God Fearing Atheists
Today’s reflection continues the previous one of how God assumed our human nature, as God’s own, in Jesus and all humanity. In church language, this reality which Christmas celebrates is called “the Incarnation.” It proclaims the Christian belief that by his teachings, deeds and unconditional love, Jesus of Galilee revealed God who had assumed human nature. However, if asked to believe in the divine indwelling in their human natures, Christians become atheists. The problem isn’t that they think God is incapable of this marvel, but rather the implications of having to live what they believe. Third-century St. Athanasius anticipated their dread when he said, “God became man that man might become God!”
While seeming unbelievably impossible, believing that God has saturated your humanity is the best gift you can give to those you love and the world this Christmas. Believe in and allow that mysterious hidden Presence in your humanity to become outwardly visible in your daily life as did your Teacher, Jesus. This is a homemade gift of daily striving to reshape your thoughts, words and actions to be Godlike, and to mirror the Sacred Mystery whose fullness fills your flesh.
You can complain: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I’m too old to make such drastic changes in my behavior.” Yet at age thirty the Galilean Jesus was an old man—and he was able to change. Only at that age do the earliest Gospels of his life, teachings, parables and works give evidence of the Divine Presence in his human nature. Jesus was truly an elder because seventy-five percent of Palestinians were already dead by the age of twenty-five. Contrary to art images, when Jesus announced God’s Domain had arrived, his face was wrinkled, teeth were missing, and his hair was graying to white. Surely he looked as aged as a person of seventy today. This rapidly accelerated aging was caused by his dreadfully poor peasant diet and the endless severe hardships of daily life.
Don’t be an atheist! Don’t try to use your age as an excuse not to allow your God-soaked human nature to be transparent in what you say and do. Strive today to be as God-like as you can for family, friends and strangers so that this Christmas you will be the best of all gifts!
While seeming unbelievably impossible, believing that God has saturated your humanity is the best gift you can give to those you love and the world this Christmas. Believe in and allow that mysterious hidden Presence in your humanity to become outwardly visible in your daily life as did your Teacher, Jesus. This is a homemade gift of daily striving to reshape your thoughts, words and actions to be Godlike, and to mirror the Sacred Mystery whose fullness fills your flesh.
You can complain: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I’m too old to make such drastic changes in my behavior.” Yet at age thirty the Galilean Jesus was an old man—and he was able to change. Only at that age do the earliest Gospels of his life, teachings, parables and works give evidence of the Divine Presence in his human nature. Jesus was truly an elder because seventy-five percent of Palestinians were already dead by the age of twenty-five. Contrary to art images, when Jesus announced God’s Domain had arrived, his face was wrinkled, teeth were missing, and his hair was graying to white. Surely he looked as aged as a person of seventy today. This rapidly accelerated aging was caused by his dreadfully poor peasant diet and the endless severe hardships of daily life.
Don’t be an atheist! Don’t try to use your age as an excuse not to allow your God-soaked human nature to be transparent in what you say and do. Strive today to be as God-like as you can for family, friends and strangers so that this Christmas you will be the best of all gifts!
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