God’s Desire To Be Loved
by Rev.
Francis A. Baker
Christmas Day
“Thou art
beautiful above the sons of men; grace is poured abroad in Thy lips; therefore
hath God blessed Thee forever. Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Thou most
mighty. With Thy comeliness and Thy beauty, set out, proceed prosperously and
reign.” Psalms 45:3-4
I
A
The Church
calls on us to-day to rejoice and be glad for the Incarnation of the Son of
God. With a celebration peculiar to this Feast, she breaks the dead silence of
the night with her first Mass of joy. She repeats it again as the East reddens
with the dawn. And still again, when the sun is shining in full day, she offers
anew a Mass of thanksgiving for a blessing which can never be sufficiently
praised and magnified.
B
I have thought that I could not better attune your hearts to all this gladness and gratitude than by reminding you of one of the motives of the Incarnation. Why did our Lord become man? And why did He become Man in the way He did? I answer, out of His desire to be loved by us.
C
There is a love of benevolence, which is content simply with doing good without asking a return. God has this love for us. Nature and reason tell us so. “He makes His sun to rise on the good and the bad, and rain upon the just and the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45) And there is another love, the love of friendship, which seeks to be united to the object of its love. And the Incarnation shows us that God has this kind of love for man. His love makes us lovable in His eyes, and this again makes Him vehemently desire our love. This will be my subject this morning – the Incarnation, an evidence of God’s desire to be loved by us.
II
A
And,
first, observe, that there is no other reason given for the Incarnation which
sufficiently accounts for it in all its circumstances. There are several
reasons for the Incarnation. It is the doctrine of many Catholic theologians
that God would have become Man even if man had never sinned; that it was part of
His original plan in forming the creature thus to unite it to Himself. Again,
it is said that our Lord became Man in order to make satisfaction for sin. And
a third reason alleged for His becoming Man, is, that He might give us a perfect
example.
B
Now all these reasons are true: but neither of them alone, nor all of them together, entirely account for the Incarnation with all its circumstances.
C
Not the first, for even if God had predetermined that His Son should become Man, irrespective of man’s transgression, certainly in that case He would not have come poor and sorrowful, as He did.
D
The necessity of a satisfaction for sin accounts indeed for our Lord’s sufferings in part, but not altogether; for He suffered far more than was necessary. Besides, it was not necessary for a Divine Person to have suffered for us unless it had pleased God to require a perfect satisfaction, which He was free to demand or dispense with.
E
The desire to give a good example may be suggested as the explanation of our Lord’s humiliation; but when we consider a moment, we will see that though a good man really does give a good example, he does very few, if any of his actions, for the mere sake of giving it.
F
There are many things, then, in our Lord’s becoming Man, and His life as Man, that need some further reason. What is that reason? It is His great desire to be loved by us. Suppose this, and everything is clear.
G
I do not mean to say that this account of our Lord’s Incarnation makes it any less wonderful – it makes it more so – but it gives a motive for it all. Suppose He was influenced by an intense desire to gain our love, and then we see why He stooped so low, why He did so much more than was necessary, why he was so lavish in condescension – in a word, this is the explanation of what would otherwise seem to be the excess of His love.
III
A
Then, again, let us consider how our Lord’s Incarnation is adapted to win our love. “When we see means perfectly adapted to an end, we are apt to conclude that they were chosen in view of that end. Now, our Lord’s humiliation is in all its parts wonderfully calculated to attract love.
B
His taking our nature is especially so. There is a wonderful power in blood. To be of kin is a tie that survives all changes and all times. Now, here our Lord makes Himself of kin to us, of the same blood. He is no stranger, before whom we need feel at a great distance, but our relation, of our flesh and blood.
C
And then as Man, He has clothed Himself with everything that can make Him attractive in the eyes of man. He makes His first appearance in the world as an Infant, a beautiful Babe. How attractive is a beautiful child! Men even of rugged natures are softened by looking at it. A little child brings a flood of grace and light into a house.
D
Now, today, the Son of God is a Babe at Bethlehem. He has the beauty of infancy, but there is also a super-added beauty, a light playing on His features that is not of earth, the light of Infinite Wisdom and Eternal Love. See, He looks around and smiles, and stretches out His hands, as if inviting us to caress Him.
IV
A
In many children this beauty of infancy is transient, but in our Lord it was the mark of a grace and loveliness that followed Him through life. It is evident that there was something most attractive about our Lord to those who approached Him.
B
As He grew in stature, He increased in favor, not only with God but with men. When He had attained to manhood, He was such a one that children willingly gathered around Him in the streets, and people stopped to look at Him as He passed, and men’s minds were strangely stirred in them as He spoke, and the thought came into women’s hearts, “How happy to be the mother of such a Son!”
A
Who but He
knew how perfectly to mingle dignity with familiarity, zeal with serenity, and
austerity with compassion? Even at the distance of time that we are from
His earthly life, His words reach us like the sweetest music. What other
preacher can say the same words again and again, and never make us weary?
