8. DIVINE LOVE IN THE INCARNATION

I. The Incarnation is the chief exhibition of God’s wonderful love for men; and thus it is that Holy Scripture sets it forth: “God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son” (John iii. 16). As the infinite love of the Divinity within itself produces a third Divine Person within its Unity, so has this love produced a Divine Person among creatures, viz. God the Son made man. Consider the Father’s love for us in four aspects. 1. It is the love of an infinite Being, and so is great in proportion to His mighty nature. 2. It is exhibited towards insignificant, ungrateful, and yet arrogant creatures, who deserve only to be cast off for their repeated treasons. 3. It communicates to us as its gift, not some created production of God’s hand, but something greater than the whole universe, an infinite gift—the Divinity itself in Jesus Christ. 4. Its last result for us is eternal life, full of all glory and delight, and exceeding our imagination and even our natural capacities. Consider each point separately and apply it to yourself. No comfort can be so great as to know with certainty that you are the object of such a love, and that you will, at a day not far distant, taste of its fulness. How blessed you are in this!

II. Consider the love of God the Son as shown by His becoming man for us; “the Son of God, who loved me and delivered Himself for me” (Gal. ii. 20). This was the share that fell to Him in the working out of our redemption. Foreseeing from all eternity what would happen on earth, He had decreed to restore us by the sacrifice of Himself. As He is the Image of the Godhead, He came to renew in us the image of God which had been defaced. As He is the Son, He came to communicate to us the quality of sons of God, becoming like to us so as to make us like to Him. He came in the flesh so as to conquer Satan in the same element in which we had been deceived and conquered. In doing this He assumed the lowest form in which intelligent beings are made, and concealed the splendour of His Divinity, subjecting Himself to all the liabilities of human nature. He worked out our salvation with an infinite prodigality of labour and suffering, doing, not the least that would suffice for the purpose, but the maximum that His love dictated, enough for the salvation of ten thousand worlds. Yet there are many who reject and outrage this love, and requite it with carelessness, disobedience, and even hatred. You are ready to lavish your love on human beings, or dumb animals even; will you be like so many, excluding but one from your heart, and that one your Lord and Saviour?

III. The love of the Holy Ghost is shown by His co-operation in the Incarnation. It was He that inspired the prayers that hastened it. “The Spirit Himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings” (Rom. viii. 26). He prepared the Holy Virgin and filled her with grace, that she might be a fit mother for the All-Holy Son of God; He was also the source of the numerous miracles in the Incarnation. The Holy Ghost, as proceeding from Father and Son, had received from the Son the communication of the Divine Nature, and now, in this mystery, He bestows a human nature on the Son. He came upon the Blessed Virgin and overshadowed her with His power. He was poured forth on Our Lord, and adorned His Humanity with every grace. He guided Him and worked in His miraculous works, and He appeared visibly to declare Our Lord’s Divinity. He came down on the infant Church, and abides with it for ever, to protect and carry on what Christ commenced. As in the Trinity the Holy Ghost is the bond of union between the Father and Son, so in the Incarnation He is the bond of the Son with humanity. Ask the Divine Spirit to increase your knowledge and love of this great mystery.

7. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE INCARNATION

I. Consider the time when the Incarnation took place. The prophet said: “O Lord, Thy work, in the midst of the years bring it to life: in the midst of the years Thou shalt make it known” (Hab. iii. 2). On the day when Adam fell, God gave the promise of redemption, so that thenceforth all men might look forward to it, and be saved by virtue of their faith and trust in their Saviour. But the accomplishment of the promise was long deferred; the time was not ripe for it. A season of preparation, desire, and prayer, had to precede the granting of the great gift. It had to be merited by the just, and it took place as an answer to their prayers. It depended too on the sinfulness of mankind. They were allowed to go on during thousands of years by the light of their own reason and certain instalments of revelation. At last, when it seemed that the early impulses of truth and moral principle were exhausted, when mankind were falling into disorganization and deep degradation, when all perceived that nothing short of a messenger from heaven and a new revelation could renew the face of the earth, God came as man. The time of His appearance was adapted to the varying stages of human development, to the spiritual condition, and to the moral deterioration of the world. It was “in the midst of the years”; early ages lived by their expectation of it, succeeding generations have lived by their knowledge of it. Consider how fortunate you are in seeing and hearing things that so many prophets and kings desired, but never saw or heard. Give thanks to God.

