Friends,

Merry Christmas! Are you busier than you’d like to be? Yeah, me too.

It’s easy to miss the reason for the season even as we prepare for it, so I wanted to humbly offer a meditation. It will be quick and simple and fully written by a human.

One of my favorite meditations about Christ’s birth is from G.K. Chesterton, describing the scene in Bethlehem after the visiting shepherds had danced their way back to their flocks:

“The strange kings fade into a far country and the mountains resound no more with the feet of the shepherds; and only the night and the cavern lie in fold upon fold over something more human than humanity".”  -G.K. Chesterton

More human than humanity.…

Stunning. This newborn child will provide us all a front row seat to witness what an unblemished human is really like, living as designed, in loving connection with its Creator. Jesus is a true man… a true human son of God…the best glimpse of who we really are and who we are designed to become since Adam walked shamelessly in the garden.

Jesus is, perfectly, what we are, imperfectly: human image bearers of God.

My favorite passage of scripture to reflect on for Christmas is from Isaiah:

The child, sent by the Heavenly Father, will be called Everlasting Father?

Stunning. It’s not a name I would have thought Jesus would carry, given that He is not the first member of the Trinity, but the second, the Son of God. This paradox is worth exploring. So let’s ask for help -

Our Father in heaven, please reveal to us how Christ your Son, the One You sent to us as a child, is the Everlasting Father?

Let’s be curious.

Maybe the Christ is called Everlasting Father because “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.” (Jn 1:3) 

The infant Christ child was, in fact, the Father of all creation, from beginning to end.

Or maybe the Christ is called Everlasting Father because He promised not to leave us as orphans, He payed the full price necessary to adopt us, and He came back to take us home with Him. (Jn 14:18) That’s something a father would do.

Perhaps the Christ child is called Everlasting Father because He would grow up, as all sons do, to look just like His Father.

Philip the apostle said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?

-Jn 14:8-9

We are all imperfect sons, raised by imperfect fathers, who bear our father’s image, imperfectly.

Christ is a perfect son, raised by a perfect Father, who bears His Father’s image, perfectly.

Maybe Christ is called Everlasting Father because God knew we needed a front row seat to witness a perfect human father, living in loving connection with His children. Jesus was the greatest father ever seen, the flawless and complete image of Our Heavenly Father no human had beheld and enjoyed since Adam walked shamelessly in the garden.

“The Father and I are one.” - Jn 10:30

God, Our Father, fathers us eternally through his Son, Jesus Christ, to reveal to us the Truth about what He is really like…

• He knows us perfectly

• He understands us perfectly

• He loves us completely

• He thinks the best of us

• He plans the best for us

• He speaks the truth in love

• He will never abandon us

• He never takes sides against us

Maybe it’s one of these reasons. Or some of them. Or none. Or all. In any case, bless God Our Father for naming His Son, Jesus Christ, the Everlasting Father. It’s a treasure to be uncovered for eternity.

May the Lord bless you richly with a revelation of the wonders of His love.

Merry Christmas!

Jay