Scars and us

The Christmas spirit is scars and us.

Let me explain.

Father Damien was a priest who became famous for his willingness to serve lepers. He moved to Kalawao—a village on the island of Molokai, in Hawaii, that had been quarantined to serve as a leper colony.

For 16 years, he lived in their midst. He learned to speak their language. He bandaged their wounds, embraced the bodies no one else would touch, preached to hearts that would otherwise have been left alone. He organized schools, bands, and choirs. He built homes so that the lepers could have shelter. He built 2,000 coffins by hand so that, when they died, they could be buried with dignity.

Slowly, it was said, Kalawao became a place to live rather than a place to die, for Father Damien offered hope.

Father Damien was not careful about keeping his distance. He did nothing to separate himself from his people. He dipped his fingers in the poi bowl along with the patients. He shared his pipe. He did not always wash his hands after bandaging open sores. He got close. For this, the people loved him.

Then one day he stood up and began his sermon with two words: "We lepers…."

Now he wasn't just helping them. Now he was one of them. From this day forward, he wasn't just on their island; he was in their skin. First he had chosen to live as they lived; now he would die as they died. Now they were in it together.

One day God came to Earth and began his message: "We lepers…." Now he wasn't just helping us. Now he was one of us. Now he was in our skin. Now we were in it together.

That's the true story of Christmas.

God giving of himself - so that we might connect with him.

Let's look at it this way. What was in it for Jesus to come down and "put our skin on"?

Jesus prayed in John 17:5, "And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."

Stop right here. A powerful, powerful verse that let's us into the mind and heart of Jesus.

"Glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."

Jesus prays this at the end of 3 years of ministry, he's on the way to the cross and he simply asks that when His mission is all through - that he will be reinstated to His previous glory.

He doesn't ask greater glory, greater glory for all His years of effort in living on earth as God in the flesh, Immanuel.

He simply says, "Restore to me the glory I had."

In a theological sense, Jesus received nothing. He is the eternal Son of God before He comes. And at the end He's the eternal Son of god again.

Nothing more. Nothing less. What then does He gain?

Two things:

Scars
Us

Scars and us.

I am humbled at that. Christ is a perfect model of what ministry is to be in the body of Christ. It's not, "what can I get out of it." If you are going to teach a fourth grade Sunday School class and you're looking for rewards, you are not going to get paid. A lot of people aren't going to notice you're there.

But who will notice that you are there? The fourth graders.

And there is nothing greater or more touching than to have a fourth grader, ten to fifteen years down the road to come up to you and say, "I remember you. You touched my life for Jesus Christ."

That's a wonderful reward.

Scars and us. That's the Christmas spirit that we have been talking about.