from the seed of a woman. And here we see the re-beginning. Eve was drawn from the flesh of Adam, but now the New Adam is drawn from the flesh of a woman. We were all in Adam and now, says Scripture, we are all in Christ. I’m not sure we should rank the evidence of God’s love, but the incarnation should be up there – up there with the cross and the resurrection. One pastor writing about the incarnation compared Jesus taking on human flesh to wearing clothes. (Dr. David Scaer) Your clothes show what you love – if you’re wearing a uniform for work (think McDonalds or Hardees) that you do not like, you cannot wait to be home and out of those clothes. On the other hand when you’re wearing your most comfortable jeans or your warmest sweater you don’t ever want to take it off. We might not be comfortable with God, but God is very comfortable with man – Jesus put on human flesh because He loves us and He is never going to take off human flesh. He rose into heaven bodily. He sits in the flesh at His Father’s right hand. When He returns in glory we will see Him in His resurrected body. That He loves man is evident in that He is a man.
That is why the incarnation is Genesis all over again. If we are all in Christ according to His humanity (and that is what His Word says), then whatever happens to Jesus happens to us. He lived a perfect life. He suffered and died for all sin. He rose again on the third day. He ascended into heaven. He sits at His Father’s right hand. And because He is God made man – all of that is for man, for humanity, for you. You died with Him. You rose with Him. You ascended with Him. You are righteous with Him. What you lost in Adam, you gained in Christ. What the one man destroyed in the beginning, the One Man of the second beginning restored and redeemed.
In the incarnation you can see God and love God because you see that God loves you. Remember when God came down on Mount Sinai in the Old Testament. He came down in the cloud of His glory, with smoke and fire and thunder. No one, except Moses could come near. To touch the mountain was death. When Moses didn’t return the people were probably glad he went alone. They were so afraid of God’ presence they even tried to put their own calf god between them and the Lord. Consider how different it is once God becomes incarnate of the Virgin Mary and is made man. Mary, a young girl, is willing to hold God in her womb and upon her breast. Joseph is willing to guard and protect the infant Jesus. Shepherds come running and Magi come from afar. Lepers cry out to him. Prostitutes join him for lunch. Parents seek Him out for their children. No one is afraid of God in the man Jesus.
Why is that you are not afraid of God? Why are you eager to confess your sins to Him? And place your children in His keeping? How is it that when you are at your worst He’s the first One you go to? All of that is because of this simple and surreal truth – He (God) was made man. Jesus is your brother. He became One with you, one with man, to save man, to save you. If you believe Jesus is your brother (and He is), and Jesus is God’s only begotten Son (and He is) that means when you believe in Jesus you believe God is your Father. There’s no reason to be afraid of bringing your sins before God. You can look on Him with joy for this simple reason – Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, was made man, for us men and for our salvation. In His name. Amen.