Sharing in the adventure

I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging,’ said Gandalf, the wandering wizard, ‘and it’s very difficult to find anyone.’

Bilbo Baggins, quietly comfortable in his well-to-do hobbit hole, is unmoved. ‘I have no use for adventures,’ he replies. ‘Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them.’

Bilbo starts from a position of no consequence to become the pivotal character in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Eager cinemagoers will relish Bilbo’s adventures over coming weeks with the release of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Reluctant Bilbo may be when he steps out on his journey—without hat, walking stick or money, leaving his second breakfast half-finished—but hero he becomes. Jesus’ journey is every bit as unexpected but takes a contrary path. Jesus starts in the glory of Heaven as God, setting such splendour aside to be born as a human infant.

This action, which we call ‘the incarnation’, is described in the New Testament: Christ Jesus … though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness (Philippians 2:6–7, NRV).

From birth in Bethlehem, Jesus has all the essential properties of a human being. But he remains completely God.

A helpful way of thinking about this profound accomplishment is that Jesus was fully human without being merely human. God cannot, after all, become less than God.

Jesus is born at a difficult time in human history, a Jew in a land occupied by Roman powers. Much of his life is hidden in humble obscurity. When Jesus steps onto the public stage at 30, he challenges a religion that has lost its way in mere shows of piety. He calls people back to a friendship relationship with God that assures their salvation and eternal destiny.

Despite finding fame through profound teaching and with a reputation as a miracle worker, Jesus dies a criminal’s death three years later. His offence? Seeking to return God to the people. Jesus’ egalitarian view on faith did not sit well with the religious powerbrokers of his day.

But Jesus overcomes the power of death. He stays, in resurrected form, long enough to convince his incredulous followers he is truly alive before returning to the glory of Heaven.

A journey unexpected in human terms (despite Old Testament prophecies hinting at the nature of Jesus’ visit) is complete. The saviour who came to earth to reunite us with God has returned home. Jesus now calls to us in our everyday ordinariness and invites us to set out on our own adventures to and with God.

By Christina Tyson (abridged from War Cry, Christmas 2012, p3)