II. Picture to yourself the place where this mystery occurred. Go in spiritual pilgrimage to the lowly village among the hills of Galilee. Imagine its narrow, winding, unpaved streets, the humble whitewashed cottages with their flat roofs, the gardens beside, the wide view taking in Mount Carmel, Hermon, and the broad rich plain of Esdraelon. It is one of the holiest spots on earth. Before the time of Our Lord it was never mentioned; it was not only obscure, but a proverb of contempt among the Jews. God alone and His angels knew that this was a village of election, and that in it was to be accomplished the promise made to Adam, renewed to Abraham and Jacob and David, and expected by all mankind. The Holy House had perhaps existed for years and years before; the angels watched it and venerated it, but none among men suspected the great event which was to sanctify it. So does God select the humble, retired, obscure soul as His dwelling place. His presence there is unsuspected. The world ignores and despises; His glory which is there concealed, but the angels keep watch and adore Him in His abode.

III. Consider the causes that brought about the accomplishment of the Incarnation. The chief was the Father’s love for His erring helpless creatures, and the desire of God the Son to give Himself for their redemption. On earth there was the misery, the sin, and the hopelessness of the Jews and Gentiles. Another important element was the continual aspiration and prayer for the coming of the Messias, rising from the hearts of the faithful. This was kept alive, and was shown in figure by the ceremonial temple, the sacrifices, the festivals, and by the chief events of Jewish history. Isaias gave words to it when he said: “Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above; and let the clouds rain down the Just One: let the earth be opened and bud forth the Saviour . . . Oh that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down: the mountains would melt away at Thy presence” (Isa. xlv. 8, lxiv. 1). This continual prayer availed much in Adam, Abraham, Moses and David, and at length it prevailed when offered by the last of the long line, the Holy Virgin of Nazareth. If your works be little, you can still do much by desires and prayers. 

6. SPECULATIONS ON THE ATONEMENT

I. Which were the sins that necessitated the Atonement by Christ? 1. Chiefly original sin. This had been the axe at the root of the tree; it had cut mankind off from the supernatural life in its source; it had subverted the original design of God; it had broken the final link of the chain that bound the universe to God; it deprived God of the service and glory of the whole human race. The merciful love of God demanded the restitution of mankind no less than did His greatness. Adam’s sin had affected all his descendants without their own concurrence, and God would not allow them to be deprived of their birthright by the act of another. 2. Our own deliberate mortal sins moved God to pity rather than to wrath; they are to a considerable extent the result of an aptitude towards evil for which we are not responsible; their positive penalties are so much more terrible than the mere privations which original sin inflicts on us; and we are absolutely powerless to escape their consequences without aid from God. 3. Our venial sins are not of infinite malice, they do not sever us from God, and probably do not require the atonement of an infinite Person. In fact, however, Our Lord has assumed the burthen of them as well, and has left so much less of their punishment for us to bear. Consider what you would have been without Our Lord, how utterly helpless, and how much you owe to His love. Thank Him, love Him, render Him your best service in return.

II. Would Our Lord have come if Adam had not sinned? Scotus, etc., think He would. They consider that, even apart from sin, He is “the first-born of every creature . . . that in all things He may hold the primacy” (Col. i. 15, 18); and that He was predestined in the original divine plan to be one of mankind. This view accords more with those ideas of progressive development to perfection and of the regularity of law, which are suggested by all God’s works. It shows us the complete cycle of evolution, proceeding originally from God and returning finally to Him in the union of the highest term of creation with the divine nature. It shows us too, that in God’s original design the human race was fully equipped for all contingencies, and able to work out its destinies (through Jesus Christ) without any subsequent interference with the order of things. St. Thomas and others dwell rather on the idea of God’s infinite mercy to sinners. They think it more accordant with His goodness that He should have granted more to men as sinners than to them as just and not needing penance; and that He should turn the supreme evil of sin into an occasion for a greater benefit than was contemplated originally (so to speak). In any case the fact remains that Jesus is manifested to us chiefly as our Redeemer from sin and death. We can glorify Him both for what we know Him actually to have done, and for what we conjecture that He would have done for us.

