In the chapter, "God is a Baby", of Preaching the Uncontrolling Love of God, Ricardo Gouvea speaks about the coming of God as an infant from Luke 2:12. He challenges us to take seriously the manifestation of God in a baby and to realize that it is as much a part of God's story as is the crucifixion. It matters greatly that God manifested himself in this way if we are to better understand who he is and what he is like.
He argues that by bringing Easter themes (personal salvation) into the Christmas story (which American evangelicalism likes to do) obscures and takes attention away from the message of the birth and infancy of Jesus, and that message is that God is revealing his true nature. Gouvea says the following:
"...The inferences we can take from this are astonishing...first of all, a reconsecration of matter itself ...Matter becomes sanctified. It means the sanctification of time and history...time and history became the abode of God...it also implies the sanctification of the human condition...the annulment of the curse...
"That the Eternal Word became a baby also points to something even more shocking that goes against the grain of our accustomed theological conceptions: it denotes the sanctification of tenderness and fragility...God was revealed to us as fragile and tender.
"...The incarnation and the theophany (manifestation) of God in Christ speak to us, therefore, of God's own frailty, fragility, and...of God's interest in taking risks; for the tenderness of babyhood is very risky, and God took that risk, out of love.
"...When we see with the eyes of faith that God is a baby, we see God's love in its utmost depth...and we are absorbed by God's love and we love God back with the deepest love possible, and this perfect love drives out all fear, including all fear of God and of judgment and of punishment, for God is love (I John 4:8)...driven by the power of love, we can become disciples of Jesus Christ, followers of Jesus in his love...
"God is a child, and as such God calls for our help, for our tender love and care...God has revealed God's own being, nature, and character to us in Christ as a poor little baby who needs and wants to be tenderly embraced, who needs and wants to be loved, and who wants to become our friend and play with us. God is not a menace...
"...when God is a child, the last shall be first and the weak shall be strong, and none shall be afraid."
I will close this post with a quote from Leonardo Boff which Gouvea includes in this sermon:
"...every child wants to be an adult, and every adult wants to become rich and important like a king, and every rich, important person wants to be a god; but God wanted to be a child."
