CONCERNING HUMAN FLESH

The word "heresy" means choice. Every heresy makes an alternative choice that is contrary to orthodoxy. The word "orthodoxy" means authentic and correct praise. What we pray is the basis for what we believe. Liturgical prayer shapes the vocabulary of creeds. Public prayer teaches authentic patterns of speech and correct thought about God, the Christ, and the Spirit.

We know heresies, that is, alternatives to orthodoxy, flourished as Christianity's earliest bishops and theologians struggled to express the mysteries of faith. The first heresy about Christ was called docetism. This inauthentic position held that Jesus only seemed to have a body and that he only seemed to suffer and die on the cross. We can guess the devastating consequences of this position. First, docetic thinking really denied the incarnation. It stated that the Word only seemed to become flesh. Secondly, this stripped the meaning of the passion of Jesus. Thirdly, this invalidated the significance of the eucharist. In addition, Jesus was denied any feelings, such as compassion and mercy. He was denied pain and suffering.

Saint Ignatius of Antioch met this heresy head on. He portrayed a genuine picture of Jesus. He said that there were three things that surprised and thwarted the evil one. First that God spoke the Word out of silence. The word became flesh. Secondly, that he was born of Mary the Virgin. Thirdly, that Jesus really suffered and died on the cross. Furthermore, the risen Christ was still in our midst. He was the choirmaster, the one who directed the melody which the community, the church raised up to God in public prayer and praise. The embodied church became God's chorus, made melody before God. Ignatius affirmed the humanity of Jesus and of ourselves.

We take the humanity of Christ for granted. We assume everybody knows that the Word became flesh. But the temptation to docetism still surfaces. We would like a God of pure spirit. We would like a God who delivers us up into the realms of pure spirit, of religion that leaves the body out. We are tempted to deny incarnation, enfleshment, embodiment because we get tired, we struggle, we deal with pain, we confront physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering. We recognize our limitations and our addictions.

When we hear that the Word became flesh, our hearts should leap with joy. Jesus' humanity becomes the model for our humanity. He was born of the Mary the virgin. He grew up humbly and simply. He grew in faith. He reached out a human hand, showed tender mercy and compassion, and healed those broken in body and spirit. He taught practical wisdom. He embodied the moral life through enemy love and through kindness towards Jews and non-Jews, males and females. He journeyed courageously to Jerusalem, accepted the cross, and endured a brutal death.

Everything about his humanity affirmed the value and worth of our humanity. Our hands heal, our voices forgive, our bodies express sexual love, our shoulders bear burdens of justice, our feet walk pathways of peace, and our embraces embody compassion and comfort. His flesh engages our humanity. His embodiment belies our counterfeit spiritualities which try to escape our bodies.