I dare to wonder how it must have felt for God the Father to send His
only Son into the world, knowing what was to come. Knowing the price that would be paid to save poor, flawed, sinful, and pathetic wretches like me from eternal separation from God, creation, and all that I love. From damnation.
Today's scriptures remind us that we know that the Father has placed everything in the hands of Jesus, Son of God. Everything. The universe, heaven, earth, global climate change, disease, war and peace, poverty, and also the spiritual welfare of all of humanity going back eons - salvation itself. Why? Because the Father loves the Son. And because the Father loves the Son, the Father entrusts the Son with God's most precious creations - heaven, earth, human beings and all the rest - the whole kit and caboodle. And by sending His Son, the Father grants light and life and love. By sending His Son, the Father gives us hope of a new creation, uniting heaven and earth, and providing for all our needs with a new creation overflowing with the gifts of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.
Take a moment to think of that as we celebrate the birth of baby Jesus in four days!
In the same third chapter of the Gospel of John, a little before today's lesson, we are assured that we have salvation because the Father loves us like the Father loves the Son, and that our Father loved us so much as to sacrifice the one True Son to save wretches like us.
And it's because of that same love that we have a Savior and High Priest, the very manifestation of God Himself in human form, who leads us to sing and pray with the psalmist in Psalm 80:19, over and over again, "
Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved
."