III. If Adam had not sinned, would Our Lord have atoned for such of us as might have still committed sin? We cannot say; but we may perhaps draw an analogy from the case of the angels. Free-will is the appanage of every man; this involves probation before reward, and therefore the possibility of sin. It may be that the angels, with their fuller knowledge, greater stability and determination of will, would not have taken hold of the opportunity of repentance, and that, for this reason, it was not offered to them. This too might have been the case with men more fully endowed and possessing no inherited propulsion towards evil. Our very instability in good involves instability in evil, and makes us apt for repentance. So our weakness and inherited misery constitute our greatest advantage; and it may be that many of us will be saved under present conditions who would have been lost if Adam had not sinned. The higher gifts of the angels carried with them greater responsibilities and dangers. We too, if not fallen in Adam, might have been too gifted for penance and redemption. Thank God for thus compensating for your disadvantages.

5. The Hypostatic Union and Atonement

I. By the fall of Adam the supernatural career of mankind was abruptly terminated, and grievous offence was offered to God in lieu of service. There was needed a source of restitution for man and of atonement to God. Without this, the end of God’s mighty works would be failure most miserable and the triumph of evil over good. If God simply cancelled and ignored the sin, it would still be a triumph of evil; for it would mean that the universe was not sufficiently equipped to work out its purposes; it would mean that the ordinary law was deficient and had to be supplemented by a quasi afterthought; it would be an extinction of energy without allowing it to work itself out, the intervention of an extrinsic force to remedy the inherent incurable defects in God’s own work. The perfection of God’s work demands that there should be in the human race itself the means of triumphing over evil, of justifying its own existence and the Providence of God. The goodness of God requires that, whatever happens, good should predominate over evil. God’s dignity requires that His great work should not end in a fiasco. Regular order requires that every force should be allowed to work itself out. Equity requires that the offender should suffer the consequences of his offence and should himself make atonement. The only appropriate form of restitution is one in which human energies should neutralize the evil done by men. How helpless you are in the face of such requirements! How hopeless is the case of unaided sinful humanity! 

II. The atonement required is infinite, for it had to be adequate to the evil inflicted; and the restitution of man was to the possession of the Infinite. Sin, though the consequence of a finite act, has a certain infinity of effect, for it is the contradiction of all that is positive in God, and firstly of Being, which is the essential perfection in God; “I am who am” (Ex. iii. 14). In its tendency it is destructive of God (v. p. 50). An equal energy is required to counteract it; viz., one that in tendency shall be, as it were, creative of God, or, actually, productive of God’s presence. No act of ours, however good, has this supreme efficacy. An infinite vital action is required; and that can proceed only from an infinite person. The human race can never supply this. All our action apart from God is worthless and destructive. Without religion all human talent and good intentions are positively noxious. 

III. The Hypostatic Union combines the two necessary conditions; its action is at once human and infinite. As God alone, Jesus Christ could not make atonement; it would be a new violation and not a satisfaction of justice for one to sin and another to bear the burden. But, as man, the Divine Person is one of the offending race. He is not an isolated individual; for human society is not an agglomeration of atoms, but a corporate body with common life and action. As every particle on this earth affects every particle in the whole universe, so each man’s action, good or bad, affects the whole race. The acts of Jesus Christ are the actions of the Son of Humanity; we share in the effects of His, He shares in the effects of ours. The same law which causes us to suffer by the sins of Adam, of our fathers, of our countrymen, causes Jesus to suffer by our sins, and us to profit by His virtues. He, as being the first-born and the greatest portion of humanity, contributes proportionally more (i.e., infinitely more) to the sum of good, and suffers a greater share of the effects of sin. As He, then, is predestined eternally to be Son of Man, the human race contains in itself a vast predominance of good over evil, and the means of atoning for its sins without any violent destruction of natural forces or the intervention of extraneous ones. Thus the Atonement is not only a marvel of mercy but of well-ordered harmony and regular law. Every act of yours has its full effect for good or evil on the whole world.

