The Reason for the Season

1 John 4:7-21

In his commentary on 1 John, Moody Smith tells of how this paragraph speaks of love in a “distinctly Christian” way. This explanation of the “origin and human motivation for love” he writes “is the basic premise of Christian faith and theology.”[1] God’s love comes first and defines God’s relationship with all of creation. God’s love comes first and inspires what our relationship with God and one another should be. God’s love is made perfect and visible in Jesus, the Christ, whose birth we celebrate on Christmas day. Jesus is born to reveal God’s love for us, this is the reason for the season.

Jesus, as a revelation of God’s love, is the Christ, the Messiah—christos in Greek, or messiach in Hebrew, both translate, “the anointed one.” This comes from the long-standing tradition among the Israelite people of anointing their king or high priest with oil made from frankincense or myrrh. We know the story of these two gifts being brought to Jesus by the “Wise Men”from Matthew’s Gospel. We also know, from the 19th chapter of John’s gospel, that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, brought a mixture of myrrh and aloe to wrap Jesus’ body before laying it in the tomb. The Christ is the love of God who is anointed to be king, but also appointed to die. As Moody Smith puts it: “One could say the love of God is an interpretation of the death of Jesus, or that the early Christians inferred from Jesus’ death that God sent him, out of love, for the purpose of dealing with sin.”

To celebrate Jesus as the Christ, to celebrate Christmas, is to celebrate the presence of God’s love for us in the birth of Jesus, but it is also to celebrate the presence of God’s love for us in his death and resurrection. “God sent his son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.”[2] The opening line of the Presbyterian Brief Statement of faith summarizes this: “In life and in death we belong to God.” This full revelation of God’s love for us is the reason for the season. It’s also the reason why we spend so much time preparing for this season. Celebrating Jesus’ birth is easy; knowing that he will die, not so much; embracing the resurrection…sometimes that feels unrealistic, improbable, impossible, unbelievable.

During Advent we prepare ourselves to receive the full revelation of God’s love. Think back to some of the texts we look at during Advent. Isaiah 11:1, “A shoot shall spring from the stump of Jesse”; what is a stump if not a reminder of a life that has been cut down? We’ve read Jeremiah and Zephaniah telling captive and exiled Israelites they are headed home; what is exile if not a reminder that they have been cut down, and Jerusalem is their stump. Luke 3 told us of how John the Baptist invited people to prepare for the Lord by changing the very nature of their sinful lives and to be baptized to symbolize this transformation. We’ve looked at Isaiah 11: 6-9 which tells of God changing the very nature of violence so that wolves and lambs and calves and lions can all live together in peace; unrealistic. We’ve read of the desert and dry land filling with springs and rivers; improbable. We’ve heard of old women and virgins becoming pregnant; impossible. Stumps, exile, deserts, wilderness, violence, darkness, sin, and even death become the blank canvas upon which the full revelation of God’s love for us is expressed. Can you see it, yet? Can you see the light in the darkness? The unrealistic made real, the impossible made possible, the unbelievable appearing before our eyes. This is how we prepare ourselves for Christmas, for the full revelation of God’s love.

Without understanding God’s love for us in Christ’s death and resurrection, Christmas becomes meaningless. This is not an easy thing to do. But I recently was helped to understand the importance of this in a few brief words spoken by psychologist Susan David in a Ted Talk she gave. Thinking about death can often bring up feelings of sadness, anger, and grief. These natural and normal emotions, she says, are often labeled as “bad emotions.” “But when we push aside normal emotions to embrace false positivity, we lose our capacity to develop skills to deal with the world as it is; not as we wish it should be.”[3] We prepare for Christmas so that when it gets here we aren’t tempted to push aside the reality of God’s love for us. Because the reality of God’s love for us is this: it shows up in the uncomfortable and painful places. While the texts which prepare us for the arrival of God’s anointed one tell of the world as we wish it should be, they don’t ignore the reality of the desert, the wilderness, the darkness; they don’t ignore sadness, grief, anger, lament, fear.

Perfect love casts out fear, but it doesn’t do this by ignoring it, or pretending that it isn’t really there. Perfect love transforms reality by dealing with reality. The reason for the season is God’s love restoring our capacity to deal with the world as it is so that we become active participants in working to make the world as God says it should be. This is why, for the author of 1 John, love is active and incarnate; not simply an abstract concept or an invisible emotion, but an act by which the world is touched, healed, transformed. As a response to God’s love, we are called to act towards our “brothers and sisters”—towards all others—in ways that make love incarnate. We can’t love God, who is invisible, without dealing with the world as it is.

Susan David looks at “what helps people bring the best of themselves to work,” and that is an ability to honestly correspond with their own heart.[4] This is why God becomes incarnate and makes himself visible in Jesus. This is love, God corresponding with our reality, and in doing so showing us how to look at our own hearts and bring the best of ourselves to the work of building God’s kingdom. This is the reason for the season.

[1] Smith, D. Moody. “First, Second and Third John” from Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Preaching and Teaching. 1991, Westminster-John Knox. Louisville, KY. 106.

[2] 1 John 4:10 from The Message by Eugene Peterson.

[3] David, Susan. <https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_david_the_gift_and_power_of_emotional_courage?utm_campaign=social&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=talk&utm_term=social-science&fbclid=IwAR3nb8RpejprraRRCwguQkKRREI8He1jUgr5H7Dxpc2sQciB--OIfXChtC4>

[4] Ibid.

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