In the latest series of Grantchester stories I have been reading for light relief, the vicar/detective, Canon Sidney Chambers, is reading a review of John Robinson’s new book Honest to God – the year is 1963. The critic reports that Bishop Robinson has replaced God with the idea of ‘ultimate reality’ and has claimed that the incarnation is mythological rather than literal.
” ‘Blimey, blimey. blimey, ‘ he muttered to himself as he read more of Robinson’s credo.”
Chambers is not impressed just as Archbishop Ramsey was also unimpressed – at least with the way Robinson expressed himself, though he came to feel that the questions being asked were important. Some of us will remember the drama caused by Robinson’s book – a drama which no work of popular theology has had since. And even though his answers may now be forgotten or felt inadequate, his questions still stand. So at Christmas we still have to ask what we really mean by the incarnation – what happened in the birth of Jesus?
Perhaps, as we approach the Feast of the Epiphany we can approach a partial answer through two pictures of the Magi, both in the National gallery and sometimes displayed opposite one another. One is by Veronese – the Adoration of the Kings -which shows the kings on their knees accompanied by various soldiers and servants who seem uncertain about what is going on and doubtful whether their masters are in their right minds. At the centre of the picture is a white-haired man gazing in wonder at the Christ child. The other picture is by Pieter Brueghel the Elder and again there are soldiers present but they seem more sinister (the blades of their pikes are almost cruciform) as do the bystanders who seem more interested in calculating the value of the gift being presented to the child by one of the kings, from whom the child seems almost to be recoiling. In this picture we are more aware of the threat the world poses to the Christ child. The first picture might be taken to emphasise the wonder of God’s identification of himself with us, his becoming one of us, his entering materiality to restore the image of the godhead in us. The other picture might be taken to emphasise the self sacrificial self emptying of God to bring about our salvation.
And these indeed are the two understandings of Christmas which we often hear preached. On the one hand Christmas says something affirmative about our humanity, about the material world which we celebrate in food and drink, family and friendship, in generous gift giving both to those we love and to those in need. It affirms our human search for God and the possibility that we can find him in worship and wonder and in the joy of Christmas. It affirms too our sacramental worship in that what is material (bread and wine) can become the vehicle of Christ’s spiritual presence among us.
On the other hand Christmas reminds us of the darkness of the world Christ enters, his experience from the start of his life of exclusion and persecution, the fact that the light of Christmas is vulnerable and fragile. The first model emphasises what human beings have the potential to become; the second model emphasises that from which they must be saved. And so both images are necessary for the true celebration of Christmas. And what joins these images together is the fact that both of them imply our dependence on the prior action of God to bring about change and transformation in us.
Incarnation means ‘enfleshed’ – the doctrine of the incarnation is far more complex because it points to the mystery of Christ’s being. As a doctrine it is concerned to guide us in what can and can’t be said about Jesus as human and divine. Christ’s divinity means he has the power to save our humanity; Christ’s humanity means that it is our humanity which he is saving. As we ponder the meaning of Christmas in the Christmas season from now until the beginning of February and the Feast of the Presentation, we are called to reflect both on what we need saving from and what it is we hope to be saved for.
With my love and prayers,
Fr Stephen
THANK YOU
We owe a great debt of thanks to all who enabled us to celebrate Christmas in our worship: to those who cleaned and decorated the church; to those who provided our music; to those who prepared our services and to those who served and read and interceded; to all of you who enabled our worship to be both beautiful and spiritual.
The Vicar writes
Stephen Tucker