By Brother Stephen Rankin
Christmas celebrates, of course, the birth of Christ, and we think of birth as the beginning of a person’s life. It’s why we celebrate and mark our days by birthdays, but if we think, for a moment, we recognize that birth is the culmination of a process beginning with conception. December 25 brings to fullness an event traditionally understood to have happened on March 25 – the Incarnation. The angel Gabriel comes to the Virgin Mary: “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus,” and this momentous event will come about by the power of the Holy Spirit. We celebrate the fulfillment of this beginning at Christmas.
Everybody knows this. Just for a moment, though, let’s imagine a conversation lying behind this moment, one that takes place between the Father and the Son in the love and unity of the Holy Spirit. It’s a conversation before time, eternal in the heavens. It’s imaginary, of course, but hopefully it gets at a crucial truth. The Father lays out the plan of salvation. “My image bearers are bound desperately and hopelessly in sin. They need the power of God to release them. The only way this release will happen is through our power to touch every part of their being and experience.”
The Father says to the Son (still, we imagine), “To break this power of sin and to bring the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve back to us, I ask you to become like them in every way (except sin), to take upon yourself the devastating power of evil now destroying them, and conquer it by dying their death and rising to give them life. That’s the plan.”
“I’ll do it, Father. Gladly!” the Son replies.
I hope I’m not committing some heresy with this moment of fancy. I’m trying to describe the vast, eternal love our Great God has for us and for the whole world. This is what Christmas is about. It calls to mind a line from Charles Wesley’s hymn, “And Can It Be:” “He left his Father’s throne above, so free, so infinite his grace. Emptied himself of all but love, and bled for Adam’s helpless race.”
Such a beautiful, compelling story. And it’s absolutely true. Merry Christmas, friends.
