From the Daily Lectionary for Thursday in the Fifth Week of Lent
John 10:22-42
At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.” Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’—and the scripture cannot be annulled—can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands.
He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.
This is an apt definition of Incarnation. Incarnation is not a once-upon-a-time magic act by God. Incarnation is doing God’s will. The Pharisees and the Jewish elite have in effect abdicated their responsibility to serve the poor and the oppressed, a cardinal tenet of Judaism. They have opted for the comfortable idea that God is wholly other, aloof in the heavens, keeping track of humankind’s sinfulness, ready to punish, sometimes of a mind to redeem.
According to the eccentric writer, John, when one is about the practice of love then God is fully present. In effect, those who seek to follow God, and “the one God has sent,” bear God’s very life. Not unlike the Christ, our flesh and blood, our life and labor are blessed broken and given as nurture for the world’s restoration and redemption. To put it in post-Enlightenment terms, we share God’s DNA. God’s will, God’s love for the world, depends on us.
Such a calling is both a profound responsibility and a profound privilege. It means that all that we are, and all that we have, is for the greater good. Such an intentional life is where true joy is found. In God’s mythy mind, to find one’s bliss, one’s true purpose, is to give oneself away, to, as Paul puts it, “empty oneself,” to “lay down one’s life” for one’s neighbor. In a world in which self-interest is the dominant virtue, to be a follower of Jesus is, to say the least, counter-cultural. To advocate for the marginalized, the left-out, and the shamed of our world, draws the ire of almost half of the society in which we live.
As the baptized we are committed to the truth of our humanity that we are made to care for each other, made for a community of equals, made to strive for a just society. The kingdom of heaven is not some future utopia, perfect in its completion. The kingdom of heaven is the world as it is, still being created, recognizing that love is the master builder. The kingdom of heaven is forever a work in progress. Our God-likeness is found in our capacity to love. That is not heresy, but the way God’s world is made. That we must trust with all our heart for the world’s sake.
A Prayer of Incarnation (BCP p. 213 adapted)
O God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him: Grant that we who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit to do the work of your Holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
