The Scandal of the Incarnation
After the preceding passage about the faith of an unknown woman and a synagogue official and the healings that resulted, the Gospel of Mark jumps to Jesus in his hometown of Nazareth, where “he was amazed at their lack of faith.”
This Gospel does not have an infancy narrative that describes how Jesus came to be in the family of Mary and Joseph in Nazareth. Instead, it has this short passage where he is identified by neighbors as “the carpenter, the son of Mary,” a relative of people known to them (here called his brothers and sisters). The rhetorical questions reveal a dismissive attitude and incredulity that their neighbor could be anyone as special as Jesus is supposed to be.
This attitude expresses the scandal of the incarnation. The literal meaning of scandal is a stumbling block, but figuratively it means something offensive, prejudicial, or enticing misjudgment or evil. The offensive nature of the incarnation of God in Jesus is that it seems impossible. For transcendentalism like ancient Greek philosophy, it is offensive to suggest that the perfect transcendent being would join a finite, material human nature to himself. For materialism, it is offensive to propose that there is anything higher than human nature that perfects it, such as union with an immaterial God. From opposite directions, they invite the same conclusion: the union of human and divine natures in Jesus is impossible.
It is a paradox of the Gospel: how can Jesus be human and yet do things only God can do? Is he human with superpowers? Is he divine with the illusion of a body? Is he an imposter? All these have been proposed at various times right down to our day. Our faith tells us that believing Jesus himself means accepting his true humanity and true divinity. It is a scandal, a stumbling block to many that prevents them from following Jesus. But recall that it doesn’t take much faith or understanding for Jesus to do amazing things. Just like the prophets who came before him, he exposes the hardness of heart that separates people from God. Faith in Jesus doesn’t begin with every question answered or every doubt resolved; it begins with willingness to let him soften your heart and little by little guide you past the stumbling block of what is not impossible for God.
