Merry Christmas everyone!
It's been some time since I have written on this blog page, the majority of my writing efforts having been diverted to my poetry of late.
But poetry is in the soul of Christmas and I wanted perhaps to blend the devotional with the poetic for this short blog, and look at one of the most poetically profound lines from one of the richest of carols. The line comes from Charles Wesley's "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" in which he invokes the aforementioned soul of Christmas.
Veiled in flesh, The Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate Deity,
This carol has been the favourite of my last 2 pastors, one who was my pastor for 26 years and one for the last ten. It's fair to say, that even with limited (mostly) seasonal exposure, I have sung this many, many times, and this line never fails to jump out of me.
What Wesley alludes to, in the mystery of incarnation, is that within the human form of (the infant) Christ is the very essence of God himself. Jesus body is the 'veil' of flesh referred to. His nature: the Godhead.
Such a profound mystery which has sparked much theological debate (and heresy) for two thousand years, and the exact nature of the incarnation (and how it functions/functioned) will remain a mystery until the unveiling of all things.
As I meditate on this line now, though, I am drawn to the words of the writer to the Hebrews, who in 1:3 says that The Son is "The radiance of God's glory" and "The exact representation" (NIV) or "Express image" of his being. Paul refers to him in Colossians as the "visible image of the invisible God". These words make me think....was he really veiled in flesh?
Fair enough, Wesley's invitation was to "see" the God head in Christ, but I think we misunderstand the purpose of the nativity if we in any way think of Jesus as some sort of dulled or toned down version of the Father. And to make it appear on some level as though the nativity and incarnation was about mystery, (although it is inherently mysterious) seems to be missing the point. Jesus and his incarnation was not about hiding the mystery but about revealing it. If anything it was our eyes that were veiled, and the more we look at heaven's Son with eyes opened by the Holy Spirit, the more we see God. The exact image of him.
It seems ironic to use the word image, when what most of his followers have to go on are words. His words recorded and the words of his followers describing them and interpreting them, but none the less it is the image of the Father we see with spiritual eyes when we gaze on Jesus, as a baby or as a man, and we will do well to look long on him.
But the flesh he was 'veiled' in, is now glorified and for the most part (temporarily) hidden.
However, there is another aspect to incarnation in which Jesus is very much veiled in flesh.
We are the body of Christ.
Oh yes, in his body he was not hidden, but in our flesh he so often is. We who have the spirit of Christ, and are the parts of his body, very much have a responsibility to make manifest the love and truth of God.
So our deeds will be an incarnation of Christs presence in us. He will be revealed in us as we act for him. Meals for the homeless, charitable giving, the showing of mercy and kindness, the pressing for justice, a listening ear, the speaking for truth and the preaching of the gospel, reaching out to the lost and hurting humans that God puts in our paths.
Because there is one more way in which Jesus is veiled in flesh:
In Matthews Gospel, in Chapter 25, Jesus tells us a parable about The sheep and The goats, and how at the end of the age he will separate them. The sheep on his right and the goats on the left.
And he says to the sheep
"Come you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world."
The reason he sites for their reward? That when he was hungry, they fed him. When he was sick, they took care of him. When he was a stranger they welcomed him. When he needed clothing, they clothed him and when he was in prison they visited him.
They ask when they had done these things and Jesus says "Whenever you did it for the least of these, my brothers, you did it for me".
The sheep and the goats both did not recognise Jesus in those poor souls. He was very much veiled in flesh. The question is, do we see the Godhead when we look at mankind, our fellow humans , created in his image? How do we respond to that?
For me this Christmas I will be thinking of that Hymn in a very different way. Veiled in flesh, The Godhead see.
Hail the incarnate deity!
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ ~ Matt 25:40
