The eCrozier

Do not worry about anything. (Philippians 4:5b)

What is it about our Advent preparation for Christmas that should lead us not to worry about anything? For St. Paul, the answer is simple: Jesus. The divine decision to take up human flesh is a sign that God will never give up on the world. It’s a signal that God graced humanity in the person of Jesus and redeemed us. So, the creation is good, not because of its elemental goodness, but because God has chosen to grace it by being born into it. Such grace isn’t our doing. It’s the work of God in creation. It’s the Light of God in Jesus shining into creation, a creation that’s bent and disordered by human sin. And our fears expose our bent, disorderly sinful nature. It’s hard, maybe even impossible, for us not to “worry about anything” when we’re gripped by our fears. Try telling someone not to worry when they’re afraid. It doesn’t work, does it? When fear grips us, we don’t act in love. When fear rules our lives, we live by our darker side. This makes us prone to violence, like cornered and fearful animals.

But God has done something for us in Jesus that calms our fears. Jesus is the gift that can’t be taken away. Jesus is the ultimate word to us that we’ve nothing to fear, even from God. And many people do fear God, but not in the Biblical sense of being humbled before God. Many people fear God is out to get them. This is due in some part by our cultural Christmas celebration. You know the song: “You better watch out; you better not cry, you better not pout I’m telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town.” Of course, some people just insert “Jesus” in the place of “Santa.” Thus, we get the following bad theology: If you’ve been good you, then get a present (i.e., go to heaven), but if you’ve been bad, then you get coal in your stocking (i.e., go to hell). That denies the truth of God’s grace for sinners like you and me. Anyway, a God who wanted us to fear him and his wrath would’ve never been born into the world as a helpless child.

If God risked becoming a vulnerable baby, then you and I are going to be just fine held in the hands of such a God. That’s the liberating good news embedded in Christmas; that God’s love is more powerful than human sin and fear. God plops Jesus down in the midst of humanity and says: “Here’s my baby boy. To prove how much I love you, I’m willing to let you do whatever you want with him” (and, of course, on Good Friday, we took God up on that offer, didn’t we?). Maybe some people fear (hate?) God because God has taken away our agency in the matter? We had no say in Christmas. God just did it

Jesus then becomes the gift from God that can’t be returned even if we have the original sale’s receipt. Jesus might be the only real gift we receive this Christmas. Many gifts are in fact a quid pro quo exchange, where we find out if what we gave others is as nice as what they gave us. And if we didn’t reciprocate with a gift of equal or greater value, then we feel guilty. The gift of Jesus, however, can’t be reciprocated in any way. Jesus is the pure, unmerited gift from God that we can’t negotiate or mitigate, let alone reciprocate. We can only accept this unconditional gift that has no strings attached.

+Scott