God with Skin On

Why was it, is it, important that Jesus was the incarnation of God? Why is it important that Jesus was 100% human AND 100% divine? Human AND God, as paradoxical as it sounds.

That's not a simple question. In fact, I imagine it has been debated and considered for over 20 centuries, and my musings will certainly not answer the question. As I read through the Disciplines devotion this morning, a couple of ideas occurred to me.

First of all, and I've mentioned this before, I think it is vitally important to me that Jesus was human because he was able to experience what it was like -- what it is like -- for me to be human. Because he was human, he knows what temptation is like, from the human viewpoint. We are assured that he has felt grief, joy, sadness, and frustration. We know that he has, because to be human, is to have these experiences.

But, this morning, another reason occurred to me. There is a saying that sometimes people need other people to be "God with skin on." Sometimes we need to become close to God, to feel his presence, through another person. That other person touches us in a way which is actually God touching us, whether we know it or not. We experience God through that other person.

I am eternally grateful that Jesus was "God with skin on." Because he was incarnated, because he was human and divine, I can get an idea what God is like. I can get an idea of how God would want us to behave, because I can watch Jesus, who was human, walk through the world as divine. Does that make any sense? If that hadn't been the case, then the question, "What would Jesus do?" would be silly. We can asked "What would Jesus do?" when what we really want to know is what God would have us to do. By looking at Jesus, we know God's will and nature.

What does it mean to be made in God's image? We are all made in the image of God. Looking at Jesus -- God with skin on -- we can see what it means to be a human who is made in the image of God. I know that might sound wrong, but hang with me for just a second.

Jesus was not made in the image of God; he was God. But by looking at him, how he acted, how he responded to people, how he loved people, by looking at everything about him, we can determine what it is about us that has God-like characteristics. We are not God, but we are made like God, in some ways. Looking at God with skin on, we can try to figure that wonderful, amazing promise.

If we are children of God, then what did he pass along to us? If I have my father's face, my mother's eyes, my grandmother's hair, then what about me is like my heavenly Father?

I was teaching a class once, and I was wondering what it must have been like to go from being the son of a carpenter, to being a man who spoke to thousands of people. I imagined that it must have been difficult. "But he was God!" came the reply from a member of the class.

"I know, but he was also human. I know I would find that kind of transition to be difficult."

"But you are not God."

No, I'm not, but God has been like me, and I was made to be like him.


Images: Two bugs at work.