CS SUBEDI, Advent Meditation I (2018), Nepal

God’s Embrace in Immanuel

When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, (who is called) Immanuel--which
means, "God with us," to redeem...that we might receive the full rights of
sons. [Galatians 4:4; Matthew 1:23b; Galatians 4:5--New International Version]

Separation, though voluntary or forced, is cruel. I know the pain and stigma of
being separated from my father since my early teenage. It is like an amputation of
soul. All foundations dissolve, security caves in, love evaporates, and a known
meaning of life takes flight. Then a person is changed forever; forced to live in
nostalgia of something good that was experienced in communion, at the same
being never aware of the future.

What gives us life is togetherness. We wither the storms together. Biblical axiom is
that two are better than one. But sometimes human life goes just the opposite
direction. In fact, it has all signs of bruises, heartaches and sobs of being alone and
being alone utterly to the point of no return. In its collective experience humanity
is lonely and incomplete. It is like a hell to live here in a world of evil both inside
and out. And some say, hell is a form of separation; it is a separation from all that
is good, beautiful, and sustaining. It is an alienation and isolation from hope, love,
and dignity. It is a separation from God. And if hell is a form of separation from
God, then part of it we experience here, on earth, daily.

We are far away from God on a moral ground because we give into evil when God
is good. We are separated from him on an ontological level because he is beyond
our reach, perfect in all counts and different than all of us; this is known as his
transcendence. Also we are alienated from God existentially since we are far away
from him in both moral and ontological levels. The chasm is too big to fill in. Then
come guilt, little lies, a broken conscience, selfish heart, and cruel circumstances.
Instead of living in the light, humanity is accustomed to live in the shadow of
darkness, valley of death, or live a fainted existence gasping for help. Farmers
know that a good harvest does not come from the shadow, it comes from the light.
How much fertile the ground may be, the far-reaching sun is always needed for a
plant for a healthy produce. On the same way, our lives, separated from God and
living in the shadow of evil and darkness, are always just the form of premature
plants, they never have the fullness life. You and I know this full well.

For me personally, in this context of my alienation from God and estrangement

from the rest of humanity caused by our mutual faults, I find Christmas
meaningful. It is because Christmas reminds me of the time in history and in my
personal life that the cavity between God and myself and between me and the
others was filled up by Jesus. God sent him to redeem me, or literally, to purchase
me, a filthy existence enslaved by darkness, death and guilt to be his child forever.

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CS SUBEDI, Advent Meditation I (2018), Nepal

Since God is the source of all good, beautiful, life, hope and love, the coming of
Jesus to my world is the coming of that good to me from which I was separated
since my birth. His coming to me as Immanuel is the coming of life's fullness. In a
right time as he came never to leave us, he came with a gift. This is the gift of
communion with God. Therefore, the alienation that haunted humanity is no longer
prima facie of life, rather it is the Immanuel, God with us.

So, in a deeper level of my life as a human being, Christmas is not only a journey
of Jesus Christ from heaven to our earth, it is also my personal journey from
alienation to embrace. It is my journey from drought of love to its depth. It is a
journey from remaining an existence to becoming a child. In Jesus I have become
a child of God and heir of all his good promises and purposes. Christmas,
therefore, defines me as a man of God's favour, no longer a helpless and isolated
creature. Christmas brings to me the Father who knew me and loved me even
before the creation of the world. It brings to me the Saviour who came to seek and
save and heal me.

Not just me, but to all of us Christmas tells that God the Immanuel is with us. It
gives us hope that we will be heard when we speak. It assures that we will be
shown compassion when in need. It shows that we need not be frantic and fearful
anymore because for eternity we are already embraced in the safe hands. It reminds
me of Psalm 16 that with Christmas our cup and portion are assigned and our lot is
made secure.

Personally, at last, after inexplicable pain of separation and alienation from God
and other people, now as his child I see hope around me. With Jesus' coming as
Immanuel, the rift between God and myself is a highway now. And it is so with
you too. Mercies are never far away from us now. Rather with him we have the
fullness of his grace, and blessing upon blessing. He has brought zoe, the abundant
life from God. He has given us an un-alienating family whose father is God
himself. In the embrace of God the exuberance of faith, hope and love in our lives
is such that all human words fall short in explaining what has Christmas given to
us.

Once our lives' confessions could have been very different. But when God is with
us as Immanuel and we have become his children, our confessions are different.
Christmas surely has instilled confidence in my life. And I hope you also might
have already discovered his unending favour. Therefore, I join with David in
celebrating God's faithfulness this season. The boundary lines have fallen for me in
pleasant places; surely, I have a delightful inheritance. Christ has done this as he
came from God. Isn't this beautiful?