No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
(John 1:18, NIV)
A new and strange sound took over our quiet evening. I was reading a technical book, and Yvonne, my bride of forty years, was correcting assignments turned in by her second grade students. The intermittent electronic sounds were not frightening but peculiar. While strange to me, they were obviously familiar to her.
She smiled. Alert and eager, she reached for her iPad and waved me to join her on the sofa. “What’s up? What’s that sound?” I tried to join in on the enthusiasm that was clear and obvious on her face. “It’s FaceTime. The grandkids are calling,” she announced.
There is a mysterious but obvious bond between mother and daughter. When the grandkids start making their appearances, that bond intensifies. Most men who are dubbed “Grandfather” (an old Latin word meaning “chopped liver”) learn to simply watch the flurry of conversations and exchanges.
My first time to FaceTime with my grandchildren was marvelous. They were crawling, climbing vigorously, talking over each other, teasing, laughing, and smiling. It was show-and-tell along with dancing and singing.
These connections of love were two thousand miles away. Before, I could not see them; now, they were exchanging life and love with my heart. Once, it was waiting for a telephone call or planning for the rare once-a-year plane flight; now, it was real time sight and sound.
The baby Jesus did something very similar for us. For generations humankind knew that God existed but because He is spirit, we could not see Him. “Out of sight, out of mind” is human. Jesus was born so that He could make it possible for all humankind to see the Father by seeing Him.
Jesus is God, born in human flesh. We celebrate Christmas to commemorate that miraculous gift to the world. When Mary and Joseph saw Jesus, they “FaceTimed” with the Father. It is the miracle of the Incarnation. And we continue to see Jesus through God’s Word. What a sensational gift! See Jesus? See the Father!