A Holy Night Wrapped in LOVE…
I generally read a modern version of the Bible, but every once in a while, there is vernacular in the King James that resonates. One such verse is found in 2 Corinthians 2:14, which says, “For the love of Christ constraineth us …”
In 1936, Dr. J. Gresham Machen, a Presbyterian theologian, delivered a sermon highlighting this passage and said, “In these great verses (14 & 15) Paul speaks of love as a constraining force. Love, he says, hems us in. There are certain things which love prevents us from doing.”[i]
One of the first acts of love given a newborn is to constrain the infant. Hemmed tightly in a swaddling blanket, newborns feel safe from the big new world they’ve entered.
Luke 2:7 (KJV) confirms the young mother, Mary, did that same thing:
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes …”
Mary didn’t have a sweet burrito baby blanket covered with cute little animal prints in which to wrap her newborn son. Other Bible versions report the “swaddle” the mother of God used were merely strips of cloth. Instead of cute prints, the Baby Jesus literally slept in a manger from which real barnyard animals were fed.
Even as an earthly mama is motivated by love when she wraps her newborn tightly, Mary, that holy night so long ago, swaddled her remarkable baby in LOVE.
It feels right to me that LOVE is the theme of this final week of Advent.
LOVE for our “babies” is expressed in different—and expanding—ways throughout the years. For example, we enjoyed the great and enduring love of family on December 5th with an early Christmas celebration shared with both daughters, their husbands, plus two of our older grandkids, Sydney and Jackson, who were visiting from Reno. Another granddaughter, Mackenzie, was missed so much.
Family festivities began by watching our granddaughter, Emalynn’s excellent Christmas program at church and continued at our house with festive foods and a first round of opening Christmas presents.
I pray you and all those you love will feel the warm blanket of God’s LOVE surround you throughout the remainder of the Advent season …
Merry Christmas!!
[1] https://www.opc.org/machen/ConstrainingLove.html