It's 3 Days Before Christmas

...and I've been thinking about the One who enters our emptiness.

Many things can be said about Christmas, one of which is that it is a time of fullness.  Lights, carols, decorations, inflatables, reindeer, santas, inflatables, movies, candy canes, presents, Mariah Carey and inflatables.

It can be a little too much.

Besides the fullness of the holiday season there is also a fullness of Christmas in the scriptures. (Though, definitely not too much).

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus — the true light — brings a light which enlightens everyone. (1:9) He is the One who comes in the glory of human flesh, full of grace and truth. (1:14) He is the One who gives us the gift of grace from His fullness. (1:16)

It might be a mystery, but it’s not a secret. When Jesus comes, He comes in fullness.

And yet, the scriptures also remind us that in His incarnation, Christ is the One who empties Himself.

“…who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness.” - Philippians 2:6-7

What does all this mean? What does it mean for the fullness of God to come in emptiness? What does it mean that the God who empties himself comes in fullness?

Let’s check in with his mother.

Before He is even born, she knows. The song on our Christmas playlists will keep asking the question over and over again, but the truth is, Mary did know.

One phrase taken from this expectant girl’s song helps us know as well.

“He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.” - Luke 1:53

If we treated this song as literal record keeping, the conclusion of the drama is clear.

The hungry are fed by the mercy of God and the rich are sent away with less than crumbs. There is no mystery here! The hungry are fed and the rich wind up without.

This is good news if you are poor, or hungry, or going through life empty handed. This is the mercy and justice of God at work!

Yet, if you are rich, this is not an ideal conclusion to your life story. The take away is that you’ll be sent away, pockets shaken out until you’ve got nothing left. All that you’ve worked for. All that you’ve earned. All of those things will be taken away. When the end comes you’ll be left out in the cold, full of nothing but hunger and empty pockets. Oh, the judgement of God. I guess those are the breaks!

But this just doesn’t make sense. Is an ending like that why Mary’s spirit is full of joy as she sings? Is her Son the God who just reshuffles the deck?

The beauty of this song is that it invites us, like almost all good art, into the mystery of God.  We have to let the song point us to the rest of the wisdom of scripture. When we do, we are reminded it teaches us that God keeps coming to feed the hungry and to fill the empty. When we do that we realize what Mary describes is not the final scene. And if we play out the drama, we realize the curtain has not yet closed.

The rich are sent away empty — not so they will be left without — but so that they can be filled. No longer will they be driven by their former appetites. When the True Light has enlightened them, they will discover the righteousness for which they hunger and thirst. They are blessed, as Mary’s Son will later say, for when they hunger for that they will be filled.

If Jesus is, as John says, the Light which enlightens everyone, then He will meet everyone in their darkness, feed everyone in their hunger and fill everyone in their emptiness.

He is the One who promises “to those who have, more will be given, and they have will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” - Matthew 25:29

He is the One who takes away our nothingness.

The God who emptied himself enters into our emptiness to take away our nothingness so that He might bring us into His fullness. 

When we hear Mary’s song in medley with the Angel’s song heard by the shepherds, we can better understand why this is good news of great joy for all people.

For the hungry and the rich.

Advent reminds us that the judgement of Christ is coming to us all.  And there is no better news than this.