CAMINANDO WITH JESUS: The Descent of Love
The Feast of the Incarnation | December 25, 2019
By The Rev Daniel D. Robayo
CAMINANDO WITH JESUS is a series of reflections on the Sunday Gospel by clergy and laity from across the Diocese.
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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
– John1:1-14
Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born [this day] of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
Collect for Christmas Day, BCP p. 213
The Argentine singer and songwriter Facundo Cabral was fond of telling his audiences that his mother Sara’s life was spent living and loving – “distracted by happiness,” as he put it – raising seven children. Sara did not need a daily planner, he said. “She did only what she loved; and her heart reminded her what to do next.” Facundo’s mother poured her life into her children and never looked back.
Christmastide is a season to remember the deepest and purest outpouring of Love. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…” (John 3:16), a verse we every so often see sneaking onto television screens at professional sports games, is worth pondering anew this season.
Eucharistic Prayer B says “in these last days you sent your only beloved Son” so that we might be drawn within the reach of God’s loving embrace. Christmas is about making present to us that God-in-the-flesh has come among us. Jesus is the greatest present, God’s self-giving to us.
St. John’s magnificent prologue gives us the Christmas proclamation: “The Word [Logos] became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The eternal Logos that with the Father and the Spirit made all things in the beginning of creation has now entered into human time and space, taken on our human form to reveal to us that God is in plain and simple fact unconditionally in love with us, head over heels, since before the foundation of the world and for all eternity.
The Incarnation was not primarily a rescue operation. It was not Plan B, enacted in haste after everything went awry. No. Nor did God enter our world in a stable out of a cold calculation about the effectiveness of such a strategy. The Incarnation is the result of God’s passion and longing for the human race and all creation. God so loved the world that God’s very Life has been poured out for us. Yes, Jesus died for our sins and reconciled us to God. But the mystery of the Incarnation is about so much more! Christmas tells us that had we not been in need of salvation, even so, God would have come anyway. It is in the nature of a Lover to seek the Beloved. God, who is Love, could do no other.
God has never looked back. God’s steadfast love and unrelenting faithfulness never gives up on us. People may let us down; others may walk out on us—but God’s love is forever. This is what we celebrate in Christmastide! God’s love is the ground on which we stand. God’s love is the source of our joy, the power that draws us to love God back and impels us to live gratefully as God’s servants.
The clamor of the world is a deafening cacophony of self-centeredness, hatred and indifference. Christmas, by reminding us of the deeper reality already at work in this beloved world of God’s, invites us to pour ourselves out in love and commitment as instruments of God’s peace, hope and joy.
May Christina Rosetti’s words ring in our hearts and guide our actions this Christmastide:
Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, love divine;
love was born at Christmas: star and angels gave the sign.
Worship we the Godhead, love incarnate, love divine;
worship we our Jesus, but wherewith for sacred sign?
Love shall be our token love by yours and love be mine,
love to God and neighbor, love for plea and gift and sign.
Christina Rosetti (1830-1894), alt.
The Hymnal 1982, #84
The Rev. Daniel D. Robayo is the missioner for Latino/Hispanic ministries for the Diocese of North Carolina.
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