There is a paradox at the heart of the Christmas message. It is summed up by this quote from Soren Kierkegaard: “What now is the absurd? The absurd is – that the eternal truth has come into being in time, that God has come into being, has been born, has grown up, and so forth.” Kierkegaard isn’t denying that it is true. He is simply saying that it looks absurd to human reason. Augustine described the beauty of the paradox of the incarnation in these words: “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 witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.” These things are of course beyond what our minds can think, but so is God. We can apprehend God, but we can never comprehend him. We can know him, but only because he reveals himself to us. And the message of Christmas is precisely this: that God is with us. He came to us in Jesus Christ so that we might know him and walk with him. That is the greatest gift of all.
Make Mary’s response your prayer today.
Read Luke 1:26-38
