Why the Word became Flesh

Although the average person is probably not aware, there are actually four different sets of readings for, The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas). There are readings for the Vigil, for Mass during the night, for Mass at dawn and finally Mass during the day. I would like to comment on the readings for Christmas Mass during the day (John 1:1-18).

St. John tells us, “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory” (John 1:14).

As Christians if we get past the Holy Jolly Christmas images, we see the scene in Bethlehem, with the infant Jesus born of the Virgin Mary in a simple manger.

Meditating on this scene, might ask why God became a child. Why was the incarnation necessary?

While St Thomas Aquinas admits that God could have saved us and revealed himself to us in a different manner, the incarnation is the most fitting manner for him to have accomplished his goal.

As St Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans, because we are part of the visible creation, God has chosen to reveal invisible things through the things we can see in creation (Romans 1:20).

God did not despise our human weakness but chose to reveal his goodness, wisdom, justice and power through the incarnation. God has condescended to reveal his goodness in the manner most understandable to us. By joining human created nature to Himself, in that one person of Christ, God reveals his goodness in the most easily understood manner.

It was necessary to do so in order to save us. God sent his Son to save the world from sin. As St John reminds us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16).

St Thomas reminds us “it was necessary for man’s salvation that God should become incarnate” (STh., III q.1 a.2 s.c.–resp.), but this necessity must be understood not in an absolute sense as the only possible way to accomplish our salvation. We must admit that God in his infinite power, could have chosen a different way.

Yet we can say the incarnation was necessary as the best and most convenient way to accomplish our salvation. In God’s infinite wisdom, it is the best way to accomplish our salvation even if other ways are possible. As St Augustine reminds us, “there was no other way more fitting, and no other needed for healing our misery” (On the Trinity, 13.10.13)

We receive five benefits through the incarnation.

Faith

Firstly, we may increase our faith because we see God himself speaking.

St Augustine notes, “

“It was in order to make the mind able to advance more confidently toward the truth that Truth itself, the divine Son of God, put on humanity without putting off His divinity and built this firm path of faith so that man, by means of the God-man, could find his way to man’s God.” (De civ. Dei 11.2).

As St John reminds us in our Gospel, Jesus “...was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Jesus is “The true light, which enlightens everyone.” Yet it is only by faith that we accept him. The world did not accept this light and even his own people did not accept him.

In the light of faith, however, St John tells us, “But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name.”

Hope

Jesus also came to inspire hope.

As St Augustine notes,

“For what was so necessary for raising our hopes and for liberating the minds of mortals… than to show how highly God esteemed us and how much He loved us?” (De Trin. 13.9.12). 

What could be a greater proof of God’s love, than for our Savior, while remaining fully God, to take on our nature, without detriment to His own divine nature, and in order to enter into fellowship without our nature?

As St Paul reminds us, “But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Charity

Finally, by his incarnation Christ has greatly enkindled our charity. A St Augustine notes,

 “What greater reason is apparent for the advent of the Lord than that God might show His love in us, commending it powerfully, inasmuch as “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”? (De Catech. Rudit. iv.).

An Example to Imitate

By becoming man, Jesus also gave us an example to follow. It is much more difficult to follow an unseen God than to follow the God-Man Jesus Christ. This is also the very essence of discipleship. Instead of focusing on classrooms and book learning, discipleship was much more of an apprenticeship. It is very fitting then, to have a living example to follow as a disciple. Disciples are called to imitate the life and teachings of our master.

Partakers of the Divine Nature

Finally and most importantly, the true reason for the incarnation was to help us “become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). By entering into communion with the Word, we receive divine sonship, and become sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:29, Galatians 4:6).

As St Athanasius famously put it, “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” This saying is echoed by St Thomas, “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods” (Opusc. 57: 1–4, as quoted in CCC 460).

Obviously, this language could be misunderstood. By our union with Christ, we become a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). This occurs through our participation in the life of the Blessed Trinity, yet we will remain finite beings. It is God’s eternal desire that we share in his divine life by becoming “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

As the Catechism reminds us, “The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of Christian life. God alone can make it known to us by revealing himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” (CCC 261, cf. 234). In order to accomplish the mission of revealing the mercy and love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the incarnation became necessary as the remedy for our sinful state.

In the mystery of God’s plan, we become something more through the incarnation of God’s only Son. We are now able to participate in a deeper way in the life of the Most Holy Trinity. We are a new creation, and live under a new covenant, through the indwelling presence of God’s Spirit. God has made all of this possible, through the incarnation.