Online Advent Devotional -- 2014: Righteousness

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Righteousness

Jeremiah 33:14-16 — “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring forth for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’”

Righteousness is intimately connected with incarnation. When we recognize that the Creator has shown up as a creature, we are drawn to righteousness, to treat each person as a child of God, and all creation as holy.

What is one implication of the incarnation for your personal righteousness?

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The Mystery of Incarnation

Although I have always loved and respected Jesus, there was a time in my life when I completely rejected the doctrine of the incarnation. How could the creator of the universe become a human like you and me? That was pure silliness. Jesus was the greatest teacher, and was worthy of people following him. I could agree with that. But that didn’t mean that God was incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

Part of my rejection of incarnation was the stage of life I was in at the time. Everything had to be rational, provable by scientific investigation. Everything had to be one thing, not two. Jesus couldn’t be fully God and fully human at the same time. I hadn’t yet learned to appreciate paradox and mystery.

But another part of my rejection of the doctrine of the incarnation had nothing to do with the rationality of the doctrine but with the implications of the event, if it actually had occurred. If God had been incarnate in Jesus, then my life, as well as my thinking, would have to head in a new direction.

One day, while meditating of the first few verses of the first letter of John (Dec. 24), I began to understand how it was possible for God to become flesh. That changed my thinking and my life.

During this time of Advent it is appropriate to meditate on the incarnation. We can be full of wonder and awe at the birth and life of Jesus. We can pray for the “little child of Bethlehem” to be “born in us today.” And we can submit ourselves to incarnation so that our spirit, our highest hopes for holiness and righteousness, take flesh in our lives here and now.