The True Christmas Exchange

Hebrews 2:9–13 (NIV)

But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says,

“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
    in the assembly I will sing your praises.”

And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again he says,

“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”

CONSIDER THIS

Sometimes I wonder if the rising popularity of White Elephant gift exchanges (or Dirty Santa, in the Deep South, and Yankee Swap in the Northeast) is a symptom of our general boredom as a culture. That’s not to say that these popular gift games don’t create dynamic environments of laughter and pleasure. There’s certainly room in my Christmas celebrations for that! But it is a curious phenomenon—especially the “thieving” part—which may bear a sociologist’s analysis.

Anyway, as both an onlooker and participant, I’ve noticed several “types” of people that emerge as the order of selection is cast and the thieving begins. I count at least four:

There’s the clever one who does all he can to position himself to take back his own gift, which he knew to be the best of the batch from the outset. There’s the one who spends just a little over the agreed upon maximum budget in order to ensure she have a pleasing gift for the group. Then there’s the person who weighs all the gifts and carefully strategizes in order to choose the most desirable one. Finally, there’s the person who carefully observes the twinkle in people’s eyes in order to do her best to ensure she doesn’t interfere with someone else’s hoped-for gift. What am I missing? Who would you add? This year I’ve been marked by how these types resemble Christ. Which one do you think most embodies Jesus?

There is a tradition in the church that has highlighted this great exchange that happens at Christmastime. Jesus Christ turns in his heavenly privileges in order to take upon himself a human nature. The Son of God—the Word of God—becomes enfleshed. It is this self-limiting act of sacrifice that allows God to be fully known, and even further, to taste death on behalf of everyone. But further yet, listen how many church fathers in the early Christian centuries described the blessing of the incarnation:

[There could be] no greater grace than what has now shone upon us from God: the only Son of God has become the Son of Man, making sons and daughters of men, sons and daughters of God. (St. Augustine)*

Let us seek to be like Christ, because Christ also became like us: to become gods through him since he himself, through us, became a man. He took the worst upon himself to make us a gift of the best. (Gregory of Nazianzus)**

Now the best one for last:

For the Son of God became man so that we might become God. (Athanasius)***

If your pastor offered that as a Christmas meditation, I wouldn’t be surprised if the congregation raised an eyebrow or two, or worse—drove him out of the pulpit! Now, the truth is, that last reflection from Athanasius suffers from translation of the Greek into English. Perhaps a more accurate translation would read, “God-like” or, “like God.” But the thought is no less compelling, and no less marvelous.

God took on our humanity that we might take on, in a limited sense, his divinity. This is in fact what God’s word says when we read in 2 Peter:

Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature (1:4).

And further, in 2 Corinthians: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (5:21), and “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (8:9).

Not only was sin and death overcome, but our nature was elevated. While Jesus was the Son of God by nature, we were given the right to become the sons and daughters of God through adoption. Put another way, just as in Christ God took on human attributes, in Christ people can now take on divine qualities. Of course, we don’t share his limitless knowledge, power, or presence. But we do take on his goodness, his holiness, his love. They becomes ours because we are now elevated and seated with Christ in the heavens (Ephesians 1:18–20).

Back to that popular White Elephant game . . . It’s human nature to position ourselves for the best possible outcome in a game like that. It is of a different nature altogether, a divine one in fact, to lay low for the sake of another’s position. This is the movement away from self and toward God, and ultimately, toward others. That’s what makes Christmastime one of the most prized of awakening moments in human history. In the Great Exchange, Jesus laid down his glory so that he might say to the Father, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.”

THE PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner. Thank you for grafting me into your Sonship. Please restore your image in me, until I become the self-emptying person you are. Turn my gaze away from myself and toward you, that I might see you as you are, and my neighbor as myself. Exchange my sin for your holiness, indeed, make it mine—and lift up my humanity by the power of your Spirit, that I might embrace all of your promises to me. Amen.

THE QUESTION

How does this doctrine of theosis, or divinization, sit with you? Does your experience of life in God resemble the Great Exchange, or something more like, “just forgiven,” God got the short end of the stick spirituality? Have you been awakened to your blessed position as a daughter or son of God? What do you consider to be more pressing in our moment in church history—an honest, joyful appreciation of our participation in the divine nature, or an acknowledgement of our ongoing depravity? Which one rings more true, good, and beautiful?

For the Awakening,
Andrew Dragos

*Sermon 185.3.

**Gregory of Nazianzus, Orations 1.5.

***Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 54.3

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