MetaCatholic

Well, the answer, of course, is who knows? I asked that question in a sermon this morning, followed immediately by asking whether anyone thought the question was offensive or sacrilegious.

One of the odd features of today’s lectionary readings was that we got the flight into Egypt. (Have you heard of the little boy who drew an aeroplane with Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus and Pontius the Pilot?) Next Sunday we will have the arrival of the Magi. Hmm. But the lectionary, like the gospels themselves rush us through the story to get to the baptism. Even Luke, with more detail, is hardly interested in the baby or child before he becomes the man. And fair enough, they’re not writing modern biography, with all our contemporary interest in childhood.

It seems to me, however, that asking the very basic questions such as the one in the title of this post is something that drives home the incomprehensible mystery of what we mean by the incarnation. Taking time to ponder the infant God (and babies are as basic a food-processing machine as we get) is – or perhaps ought to be – shocking and disturbing. Is this what we’re really saying? Yes, I think it is. Maybe we should spend a little more time at the crib than lectionaries allow.