The Peace and Promise of ChristmasSample

Mission Impossible

I have made you known to them -John 17:26.

In the Mission: Impossible film series, agent Ethan Hunt is always given a seemingly insurmountable task. The challenge is presented with this stark option: “Your mission, should you choose to accept it . . . .” Of course, the fate of millions is at usually stake, and the resulting drama keeps us glued to our seats. 

Jesus embarked on a mission where the fate of the world was at stake. He had shared this mission with His Father from eternity past. Just before the ordeal that took Him to the cross, Jesus prayed, “I have made you [God the Father] known to them, and will continue to make you known so that the love you have for me may be in them and that I may be in them” (John 17:26). 

The shared mission of the Father and the Son was to forgive, restore, and make the human race whole. We, the beings created in the very image of God, rebelled against His good purposes and lost the glory of His presence. Jesus came that we might once again know and experience the love of God who is love. 

This was not an empty gesture, nor were these empty words. At the moment that Jesus prayed about the mission He shared with His Father, He was making His way to the cross to fulfill that mission. And in His death and resurrection, we can rejoice. Mission accomplished!

Why do you think God wanted to rescue and restore His creation? As you consider Jesus’ acceptance of this “impossible mission,” how do you react to the scope of His love for us? 

Father God, we can never comprehend the dimensions of Your great love for us, but this Christmas season helps us to appreciate it more than we ever have before.