The incarnation (the claim that God became human in Jesus Christ) is the scandal (“an action or behavior that causes public shock, anger or strong disapproval because it breaks moral, legal or social rules”) of the Christian faith.
How could God, who is supposed to be so great, glorious and holy, become one of us? How could a limitless God become confined within the walls of Mary’s womb. How could an all-powerful God have to be nursed at Mary’s breast? How could a God who is pure burp up his mother’s milk or his father’s shoulder? How could an all-knowing God have to learn to walk, taking his first wobbly step then falling on his rear?
It doesn’t make sense to us.
Who could believe in a God who had to wipe his nose…and wipe his bottom? Who could believe in a God who got so thirsty he asked for water from a Samaritan woman? Who could believe in a God who got so worn out that he fell asleep in a boat during a storm? Who could believe in a God who expressed the need for the company of his friends while he prayed at night? Who could believe in a God whose skin tore at the strike of a whip? Whose scalp bled at the pricks from a crown of thorns? Whose body was impaled on a cross? Who struggled for one last breath then died?
Saint Augustine expressed it this way: “Man’s maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witness, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.”
Why would God do such a scandalous thing?
For one reason only. For the sake of God’s absolute love for us.
Jerry Sittser discovered the powerful impact of such love after a drunk driver took the lives of his wife, his daughter, and his mother: “God embraced human experience and lived with all the ambiguities and struggles that characterize life on earth…. His sovereignty did not protect him from loss. If anything, it led him to suffer loss for our sake…. The God I know has experienced pain and therefore understands my pain…. The Incarnation means that God cares so much that he chose to become human and suffer loss, though he never had to…. He is not aloof from my suffering but draws near to me when I suffer. He is vulnerable to pain, quick to shed tears, and acquainted with grief. God is a suffering Sovereign who feels the sorrow of the world.
“The Incarnation has left a permanent imprint on me. For three years now I have cried at every communion service I have attended. I have not only brought my pain to God but also felt as never before the pain God suffered for me. I have mourned before God because I know that God has mourned, too. God understands suffering because God suffered.”
Only absolute love explains why God became fully one of us.