We Never Lose Our Value in God's Eyes

This Christmas message by Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi of Mobile, Ala. Is a good example of what I call “a Jesus story.” The message takes something familiar to the listeners and shows it in a different light to teach a truth which listeners will remember. The story causes one to think and hopefully act or change their behavior.

WE NEVER LOSE OUR VALUE IN GOD’S EYES

Years ago I remember listening to a talk given by a much older priest to a group of us younger priests. He took out a brand new $5 bill. Each of us knows what a brand new $5 bill looks like: it’s crisp and clean. The old priest held it up and asked ”How much is this worth?” We replied: “$5.”

He then began to tear the edges of the $5 bill; he marked it up with a pen; he crumpled it up; he threw it on the floor and crushed it with the sole of his shoe. He even spat on it.

He then picked it off the floor; held it up and asked: “Now how much is it worth?” “$5” we replied.

Despite the fact that the bill was no longer clean and crisp but instead was crumpled, torn, defaced, crushed and dirty, it had not lost any of its value.

His point, and the point which we can reflect upon as we celebrate Christmas, is that we are like that $5 bill. There was a time when we were clean and without sins. On the day of our baptism we were a spotless new Christian. But in the time since, we have marred ourselves by our sins and defaced the dignity of being God’s son or daughter.

Yet in the eyes of God we have lost none of our value. We are still worth dying for and that is exactly what the baby born in a manger did for us on the cross.

There are times when we see something strikingly beautiful. We gaze upon majestic mountains and are awed by their splendor; or we see a gorgeous sunrise or sunset and are amazed by such a sight; or we see a stunning rainbow and marvel at the beauty displayed before us.

But God is not impressed by mountains or sunrises or sunsets or rainbows. They are merely things He has created.

However when God looks upon us, He delights in us. And the reason why this is true is because when God looks at us He sees Himself.

As Genesis teaches: we are created in the “image and likeness of God.” (Gen1:27)

As St. John wrote in the Bible: “God is love.” (1 John4:8) God is a community of love: Father, Son and Spirit and when God looks at us God sees Himself and God, who is pure love, cannot stop loving Himself. If only we could realize how brightly we shine in God’s eyes. God cannot stop loving us and because of this, like the Good Shepherd in search of the lost sheep He keeps searching for us. Despite our flaws, faults and sins, He keeps calling us to remember how valuable we are and that we are created to share His love in eternal life.

This is the great message of Christmas; this is the great message of Christianity. Other great religions of the world tell us they can help us in our search for God. The powerful Good News of Christianity is that God searches for us. God told us in the Book of Revelation: “I stand at the door and knock.” (Rev 3:20)

God is love and love is not an abstraction; love acts. God acted on that first Christmas 2,000 years ago and became flesh. As John’s Gospel teaches: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh.” (John1:1, 14). God came to us, not merely to be adored as a child in a manger, but to save us from our sins and to offer us new life.

Why would God come to save us? Why this baby in a manger? The answer is as simple as it is profound:

That $5 bill, which the old priest marred and crushed those years ago, could never look new again. It is not possible for us to do that. But nothing is impossible for God. Unlike that bill, we can be made new again through the new life Jesus offers to us, each one of us. Jesus offers us new life because in God’s eyes none of us has lost our value.

No one is excluded from this Good News. Not one of us, no matter what we have done, has lost our value in God’s eyes. Our God came to us as a baby surrounded by the shepherds, the dregs of society. He spoke to the woman at the well who had been married five times and told her that He thirsted for her faith. He gave Zacchaeus, the crooked businessman, a second chance. He was crucified between two criminals.

No one is excluded from the gift of salvation which the manger promises. No one is excluded from the love and forgiveness of God won on the cross. And no one is excluded from the Good news we celebrate at Christmas.