Sometimes in the pain of the present, God can seem so far away, so unconcerned that it’s hard to have faith. Then there was a day, in the fullness time, when Jesus was born. He is 100% God: the one who sculpted us from nothing; the one who promised to be with us. Yet, it was undeniable: he was a baby, 100% human and under the care of humans. Just as Christ had held the cosmos as Creator, so now he allowed himself to be held by his own creation. He showed himself to be vulnerable and, in a way, helpless. This is how close God is to humanity – to each one of us. Once more, God touches the soil and touches our hearts. Around the manger, all sense of separation is gone.
An early Christian named Irenaeus once said, “because of his measureless love, [Christ] became what we are… to enable us to become what he is.”1 He wasn’t saying that Christ made us mini-gods or that we would be swallowed up in God’s massive being. No, even from the moment of birth, Jesus gave us a sign. We are infinitely connected to God; we can reach for the holy; we can grow into the sacred. “Because of his measureless love, [Christ] became what we are… to enable us to become what he is.” Celebrating the birth of Jesus is the farthest thing from a fantasy. No, today we embrace a deeper reality that goes to the core of what it means to be human.
[1] https://www.somuchbible.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/SoMuchBible-Cross-Union-Week-6.pdf