4. The Hypostatic Union

 

I. Consider the terms, or the elements of the union which took place in the Incarnation. One was the Divinity, the Second adorable Person of the Trinity; the other was the Humanity, composed of real soul and body, with all its powers, senses, and members. The soul is the first of the two sub-elements which compose the human element. The Divinity entered primarily into union with the soul, as being that which completes human nature, and in which the dominant faculties reside. The soul was the chief seat of Adam’s sin, and of the taint of sin in his descendants, and of the consequences or punishment of sin. But God did not abhor even the body; it is the companion of the soul, the instrument of its action, a sufferer by the sin, and it is destined to enter into glory. Therefore the Word is said, not to be made a soul, nor even made man, but to have been made flesh. “Because the children are partakers in flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner hath been partaker of the same” (Heb. ii. 14). We have here a reflection of the Trinity; with this difference, that in the Godhead there is Unity of Substance with Trinity of Persons, and in Christ there is Unity of Person with a trinity of substances, viz., the Divinity, the spiritual soul, the material body. How complete and thorough is all that Jesus does for you! Let your service of Him be real and complete in every respect.

II. The two natures are so wonderfully combined in Christ that He is God-Man and Man-God. Each nature remains complete; the Godhead remains the Godhead, perfect and unchanged; and yet we can say that, in Christ, God is Man and the Man is God. This hypostatic union is an example of that combination of unity and multiplicity which marks God’s works. In material nature we find a unity of law, of harmony, of order, amongst the enormous multitude of creatures. Higher still there is the union of the material and the spiritual in man; which, however, is dissolved by death. Then comes the union of our souls with God by grace, which, during this life, is liable to be terminated by sin. More perfect than this is the Hypostatic Union of Divinity and Humanity in Christ; even death did not dissolve this, for when it broke the union of His soul and body, the Divinity still remained united to each of the separated elements. Above all, there is the transcendent Unity of God, which does not combine together separate substances, but by its internal action constitutes a triple personality. Rejoice in the great glory and honour and happiness possessed by the Sacred Humanity of Our Lord. Union with Him will be your highest glory, and honour, and happiness, on earth and in heaven.

III. Consider certain singularities of the hypostatic union. Only the single Person of God the Son was united with human nature. Again, the Divinity assumed into this union, not all mankind, nor even the angels; “for nowhere doth He take hold of the angels, but of the seed of Abraham He taketh hold” (Heb. ii. 16); the single created nature that was born of Mary was elevated to this union. Further, Christ had only one parent on earth, His Blessed Mother. He was the only Son of the Eternal Father, and, both as God and as Man, God was His only Father. God will not give His glory to another. Jesus Christ has a glory of His own which is given to no other. The Blessed Virgin Mary has a singular glory too in the Incarnation, which is beyond all that has been granted to human beings. There are certain singularities of God’s Providence in regard to you. You have some special gifts and graces, and in return there are some special services which you have to render to God.

3. The Fact of The Incarnation

I. This most wonderful mystery, were it not a fact and revealed to us, might well be deemed an impossibility. How can it be that the Infinite is united with the finite, the Eternal with a temporal, mortal nature, perfect sanctity with a nature derived from a tainted source? How could the Godhead so descend? How could a portion of this universe be so elevated? How could such contradictory terms be brought together in one person? The imagination of man, in its wildest flights, could not devise such a thing; and the more we know of God and of man, the more remote would such a possibility seem. We might well ask, “How shall this be done?” And the only answer is the angel’s, “No word shall be impossible with God” (Luke i. 34, 37). The Almighty is not limited in His works to such things as we can understand. His action does not need to be seen and approved by us in advance. His wisdom is infinite to devise such a thing, His power is infinite to accomplish it, His goodness and love are infinite to decree it for our advantage. He would allow no obstacle to stand in the way of pardoning and glorifying us. God does more still. He will unite Himself with you. Wisdom, strength, and love are needed for the purpose, not only in God, but in you. Let no seeming impossibility deter you from this consummation.
II. It might further appear to be a degradation unworthy of the Divine Majesty that God should become man. Even the inspired writer describes it as a humbling, an emptying of Himself, an annihilation (Phil. ii. 7-8). Yet there are beautiful harmonies of fitness in it that make it fully worthy of God. The greater the indignity of it, the more does it manifest the infinity of divine love and mercy; as an exhibition of the ingenuities of God’s wisdom and power, it is more overwhelming than all the grandeurs of the universe. Moreover, it is by this that God closes up the whole chain of being, and brings back to Himself in the man Christ Jesus, the long series that was commenced when the first forces of matter were created. God “hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto Himself . . . in the dispensation of the fulness of times, to re-establish all things in Christ that are in heaven and on earth, in Him” (Eph. i. 5, 10). The greatest perfection and beauty of a thing is in the fulfilment of its purpose. It depends on each of us whether the Incarnation shall be a success or a failure in our regard. Do your share to make its effects worthy of God, by glorifying Him for it, and bringing forth its fruits in your sanctification.

