Race and the Incarnation

In the recent election race played a prominent role.

Race is a profoundly volatile topic. One has only to look at outbreaks in the last 15 years or so of racially motivated violence and see that this is a problem that plagues humanity as a whole. In such places as Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, race has played a prominent role in the perpetration of violence.

What is meant by the term race?

It is a term that carries profound meaning and at the same time is meaningless. It can be used in a helpful way to acknowledge obvious distinctions in species and can be used to maliciously assert distinctions where none exist.

One meaning of the term is “a group of people sharing the same culture, history, language, etc.; an ethnic group.” This is how Winston Churchill used the term when speaking to the Nazi Foreign Minister, von Ribbentrop, in the run up to World War II. He warned the foreign minister about the English. They were a “curious race” and should not be underestimated in a fight. But, as the end of the definition indicates, this is closer to what we understand today as ethnicity.

Usually we try to apply the term in a scientific way. For instance, in biology race indicates “a population within a species that is distinct in some way, especially. a subspecies.” This is a clinical and somewhat useful term and can apply to both people and animals. It is an acknowledgment that within species there are characteristics that exist among certain subcategories. This is a benign process when considering animals, but when used to categorize humans it consistently produces terrible effects.

Consider the following from the American Oxford Dictionary: “Although ideas of race are centuries old, it was not until the 19th century that attempts to systematize racial divisions were made. Ideas of supposed racial superiority and social Darwinism reached their culmination in Nazi ideology of the 1930s and gave pseudoscientific justification to policies and attitudes of discrimination, exploitation, slavery, and extermination.” For example, in our country, the current story line that declares as fact that we are about to inaugurate our first “black” president despite the fact that he is as equally white as he is black says more about our history than it does about his biology.

The roots of malicious and malignant use of racial categories are deeply intertwined in the fall of human beings. Soon after their rebellion we see relationships between humans begin to break down. The accusation against God by Adam that “the woman you gave me” was the source of all the trouble was not only an attempt to shift blame to God, but shows a willingness to consider oneself as better than another. Human beings, almost from the very beginning, have sought to build themselves up by devaluing others. It is the conferring of privilege and power upon a certain category of people that proves most deadly. In our country, the history of slavery reveals economic, scientific, and even religious justifications for the subjugation and humiliation of fellow human beings.

That being said, “theories of race asserting a link between racial type and intelligence are now discredited. Scientifically it is accepted as obvious that there are subdivisions of the human species, but it is also clear that genetic variation between individuals of the same race can be as great as that between members of different races” (American Oxford Dictionary). Such may be clear, but it is not forsaken. The abuse of these distinctions persists and proves a stubborn problem.

What has this to do with the incarnation?

Hear the words of Simeon upon being presented with the newborn Messiah:
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).

The baby in Simeon’s arms is the fulfillment of promises made from the very beginning. At the very outset, God promised that one born of a woman would come and crush the evil that had been unleashed through the serpent’s deception. As Simeon declares this “salvation” will be realized in all peoples.

The gospel of Jesus Christ cuts across ethnic, racial, economic, gender, in short, all categorical lines. For the preaching of the gospel creates a new people, a new race if you will, who are united not by cultural (and potentially sinful) distinctions or by genetic make up. What unites them is faith in the only-begotten Son of God as the promised redeemer; who by his life and death secured peace with God for all who believe in him, irrespective of nation, tongue, or tribe. And this power to embrace under one banner such disparate groups demonstrates that the mercy of God transcends our vile, sinful inclinations.

Politics and the Incarnation

Given the recent election, the length of the campaign, the amount of money spent, the hyperbolic language thrown around, and the unbridled expectations attached to our president-elect, it’s hard to imagine that there is anything more important than politics and politicians. We in the church are not immune to this. Our own perceptions of the future seem to rise and fall depending upon who gets elected. Why is this? I suspect it has to do with the relationship between the power wielded by politicians and the power of God

All authority (the power to rule) resides in God and God alone. He it is who is sovereign, who possesses supreme authority, not being ruled by another. This assertion is based upon Romans 13:1 “. . . there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” This reality is why Jesus responds as he does when brought before Pontius Pilate just prior to his crucifixion: “. . . Pilate said to him, ‘You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above . . .’” (John 19:10,11). What does this make political rulers? They are in the words of Paul in Romans 13 “servants of God.”

I think it is possible that people place so much hope in politics and politicians because people, whether they realize it or not (most likely not), sense that politicians handle the very power of God and are, therefore, in a position to do tremendous good or evil.

People spend their lives living. And living life brings with it all manners of joys and sorrows, victories and defeats, necessities and wishes; the list could go on and on. Living life is a complex, multi-faceted enterprise. It is made even more complicated by the fact that, while we each live out life as individuals, we do so in society with others. Our individually experienced lives are somehow to be lived out among others who are likewise experiencing their lives. Most times this poses few problems, as people find enough social space to live their lives. But at other times problems are presented because, living in society, an individual’s actions have the potential to significantly affect another, and human beings have demonstrated that their impulses are not always good. That is, they will do things that affect others in ways that do not respect the rights, dignity, and humanity of the other. This kind of anti-social behavior can be done by on a very small scale, one on one, or on a larger, societal scale. In the times when we feel that the line has been crossed we look to someone to wield righteous power to right the wrong and maintain a society that allows for social discourse and civility

You see we need to be governed; this is the way we were designed by God. And, as it is represented for us in Scripture, we discover that human beings were to be governed by God. The Lord created them and set before them how they were to live. They rejected that rule, however, and suffered the consequences. But their rejection of God’s rule did not mean that they no longer needed to be governed. We were created to be ruled. The process only became much more complicated when we rejected the direct rule of God.

So, along comes another election cycle and hopes are renewed that one who is wise, humble, self-sacrificing, and merciful, who is at the same time is courageous, forthright, and willing to stand up to injustices and brutes, will emerge. I believe the near messianic descriptions of the coming presidential tenure is grounded in the fact that we know, or intuit, that we need to be governed and we want a leader, an individual, who will lead us to peace, prosperity, and justice. That being said, I can safely predict that such expectations will meet with disappointment. For the ruler in whom hope has been placed himself needs to be ruled, for he is subject to the same failings as the ones he has been elected to govern.

This is why we need to proceed with caution. History is replete with men, and occasionally women, who have been given, or seized, what is inherently God’s authority, and wielded it as though he or she was God himself. “Power will intoxicate the best hearts as wine the strongest heads. No man is wise enough, nor good enough, to be trusted with unlimited power” warns C.C. Colton. Indeed as Plutarch observes: “There is no stronger test of a man’s character than power and authority.”

There is only one man who has lived in whom such trust can be placed. He alone understands divine authority, being divine, and through his obedience to the will of his heavenly Father, won the name that is above every name (Philippians 2:9), and is declared to be “King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16).

This is the One of whom we sing during this season of Advent.