Wishing you all a happy and revolutionary Christmas!
Andrew Perriman
Tue, 22/12/2015 - 17:57
Tue, 22/12/2015 - 17:57
According to the tradition that has been passed down
to us, Christmas is the time of year when we celebrate God coming to earth in
lowly human form to save humankind from sin and death. The glory of the deity
has been laid aside, the radiant godhead has been veiled in flesh, the creator
of all things has been pleased to dwell as man with man for a while,
God-with-us, Immanuel, so that there may be peace on earth, so that God and
sinners may be reconciled, so that the sons (and daughters) of earth may
experience a second birth and die no more, etc.
That coming
is dressed in the robes and regalia of Jewish kingship. The incarnate
deity is the newborn king, born in Bethlehem of David’s line. But this is
little more than circumstantial detail; the essence of the story is theological
rather than political, metaphysical rather than historical. Even O Come, O
Come, Emmanuel, perhaps the most Jewish of carols, has in view the dispelling
of death’s dark shadows and victory o’er the grave as the final outcome.
In this
respect, the tradition is at odds with the stories that we have in Matthew and
Luke.
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