Incarnation is a Dirty Business

The gospels are earthy. People are close to the earth. They travel here and there by foot. They eat the live heads of grain growing from the soil as they walk through the fields. They get grubby and have to have their feet washed. A baby is placed with the livestock to sleep. Rural Galilee is, after all, an earthy place: dirty, probably a bit smelly, but bursting with life.

Even the miracles are earthy. Jesus touches lepers. Paralytics are lowered through the thatch and mud debris from tearing up the roof. Hands tear fish and bread into pieces to share on the mountainside. Jesus makes…