You appeared to the world today, and Your light, O Lord, has left its mark upon us. With fuller understanding we sing to You: “You came, You were made manifest, the unapproachable light.”
Christ was born and God came to the world. However, while anyone could have seen what came to Bethlehem, and many did, most of humanity did not. Isn’t this natural since Christ was born in a place that many humans could not reach?
We could and could not see.
The nations of North America were distant to Bethlehem. Chinese sages did not see the star over the Celestial Kingdom nor did the wise of India. Most could not see reality was changed forever at Bethlehem, not immediately.
Or could they? Did they?
They did not see Jesus in the flesh, mayhap, but anyone can hear Father’s voice after the gift of the Holy Spirit. Seeing who Jesus is, getting to the deep reality of a world built by and through a Logos that came and joined Himself to matter. Everyone who looks hard, freely, openly can find this vision. The cosmos was forever changed by Bethlehem and for centuries beginning particularly with His Baptism, human experience has been converging on the God-man.
This is why there is much to learn from every culture, nation, tribe or people. What was revealed? What angle was found? What did the human soul longing for God hear?
We do not always know what we see. We misunderstand. We resist reality, but the arc of history leads to revelation. This deeper seeing of Jesus became possible at Bethlehem, more clear at His Baptism, and has continued to be revealed to all the cosmos ever since.
Theophany will grow without end.
In the Flesh indeed.
Obviously, seeing Jesus in the flesh was possible in principle for anyone alive at the time of His birth. This seeing was glorious, but not most important to any particular person, any one of us. After all, Herod heard of Jesus and reacted by deciding to kill the Child. Tyrants often react this way to God. Most Christians will not see Jesus Christ in the flesh until the End. By the second century this was already true of most Christians!
Jesus was the God-man. This reality mattered as a full incarnation joined the Divine and the earthly in a new and splendid way. That you could see Jesus physically mattered: He was really there. That we might not have seen Jesus in the flesh does not matter so far as the good work God was and is doing for us.
Jesus did not come to a remote place by ancient standards. Between Syria and Egypt, Palestine (especially in the north) was on or near many trade routes. Still most would not, could not, see Jesus with their eyes. Jesus traveled and spoke to thousands, a peripatetic philosopher and teacher, but even most in Palestine probably never saw him. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, anyone, anywhere, can turn Godward, prodded by the Holy Spirit. God can come to us in our dreams, in our ratiocination, in our examination of nature. When we are turned Godward, the reality of the incarnation sits waiting to be discovered.
That Mary carried God in her womb is a wonderful fact. That she said “yes” to God is what is most praiseworthy. She did not just experience being the Mother of God, Mary understood. She heard the Word of God and acted. Before she saw Jesus with her eyes, she knew the truth and acted on that truth.
This is a model for all of us. Jesus existed in history as a man. That counts and few deny this fact, certainly not the devils! Yet this knowing is not enough. We need a Theophany. Put another way, we must be “born again” or experience the deep reality that occurred at Bethlehem and was revealed in His Baptism.
We need to be transformed Godward by seeing what was, is, and will be: Jesus. The disciples saw Him in the flesh, but more beheld the deeper Light within Him. They beheld His glory, full of grace and truth. That vision is available to us all.
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