Absurdity Of The Incarnation

“And after the killing he was buried in a borrowed grave?”

“Yes, he had no grave of his own, nor money with which to purchase one.”

The honesty of the dialogue kept the audience spellbound. I realized I was witnessing one of those rare times when two people were willing to question the holy. Here were two men standing on opposite sides of a deep chasm, one asking the other if the bridge that stretched between them could actually be trusted.

There was a hint of emotion in the student’s voice as he carefully worded the next question. “And according to what’s written, after three days in the grave he was resurrected and made appearances to over five hundred people?” “Yes.” “And all this was to prove that God loves people and provides a way for us to return to him?” “Right.”

I knew which question was coming next. Everyone in the room knew it. It could have gone without being asked. In my heart of hearts, I was hoping that it wouldn’t be asked.

“Doesn’t that all sound rather. . .” He paused a second, searching for the right adjective. “Doesn’t that all sound rather absurd?”

All the heads turned in perfect sync and looked at Landon. All the heads, that is, except mine. My head was spinning as I was forced to look at Jesus from a new angle. Christianity … absurd? Jesus on a cross. . . absurd? The Incarnation. . . absurd? The Resurrection… absurd? My Sunday school Jesus had been taken down from the flannel board.

Landon’s response was simple. “Yes. Yes I suppose it does sound absurd doesn’t it?”

I didn’t like that answer. I didn’t like it at all. Tell the fellow how it made sense! Present fulfilled prophecies. Explain the fulfillment of the Old Law. Covenant. Reconciliation. Redemption. Sure it made sense. Don’t let him describe God’s actions as absurd!

Then it began to dawn on me: What God did makes sense. It makes sense that Jesus would be our sacrifice because a sacrifice was needed to justify man’s presence before God. It makes sense that God would use the Old Law to tutor Israel on their need for grace. It makes sense that Jesus would be our High Priest. What God did makes sense. It can be taught, charted, and put in books on systematic theology.

However, why God did it is absolutely absurd. When one leaves the method and examines the motive, the carefully stacked blocks of logic begin to tumble. That type of love isn’t logical; it can’t be neatly outlined in a sermon or explained in a term paper.

Before we get bent out of shape, remember that many both in the NT and even today consider it absurd. “but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,” 1 Corinthians 1:23, NIV. The word foolishness can be translated absurdity.

Think about it. For thousands of years, using his wit and charm, man had tried to be friends with God. And for thousands of years he had let God down more than he had lifted him up. He’d done the very thing he promised he’d never do. It was a fiasco. Even the holiest of the heroes sometimes forgot whose side they were on. Some of the scenarios in the Bible look more like the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor than stories for vacation Bible school. Remember these characters?