We are not alone: Christmas meditations on 1st John 4

I have often wondered, if at root, people are more generally afraid of being alone, than they are of being together with someone or something dangerous.  While the answer might seem obvious, I think the way people tend to live shows a less obvious answer.  From the abused who cannot seem to leave their abuser, to the persecuted who cannot seem to leave their persecutors, the world is full of people who choose to be beaten, abused, tormented, and ultimately destroyed rather than risk being alone… from individuals, to entire nations, who subject themselves to abusive tyranny for the sake of not being alone in the world.  While I think most people are afraid of being chased by wild beasts (either human or inhuman,) I think most people are deep down, more afraid of being entirely alone.

And I think this makes sense, considering how God has made us.  We are social creatures, and left to our devices, we will create social structures.  Every person is conceived and born through the actions of other people, whether their parents are loving and kind, or cruel and selfish.  We emerge into this world through a social construct, and we live all our days in some relationship to other people.  Whether we are citizens of a community or nation, or simply members of our family, it doesn’t matter where we are in the world, those relationships remain.  Even if our families and communities become our enemies, they are still our families and communities—the relationship may be poisonous or prosperous, but the relationship still remains.  We cannot escape our connectedness, even if we are cast off on a desert island.  We still have some relationship to someone, somewhere.

And for all our connectedness and community, there is still one terrifying event we must all endure alone:  death.  It is the truly unnatural thing in all creation, a disruption of all that is created good and pure.  It is the consequence of evil and rebellion, of the disruption of creation itself, brought into the world by the evil and rebellion of its chief creatures:  mankind.  I think death tends to frighten us so much, because we know, deep down, it is so unnatural, and so out of synch with the rest of the created universe.  But then, somewhere deep down, we also know that it is just.  No matter how deeply we dig into ourselves, we find that we are responsible for poisoning relationships with our families, our communities, our friends and neighbors.  We are responsible for wounding those around us, using other people for our own designs, and casting them aside when we have what we want.  We are responsible for the governments of tyranny that oppress through myriad ways, even if they have the veneer of justice and law.  We are responsible for the distortions of this universe, and it is right that we should be taken out of those relationships, stripped of our ability to wound and destroy others, and cast into the eternal prison where the only relationship left to us, is that which exists between those who are utterly alone, without hope of reunion or grace.  Death is the gateway we face all alone, which points the way to our just condemnation, of being alone in our self created misery forever.  This is the gift the devil offered our first parents, so many millennia ago—the gift they took and passed on to us, which at first looks and tastes so sweet, only to poison us and kill us, leaving us alone for all eternity.

But God does not so easily let go of us, even as we try so hard to run from Him.  God, Himself a perfect community in unity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternally in perfect relationship with each other, chose to reach out and call us into His community.  This is the great mystery of Christmas—not that we loved and sought out God, but rather, that God loved and sought out us, by sending His Only Begotten Son, to be the propitiation of our sins.  God chose to take the wounded community of mankind upon Himself, and in the Person of His Son, be wounded for our transgressions.  He took the poison of our broken humanity into His perfect and eternal life.  He walked alone through the dark portal of death, carrying the weight of every evil and wicked thought, word, and deed, of every person who was or will be born upon this globe.  For all humanity, the Son of God leaves His perfect communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, so that He might die for the sins of the world.  This is the meaning of the sign accompanying His birth—He is born of the Virgin, taking our flesh upon His divinity, becoming perfect Man and perfect God in one Person, for the sake of our salvation.  This is the love of God for us, that He would sacrifice His own perfect harmony, to seek and to save us, who without Him, have nothing but desolation and an eternity of solitude awaiting us.  For He so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life.

But of course, the Author of Life could not be held down by death and hell.  The poison of death He took into Himself, He destroyed by the power of His Almighty life.  The gates of hell opened to receive Him, but in so doing, were destroyed by the power of His majesty.  Death and hell were destroyed for all who would cling to Jesus, for Jesus could not be held by the bonds of death.  In Him is life, and not just in this world, but for the eternity to come.  In Him is the restoration of the created unity, flowing out of the blessed harmony of the Holy Trinity.  In Him, we find the fullness of community and relationship, beginning with Jesus as our Savior and Lord, and through Him, to all the world.  In Jesus, all wounds are healed, all sins forgiven, all wickedness cleansed.  In Jesus, the broken relationships and communities of our fallen world, find their reconciliation, healing, and peace, through His boundless grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness.  Where our Lord is victorious over sin, death, hell, and the devil, so are all who are found in Him.

This is the beauty and wonder of Christmas, of the Incarnation of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Here we see that we are never alone, even though we pass through the valley of the shadow of death.  Here we find, that even if our human communities and relationships are broken and wounded in this world, He is the restoration and the promise of eternal community and life.  Here is the hope of salvation, that no one ever need be alone, even for a moment, in this world or the next.  And here is the promise, that we need not take the false dichotomy of fear, that attempts to choose between wicked community or being alone, but rather to live in the perfect fellowship of the Holy Trinity, together with all the saints and martyrs, prophets and apostles, who live in Jesus Christ by grace through faith.  Here is the victory that overcomes the evil one, death, and hell:  Jesus Christ.

Are you hurting and wounded this Christmas season, by the poor choices of yourself and others?  Do you sit in the dark, afraid to be alone, and afraid to be with others who despitefully use you?  Are you fearful and depressed, weary and broken, weighed down by a world that crushes upon you?  Be of good cheer, dear neighbor—Christ is calling to you.  He is with you.  His rod and His staff, they are here to comfort and protect you.  Jesus saw you, knew you, before He called the world into existence, and His great love for you, took Him to the Cross, the grave, and even hell itself, to save you.  He is the one who seeks you in perfect love, never to harm you, but to heal you and restore you—to bring you into the perfect love and harmony that He has with the Father and the Holy Spirit, that you might live in Him forever.  And there, in that perfect harmony of love and community with the God who created you, seeks you, and saves you, you will find a fellowship with all the others He has brought into that same fellowship with Himself.  Through Jesus, you will find the family you never thought possible in this world, and with His love and grace pouring through you, you will find the healing waters that will pour over all the other people in this world who so desperately need Him, too.  Healed, restored, and blessed to be in the communion of His saints, you will become His means of reaching ever more people with His grace and truth.  Far from the depths of sorrow and despair you once knew, alive with His life and love, your mouth shall carry His Words of forgiveness, hope and salvation—your hands shall do His work to care for your neighbor, and your feet shall go to His mission field.  He shall live in you, and you in Him.

And this is Christmas.  God is with us.  And who shall separate us from so great a love, that crossed all eternity to bring us into His eternal and blessed fellowship?  In Him there is no fear, no despair.  For in Jesus, all are made alive forevermore, and all the pain of this life is washed away in His eternal embrace.  He comes for you—He calls to you.  Hear Him.  Believe.  Live.  Amen.