Dear God, as I’ve seen a few “reaction videos” on YouTube recently with people watching It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed for the first time. It’s been fun to see it through their eyes. Each life touches so many others, but did a life ever touch more than Jesus’s life. His birth, life, death, and resurrection have touched billions and billions.
So what would the world be like today if Jesus had never been born? What would it be like if Judaism was limited to your select and the rest of us were just left to wander without knowing you? Frankly, there is zero chance I could even come close to guessing the answer to this question, but I can say that any time my head starts to entertain the possibilities it gets overwhelming and tragic. Emptiness is the word that comes to mind. Just flat out emptiness. What would my life be about? Why would I be taking up air and natural resources? American life would only be about the pursuit of happiness, at any cost.
Not only did Jesus give us this relationship with you, but he taught us so much while he was here. What would we have done over the last 2,000 years without that teaching? Love our enemies. Turn the other cheek. Lust = Adultery. Hate = Murder. He who is without sin cast the first stone. For God so loved the world… These were all things found nowhere else before the Gospels.
To be sure, people have use Jesus as an excuse for hate and oppression as well. They’ve used him as an excuse for war and genocide. There’s the phrase “lies, [darn] lies and statistics.” The same is true for Jesus’s teachings. I can pretty much manipulate them to say anything I want and confirm my own biases and agendas. It takes humble introspection to really evaluate and apply what Jesus taught in an authentic way and sometimes I fail at that.
Father, it is truly a wonderful life because you came into this world as Jesus. You left us your Holy Spirit after he ascended. You are the God who is near. You are the God who sees. You are the God who cares. You are the God who knows. You are the God who loves. You are amazing God. I simply don’t know what to say but thank you. Thank you, God, for what you’ve done and exactly how you’ve done it. I trust you that you are doing everything the way it needs to be done for your best for us even if I don’t understand it in the moment.
I pray all of this in your name, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Amen
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