The longer you look at Jesus, the more you will want to serve him in his world. That is, of course, if it’s the real Jesus you’re looking at. Plenty of people…have made up a ‘Jesus’ for themselves, and have found this invented character makes few real demands on them. He makes them feel happy from time to time but doesn’t challenge them, doesn’t suggest they get up and do something about the plight of the world. Which is, of course, what the real Jesus has an uncomfortable habit of doing. |
(1994, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI) page ix
Jesus loves us. He is the reflection of our Heavenly Father’s perfect love for us. And it is because He loves us that He asks more of us than simply having a good feeling about Him – He asks more of us than simply a personal confession of belief and a willingness to receive the comfort His grace brings.
In addition to that, He also asks us to do those things that will help us to grow to become more like Him and like our Heavenly Father, till, as the scripture says, the light that is in us grows brighter and brighter until the perfect day.
In this regard, He says:
if ye love me, keep my commandments, (John 14:15)
including the great commandment to
love the Lord thy God with all they heart and
with all thy soul and with all thy strength
and with all thy mind
and then also to
[love] thy neighbour as thyself, (Luke 10:27)
and finally to, love one another as [He has] loved [us]. (John 13:34)
Jesus asks all this out of His love for us, and asks that we do it in love for Him and others; love that is best learned about and developed by understanding His example.
Jesus’ love for us was demonstrated throughout His life, but it's nature and effects are most easily understood when we review two major events in His life: His birth and His death; Christmas and Easter.
In the Christmas season, we celebrate that moment in time when angels bent low to the earth and announced that “peace on earth” and “good will toward men” would be manifest in the form of a baby’s birth, which was the God Jehovah himself coming into the world in the form of vulnerable flesh.
Love is always manifest by the willingness to become vulnerable to one another.
Not only was Jesus to be vulnerable, but He was also to accept the condition that often accompanies vulnerability: dependency. He who was Lord and Master of the earth and the entire universe which contains it became utterly and completely dependent:
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God’s love continued to be manifest in the life of Jesus Christ: in His continual service and teaching; in His willingness to challenge unrighteous authority; in His desire to heal all illness and weak conditions, whether conditions of the body or of mind, spirit or heart; in His kind acceptance of weak souls as followers, whom He would cause to be strengthened as disciples and ultimately to grow into witnesses – apostles – to extend the communication of His love into all the world; and in His willingness to say, in the most desperate of circumstances, “I forgive”.
Love is always manifest in the giving of the gift of one’s self, including patience, kindness, support and help, but most especially in the gift of forgiveness which is the ultimate healing act.
Finally, God’s love was manifest in the suffering Jesus endured in Gethsemane, then at the hands of first Jewish and then Roman soldiers, and finally hanging upon the cross, when in His most terrible moment of anguish the presence of Heavenly Father withdrew from Him, causing Jesus to suffer utterly alone and to show that even in that awful place of despair he continued to love us enough to continue the atonement by which we could obtain mercy, peace and joy and be prepared to live with Him in the Kingdom of Our Father.
Love is also often, if not always, manifest in the bearing of some suffering and sacrifice for others.
This is what we celebrate most expressly at Easter; in fact, it is in Easter that the stories of Christmas find their meaning and we finally learn the whole of God's story – that is, God’s Spell – the Gospel. The importance of Easter is expressed in the word “Christmas” itself, which signifies the Mass – a ritual remembrance of Christ's atoning sacrifice – held in recognition of the occasion of His birth. It is not accidental that central to the celebration of His birth is the commemoration of His death.
As we celebrate the Christmas season, we are called to remember the purpose for which Christ came to earth. In fact, it is fair to say that our celebrations lack their most sacred meaning and most potent depth without conscious consideration of this fact.
To wit, when Christmas comes, we should not merely be touched (though we should be touched) by the tender story of Mary and the baby born in a stable. We should not merely be moved (though we should be moved) by the devotion of the shepherds and the Wise Men. Neither is Christmas merely a celebration of light, or a time for family or for expressions of kindness in giving gifts (although all those things are good). It is, rather, a celebration of the gift that Jesus was and still is, and the light of hope that He brought into the world. It is an occasion to celebrate His coming, because we know what He came to do: not merely to touch our hearts or even to teach our minds, but,
as the Saviour of the world,
He came into life for the express purpose of concluding His life
in one single act of sacrifice that was both
awful in the magnitude of its suffering
& awesome in the scope of its results;
an act by which He broke the bands of death for all who ever lived or will live to be resurrected, even for the earth itself to be transformed; and also breaks the bonds of sin so that each of us has the opportunity to obtain eternal life, if we will accept His grace and His goodness toward us.
May each Christmas and every Easter we celebrate include our remembrance that Jesus, born so long ago, lives with us still, and that His atoning death at Roman hands has present effect in our lives, granting peace to troubled souls and hope through the enabling power of His grace. And may we learn to live as He lived, and love as He loved, as He has asked us to do.