Monday, December 7, 2015

Christmas Invites Community




“…And when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby jumped in her womb.” Luke 1:41.

Eugene Peterson describes the Incarnation with this colloquialism: “The Word [Jesus] became flesh and moved into the neighborhood,” (John 1:14, The Message). 

Although 21st century urban neighborhoods do not always offer the close community this conveys, it does give us a sense of Jesus’ humanity and presence. What happened when Jesus took on human form was an expansion of a community that existed among the Trinity from before eternity. Dallas Willard describes it like this: “God is in himself a sweet society of love, with a first, second and third person to complete a social matrix where not only is there love and being loved, but also shared love for another” (Renovation of the Heart, p 184) 

In our social media era, we’re familiar with communities that form beyond the bounds of geography. Like-minded folks form groups to encourage, support, perhaps inspire one another. We all know the sense of community that forms among individuals who have experienced a similar grief or tragedy. We get a sense of that in the lead-up to the Christmas story.

Relatives—likely separated by a number of years—experience overlapping, unplanned pregnancies. Elizabeth has not told anyone she’s pregnant, yet Mary shows up unexpectedly on her doorstep, also expecting. At the sound of Mary’s voice, Elizabeth’s unborn child responded with a prenatal flip. Something like a hearty hello and warm hug among friends who haven’t seen each other in a while. But it was more than the joy long-separated friends experience when meeting again.

Even before his birth, John the Baptist recognized Mary’s unborn child as the Messiah he would be announcing and preparing the way for. His sense of community exhibits no sibling rivalry, no competitive spirit, no jealousy, but pure delight.

The nature of John and Jesus’s community is evident throughout John’s life. Called on to baptize Jesus, John demurs, but points to his relative as One greater than himself, the Lamb of God. John showed no animosity when his followers left him to follow Jesus (John 1:35-51). 

John’s sense of community/brotherhood overcame human tendencies of pride and competition. Theirs is a community that even withstands questioning as John sought reassurance that Jesus was, indeed, the Promise Israel had been looking for since Eden (Genesis 3:15).

A relationship with Jesus is that kind of community between Him and you: one of ultimate trust, intimate communication and unconditional love. May that deepening communion with Jesus express itself in your life with great joy and grace toward others in this Advent season and into 2016.