“Once in royal David’s city stood a lowly cattle shed, where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed; Mary, loving mother mild, Jesus Christ, her little child.”
This hymn captures what we most often think about with that first Christmas when it comes to love--the new young mother, with her newborn baby. The manger scene depicts the serenity after the birth, the newborn tiny and healthy, in need of love first and foremost, and the irresistibility of the beautiful child, inspiring love from his mother.
We get that because many of us have lived it, have experienced it. Those of you who have brought a child into the world--what was your overwhelming emotion when you first held that life you've brought into the world? What more pure love can there possibly be?
And you know that throughout the life of that child, growing toward and to adulthood, that love endures. However, the form of it changes--it can take the form of pride of accomplishment, of staunch defense when someone critiques, of sheer relief when a crisis is averted. But at core, it is the sense of unconditional concern, care, pride, affirmation, "rooting"--an unwavering belief in the intrinsic nature of a relationship forged even before birth that cannot ever be broken, not matter how life unfolds. It may begin with that first look into the eyes; it endures having begun with that moment throughout a lifetime of moments.
That is the love that "came down at Christmas," as Christina Rossetti’s poem says it. And yet it is not Mary's look into the eyes--and through the eyes, into the soul--of Jesus. Rather, it is God's look into the eyes--and through the eyes, into the soul--of each one of us. Psalm 139 reminds us that God knows us, and has always known us: "For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. . . . My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance."
And even moreso, the "love that came down at Christmas" was God, creator of all things, becoming that needy, vulnerable, irresistible baby--being born into the world in the way that we all are. So that God, creator of all things, would get what it means to be us. God in Jesus gave up the power to create everything in order to understand better the limitations--and the amazingness--of being human. God gave up all of that in order to experience what it's like to be us--a profound expression of love for us. If you love someone, you want to understand that person. And God loves us. And, in Jesus, went through all that we go through, including loss, and rejection, and prejudice, and injustice, and hate, and being "framed" in order to be executed (hopefully we don't all go through that last one). Because God loves us. And then God showed that love is the most powerful force that has ever existed, even more powerful than death. But first God showed us that love in the irresistible baby, whom you can't help but love, even as we are fully loved by God.
"Love came down at Christmas" It is true, in simple, basic, almost instinctive ways--and in deep, profound, life-transforming ways. May you experience all of that love, this Christmas and always.
PSALTER Psalm 89:1-4
1 I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever;
with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
2 I declare that your steadfast love is established for ever;
your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
3 You said, ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to my servant David:
4 “I will establish your descendants forever,
and build your throne for all generations.” ’
EPISTLE 1 John 4:7-21
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. 21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
GOSPEL Luke 1:46-49
46 And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.