Jesus: A Significant Love for Mankind

One fine morning, little Arpan wakes up to find a letter pinned to his Mom’s dressing table. It written as

“Dear Arpan,

I guess all I’ve ever done is break my promises to you, even the little ones like taking you out with me and Prakash tonight. I can’t do it Arpan, I can’t let him know about you. You see I can start all over again with Prakash and you can start a new life without me too. I am not coming back even if this relationship does not work out, I hurt you every time I run. I will call social services and they will take care of you. I know this is the best thing I can do for you.

Goodbye my dear friend.

Mom”

Arpan, was just a baby when his father walked out on his mother Aradhana and him. Since then, Aradhana took up small jobs to raise him up and left him at her mother’s to babysit him. Aradhana was only seventeen when she had given birth to Arpan. She, in her rejection, took to dating men, searching and desiring a permanent relationship in each one of her dates. She would be gone for days on end at times and then return again. Her mother died suddenly one day; Arpan was just three years old. Aradhana continued her habit and now left Arpan at the social services care center each time she took off. 

They then moved to a smaller town as Aradhana had got a job there. But her habits continued and Arpan was in and out of social service centers. One day, a young man named Sanjay, a taxi driver who lived in their neighborhood noticed Arpan sitting alone on the patio of their house. Approaching him, he asked him about his mother’s whereabouts. Arpan looking up to Sanjay with tears in his eyes said, ‘My mom ain’t yet home. She has probably gone dating.’

Sanjay taking pity on the young boy asked him, ‘Have you eaten yet?’ to which Arpan said, ‘Not since yesterday.’ Sanjay asks him to wait inside till he returns after taking Arpan’s mother’s work address. He calls his girlfriend Sunny to bring some food for the little boy and then, takes off to search for Arpan’s mother. He reaches her office and upon enquiry finds out Aradhana does not work there anymore and left no further information about herself with them.

Sunny, in the meanwhile, brings food for little Arpan and gets talking with him only to find out he does not go to school and his mother Aradhana is in the habit of disappearing with men and leaving him in the care of social service centers right from the time his grandmother had passed away. Sanjay returns to find Sunny and Arpan enjoying lunch and joins in. In the evening, after Sunny tells Sanjay about Arpan’s dilemma, Sanjay takes it upon himself to take care of Arpan. 

Aradhana suddenly returns after four days and little Arpan who loves his Mom very much, runs into her arms. But she has not changed a bit. Come evening, she is all dressed to go out again, only this time she is confronted by Sanjay and Sunny who give her a piece of their mind. She stays back that night but as the saying goes, “bad habits die hard”, she tells Arpan, the next morning, she is going out to get a job. She returns late at night. Arpan, in the meanwhile find solace in his new found friends Sanjay and Sunny who show him a lot of love and care.

Then one fine day, Aradhana, decides to leave her son forever as she is unable to give up her search for a permanent relationship with a man. She leaves him a letter with a final goodbye addressed to him. Sanjay and Sunny, though shocked, make a decision to take Arpan as their own child. Sanjay asks Sunny to marry him and also suggests to adopt Arpan as their son. Sunny agrees without any hesitation. The broken-hearted child, Arpan, who had wept the whole night thinking he was a reject and felt worthless because of his mother’s rejection of him stating he posed as a hindrance to her ever having a permanent relationship with a man, finally has hope in the permanent parental relationship that God brings into his life through Sanjay and Sandy.

God’s Design: Creating Man and Creation

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Genesis 1:31. When God spoke life to things on the Earth- the light, seas, nature and all its creatures except man, He proclaimed that all of His creation was good. Genesis 1:26-27 says that God created man and woman in His image. He willed for humans to love, value and merit respect to each other and live in harmony, just as the Trinity loves and lives in complete harmony, in one nature.

The purpose and will of God till date remains reconciling man to Him and having a deep, holy relationship with Him. His reason for sending His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to Earth is because He loved the world so much that He willed to rebuild, rebridge and cement.

God called all of His creation very good in Genesis 1:31 after He had created man and woman, establishing and blessing these relationships. Arpan too was created and greatly valued by God, and blessed by Him to live in happy, healthy relationships with a family and friends.

The Fall: Beginning of Broken Relationships

When Adam and Eve sinned, both broke God’s commandment and had to move out of the Garden of Eden; not only was their relationship with God broken but their very own relationship was affected. The relationship with the rest of creation broke too. Genesis 3:10 says Adam and Eve were afraid of God and hid themselves. They had broken God’s trust in them.

The blame game too started after the umbilical cord of God’s love in man snapped because of their sin. Adam pointed fingers at Eve stating, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it” Genesis 3:12. Adam, in fact, blamed God for having put the woman there, and that it was entirely her fault that she had given him the fruit. Surprisingly though, Adam had failed to recognize the fruit that Eve had given him to eat, it did not come from the trees that they were commanded to eat from.

Adam refused to acknowledge that he had sinned and pinned it on Eve who pinned on the serpent. Three things happened that day—broken relationship with God and creation, painful toil instead of restful God-ordained work and exit from the heavenly abode created for man by God. Genesis 3:15-17. 

Man lost his dominion, purpose and rest all in one go. But God did not give up on us.

Mistrust and Lost Relationships: Broken Families

These broken relationships which began in the garden of Eden became the roots of the sin, lies, deception, murder, violence, poverty, the list is endless that we still see today that has caused physical, spiritual, emotional, financial and psychological harm between and for people. Pride has led us to harbor a misunderstanding of God’s love toward us, even with Creation.
Simplistic answers to human suffering are made complex, we can see that each problem has its roots in the Fall. It is only the Word of God, Jesus Christ, who is the answer for every issue we face. 

Redemption: A Reconciliation of Relationship

At a time, when everything seemed hopeless and broken all around us, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ as a solution to the perishing, fallen world.

He chose a virgin named Mary, one who was betrothed to a man called Joseph. Eve, the first woman, who had been deceived by the serpent which had allowed the Devil to use it to do so, was now being restored to her original place through Mary, who agreed to bear Jesus Christ, the seed of God in the flesh, in her womb to change the story of the Fall of man in the garden of Eden. His birth was God’s plan to restore peace in those broken relationships by reconciling all of Creation to Himself once again.

The only reason being

John 3:16: “God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

His main purpose and plan was to restore us back into a right relationship with and in Himself through Jesus Christ who became the door for us to live in right relationships with each other, the creation and also in ourselves. This right standing did not end with Jesus’ Ascension but was handed over to us, as we, his disciples, are Christ’s ambassadors, who are to bring the message of reconciliation to the world. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20

Redemption is God’s main story so that we recognize the image of God in everyone and have a relationship with intentions of only doing good which was the original plan between God and His creatures. His creation opens our eyes to discover His perfect story for mankind to live in harmony with the rest of creation and flourish and multiply. 
Colossians 1.19-20: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in (Christ), and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

The Bible speaks of God’s story where He sent His Love in the form of His Son to a far country to win back his lost treasure—mankind. It’s a love story about a Prince who readily left his palace, his throne–everything–to rescue the ones who were the King’s, His Father’s priced possessions.