CHRIST, INCARNATION OF

A man was shown a red glass bottle and asked what he thought was in the bottle. He replied in succession, “Wine? Brandy? Whiskey?” When told it was full of milk, he could not believe it until he saw the milk poured out. What he hadn’t known, of course, was that the bottle was made of red glass, and its redness hid the color of the milk it contained.

So it was and is with the Lord’s humanity. Men saw him tired, hungry, suffering, weeping, and thought he was only man. He was made in the likeness of men, yet he ever is God over all, blessed forever.128

Dogs are man’s best friends, so let’s assume that the dogs in your town have developed a problem that has them in deep distress and that only you can provide the help they need.

If it would help all the dogs to become more like men, would you be willing to become a dog? Would you put down your human nature, family, job, hobbies, and all else and choose—instead of intimate communion with your beloved—the poor substitute of looking into the beloved’s face and wagging your tail, unable to smile or speak?

When Christ became a man through the incarnation, he voluntarily limited what to him was the most precious thing in the world: unhampered, unhindered communion with the Father.129

The story is told of Shah Abbis, a Persian monarch who loved his people very much. To know and understand them better, he would mingle with his subjects in various disguises. One day he went as a poor man to the public baths and in a tiny cellar sat beside the fireman who tended the furnace. When it was mealtime the monarch shared his coarse food and talked to his lonely subject as a friend. Again and again he visited and the man grew to love him. One day the Shah told him he was the monarch, expecting the man to ask some gift from him. But the fireman sat gazing at his ruler with love and wonder and at last spoke, “You left your palace and your glory to sit with me in this dark place, to eat of my coarse food, to care whether my heart is glad or sorry. On others you may bestow rich presents, but to me you have given yourself, and it only remains for me to pray that you never withdraw the gift of your friendship.”

This beautiful story reminds us that Christ, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, left the glories of heaven in order to share himself with us. That gift of his love and friendship will never be withdrawn from us. He chose to be your friend and mine forever.130