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"Protect the ball." That was my comment to Rebekah as we debriefed from
the basketball game earlier in the evening. What do those words mean? They
mean that when you are dribbling you need to dribble and maneuver your body in
such a way that the other team can't steal it from you. But how do you do this?
You protect the ball by 1) dribbling low instead of high 2) bending your knees
instead standing straight up, 3) using your gluteus maximus to ward off defenders.
Those are the instructions for "protecting the ball."
These instructions are helpful, but they are no substitute for a physical
demonstration with a real live person. So right went to the driveway and practiced
dribbling the ball in a way that maximized protection. I dribbled and let her try to
steal it while I dribbled low, bent my knees and used my body to keep her away
from the ball. Then I let her try it. She improved and is on her way to becoming a
very effective ball handler.
Christmas is about God coming down to earth to demonstrate how we should
live. For many years his children had been guided by written instructions. The Law
of Moses, epitomized by the 10 Commandments, was a divinely inspired record of
do's and don'ts. The law taught that we should love our neighbor as ourselves and
love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. The law instructed us to keep
the Sabbath holy by avoiding unnecessary work on that day. Those were the
written instructions.
But it took God becoming man to demonstrate what it means to love our
neighbor. Jesus did this by stopping to help the woman with a bleeding issue when
he was on his way to an important speaking engagement. He allowed children to
climb on his lap while he blessed them through prayer. He forgave a close friend
who denied knowing him when powerful people were threatening to take him to
prison. Most importantly, he absorbed cruel and unjustified punishment in order to
spare us from unspeakable pain and isolation. This is how Jesus incarnated the
love of God. Everyone knew they were supposed to love God and neighbor before
Jesus arrived. None of that was new. It was all written in the book. What was
new was the incarnation, the real live demonstration of human love offered by God
in real time.
John begins his epistle (not Gospel) with the words, "That which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word
of life" (1 John 1:1). God had always been the giver and creator of life. God had
spoken the world into being and his breath had made Adam a living being. His
word never came back void. His word was life. His word gave life.
But in a barn in Bethlehem, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. We
would no longer be limited to reading the instruction manual or even watching a
teaching video. We could watch God love, heal, forgive, even while he watched him
sleep, eat, and talk. This is the profound mystery and gift of God at Christmas.
God did more than tell us to "protect the ball." He showed us how to "protect the
ball." And if we do what he teaches, we'll make it all the way to the basket and
score the winning goal.
Source: Yates Baptist Church Newsletter
See Also:
The Gospel According to Mary by Michael Horton
It is into this world of competing kings and their kingdoms that we discover an obscure girl in an equally obscure part of the world, who receives the most extraordinary announcement and becomes the first evangelist of the new covenant.
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