Know You Are Beloved by Rev. Chris LeeSample

Day 2: The Greatest Moment of God’s Love

Perhaps the single greatest moment that reveals God’s love and care for His creation is the Incarnation: God becoming one of us.

God became man, showing at that moment the worth of creation. It is not that suddenly creation found worth, but that moment shows the worth God always saw in the created world. Why did Christ come? Was it to defeat the works of the devil and defeat sin? Yes, of course it was. But Franciscans also insist on what they call, “the primacy of Christ,” which they see taught in Scripture. Simply put, the primacy of Christ means that God intended to enter creation from the beginning — it wasn’t just a backup plan to deal with sin.

God always intended to reveal Himself to us through Jesus, to show us His love, and to bring us to Himself. The primary reason that Jesus came to earth, that God became flesh, was not only to provide a solution for our sin; it was also because of God’s love for all that He had made. He loved us and wanted us to know His love, and He wanted to make us holy by showing us the way to Him.

Jesus’ mission was to bring us into a loving relationship with the Father through His life and His teaching. He revealed the true character of God in the world and through His ultimate revelation of God’s love: laying down His life for us. Jesus was not born to simply die; He was born to show us in His life that God is with us. He died not only for our sins but to show us the extent of God’s love for us.

The tearing of the curtain in the Temple, as recorded in Matthew 27:51, signifies the destruction of the separation of God’s children from His presence. Jesus has in His life revealed God to us, as if God steps out of the Holy of Holies to His people and then in His death destroys the curtain which separated us from Him. His sacrifice and defeat of sin is part of His mission but not the totality of it. Jesus was born to show us the fullest revelation of God’s love for us by manifesting Himself among His creation — showing His love with His presence, His teaching, and His miracles, and then ultimately making a way for us to enter God’s presence through His death on the cross. Why? Because we are beloved!

Breathe.

The curtain has been torn.

God is with us, and we can be with God.

We stand in awe.