It's both my off day and Christmas. I could post an old race report. Or, I could just post nothing. But, I thought that I'd reflect a bit on Christmas, itself. I haven't made many theological posts to this blog. (BTW, I'm taking a full week off from blogging so I have more time to study, next post will be on New Years Day).
Of course, one does well to remember that such things are called mysteries of the faith for a reason. Anybody who claims to truly understand why an all-knowing and all-powerful god would be remotely interested in hanging around with bunch of moderately intelligent mammals is, well, full of it. The only easy way around the question is to say it's irrelevant because the whole religion is bogus. However, even atheists should acknowledge that it's at least an interesting thought experiment.
Anyway, mathematicians are used to dealing with things we don't really understand, so the absence of a satisfying answer isn't really a big problem.
First, let's start by putting some bounds around the question: Why would God become one of us?
Did he also become one of other groups on other planets (or other universes)? Is the incarnation through Mary the only way that he truly experienced the human condition or did he also get it vicariously through other prophets preaching other religions? Good questions, but we can't go after everything at once. Let's stick to the script as it's written and assume for the moment that this was the singular event of connection between God and mortals. Let's also dispense with the liberal view that Jesus wasn't really God with a capital G, but a person who was so enlightened that they were in full unity with god. That view is also an interesting one, but it makes Christmas pretty irrelevant. Christmas only matters if Christ was, in fact, God. The God.
The simple answer is that he loves us. A lot. OK, but that rather begs the question. Unless you can also explain why he loves us so much, you haven't really provided an answer. But, it does at least move us to more familiar ground. None of us can become a kitten, no matter how much we might want to commune with cats. But, we can understand how someone could love cats so much that they would do so if they could. I think we'd still call that individual a nut job, but it's comprehensible.
We're told that God loves us as a parent. I think that's a great metaphor and it certainly explains the willingness to make otherwise insane sacrifices, but I'm having a bit of a problem understanding why God would create a creature so limited and then regard it as offspring. We breed animals all the time and they are much closer to our capabilities than we are to God's but, despite the claims of a few overly zealous pet owners, we don't really think they are our children. We might be willing to risk death saving them from a burning building, but to become one of them, to give up our advantage as human and live as them and fully experience their suffering of death so as to redeem them from their erroneous ways? Get serious. Nobody would do that, even if they could.
But there might be something there.
Then again, this might be completely heretical. But I'll throw it out there anyway. If God calls me on it, I'll just be honest and admit that I'm speculating about things I can't possibly understand.
What if God saw this not just as something for us, but a growth opportunity for God as well? Loving relationships are supposed to work that way, right? Sure, you sacrifice for the one you love but, you also try to do it in a way that makes both of you stronger.
God had been watching this whole human experience thing unfold for a while (yes, yes, God's not bound by time, I'm writing in human-comprehensible terms). The worst of humanity was clear. But, so was the best. And the best is almost always connected to sacrifice. The standard view is that God instigated sacrifice as a means of atonement. Scripture certainly supports that view, but I don't believe it mandates it. Suppose sacrifice is actually something we cooked up?
When parents discipline their children, the kids do not regard it as sacrifice. They regard it as punishment. Sacrifice is when the kid voluntarily does something they otherwise wouldn't because they want to mend the relationship. If you're not too heavy handed with them, little kids actually do this quite a lot. The relationship really does matter to them. As parents, we sacrifice all the time as well we should - we signed up for the job and only the greatest fools think that such responsibility carries no cost.
God doesn't have to sacrifice. He's all powerful, remember? What if, God wanted in on this sacrifice thing because he saw how much better we are when we do it?
It's still a pretty nutty explanation but perhaps one worth pondering.
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