Luke 1:46-55
Today we celebrate the fourth and last Sunday of Advent. Christmas is coming soon, and this week is the time for the final preparation for the birth of our Lord. This Sunday we celebrate Love. We have previously celebrated Hope, Peace and Joy. The love of God is the central truth of Christmas. Indeed, love is the center of everything. We have hope, because of God’s love; we have peace because of God’s love, we have joy because of God’s love. God loves us all and he proves it giving us the greatest gift of all. That is Christ our Lord, the greatest Gift of God to all humanity.
This season as I said before is a time for us to prepare for the ‘Adventus’, the coming of the Lord. And after going through four Sundays in which we spoke about our preparation, we are ready and prepared to celebrate Christmas as it was intended by God. Christmas is truly about love, the love of God for humanity. Surely, we know that the Gospel has clearly spoken about God who loves us all so much, and in such a way, that He gave us His only Son, so that all those who believe in Him, will not perish but gain eternal life (John 3:16). This is the essence of Christmas, the coming of the Son of God into the world, so that a new Hope arises for all the nations and for all peoples. If this is not the heart of our celebration, we have failed to understand the true meaning of Christmas, and then we will not benefit from the richness of God’s grace, which He has given to us.
Christmas is a love celebration, God’s love for us. Therefore, this Christmas let us then meditate in the love God has for us and His willingness to enter our world and our lives and dwell within us. What is so special about this love that makes it so unique?
1) God’s love shown at Christmas does not give us what we deserve, but what we need. 2 Corinthian 5:19 “that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” God in Christ, the one born in Bethlehem did not give us what we deserve for our trespasses; he gave us what we needed to be reconciled. We deserved a Judge to put us on trial and He sent us a Savior, a lawyer to intercede and die for us.
2) God in Jesus loves us as we are. How many times I have heard the expression “I cannot come to God because I am not a good person, I swear to much, or I drink. Brothers and sisters God does not care how you are when you come to him; because of His love, he sees you as you are today, but he also pictures how you will look tomorrow. Jesus takes us how we are now, so tomorrow we can be as he wants us to be. God does not take our lives just to leave them the same way, he takes them to make us better. Listen what Paul said in 2 Corinthian 3:18 “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” With ever-increasing glory. God does not want us to stay as we are, He wants us to be better every day.
3) This love is a sacrificial love; it doesn’t ask for anything but gives everything. Listen once again to Paul 2 Corinthians 13:4-7 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Jesus came in the form of a human to show us this kind of love. Remember when he was on the cross, the first expression was “father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”
I believe Christmas can be an opportunity to renew our love for God and others. An opportunity when we can ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes and help us to see this love; to open our minds to understand that love, and to open our hearts and wills to live that love.
In a couple days we will celebrate that, He is here. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if He find this world with willing heart and willing minds to receive him? Wouldn’t be wonderful if he finds this world with an open and loving heart?
Jesus is ready to enter in this world. Are we ready to receive Him? “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”