We typically see Christmas as a time to recall the coming of the Son of God into this world.  And that it is:  Emmanuel, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23); he became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).   “Advent” means appearing, coming:   Christ has come.

But think with me how Christmas is also a time to ponder the going of the Son of God—his departure from glory, setting aside all splendor and majesty, humbling himself as he left his throne.

I often imagine what the incarnation of God “looked like” to the angels—what they witnessed on that momentous occasion.  The 4th century hymn, “Let All Moral Flesh Keep Silence,” envisions the Son’s “going” to earth and becoming human from the angels’ point of view.   Think of the “distance” of his descent:

Rank on rank the host of heaven, Spreads its vanguard on the way, 

As the Light of light descendeth, From the realms of endless day, 

That the powers of hell may vanish, As the darkness clears away.  

In Philippians 2:5-8, the Apostle Paul helps us begin to recognize the depth and gravity of the Son’s self-humbling:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

This penetrating word calls us to adopt the mindset of Christ in his going—his self-offering, his release of personal privilege for the benefit of others.  In this sense, our Christmas commission is to imitate the self-giving love of Jesus and bless those around us.

But more than that, we’re drawn to worship Christ with thanks that he poured out his love all the way to the cross—that he came to give his life as a “ransom for many” (Mark 10:45)!