Just Not That Into You

Learning the lessons of the Incarnation

03/25/2017

Luke 1:26-38 The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.”

          On March 25th every year the Church celebrates the Feast of the Annunciation, which I believe ranks right up there with Christmas. Why? Today, we commemorate – just like at Christmas – when “the Word of God became flesh,” or in the Latin of the Vulgate Bible, “verbum caro factum est.” Everything sounds so holy and heavenly in Latin, and I love Latin because it makes me sound so holy and heavenly (the most important thing). In other words, God humbled himself to take on a human body, a miracle called the “Incarnation,” literally “enfleshment” or “becoming flesh.” And this miracle of the Incarnation has forever changed both history and humanity; it changed everything. The Eternal One has stepped into the river of time; the Unchanging One had donned the vestments of vicissitude, he must now endure change and chance.

          Now, a quick trivia question: why do we celebrate the Annunciation on March 25th and not another day of the year? Well, how long is it between March 25th and December 25th? That’s exactly nine months. Now, what human process usually takes about nine months to complete? Heck, even a celibate priest knows that answer: it’s pregnancy! We commemorate Jesus’ conception on March 25, and his birthday on December 25th. This feast explains why abortion is to odious to Christians: Jesus becomes a human being (becomes flesh) on March 25 – not on December 25 – and to kill Jesus in the womb would have been a “deicide” (killing God) no less than the Crucifixion. So, all pro-life people should really celebrate the Annunciation every year: this is a quintessentially pro-life feast! Let me just draw out two implications of the Incarnation, two lessons we can learn.

          First, “being a body” means that God can now suffer, something that was impossible for him in heaven. Hebrews says: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.” That is, instead of sacrificing the bodies of bulls and goats, Jesus would be the sacrifice in his own Body. Jesus’ suffering would make him sympathetic to all human suffering. You know, ever since my nephew Noah passed away, funerals have become much harder for me. I can feel now, very deeply, the family’s own loss; I know their pain because I, too, have suffered a similar pain. I can sympathize with them, and not merely empathize (which is what I did before).  Several people have actually called me for counseling now because they know I have suffered this loss. Suffering makes me feel close to a perfect stranger. That’s one reason “the Word became flesh,” to suffer with us, to know our pain, to be close to us, so we might not see Jesus as a stranger.

          A second implication of the Incarnation is that Jesus simply wants to be with us, and love what we love. He desires to dwell with us: he wants to laugh with us, cry with us, sing with us, dance with us, and if this doesn’t sound too scandalous, he might even have a martini with us (but only one). There’s a common phrase that people use while dating these days. They say, “He’s just not that into you.” Have you heard that phrase? It means your boyfriend is bored with you, and he wants to break up, “he’s not into you.” Well, Jesus is exactly the opposite: “he’s really into you.” He is deeply interested in everything about you, nothing about you bores him, and he can demonstrate his love and interest because he has a body, “verbum caro factum est.” The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, described friendship as “one single soul in two bodies.” Jesus loves what we love – whether it’s March madness, or Mine Craft, or the Minions Movie, or a million other things – so that we might love what he loves – our neighbor and our God. One soul in two bodies.

          You know, every time we go to Mass, we celebrate another little Incarnation. This time, however, God does not become a Body, he becomes Bread. That’s why we ring the bells at the Consecration: it’s like the bells we hear at Christmas time. Why did God become flesh and dwell among us? Because Jesus is “so into you.”

          Praised be Jesus Christ!