Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.²

In the 1800s, a remote Hawaiian island called Molokai was used as a leper colony. It was a place of isolation, despair, and death. Those sent there were considered untouchable, and were rejected and forgotten by society. But a Catholic priest from Belgium, called Father Damien, heard about Molokai and decided that he needed to send more than prayers and resourcesâ€"He needed to go! He could not, and would not, forget. Knowing full well that leprosy was very contagious and in most cases fatal, Father Damien sailed to the island to live among the people. He was not bothered by what might happen to him. He did not keep his distance from the sick and dying, in fact, he embraced them, bandaged their wounds and held their hands as they took their last breaths. He eventually caught the leprosy himself. He went to become what they wereâ€"because of love. Father Damien had gone to his death willingly.

Jesus came to this sick and sinful world willingly. Knowing full well that He would be rejected, betrayed and murdered. He could have, very well, saved us from a distance and spoken the words down to us. But that is how the unconditional love of God for us is! Jesus came to live among us. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.â€� He came to where we are. He suffered among us. He lived in our brokenness, in our bitterness, in our ugliness. He touched the untouchable and embraced the unlovely. He took our diseaseâ€"our sin and died among us. Love IS the Greatest Gift of all!

Suggested prayer: Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your love toward us. When we were drowning in the ugliness of our sin, You decided that we were worth loving, worth saving, and worth sending Your own precious Son to die for us. This Christmas, and always, it is our Greatest Gift! In the name of Jesus, Amen.

1.    John 1:14.

2.    John 15:13.

Today’s Encounter was written by: Veronica B.