As I said, on this third Sunday of Advent, the church wants us to somewhat anticipate Christmas. That’s why we light our pink or our rose candle and not the purple ones. The purple is a symbolic color for solemnity, and pink or rose is a little more joyful. I’ll give a little, maybe pre-Christmas homily here to anticipate what’s going to happen in just a few weeks. In my mind, and I think I’m somewhat in line with the church here, Christ became man for three reasons. Why did Jesus become man? First, to save us from our sins. Second, to show us something about God. Third, to show us how to live well. Jesus became man to save us from our sins, to show us about God, and to show us how to live well.

Now, in my own life there are three Christmas presents that I received when I was a kid that demonstrate these three reason for the incarnation. I’m 33 years old, so this wasn’t too long ago that I received some of these gifts here. The first thing to save us from our sins, a Christmas gift that’s symbolic is I remember receiving snow pants as a kid. We all know what snow pants are, you know, big, bulky things. They saved me from allowing cold and slush and water to get into my pants and shorts and whatnot, kept me dry, kept me from getting a sickness and from getting ill. The snow pants are symbolic of Jesus coming to this Earth to save us from our sins so ultimately we could get to Heaven.

Second gift that symbolizes the fact that Jesus becoming flesh demonstrates to us something about God is the gift of, I remember receiving the video game Mario Kart. Now, some of you at home might not know this, what this game is. It’s a Nintendo game, Mario Kart. Jesus revealed that God isn’t just one, he’s a trinity. Jesus is the son, He has a father in Heaven, the Holy Spirit. Without Jesus becoming flesh we wouldn’t have known this, that God is a trinity. We couldn’t figure it out on our own. The game Mario Kart was not just about me playing and having fun, but Mario Kart brings people together. I would play with my friends, we’d do battle mode. It was a great communion interactive exercise.

Then the third gift that I received was a football. The football allowed me not just to have fun on Christmas Day, but throughout the entire year, because I would in the Spring pull out that football and play catch with my brother. Obviously I’d use it in the summertime, we were getting ready for football season. Of course then during the fall I would use that football for the actual season. Jesus became man to show us how to live well by loving God, by loving our neighbor, by praying, becoming the best versions of ourselves. It’s like that football that lasts all year long, brings us joy. Christ’s gift allows us to live well.

Friends, that’s why Jesus became man. We can thank Him. We can lift our hearts to Him, and hopefully live that Advent and Christmas joy this day and all the days of our lives. Amen.