Christian author, Jeanette Lockerbie once shared an anecdote about her daughter: “Four-year-old Martha, hugging a doll in each of her pudgy little arms, looked wistfully up at her mother and said, “Mamma, I love them and love them and love them, but they never love me back.” I came across this passage while preparing for Advent sermons this year. It stood out to me because little Martha’s love for her dolls demonstrates something powerful for us about God’s incredible love for us at Christmas. Our natural bent toward sin and ignoring God outright, makes us a lot like Martha’s dolls. Only, we aren’t plastic dolls. We walk, talk, hurt each other, lie, steal, ignore the God who made us, and so much more. Still, God loves us. He loves us when we are at our worst and most shameful. He loves us when we hate Him with all our hearts and when we ignore Him. Just like Martha, He loves us when we are incapable of loving Him back. Whereas Martha loves dolls that aren’t alive, God loves people who live out their hate for Him in real time. His love for us is incredible.
Paul expresses how unheard of God’s actions in the gospels are when he says, “while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Ro 5:10)
This is the essence of what we are celebrating on Christmas. Jesus came into the world to save us by dying for our sins. Paul points out that no one would die for a wicked man. This is absolutely true still today in western civilization, where we have been exposed to the story of Christ’s death for us. Today, we are inspired by this sort of story, but it’s a thing that never happens. In the ancient world, the Christian ethic was unheard of and mocked.
John tells us that in the beginning, Jesus was with God and He was God. Through Jesus, all things were created. He is holy, glorious, all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect, and so much more. To save us from our sins, Christ emptied Himself, taking on the form of a servant. The God who created all things was born as a helpless child. He had to learn to walk and talk. He teethed and wore diapers. He lowered Himself for us. This is why we celebrate Christmas. This event is so big, we must contemplate it deeply. We focus on the love of Christ to grow in our love. The amazing step from eternity to earth for us shows us love.
