Frightened by the clamor of thunder in the night, a little child cried out. Holding her securely in his arms, her father explained that she needn’t fear. God would take care of her because He loved her greatly.
“I know God will take care of me and love me,” she relied. “But right now, Daddy, I want someone with skin on to love me.”
We understand this child’s agony. Sometimes the struggle and strains of life seem too overwhelming to be dealt with by some transcendent and far-removed deity to whom we can only relate from a distance.
We need a God who will touch us – and whom we can touch. We need a God with skin.
Looking back a few weeks into Advent and Christmas, this is what we celebrated. God has put on human skin. It’s more than that, really. God (through Jesus the Son) became a human being. This is bedrock to Christianity,
In John’s Gospel, the central proclamation of Christianity is that God “became flesh and dwelt among us.” The message of the incarnation is that God’s love for us was so real that He came to us in human flesh. He identified with us! The Lord Jesus Christ was both fully God and fully human. In Christ, God can and does touch us – and makes it possible for us to touch the Trinity.
Because of the incarnation (God becoming flesh) we are able to hear a fantastic word from John the Baptizer (found in the Gospel of John, chapter one). The fantastic word is this…
“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
In his book, The Misunderstood God, author Darin Hufford tells about having a sick infant child. Worried, the child is taken to the doctor, who tells the parents to keep a three-day record of the dirty diapers. Each dirty diaper is to be counted. The day and time of the dirty diaper is to be recorded. Then each diaper is to be labeled with the time and date, and held for further study by the doctor, if necessary.
Into the third day, the author picked up his daughter and said, “How’s my little poop machine?”
That’s how it is with us, sometimes. We keep a list. We count, record, and hold onto our “poop” (there is actually a more earthy word I can use here, but we will stick with “poop.)” In time we begin to define ourselves by our “poop.” (“Liar” “Cheater” “Controller” “Greedy” “Manipulative” “___”).
Once we start defining ourselves by our “poop,” it is hard to feel free, cleansed, or acceptable. We look at ourselves and say, “What a little poop machine.”
Here’s the good news: The Lamb of God has taken into himself our brokenness (our SIN, our “poop”). Then he took all that stuff AWAY from us. He yook it to the cross. Our poop no longer counts; it is no longer recorded; it is no londer held onto.
Now (because the Incarnate One has done all of that) WE are all taken into fellowship with the triune God. We are connected, accepted, acceptable, and included.
When Andrew heard John’s announcement, he couldn’t help but follow Jesus. How could you not follow the ONE who comes from the Father and the Spirit, bringing in himself the gift of redemption as He “takes away” all our poop?
But that’s not all Andrew does. So overwhelmed by the good news he had heard and experience in Jesus, he goes and get’s his brother. He wants other to hear and experience the Gospel declaration as well.
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
