Earlier this week, my favorite Kindergarten class was creating an electronic booklet about seasons and holidays. When asked the reason for celebrating Christmas, an ardent-faced, runtish, red-haired boy named Randy (one of my favorites, if I'm allowed to pick favorites) responded, "Christmas is when Jesus and the animals were born at the same time in a big barn at night time." I don't know what translation of the nativity story he's been reading, and I don't really care - his response was more than satisfactory. I proceeded to ask, why was Jesus born near the animals? Randy, again with a serious face in keeping with the subject matter, responded, "Because the people inside hated him."
Again, Randy's telling was a little skewed, but I think he got the main point. From the moment he was born, Jesus was the subject of scorn, violence, and plotting. He entered into this hostility with forgiveness and a mind to make all things right. A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, a friend to sinners, and God dressed in meekness. It's difficult for me to grasp the God-ness of Jesus at times when I think about the low state he assumed. But that's the goal, I think: to see the strength of God in his humility and grace. The perfect tension of God's justice and God's mercy dwell in the person of Christ. In seeing Him, we see the face of God. If that is the case, may we respond to his humility, his love, his grace, his passionate self-sacrifice with the mirror of our own lives.
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