“For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” (1 Corinthians 1:21, ESV)
I’ve been reading On the Incarnation by Saint Athanasius. At one point, he writes, “He [God] deals with them [people] as a good teacher with his pupils, coming down to their level and using simple means.”1 I have always appreciated the teacher, trainer, boss, coach, or pastor who could take a complex idea and break it down into simple terms. Someone recently told me the best way to test how well you understand something is to explain it to a middle school student. She was right!
God knew we would never come to know him through our own means. A lost man cannot find his way back home—that’s what makes him lost. If he knew the way home but refused to take it, he wouldn’t be lost. He’d just be wandering away from home.
We were hopelessly lost, separated from God like children who ran away from their parents in a crowded amusement park and now cannot find Mom or Dad. So, the Son of God came for us. He became human, like one of us, so that we could see and understand. He came down to our level, spoke in terms we could comprehend, and showed us by his life, death, and resurrection what God is like. At the cross, we find the path home.
I’ve watched when my three-year-old loses sight of me and becomes aware that she’s lost. She looks, but even though I can see her, she can’t find me, and starts to get scared. When I go get her, she’ll say, “Daddy! I found you!” In that moment, I don’t correct her. I just wrap her in a big hug and say, “I’m so glad!”
Saint Athanasius, On the Incarnation, translated by A Religious of C.S.M.V. S.Th. (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1951; repr., GLH Publishing Reprint, 2018), 34.