My favorite Christmas movie is Elf. It might just be my favorite movie period, the only one I can watch over and over. Something about Buddy’s “affinity for elf culture” though he is a human as well as his innocent unawareness of the fact that he sticks out like…well, like a grown man in an elf hat and yellow tights among the working professionals of New York City is just so endearing. If you’ve seen the movie, you know that Buddy doesn’t realize he’s a human, though nothing about the miniature elf world he’s grown up in suits him. It isn’t until falling behind in his toy production that he overhears a couple of  elves whispering about him: “Well, if he hasn’t figured out he’s a human by now, I don’t think he ever will.” As silly as it may seem, when I heard that line while watching this year, it made me think about the Incarnation of Christ. Unlike Buddy who was shocked to discover he was a human living among elves, Jesus was not at all surprised to find Himself on earth in human flesh though fully God. It had been the plan all along and one of vital importance for us regular humans for two (among many) reasons.

The first reason Jesus’s coming in flesh was so crucial was that our own salvation depended on it. Genesis 3 hints at the plan. After the fall in the garden, God tells the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” This first mention of the gospel reveals that the serpent will eventually receive a fatal “head-brusing” at the hands of one of Eve’s children. No one expected that child to be the divine son of God. The apostle Paul emphasizes the need for all of this to happen in human flesh: “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.” (Romans 9:3-4) We sinned and were separated from God in our flesh, and so somehow obedience and reconciliation with God would have to be accomplished in the same flesh. Thankfully, as Paul explains in Philippians 2, God the son, “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,  being born in the likeness of men.” (v. 7) The Incarnation was vital, because without the taking on of human flesh, the saving of that flesh was impossible.

Another significant implication of the Incarnation is that it highlights God’s great mercy and compassion toward humans. He is not an aloof and indulgent god who demands trite appeasement and responds in capriciousness like the pagan gods of His day. Rather, He subjected Himself to every human limitation and predicament. He was not a God “unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) Ours is a God who knows what it is like to be hungry and tired. He experienced misunderstanding, criticism, bullying, and betrayal. He has known both the joys of friendship and the despair of loneliness. He navigated family relationships, as well as relationships with religious and non-religious people. He lost loved ones to death and faced death Himself. He understands the challenges of both leadership and submission. John 1:14 reveals that rather than remain at a distance “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” and Hebrews 2:18 tell us that “because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Heb 2:18) The Incarnation is not only vital, but also beautiful, because it reveals a God who is “with us” in every way.

Buddy the Elf discovered his humanness late in life and then went to experience life among his fellow humans. Though human, he really never gains a true “affinity for human culture” having been so accustomed to being an elf. Not only that, but he cluelessly demanded that everyone in New York City accommodate his elf ways. And though it is truly a ridiculous comparison, it is also not a suitable comparison to Jesus who “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself.” (Philippians 2:6-7) Buddy, however innocently, came to impose himself on his fellow humans. Jesus, wholly other in His divinity, came in large part, to accommodate humans. Buddy’s long trek to New York City was to meet his own needs. Jesus left His heavenly and triune culture to meet ours. As enjoyable as Buddy’s story might be, it doesn’t compare to the drama of Jesus coming to earth as a baby to save humans from sin and death. The story and the wonder of His Incarnation is really the story I need over and over again. I need to treat every day like Christmas. Indeed, the best way to spread Christmas cheer is not necessarily singing, but to reflect on The Incarnation.