Dear People Whom God Loves,
We will now look at Jesus as bridge. God made this bridge by the Incarnation that we celebrate every Christmas. God enters into humanity in Jesus and, in a mysterious way, lives humanly. This blows my mind. It seems too good to be true. Yet it is at the core of what it means to be Christian. We may try to make sense of this; but in the end, we have to admit that all our words and concepts falter. What makes sense to me is that if God is infinite self-emptying love, that’s what God would choose to do. Even we humans with our limited love can empty ourselves for those we love.
Jesus was in touch with his humanness. Looking at the temptations of Jesus helps me to understand this. The scriptures remind us that Jesus did not sin. They also remind us that Jesus had a fierce struggle with his humanness in his journey to love and not make sinful choices. We must remember that in our faith understanding that Jesus is fully divine, we are also saying that Jesus is fully human.
We must remember also that these human impulses and desires are not evil or bad. They are good, but they are blind. They have no understanding of what is truly good for ourselves or for the common good. As humans we also have (though it is often clouded) a sense and attraction of what is truly good and loving for ourselves and the common good. That we have struggles that lions and tigers don’t have. That is why we are called to be good humans and not angels or dogs and cats.
Next time we will get to the temptations of Jesus.
Smile, God Loves You,
Father Clay
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