Christmas eve from the Father’s vantage point

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. Matthew 1:24-25                                                                      

How do you suppose God the Father felt on that Christmas eve long ago, knowing that His one and only Son was about to emerge from Mary’s womb and join humankind? Only those who have lost someone dear to their hearts can begin to understand what God was going through. Steve Saint has tasted this pain. As a little boy, he lost his father at the hands of the Ecuadorians when he and four other men laid down their lives in bringing the Good News of Christmas. Then later in life, his daughter, Stephanie, a beautiful and talented girl who loved the Lord and was also serving Him, died, leaving a very empty spot in Steve’s life. The following, used with his permission, describes how he felt at Christmas:

 “What significance can there be in gifts and carols when that happy bouncing little girl with pigtails – grown up to be our stately and beautiful daughter – is not here to sing with us? Every tradition of sound and smell that makes this season jolly, reminds me that my heart has been rent.

“I finally begin to grasp a reality of this season. It took a Father’s broken heart to make my place at the great Celebration! That same Father spent the first Christmas without His Child to buy me a spot at His banquet table. With His grief He has enfolded my little girl again and my heart will be healed.”

Christmas is more than gifts, tinsel and celebration. The joy of the coming of Jesus was bought by the loneliness of His absence in heaven that we might forever be united in His presence in the Father’s house.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wraped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:8-14