God Became Man: The Pursuit of a Broken Humanity

We all know what it is like to feel like we are a disappointment. Whether it be letting down a boss, failing at a project, hurting a friend, or being stuck in habitual sin. In these moments lies of shame are whispered into our hearts that were beyond help, too broken, inconsistent, and unacceptable. If you’ve felt that way, you’re not the first, and not the last. You are also not strange for feeling this way. It is one of the most shared human experiences.

Does God Walk Away When We Fail?

In these moments in my own life, I’ve often pictured God walking away from me. We assume this is what God does because it’s what we’ve witnessed other people do. We picture him shaking his head in disapproval saying things like: You should have known better. Others don’t struggle with this, what’s wrong with you? Why can’t you just get it right? I wish you were more like ______. You fill in the blank. These are the scripts we run through in our minds. Before we assume what God would say or do in these moments, why not look at what he actually does? When we open scripture we see snapshots of people who feel and show us God’s true response, not the response we fear.

Adam and Eve are the first example. They walked with God in an unhindered intimacy in the garden of Eden. But when they chose to disobey God and sin entered the world, that innocence evaporated. They now knew guilt, shame and fear. Instead of running to God, they hid from Him. Can you imagine what must have been going through their minds when they heard God’s footsteps? The guilt and shame must have been whispering that God was coming to condemn in rage and abandon them forever. The new world they inhabited after being banished from the garden was marked with a cursed ground, relational pain, and spiritual distance. Adam and Eve were confronted with what we know all too well, feeling alone and unacceptable.

The Heart of a Father: God’s Response to Sin

But what do we read of God in moments like these? Is God angry or craving vengeance? Does he look at humanity and say, “well the first one didn’t work out, may as well get rid of them now. I’m finished with you.” Scripture tells a different story. After watching humanity spiral in sin and self destruction for generations, Genesis 6:6 says something surprising: “It broke His heart.” God is a Father whose heart aches when we choose the things that destroy us and experience the consequences. That does not sound like the angry distant God most people imagine. That sounds like the true God full of compassion.

What’s even more astounding is God does not just feel something, he acts. Paul writes in Romans 3:10-11 that while we desperately need God, “there is no one who seeks God.” This echoes God searching for someone who seeks him and finding no one in Psalm 14:2-3. God does the unthinkable, he comes seeking for us. He moves towards us taking the initiative. Picture for a moment the Father sending his Son into the world. He was not unaware of what awaited him. There would be rejection, ridiculing, misunderstanding, betrayal, and death. Yet God still sent him and Jesus went through with it. Why? Hebrews 12:2 says it was “for the joy that was set before him.” That joy was the redemption of his beloved creation. You.

Did God Really Become Man? Examining the Evidence

The incarnation of Jesus, God becoming man, is one of the most significant moments in history and a pillar of the Christian faith. But did it really happen? Or was it just a nice idea that has comforted naive people in the past? We have strong historical ground to stand on. Yes, God became man.

Jesus Unquestionably Existed

First, Jesus unquestionably existed.. We have four ancient biographies of Him (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). These were written within the lifetime of eyewitnesses, and the Christian faith began in Jerusalem where anyone could have walked to the empty tomb or may have witnessed Jesus themselves. These works preserve early traditions and contain eyewitness material. The existence of Jesus of Nazareth is affirmed by virtually all historians including skeptical and secular scholars. To say Jesus was a legend, or his divinity developed over time is just not true.

Jesus Claimed to Be God

Second, Jesus claimed to be God. Within the context of his time, which was Jewish life and law, he made claims only Yahweh would make and did things only Yahweh could do. Just a few examples would be Jesus claiming to forgive the sins of the paralytic in Mark 2 or using God’s personal name, I AM. The Jewish leaders clearly knew what he was claiming to be. Jesus was charged with blasphemy by the high priest Caiaphas before his crucifixion. Caiaphas claimed this because Jesus was speaking and acting as if he were God.

The Trilemma: Liar, Lunatic, or Lord?

C.S. Lewis’s classic argument helps us think about this with clarity. The Trilemma is one of my favorite tools when thinking about the Deity of Jesus. The logic goes like this:

If Jesus claimed to be God, then his claim is either true or false. If it was false, he either knew it was false or he didn’t. If he knew it was false, he was a lair. If he did not know it was false, he was a lunatic. If his claim was true, then he is Lord.

Was Jesus a Liar?

Can we call Jesus a liar? How could Jesus be called a good moral teacher if he wilfully misled people about the most important part of his teachings? That he was God? This does not seem to fit with his teachings about moral clarity and sacrificial love. How can a liar and a conman leave us with the most profound moral instruction and the most powerful moral example in history? He also modeled these moral acts in his life. His character was consistent, he condemned hypocrisy and praised sincerity. To call Jesus a liar seems unreasonable. In addition to this, all over the globe for the past 2000 years when Jesus has been proclaimed we see lives changed for the good, thieves becoming honest, addicts set free, hate filled people becoming channels of love, unjust people embracing justice, and sinners receiving grace. Could all of this be the result of a lie?

Was Jesus a Lunatic?

Can we call Jesus a lunatic? Perhaps Jesus was just mistaken and crazy. Someone can be sincere in what they believe but be wrong at the same time. Peter Kreeft says that Jesus possesses three qualities that lunatics do not. First, his practical wisdom and ability to read human hearts. Second, his deep winning love, passionate compassion, and ability to attract others and make them feel loved, and his ability to speak with authority. Finally, his ability to astonish, his unpredictability, and creativity. Lunatics are dull and predictable, Jesus was not. He understood human nature, listened to people and knew their hearts. He asked good questions, challenged assumptions, knew the scriptures, and walked intimately with 12 disciples. His teachings didn’t arise out of nowhere, they arose out of his very person and character. It is unreasonable to call Jesus a lunatic.

The Only Option: Jesus is Lord

This leaves us with one option, we must call Jesus Lord. And we either accept this or reject it. For these two reasons we can trust that God actually did become man in the person of Jesus. This reality altering moment was not just symbolic or sentimental, it was intentional, purposeful and personal. God became man in pursuit of you. The astonishing truth about the incarnation is this. What you think would make God walk away from you is exactly what made him walk toward you. God came all the way down into our brokenness not to shame us to rescue and restore us. That is who God is.