THE 4-DIMENSIONAL PRESENTATION OF THE INCARNATION (Contd.)

Mark’s Account on the Incarnation
Mark does not concern himself with Jesus’ genealogy at all. He simply introduces John the Baptist as the forerunner of Jesus. John the Baptist becomes a prophetic scout or escort who goes out there to ensure all is well to receive the coming King into His world. Customarily, kings undertake their journeys after messengers had been sent out ahead to ensure the preparation of the kings’ subjects to receive them. In this sense Mark sees Jesus as a king who needs a human herald to prepare the hearts of his subjects to receive him.

Luke’s Account of the Incarnation
Luke looks at the incarnation of Christ from the underside of history. It is Mary whom the angel Gabriel appears to and promises of the conception of God’s Son. This is significant when it is understood that Luke spends time relating Jesus’ affirmation of the personhood of the downtrodden in society. These riff raffs, marginalized, social and religious outcasts are represented here by a woman, Mary.

Luke traces Jesus’ genealogy to Adam, the father of the human race. Jesus thus becomes the true representative of all humanity whom he saves from the punishment for their rebellion towards God.
Consequently, Jesus’ saviourhood transcends national salvation to the universal salvation of all who put their trust in him.

Jesus’ birth is announced to shepherds, according to Luke because shepherds always have the interest of sheep at heart. In this sense, subdued though, Luke echoes John the Baptist’s perception of Jesus as the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

John’s Account of the Incarnation
Unlike the first three gospels John’s gospel looks at the incarnation from the perspective of God. John’s interest is not in tracing Jesus’ genealogy. This is so because he does not see Jesus as human but Israel’s Yahweh, the Great I AM who requires to be introduced to his Greek philosophical audience. But it is not easy to accept this truth, neither is it easy to understand God so he must take the pains to build his argument up in order to introduce God to his audience.

Unlike the writer of Genesis who assumes his Hebrew audience know God exists John does not assume his Greek audience know about God. In Genesis the author (or redactor?) sees a superstitious audience who accept that there was a God who created the universe.

In chapter 1 the narrator in Genesis tells us that human beings were the crown of creation, the epitome of God’s creativity. It is human beings that give glory to God’s creative effort; we crown God’s effort at creating the world. In chapter 2 the narrator presents human beings as the pivot or centre of God’s creation.

 Humans are given the power of domination over all creation typified in their ability to name, that is identify, all creatures. In other words the rest of creation exists for human beings.

John’s sophisticated Greek audience was always searching for meaning in life, and explanation for existence. How could such a sophisticated mind in search of reason accept that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the creator of the world. John had to develop an argument by means of the logos.  

The logos from which we have the English word ‘logic’ was the Greek philosophical explanation for the creation and existence of the universe. Among many things it was the reason, sense, the mind or the logic behind creation and existence. All things are contingent on the logos.

John employing their very concept argues and tells his Greek audience that Jesus is the unexplained logos behind all existence. But since thelogos is uncaused and is outside created things Jesus as the logos is uncreated. The logos, then, is God and since Jesus is the logos then he is God, the very Being, self-existent Cause behind all existence.

Throughout his discourse John endeavours to show that Jesus is the ‘I AM’. For in several places we see Jesus declaring himself as “I am the bread of life, I am the way, the truth and the life, I am the resurrection, before Abraham was I am”, etc.
Thus Jesus’ ‘I AM’ claims were deliberate appropriation of the person and identity Israel’s Yahweh who revealed himself to Moses and the prophets. It is John who goes further to tell us that Jesus’ Jewish audience understood his claim of being the Son of God to equate being God and so sought to kill him for blasphemy.

Indeed, John claims Jesus told his disciples that seeing him was seeing the Father. In other words when he walked among men he was actually the creator who had humbled himself to dwell in human flesh for a time.

This argument about Jesus being God the creator reaches its logical conclusion with Thomas’ confession of the risen Jesus as “My Lord and My God”, the very preserve of Israel’s God Yahweh.

In the final analysis John wants his audience to appreciate and accept Jesus as more than a manifestation of divinity; Jesus is God himself expressed and revealed in human form.

Listen to Rev. Quayesi-Amakye on “The Voice of Regent” on Sunny FM 88.7 every Wednesday, 8.00pm-9.00pm.

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