B
Whose tones are there that linger in our ears like His, and come like a spell to our hearts in times of temptation and sorrow? Why, even scoffers have acknowledged this. The beauty and excellence of our Savior’s character have wrung a eulogium from a celebrated opponent of Christianity, and at least a momentary confession that its author was Divine.
VI
Then, to
the attractions of His character, our Lord has added the destitution of His
circumstances, in order to gain our love. It is natural for us to love anything
that is dependent on us. The sick child that needs to be nursed, the helpless
and depressed, the poor that appeal to us, even the bird and the dog that look
to us for their food, come to have a place in our hearts. Now, our Lord, at
least even in this way to win us, has placed Himself in a state of complete
dependence on us. From the cradle to the grave, and even beyond the grave, He
appeals to man for the supply of every want.
VII
A
Think what it might have been. Think of the twelve legions of angels that are impatient to come and minister to Him. But no! He restrains them. For his swathing-bands, He will be a debtor to Mary’s care. For a habitation, He will put up with the stall of the ox and the ass. The manger from which the cattle are fed shall be His cradle.
B
St. Joseph shall bear the expenses of his early years; and when St. Joseph is gone, and He has begun His ministry of preaching, Joanna and the other holy women shall minister to Him of their substance. And at last, Magdalene shall anoint His body for burial, and Joseph of Arimathea shall give Him a winding-sheet and a grave.
VIII
I
said He carried His poverty beyond the grave. And so He does. For His
churches, for the glory of His altars, for His priests, for His sacraments, even
for the bread and wine which shall serve as veils for His presence, He depends
on us,
that out of love we may minister to Him, and by ministering may love Him better.
IX
A
And,
further; while on the one hand our Lord thus appeals to our affections by the
poverty of His condition, on the other He compels our love by the greatness of
His sacrifices for us. In His Sermon on the Mount, He bids us, “If any man
force us to go with Him a mile, to go with him another;” (Matthew 5:41-42)
and certainly it has been by this rule that He has acted toward us. I have
already said our Lord has done far more than was necessary to redeem us.
B
Why, in strictness of justice, He had ransomed us before He was born. They very first act of love He made to His Father, after His conception, was enough to redeem countless worlds. But He did not then go back to His Father. He stayed on earth to do more for us. He would not leave anything undone that could be done. He would not leave a single member of His body, a single power of His soul, that was not turned into a sacrifice for us.
X
A
No doubt, if, at the birth of any child, we could foresee all it would have to suffer during its life, there would be enough to mingle sadness with our joy. But this child was pre-eminently a child of sorrow; and Simeon, when he took Him up in his arms, foresaw that the sad future would break His mother’s heart.
B
Yes, that little Child is the willing victim of our sins. On that little head the crown of thorns shall be placed. Those tiny hands shall be pierced with nails. Those eyes shall weep. Those ears shall be filled with reproach and blasphemy. That smooth cheek be spit upon. That mouth be filled with vinegar and gall. And why was all this? He Himself has told us: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself.” (John 12:32) That was the hope that urged Him on. That was the key to His whole life. It was all an effort, a struggle, to gain our love.
XI
A
And,
once more: the effect of the Incarnation has been love. We read God’s
purposes in their fulfillment. We see what our Lord intended in His
humiliation, by looking at what it has produced. There is no doubt that the
love of God has been far more general among men, and far more tender, since the
Incarnation. Only compare St. Antony of Padua, fondling the Infant Jesus, with
Elias, covering his face with his mantle before the Lord in the cave at Mt.
Horeb. Compare the book of Job with the Epistles of St. Paul or St. John. God
is in both books; but the Prophet sees Him through a glass darkly: the Apostles
“have seen and handled the
Word of Life.”
B
One of the most beautiful passages in the Old Testament, and one which approaches the nearest to the New, is the history of the martyrdom of the seven sons with their mother in the time of Judas Maccabaeus. But how this story pales before the Acts of the Christian Martyrs! In these Jewish heroes we see, indeed, faith in God, and remembrance of His promises, and hope in the Resurrection; but how different is this from the glowing language of an Ignatius, who claimed to carry Christ within him; or of an Agnes, who claimed to be the Spouse of Christ, whom He had betrothed with a ring, and adorned with bridal jewels!
XII
Nor is it only in highly spiritual people, or highly gifted people of any kind, that we see this Christian, personal love of God. The poor, the dull, the ignorant cannot understand the abstract arguments about God, but they can understand a crucifix, they know the meaning of Bethlehem and Calvary. And many an old woman, who knows little more, has learned enough to make her happy, in the thought that “God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting.” (John 3:16)
XIII
A
Then there
are children; some people complain that they find it very hard to interest them
in religion. I will tell you how to succeed. Tell them the story of Joseph
and Mary, and the Babe lying in a manger. Tell them about the shepherds
that were watching their flocks by night, and the angels that came and talked to
them. Tell them about the garden in which Jesus was betrayed, and the
cross on which he died, and you will see their little eyes open wide with
interest.
