December 2011

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And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14


The Family of God

That Holy Thing

They all were looking for a king

To slay their foes and lift them high:

Thou cam'st, a little baby thing

That made a woman cry.

George MacDonald

Newborn Jesus.  At this time of year we focus on the Christ Child who came forth from the Father, this Holy Child whose first breath in this world was drawn from air ripe with the damp, earthy smells of a stable.  Straw, hay, animal sweat and dung, the unsophisticated animal sounds of drinking, chewing, stamp of hoof, swish of fly-swatting tail.  Breathe it in deep, Baby Boy, this is the world!  And He did, spared Himself nothing.  For thirty-three years, spared Himself nothing.  And then spared Himself nothing on the Cross.  Just before the Cross, at that last Passover meal shared with His disciples, Jesus said:

I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father. John 16:28

He had left heaven to come into the world, and now He was returning. Before leaving His disciples He urged them that, though they would have troubles in this world, they could take heart because He had overcome the world.  Then He prayed to the Father on their behalf, and also for all those who would come to believe later. For what did He pray?  What was on His heart the night He was betrayed and arrested?  Or perhaps even in part because He was being betrayed. . . Did He ask the Father to keep His disciples physically safe during the tumultuous times just ahead?  No.  Did He ask the Father to clear the way for them to teach in the temple, or to make great, persuasive orators of them?  Nope.  Did He ask the Father to provide them with basic needs like food and shelter?  No, not that either.  What was His primary concern for them that night? 

First He asked the Father to keep them from the evil one, and then He asked that those who had been given to Him would be one.

. . .I come to You, Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.  vs. 11b

. . . that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us. . . vs. 21

And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one. . . vs. 22

I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one. . . vs. 23

            Five times in this one prayer Jesus asked the Father that those who had been given to Him would be made one.  Five times!  And this wasn't any ordinary oneness, any ordinary "being on the same page" kind of likemindedness for which He asked.  It was a oneness like that of the Father and the Son, a holy, extraordinary, supernatural oneness.  Why did He ask for this?  What was riding on this oneness?  Only everything.

            . . . that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.  vs. 23

            And today, what's riding on oneness among those who are His?  In over two thousand years, the answer hasn't changed. 

Dear Lord Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer who became flesh and dwelt among us first as "a little baby thing," we thank You, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, for humbling Yourself and leaving the fragrance of heaven to enter our earthy world.  The Cross couldn't have happened without this first obedience.  The Father could have sent You here fully mature as He did the first Adam, but He sent a Baby instead. Whether our own or someone else's, we have each felt the sweet weight of a newborn in our arms, the tenderness they bring to our hearts, the unifying, protective feelings they evoke.  Newborn Jesus, we thank You for coming to us this way.  We cherish this thought of You!  May it remind us that You came so we could be made perfect in one with each other, as well as with You and the Father.

 

Daye Phillippo

November 2011