III. God therefore wrought this wonderful thing, “and the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us” (John i. 14). It was the greatest condescension; but it was no degradation, for the Eternal Son did not come into contact with sin, nor into personal union with a sinner. He took a human body, descended from Adam, and going back for its remote origin to the slime of the earth. It had gone through a process of preparation for many ages, and its elements were at last isolated from the universal current of original sin in the Immaculate Virgin-Mother. He had prepared a tabernacle for Himself in her and sanctified it in advance, so that she might communicate to Him a body and blood absolutely free from contamination, and fitted to be the material of the sacrifice which was to neutralize the effects of sin. Thank God for this great work. Admire His power and goodness. Confess and adore the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and say, “Only in Thee is God, and there is no God besides Thee. Verily Thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel, the Saviour” (Isa. xlv. 14, 15).

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2. Images of The Incarnation

There is no exact parallel in nature to the Incarnation of the Second Divine Person, but there are some comparisons which partially represent it; and these may be used cautiously, if we remember that they are not adequate images of it. The Incarnation is likened to three persons who invest one among themselves with a new and special robe. The three Divine Persons all operate in investing the Second Person, God the Son, with the additional garment of human nature. Holy Scripture speaks of the Divine Humanity as a garment. “Who is this that cometh up from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra, this beautiful One in His robe, walking in the greatness of His strength? I that speak justice and am a defender to save. Why then is Thy apparel red, and Thy garments like theirs that tread in the wine-press?” (Isa. lxiii. 1, 2). St. John also speaks of the Word of God as having “on His garment and on His thigh written, King of kings and Lord of lords” (Apoc. xix. 16). God the Son, on entering this world, assumed human nature as a garment that made Him visible to us while cloaking the glory of His Divinity. It wxas something exterior and different from His divine nature; and when it was rent in the Passion, the personality of the Word still remained undefiled and impassible. Thank Our Lord for thus divesting Himself of the royal garment of His glory, and putting on the lowly apparel that you wear. When you approach Him, divest yourself of your pride and supposed grandeur and merits, and clothe yourself in humility so as to be like to Him.
II. The union of the two natures in the one person of Jesus Christ may also be compared to the union of spirit and matter, of soul and body, in our one nature and person. There is this d
ifference, that in man the two elements form one complex nature, while in Our Lord the two natures remain distinct, and are brought together in the unity of the one Divine Personality. We have in our nature two things of diverse character and origin; the body is of the earth, produced from matter, the soul is breathed into it from without by the direct action of God. The soul is more noble, as having spiritual being, and intelligence, and freedom, than the body with its senses. The body is the instrument of the soul’s action; the brain and organs are the medium by which the soul receives impressions from the outer world and exercises action upon it. The soul elevates the body, and gives it new powers and special position in the universe. Similarly the divine nature of the Second Person elevates the Sacred Humanity. The humanity is the dwelling-place of the Word of God, and is the instrument of its action in teaching us, manifesting the Godhead to us, redeeming us. Give glory to God the Son for so elevating human nature in His own person first, and thereby in all mankind and in you. Endeavour to keep yourself upon the same high level, and make yourself worthy of that honour.
III. The human nature in Our Lord is further compared to those sensible qualities which we attribute to any substance, such as its resistance, extension, form, colour, warmth. The object is vested with these qualities; these are what we perceive, but they have no individuality or separate existence apart from the material substance. So the human nature of Christ has not a separate existence as a person apart from His personality as Word of God. Jesus Christ then is God; He is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity endued with a human nature of body and soul, and not united with a different human person capable of existing apart from the Divine Person. Recognize the awful dignity of Jesus when you read of Him or enter His presence, and adore Him accordingly.