Once, there was a toddler that fell into a shit hole and he was crying and crying. The people around gathered and tried to get him out. Some suggested to drop a rope or a ladder but the toddler wouldn’t know how to climb out. Others said to use a giant scooper but where to get the scooper? Still others said that someone should go down to bring the toddler out but no one wanted to get dirtied going into the stinky and filthy shit hole. As they were discussing, a man jumped into the shit hole scooped up the baby and it was now easy for the others outside to help them out.
This is the image of the Incarnation that Fr. Chito shared with us the other day during the mass for our small group at the seminary reunion for retired priests. God could have just dropped us a rope or a ladder to get us our of the shit hole we have dug ourselves into. He could just have simply scooped us out of that filth and mud. No, he jumped into the hole, joined us in the mud, and took us out into the light. Such is God’s love for us. he did it out of love and with joy – for us.
As for the man who jumped into shit hole, he was fuming mad looking for the guy who pushed him.
The world has never seen so much wealth and luxury as today. People think that comfort and leisure are theirs by birthright. There is always the tendency to take thing for granted. And everywhere and everyone has this feeling of entitlement. Life had never been this easy and pleasurable. Even preachers proclaim a gospel of prosperity.
Yet, life has never meant to be easy. It is meant to be deep like a hole, shared like rescuing a toddler out of the shit hole, and joyful like when one has served and saved another. God did not come in splendor and majesty. He came as a little baby born in very austere and spartan circumstances.