Readings: 1 John 4:18-5:4; Luke 4:14-22
Both readings today drive home the impact of the Incarnation; not only has God come among us in our flesh, but the Incarnation changes our existence. It has revealed that there is more to our lives and future than we could have imagined.
However, if you read the continuation of today’s episode from Luke’s Gospel, you’ll see something of the scandal of the Incarnation. Jesus is rejected by his own neighbors who attempt to kill him. He is all too familiar for them.
What is that in us that would refuse God taking our part, meeting us where we are at? Perhaps it’s not the Incarnation per se but how God achieves our liberation through the Incarnation: by assuming our powerlessness. Would we prefer that God save us by power, prestige, with honors and comfort? Without self-sacrifice and self-transcendence? Do we really understand what salvation is? Do we grasp from what obstacles we need to be saved?
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