That first Christmas, God did something extraordinary. Max Lucado puts it this way: ‘Stepping from the throne, He removed His robe of light and wrapped Himself in skin: pigmented human skin. The light of the universe entered a dark, wet womb. He whom angels worshipped nestled Himself in the placenta of a peasant, was birthed into the cold night, and then slept on a cow’s hay. Mary didn’t know whether to give Him milk or give him praise, so she gave Him both – since He was, as near as she could figure, hungry and holy. Joseph didn’t know whether to call Him junior or father. But in the end he called Him Jesus, since that’s what the angel said, and since he didn’t have the faintest idea what to name a God he could cradle in his arms.’
Lucado continues: ‘Don’t you think their heads tilted and their minds wondered, “What in the world are You doing, God?” Or better phrased, “God, what are You doing in the world?” “Can anything make Me stop loving you?” God asks. “You wonder how long My love will last? Find your answer on a splintered cross, on a craggy hill. That’s Me you see up there, your Maker, your God…That’s how much I love you.”’
Paul asks, ‘Can anything separate us from the love of Christ?’ (v. 35 CEV). Then he answers his own question: ‘Nothing can separate us from God’s love – not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love’ (vv. 38-39 CEV). And that’s what Christmas is all about!
Luke 24:1-35, Ps 129-139
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