On November 21, the Sunday before the beginning of Advent, my wife and I facilitated a class here at the Vineyard on how to celebrate during the Advent season.
We gathered ideas and props we have used for more than 15 years and had a fun give and take with the 20 people who attended.
During the class, we had each class member share a Christmas tradition. One couple said that each year they make a birthday cake for Jesus. Later, I wondered what Jesus might want for a birthday or Christmas present. What would Jesus ask for?
Happily, I found the answer in one of His prayers. The prayer in John 17 reaches its conclusion with Jesus praying, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” (v. 24)
Amazingly, and wonderfully, Jesus wants Christians across the globe to be with him. Is this because Jesus is lonely? Clearly, there’s no doubt that He does want to be with us. But it’s not to alleviate his loneliness. No, it would be a strange way to express loneliness by saying he wanted us to see his glory, “the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”
Jesus is not lonely. Pastor and writer John Piper says, “He and the Father and the Spirit are profoundly satisfied in the fellowship of the Trinity.” We humans are the ones yearning for something. What Jesus wants for Christmas is for us to experience what it is we were created for, namely to see and take pleasure in his glory. This and this alone, satisfies our deepest longing.
We take pleasure in his glory as we love Jesus with a deep love. Jesus’ prayer in John 17 climatically ends with Jesus praying, “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Jesus wants us to love him with the same love that God has for him. In some beautiful, mysterious way the Father’s love for the Son becomes our love for the Son.
This Christmas may we see Jesus Christ in all his fullness, seeing him with the eyes of God and enjoying Jesus with the heart of God.
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