To Life!

My youngest grandboy, Elijah, will celebrate his first Christmas this year.  He will be largely non-plused, I imagine, though I'm sure he will spend some time staring at the lights on the tree.  An ornament in his honor will hang there as well.  Maybe I'll put it at eye-level for him.  Then again, that would also be hand-level for Josiah, so maybe not.

Is there any more precious than a babe held lovingly in his mother's arms?  It's a universal symbol of love and protection and LIFE.  It has been said that every baby born is God's Vote that life should go on.  Christmas is the epitome of that of that Vote.  Christmas cards and carols and creches all echo God's will that life continue.

I struggled with today's reading, Luke 20:27-47.  The topics listed in my Bible are "Religious Leaders question Jesus about the Resurrection" and "Jesus Warns against the Religious Leaders."  My first thought was, "I'm in trouble now.  Where am I going to find Christmas in here?"  Frankly, I held that thought for quite sometime as I read and re-read the text.  

Then I saw something again, for the first time.  Jesus replied to a question from the religious leaders with, "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive." (verse 38)  That echos the Christmas sentiment loud and clear.  I can wrap my head around that.  

This affirmation of the Vote is not given while snuggling a helpless babe - all holly and singing angels.  Rather is it just days before Christ will be brutally sacrificed on a cross - and He knows it.  His imminent death is not a new revelation to Him.  He was born to die - to die unjustly and thereby create the perfect path to life.  In the face of death, Jesus affirms life.  As a result of death, Jesus brings life.

It's part of our Christmas story.

It's part of our Christ story.