B
I knew a boy who, when he read the story of Peter’s denial of our Lord, got up from his seat, and, with tears in his eyes, exclaimed, “Oh, mother, what made Peter do that!” And I have heard of a little boy, who, when he was dying, called his mother to his side, and told her that he had kept all the money she had given him, in a little box, and when he was dead he wanted her to take it and buy a coat for the Infant Jesus.
C
I know it was a strange, childish request; but it showed that our Savior had found His way to that little boy’s heart: and sure I am that when, in Paradise, he stood before the bright throne of Christ, and heard from those divine lips the praise of his short life, that legacy was not forgotten.
D
Yes; our
Lord has found out the way to win hearts. He has succeeded. The issue proves
the wisdom of his plan. As heaven fills up with saints flaming with love,
He says, “Whence are these? And who hath begotten them?” Then He remembers that
they are the fruit of the travail of His soul, and they were born to
Him at Bethlehem and Calvary, and He “is satisfied.”
XIV
A
The
truth is, we are not so sensible of this effect of the Incarnation, because we
are so familiar with it. We hardly realize how meager men’s notions about God
naturally are. Of course, we know by reason the existence of God, and many of
His attributes; but without revelation, these are very indistinct. We know that
He is great and good and beautiful; but still there is a gulf between us and
Him. Partly, no doubt, this arises from our sense of guilt.
B
We fear God, because we have offended Him. But there is a dread of God, and a sense of distance from Him, that does not come from guilt. The most innocent feel it the keenest. I know not why, but we dread Him because He is so spiritual. He is so strange and mysterious. We cannot think what He is like. We lose ourselves when we try to think of Him.
C
There are so many things in the world that frighten us. We do not know how God feels toward us. We have a difference in approaching Him which we cannot shake off. Now, all the while, God is full of the most wonderful love to man. Heaven is not enough for Him. Even with the angels, it is a wilderness because man is absent. At last He resolves what He will do. He will lay aside altogether that majesty which affrights man so much.
D
“The distance is too great,” He says, “between Me and My creatures. I Myself will become a creature. Man flies from Me. I will become Man. Everything loves its kind. I will make Myself like him. ‘I will draw him with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love.’ (Osee 11:4) I will tell him how the case stands - that I love him and desire his love. I will tell him to love Me, not for his sake, but Mine; and when I have made him understand this – when I have gained his love; when I have healed his wound and made him happy – then I will come back, and call on all the angels of heaven, and say, ‘Rejoice with Me, for I have found the sheep that I had lost.’”
XV
A
Such is the enterprise that our Lord enters on today. He comes to tell you how He loves you, and how He desires your love. “Behold, I bring to you glad tidings of great joy, and this shall be the sign to you: “you shall find the Infant wrapped in Swaddling-clothes, and laid in a manger.” It is a sign of Humanity. It is a sign of Beauty. It is a sign of Humility. It is a sign of Love. He speaks to you, not in words, but in actions. The cold wind whistles in His cavern, but He will not have it otherwise. David said: “I will not enter into the tabernacle of my home: I will not go up into my bed. I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids, or rest to my temples, until I find out a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.” (Psalm 132:3)
B
So the new-born Savior will not take any comfort till He has got your love. He is waiting in the manger, and until you come and take Him home, He will accept no other. The palaces of the world, and all the jewels and the gold are His, but He will have none of them. He wants to abide in your lowly house, and in your poor heart. His head is full of dew, and His locks of the drops of the night, and He knocks for you to open to Him.
C
Oh, today, I do not envy those who will not receive Him. I do not envy those who are wandering about in error, and know not the true Bethlehem, the House of Bread, the Holy Church of God. I do not envy the disobedient Christian. I do not envy the indifferent man, for whom Christ is born in vain.
D
But I praise those who make it their first care to keep themselves united to Jesus Christ. And most of all, I praise those who strive to maintain a holy familiarity with Jesus Christ; who by prayer, by communion, by self-denial, by generous obedience, return their Savior love for love.
XVI
A
O may brethren, why do we grovel on earth, when we might have our conversation in heaven? Why do we set our hearts on creatures, when we might have the Creator for our friend? Why do we follow the Evil One, when He that is beautiful above the sons of men is our Master and our Lord? Why are we so weak in temptation, so despairing in trial, when we might have the peace and joy of the children of God? What more can we want?
B
God has given us the Only-begotten Son, the Mighty God, the Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace; and how shall He not with Him freely give us all things? All we want is to recognize our happiness. When Jacob woke from sleep, he said: “The Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.” So we do not realize how near God is to us.
C
What is the sound that reaches us today? It is the voice of the Beloved, calling to us: “My love, My spouse, My undefiled!” Yes, my Lord, I answer to Thy call. I enter today into the school of The Holy Love. I make now the resolution that “henceforth neither life nor death, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in “Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38)