Love is born into the darkness of night, in a humble place smelling of hay and animal dung. Almighty God himself, emptied of his majesty and glory, leaves Heaven behind and stoops to be born like each of his creatures. The Creator becomes a vulnerable, helpless baby whose physical life depends entirely upon his creatures’ care. He somehow thinks we are worth it. It’s hard to really comprehend that. We who rejected his rule, turned our backs on him, and eventually killed him. How could he reckon us as worthy of this sacrifice on his part?
Moreover, this holy child comes for one reason: so that he can die. God can’t die; human beings can and do, 100% of us. In order to fulfill God’s rescue plan for humanity, for him to die on our behalf so as to redeem us from slavery to sin, he “…became man and tabernacled among us…” (John 1:14). He married our humanity in the womb of Mary, uniting God and mankind so that we could become sons and daughters of his Father, adopted into his family, one with him as parts of his Body. Mysterious, yes. But as real as a baby.
Our Christmas celebration this year might not turn out to be all we hoped for. There’s a lot of anticipation and often the reality falls short of our imagination. That’s okay. This world is not meant to satisfy the deep desires of our hearts. Our hope needs to be set on higher things, the promises of the One whose love is amazing, beyond anything we can find in this life. So we can bring to him our disappointments, our sorrows, our pain and failures – he knows it all and loves us despite all that, for he loves all that he created.
Let’s approach the baby just as we are. Let’s kneel down at the manger and really gaze at him. Let’s kiss his fragrant brow and touch his tiny hand. Let’s see the tenderness of his beautiful Mother and the faithful watchfulness of Joseph, the just man of few words. Let’s be amazed along with the animals and the shepherds. Let’s allow ourselves to rejoice this night with the angels. Our circumstances may not be the greatest, but let’s choose to rejoice anyway.
For Light has come into the darkness of our world. Eternal Life has been born into the world haunted by the fear of death. Love has been given to us today, Love Himself. It’s the best gift God could ever have given.
Lessons From Love School 