Read Titus 2:11-14
Christmas is the time of celebration of one of the mysteries of the Christian faith, the Incarnation. The root word “carn” means flesh; God took on flesh and dwelt among humans. Other words in the English language with the same root word invoke negative images. Statistics of war and catastrophe are measured in carnage, or the number of bodies slain. Preachers warn not to be interested in carnal pursuits. And, while I’m a fan of his music with partner Paul Simon, the seventies movie Carnal Knowledge certainly conjures up some negative images for me of Art Garfunkel.
Interestingly, this negative association is not seen in Spanish. The root of encarnación has the same root word and meaning, but without the negative associations. Moreover, it has connections to everyday words in the language that help lead to an understanding of the Incarnation as God’s flesh and blood in human history. One can readily see the link, for instance, between the flesh of the Incarnation and the meat, or carne, being sold at the butcher shop, or carniceria. Author Luis G. Pedraja suggests that these subtle language differences help lead to an understanding on the part of Hispanic people that in the Incarnation, God enters into ordinary, everyday human life.1
If that is true, does our language suggest that we do not want to think of God having entered the human realm as a helpless baby in the same messy way we all did? After all, why would God do that?
The writer of the Letter to Titus attempts to answer the question. It was God’s gracious act to come down here and show us how to live. We needed an example, someone to show us what it really means to fulfill God’s law. In Jesus Christ, God gave us that example, not so that we can wait for some heaven that is light years away, but so that we can live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly.
Dear God, thank you for the Incarnation, and for showing us in human form how we ought to live. Give us strength to live up to that example. Amen.
1Luis G. Pedraja,Teología: An Introduction to Hispanic Theology(Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), 130-135.
Jeff Taylor
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