Valerie Rae Hanneman
Luke 2:6 (NIV) “And while they were there the time came for the Baby to be born.”
Sonday, last week, was a very special day in our Community of Faith. Not only was it the first Sonday of Advent, it was also the first Sonday in December so, as is our tradition, it was also Communion Sonday. Willie talked about what a rare – and yet wonderful - occurrence it is to have both of these celebrations fall on the same day. I am in total agreement with him. How cool is it to celebrate the beginning of Jesus’ birthday party on the same day as when we pause to remember why He was born.
The Communion service began; the elements were being passed to the community. As Willie talked I looked at the cracker in my hand, and just a few moments later the little bit of grape juice and thought, “How small they are, considering what they represent.” My mind filled with thoughts about what these tiny elements represent. (Don’t worry Willie; I was also paying attention to you. I am woman – I multi-task).
The cracker represents His body broken for us, the grape juice His blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins. They represent the sacrifice of His life for our sins. But Jesus’ sacrifice began long before His death. In fact, it began about thirty-three years before then. It began in Bethlehem, in a stable, in a feed trough. The Word of God says that eye has not seen nor mind conceived of what heaven is like. Jesus ruled over eternity in a place so glorious, so magnificent that our minds cannot conceive of it. And He willingly left it to live within the confines of time with His creation. Up until this time God had visited earth in different ways, sometimes physically, like when He appeared it the fiery furnace in Babylonia then He returned to Heaven. Sometimes Holy Spirit came and fell upon a person and that person would prophesy with God’s words, then Holy Spirit returned to Heaven. For awhile His Presence was between the angels of the Ark of the Covenant. But then He left. At the time of Jesus’ birth it had been 400 years since God had last been heard from. But this night is like no other night before, like no other night since, because this is the night that God becomes Emmanuel, God with us. And He will never leave again. Jesus lived with us until He went back to Father and now Holy Spirit lives within us until we go back to Father. And it all changed when Jesus stepped out of glory and into a frail baby boy’s body, to be born in an animal’s shed and laid in a used feed trough. He sacrificed all that He had in eternity to become God With Us.
His sacrifice continued through His earthly life. As a baby He had to learn to walk and learn to talk. He had scrapped knees as a toddler and splinters in His young boy’s hands as He learned in His step-father’s carpenter shop. He had to work as a carpenter to support Himself and His mother. I believe that most of the time He just loved being God Incognito and living daily amongst His creation, but He had “those days” just like we have “those days” when His love for us is the only thing that kept Him here.
When He started His earthly ministry His life became even more difficult – even more of a sacrifice. On one hand there was the time when Peter said “You are Messiah.” How jubilant Jesus must have been to hear these words. And yet, He also had to say to Peter, “Get thee behind me, satan!” How disappointed He must have been when, after He spent so much time teaching the disciples that a life of service is what His followers should aspire to, they argued about who would sit at His right hand, the place of highest recognition. “Okay boys,” He sighed, “Let’s try this again, the first shall be last and the last shall be first….” How painful it must have been for Him to know that there were so many who hated Him so much that they would gladly take His life, when He loved them so much He was going to gladly give His life.
Then came the sacrifice of His death. The night before He dies He shows us the fear of a man when He prays, “If it is possible, take this cup away from Me.” He then shows us the glory of God when He says, “But Thy will be done.” It was His great love – a love that only God could have for us – that caused Jesus to take every step on the way to His death on Calvary. It was His human flesh that felt every punishment and humiliation heaped upon Him until that death.
The size of the cracker and the sip of juice are too small to ever represent the 33 year sacrifice Jesus made for us. But then I realized that their size does not matter. What matters is the size of the remembrance in our hearts and souls; it is the size of the love and gratitude that we lift up to our risen Savior. It is how we translate that remembrance, that love and that gratitude into our everyday life.
LORD Jesus, I stand in awe of a love so compelling that You willingly left the incomparable glory of heaven to live as Emmanuel. I thank You for that love, and I will live a life of remembrance of Your sacrifice for me. I am not much, but what I am, I gladly give to You.
Contact Valerie or sign up for the e-Ministry of FFBC at Valerie@fresnofirst.org