Robert Kolb (PhD, University of Wisconsin) is mission professor of systematic theology emeritus at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books and articles.
The German translation of “kindness” is “Freundlichkeit,” treating other people the way you treat a friend. The French describe “kindness” with words such as “gentilesse,” gentleness, or “bonté,” being good to others. The Spanish brings kindness together with loving others, “amabilidad.” “Kindness” embodies the attitude that fulfills the Lord’s command to treat others in the manner that we would like others to treat us. The word “kindness” expresses what it means to be human, for God’s kindness to his frail, failing, fallible, faithless, failed human creatures has reversed human history, as Paul recounts in Romans 5.
“Emmanuel” spells out what it really means that this kindness is coming to us as the Word made flesh, Jesus of Nazareth. In this crucified Jew God is present among us as one of us, so that we can be returned to our true humanity as he created us. How kind can a person be!
These lyrics invite us to meditate on the embodiment of kindness, the very nature of God according to Luther’s reading of Scripture. God has demonstrated in supreme fashion his loving kindness, his limitless and unconditional love for his human creatures, in “Emmanuel,” God with us, within flesh and skin, filled with blood pulsing through his veins. This rabbi from Nazareth received from the angel who spoke to Joseph the name “Savior” since he came to rescue and deliver his people from the trap of their sinfulness. “Emmanuel” does not literally translate as “kindness,” but kindness on God’s part translates into his coming as the baby born in Bethlehem as the uncommon child—in fact, totally unique, virgin born. We sing of the one-time event of God coming into human flesh in the darkness of the Judean night and the darkness of a sinful world. The appearance of Godness in all its majesty as a crying baby takes our breath away. There may be lots of words to describe that, but kindness, the unbelievable kindness of God, was demonstrating who God is in his heart of hearts as he became our friend, whose love for us is unconditional.
No brass bands, no pomp and circumstances, welcomed him into the world. The choir of angels did not even make its way to the stable in Bethlehem. Shepherds went from their workplace in the sheep pen to celebrate his majesty by telling all whom they met of the angels singing “peace on earth—to the human sinners upon whom God is casting his favor.” That is kindness! “Glory to God,” they sang. They could do nothing but praise the king, who did not treasure his kingship so that he had to hang onto it. Instead, he gave himself, emptying himself by taking the form of a servant, being born as a human being. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to his Father to the point of death, even death on a cross, suffering the just judgment of God’s law upon sinners even though he was innocent. His death reveals the glory of our Creator, whose lovingkindness led him to be with us in sin-filled lives we lead and to share the result of our turning against him by dying the death our sins have earned.
It does not make sense to have justice expressed in mercy, in kindness. Had we lived according to God’s just standards, we would have continued to have the free access to him that Adam and Eve had in Eden. But we have played with the gifts of Eden and thrown its peace away. We could not reach him any longer, so he came down to us. He calls out, “where are you?” and he finds us in the hiding places into which our shame and guilt drive us. He plunges into our hell holes as this baby in Bethlehem’s manger, a true human being with ten fingers and ten toes, two arms, two legs, one beating heart. That heart carries the world, just as his still-human fingers clutch us all in his grasp. Mary held and nursed Infinite Power, the power that kindly came to be crushed under the weight of our transgressions and our practice of injustice. Kindness is the word for what we confront when we join the shepherds in listening to the angels offer us peace, the favor of God—his kindness
Paul told Titus of the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior. He saved us, not because we had managed life so well and performed so many good deeds. He poured out his mercy and kindness in the promise he gives in baptism, where his kindness flows into sinners to cleanse and revive them, a washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. He richly poured out on us his kindness in Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
How can a person react to such kindness? Is this demonstration of gentle love a reason to glorify the God who shaped mountains and ends earthquakes? Is giving himself up to the executioners and joining criminals on a cross a reason for praise? Indeed, it is. If the course of events in our world today seems crazy, think about the course of events in Eden. There is no sense to be had there as Adam and Eve doubted that what God had said was reliable. If one of the many kinds of wild claims in public media make you wonder why such can occur, think about what happened on Good Friday. Exceeding our reason immeasurably, God’s kindness has rewritten our histories and launched in us new life, a life that will never end. Love embodied in the broken bloodied body with its ten fingers and its heart bursting with kindness simply because God so loved the world—that can only evoke the praise that gives glory to the king who is God with us, kindness in person.