Remembrance of new life is a memory that we cherish. That image of the first sight of a new baby is one of those memories that never seems to fade. These days we fill up the social media with images of our newborns. In the days when I was a new daddy one sent photos to distant family in the mail and brought snapshots to work to show co-workers. I even annoyed total strangers with my love and pride for my boys. Looking through the glass at the natal ward, everyone in the family adored the new addition to the family. At the time I did not think of the good and bad things that would happen to my children during the course of their lives. If I had some supernatural way to know their future joys and sorrows, I would not look at it for fear of what I might see.
Jesus had a loving Father who looked from Heaven at His Son who was laid in a manger in infant cloths. The Word of God, that creative part of the One and Only True God, took on the limitations and frailty of flesh to be God’s One and Only Son. Jesus loves the Father, always confident of His Father’s love for Him. Jesus prayed that we would find that same love.
” You loved Me before the foundation of the world… O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:24-26
But the shadow of the cross fell across the manger where Jesus lay. The Father could not hide His eyes from the destiny of the cross for His Beloved Son. And Jesus became well aware of His mission to serve as an atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world, even our sins, yours and mine. It seems the cross was the only way that the scales of sin and judgment could be counter-weighed with grace and mercy. So, at Christmas time think of the love that the Father and the Son have for us. May the Holy Spirit bless your soul in this holiday season.
“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” John 3:16-17