Born of a
Woman
“Born of
a woman (Gal. 4:4) and the Hebrew gene pool, Jesus of Nazareth was a
creature of earth, a complex unit of minerals and fluids, an item in
the carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen cycles, a moment in the biological
evolution of this planet. Like all human beings, he carried within
himself the signature of the supernovas and the geology and life
history of the Earth. The atoms comprising his body once belonged to
other creatures.”
Elizabeth
Johnson (“Deep Incarnation: Prepare to be Astonished”)
When we think of Jesus of Nazareth,
whose birthday we celebrate in two days, we focus on our designation
of him as “the only begotten son of God.” We, therefore, set him
apart from all of creation as we would a super hero. We think of
Jesus as being “not from around here,” as we Southerners like to
say. But over and over in the New Testament stories of his days in
Galilee, he shows himself to be a man of the earth. You could even
describe him as an “earthy man.” He was, without doubt, an
evolved human being, with wisdom that comes only from living close to
the Source of all wisdom, but still, a man made as we all are, from
the elements of earth and the stars.
The scripture reading,
John 3:16, that plays such a prominent role in Christianity today,
begins: “For God so loved the world...” but we tend to skip over
that to get right to the “only son” part of the story. God loved
the world—God loved creation, God loved the universe, which happens
to include our tiny blue planet. Jesus was born at a particular time
and place, and possessing unusual wisdom, in order to inject into
humanity a different way of being in the world, and a different way
of seeing creation—one guided by Love.
The Light of the World
comes from God's Love of the world, without any exclusions. Regardless of
race or religion, regardless of gender, ethnicity or sexual
orientation, regardless of whether one is a human being or a bison, a
wolf, an elephant or an amoeba, that Love extends equally to all. Let
us, therefore, extend that all-encompassing love to one another in
celebration of the birthday of Jesus of Nazareth.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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