1 Nephi 8, 11
Hmm, what to say? The allegory is clear: God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
When you think about it, Christ was the first Christmas gift. God’s love is so great that He condescended below all things, to be born of Mary, to go forth only to be cast out and reviled; ultimately, in perhaps the cruelest irony of history, Christ, who is the Judge of the world, was sent to be judged of the world - to be someone of naught, and to be crucified for the very sins of the very people who killed him, while they were in the very act of committing them.
But Nephi was not yet shown any of this when he identified the meaning of the tree of life. No, it was when he beheld Mary and the Christ child that he declared, “It is the love of God!”
Perhaps Mary was cradling her Child in her arms. She may have kissed or nuzzled him; maybe she held Him aloft and laughed as the babe screamed with joy at newfound heights; or maybe she sang to Him as he slept soundly.
As he looked upon the mother, he might’ve sensed the sorrow that would pierce her soul like a sword, as her own Son was called to bear the weight of the world.
Whatever the case, it was the image of the virgin mother bearing the Son of God which caused Nephi’s perceptive pronouncement: “It is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men;…it is the most desirable of all things.”
The child which she bore, and the Atoning sacrifice which He represented, was the fruit of the love of God. Nephi felt this as it “shed itself” into his own heart, or he would not have made such a declaration.
Like the shepherds and the wisemen, Nephi knew that it was no ordinary child she bore, but the very God of heaven and earth, condescending unto the children of men, a lesson and image that would follow Nephi for the rest of his life.
As Christ is the first and “most desirable” of all Christmas gifts, may we all turn to Him and receive the gift He gave to us all those years ago, that the love of God may shed itself abroad into our own hearts this Christmas season. :)
Merry Christmas!
Sincerely,
Taylor, a dead missionary
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