Why is it that watching a little boy run past his gifts to bring a present to his parents on Christmas morning tugs at our hearts?
Humans resonate with the kindness depicted in this self-deprecating act of love. We tear up. We say, “that’s so sweet!” Jesus, in his birth and in his death, points us to this same self-deprecating love. Jesus lays aside the privileges that come with divinity and takes on the fullness of human nature. Yet, I think he enters into humanity with the same kind of excited anticipation this little boy has for Christmas morning gift-giving. Jesus does not begrudgingly grow in Mary’s womb, nor does he begrudgingly carry his cross. Jesus has a gift – he has come, Emmanuel, to put all things right, to rescue the world from sin and death.
The gospel writers consistently find Jesus scheming to bless others and giving himself away. This is what God is like – he is eager to heal, transform, and bless. And we are privileged to be the objects of God’s healing, transforming, and blessing. We are freed by faith in the faithfulness of Jesus from sin and death – for new life in which we are eager to heal, transform, and bless.
Seeing a little child eager to give affects me because I long to be like him. I long for a heart that is full and overflowing, and eyes that see more than enough. I pray that knowing Jesus would not be about me, but about him and the incredible plan he has for his world. I long to be a woman who is eager to bless and to have God bring his kingdom more fully through me, rather than only in me.
More tomorrow on this Christmas advertisement and the concepts of waiting and anticipation.
all of life matters 