The incarnation is one of the central mysteries of the Christian faith. Through the incarnation, God's plan, partially revealed through the lineage of Jesus, finds its ultimate fulfillment. To enhance our understanding of what it means for God to be incarnate, it is useful to look at the genealogy of Jesus, the virginal conception, and the redemption of humanity.
Both the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew trace the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Although there are differences between the two accounts, both agree on Jesus' Davidic ancestry and His membership in the people of the covenant through Abraham. Luke traces His genealogy all the way back to Adam and God Himself (Luke 3:38). In the modern world, the importance of ancestral knowledge can seem alien, but God’s plan for our redemption was prepared over centuries, and these details highlight key indicators of Jesus’s mission (CCC 522).
These genealogies serve a greater purpose. To be a human person means to be in relationship. This is inescapable. When we are born, we enter into familial relationships that shape who we are and how we relate to others. When Jesus became incarnate, He did not just appear out of thin air. He entered into relationships with His family and with all of humanity. This relationship with humanity was deeply linked to His messianic identity.
This relational aspect has important ramifications because one of the key characteristics of the Messiah was His Davidic ancestry. While Jesus Himself does not focus much on this aspect, the New Testament affirms His ancestry in several places. Both Matthew and Luke explain that Joseph, Jesus' legal father, is descended from David (Matthew 1:20, Luke 1:26). Legal paternity was taken very seriously in Jewish society, linking Jesus to the prophetic utterances of Gabriel and Zechariah in Luke (1:32, 69). This also connects Jesus to the promises made to Abraham and his descendants, of whom David is one. Finally, we see Jesus as a descendant of Adam and the Son of God Himself. Christ is the new Adam who can restore what was lost through the original disobedience (CCC 532). In so doing, He fulfills the promises made to Abraham and, as the Son of David, liberates the chosen people from sin, which alienates them from God. In the person of Jesus, we find the fulfillment of God’s plan, partially revealed through the promises made to Adam, Abraham, and David.
Yet, although He was born into this familial relationship, His conception was very different from the rest of us. Many people today find the idea of the virginal conception too farfetched to believe. Some think such unscientific ideas have no basis in reality, while others see valuable theological ideas in the Virgin Birth but believe it has no basis in true history. However, the Catholic position is that the virgin conception is a true event that took place in time. This is not merely a derivative of ancient pagan religion but an important truth that helps shed light on who Jesus is. The virgin conception of Jesus points toward His divine origin. Unlike Greek mythology, where a man might be made a god or a half-god/half-man hybrid, Jesus is eternal and divine. His divinity is immutable. Through the virginal conception, He becomes fully human without relinquishing His divinity.
The incarnation of the second person of the Trinity conceals the power of God under the lowly flesh of man, revealed through His passion and resurrection. The incarnation gives a face to the invisible God of Israel. Christ is not merely a symbolic face of God; He actually gives God a face. He makes God tangible to us. He makes God perceptible to us. Through Christ, we can sense God in an intimate and immediate way, previously beyond our reach. When Jesus embraced our humanity, He opened up the way toward God. God does not abandon His people when they turn their backs on Him; rather, He remains faithful to His promise, entering history to have complete solidarity with His creation and bridge the gap between the fallen world and Himself.
The incarnation is God’s gift to us, not the fruit of human love, but the fruit of God’s love for mankind. Jesus reveals the true meaning of love when He offers Himself as a gift, holding nothing back. This gift is revealed through His divine sonship, allowing Him to reveal the Father in heaven. His birth is like ours, yet different. The fact of the virgin birth alone is insufficient to make God tangibly present to us. Instead, the truth of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working in the world allows us to experience God’s love in ways scarcely imagined before that blessed event.
The incarnation is linked to our redemption through God’s power and love. There is a continuity between the virginal conception and resurrection, as the beginning and consummation of Christ’s mission on earth. If we cannot accept the virginal conception, why should we accept the resurrection and the forgiveness of our sins? If Jesus was conceived in adultery and His disciples stole His corpse, we are left with nothing. As Paul warned, if Christ is not raised from the dead, our faith is in vain, and we have no reason to hope (1 Cor 15:12-19). The virgin conception gives us hope in the mercy of God, who shares in our humanity so that we might partake in His divinity.
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