Athanasius’ fourth century work, On the Incarnation, is still recommended and read today as a primer to understand why God became human to redeem humanity.
He wrote it as a defense against those who denied Jesus was fully God and fully human.
As the Christian scriptures say, “All the fullness of deity lives in Christ’s body” (Colossians 2:9, CEB). Still, some struggle with the concept of God becoming a human.
A story is often told by preachers on Christmas Eve.
One cold night, the family was bundled up to go to church for the candlelight Christmas Eve service.
All except the father, who wasn’t a bad person: just not a church goer. He would wait up until the family arrived safely back home.
As he waited, he heard a noise at the window. He looked outside and there were small birds shivering in the cold. This bothered him and he worried they would not make it through the night. He decided he would get some bread and lead them into the barn, where they would at least be out of the wind and cold. He went outside and tore the bread into pieces and made a trail of bread to the barn and opened the door.
The birds huddled together and did not move. He dropped bread close to them and tried to entice them into the barn.
When this didn’t work, he tried to shoo them into the barn and they only flew around in a circle and made him feel foolish. Frustrated, he stood in the cold and thought of what to try next.
Then it came to him: if he could could only be a bird, then he could convince the other birds to follow him into the barn where they would be safe and warm.
Just then – at midnight – he heard the church bells ring announcing to the new day Christmas was here.
It came to him, this is why Christ was born on Christmas day. He came to be one of us and lead us on the right path of life.
When the family arrived home, the father was different, he seemed filled with joy.
The following Sunday, when the family headed off to church – to the surprise and delight of the family – the father was with them.
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:12, KJV).
Eric Reece is the faith columnist for The Graham Star. He is the pastor of Robbinsville United Methodist Church and can reached via email, ereece@wnccumc.net, or by phone, 479-8581.