The Face of God Revealed
Look Christ in the eyes and live.
From the kitschy to the sublime, every nativity scene testifies that the Son of God took on human flesh. This time of year, even skeptics are reminded of the earth-shaking claim. Many will still dutifully try to celebrate “the holidays” without naming the season’s crown jewel. But this strained evasion only underscores the power of Christmas.
For believers, Jesus’ birth might come to mind any time of year. But this too can mask an irony: Through our eyes, the strangeness of the incarnation starts to appear normal. Yes, of course, the Lord who made heaven and earth became a baby. Now, what side dish are we bringing to Aunt Gertrude’s?
I’ll offer an observation that helps keep Christmas startling: God’s people long believed that seeing his face would bring instant death. Yet after generations of angst and anticipation, that very face first appeared on a helpless infant.1
Israel was wise to maintain a holy fear of God’s countenance. Recall how the Lord warned Moses:
You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live. (Exodus 33:20)
Then, consider Mary’s experience centuries later:
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them at the inn. (Luke 2:7)
Instead of a terrifying visage, Mary saw a small, tearful face, with lips desperate to nurse. Rest on that thought for a moment.
This offers a glimpse of why Christ came. Instead of causing those who looked at him to perish, Jesus, once grown, took death upon himself. Rather than ending the lives of sinners, he offers us life everlasting. The reason people could see Jesus’ face and live was because he was himself the mediator who made it possible for the unholy to gaze into God’s radiance.
And in those first moments of his life, Mary and Joseph discovered what Christmas today announces to all of us:
The face of God is not what we expected.
I heard Peter Leithart make this point about the face of God on a Theopolis podcast. Since I can’t find the particular episode, I’ll link to his article “God Become Baby,” which makes some related points. If anyone happens to remember where he talks about this in the podcast, please let me know.