He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Isaiah 53:3

C. S. once wrote, “To love at all is to be vulnerable.” I was reminded about that truth a few years ago by the brave and vulnerable actions of a young friend. We were at birthday party where there happen to be dancing. At first, only the adults took to the dance floor. This required no bravery on their part because most of these adults were married. Once you’ve gotten a girl to say she’ll be your bride, it’s not that much of a risk to ask her to dance.

My young friend (who by the way gave me permission to share this story) is not married. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, he doesn’t even have a girlfriend. On this evening, he did see a girl he wanted to dance with. Unlike many guys who allow a whole evening to pass without mustering up the courage to ask a girl to dance, this young man decided to act. While the rest of the kids were standing around watching, he walked over to this young lady and with confidence and clarity in his voice asked her if she would like to dance. I was impressed. This guy had guts. I watched in anticipation for the young lady’s response. She looked at him standing there with his hand outstretched, and said just as clearly, “I would rather punch you in the face.”

Ouch! Rejection! When the time was right, I pulled the young man aside and tried to comfort him best I could. I encouraged him to keep asking girls to dance, they wouldn’t all be that mean, but there’s no way to avoid the fact that C. S. Lewis was more than right: “To love at all is to be vulnerable.”

Many people avoid love for this very reason. They think the way to stay safe in this life is simply to keep one’s heart and soul closed off from others and closed off from God. The trouble with this strategy is that we are made for love. Avoiding love might help us avoid rejection, but at the cost of being in the very relationships we were made for.

At Christmas, we learn that God loves us so much, he took on the risk of love by becoming vulnerable. He left glory and came to live among us. He entered our world not as a mighty warrior, but as a baby. It doesn’t get more vulnerable than that! Even as he grew, he did not resist the dangers of life with us. Instead, he took the risk of love. We rejected him and put him on a cross. Even then, he gave himself for us so that we might be saved.

Because he took the risk of love on us, we can now risk loving him. In doing so, we discover why we were made.

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