Velveteen Rabbit thoughts:
How is the Velveteen Rabbit like Jesus:
Sat on the shelf, not noticed:
Like Christ, he is always there, sitting and waiting for us to reach out, hold him and “need” him. Sometimes we want “other things” like the first toy, and it isn’t until those “other things” are removed from our lives that we actually find we need Jesus. At first he just seems to bring comfort but through time, a true relationship forms and he becomes an essential part of our life. He patiently waits for us to realize our need for him and he engineers circumstances in our lives TO need him.
The Velveteen Rabbit didn’t “feel” real:
Jesus is only as “real” in our lives as we allow him to be. Not that he isn’t “real” in the reality of his Godhead, but our ability to recognize him for who he is comes through our growing relationship with him. As that relationship grows we begin to realize the weight of the humanity Christ took on for us, having left all of his “Glory” in heaven and being made in “human likeness.” God didn’t give him any special looks that we would look on him and desire him, he was ordinary. His extraordinary characteristics come through our knowledge of who he truly is, by faith, always by faith.
I see the “Skin Horse” as the prophets; those who came before and experienced the obedience of Christ in their call from God and paid a price for it as well; and were rewarded accordingly…those predecessors of the Christ, making a path for his arrival.
As the Velveteen Rabbit became more worn, the boy loved him more:
As we grow closer and closer to Jesus daily through a love relationship of prayer, worship, giving and acts of service, we see the cost and the effect on our savior. Scriptures that remind us of Christ’s agony and yearning for his people, which show us love’s vulnerability, make us love him more and more.
The Velveteen Rabbit was there in the boy’s time of greatest need:
As the little boy suffered through the illness, the Velveteen Rabbit “Bore in his flesh” the sins of the scarlet fever. So much so that it cost the little Rabbit his very life for he was put out to be burned. “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our sins, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him.” “By his wounds, we are healed.”
Jesus took on all our sin and sickness and it cost him…everything in his humanity and in his Godhead...but God blessed him, and restored him; not to his former form but to a new and glorified form! To be truly “Real” is to come into the reality of God himself, and to dwell where he dwells, in heavenly light. In the end, the Velveteen Rabbit rose to a new and glorified state, having fulfilled the greatest sacrifice of love, giving one’s self for others. It is in that love that he calls us to walk; with the promise that one day, we too will receive new bodies that are so “Real” we may, without fear, approach God and behold him as he is in all his Majesty and Glory.
When Jesus body was in the tomb, the power of God’s Holy Spirit brought that very flesh back to a new life and reality. Like the Velveteen Rabbit who now had a very different body, but was the same “rabbit” as before; Christ too was given a new and glorified body that bore the scars of his glorious gift, but was now incorruptible. He was the first born of this new creation and we are given the promise that we too will be given bodies like his, incorruptible!
Come Lord Jesus, Come
Thank you for going before us and for being an example to us of what it means to be sacrificed for others so that everyone might know the blessing of God’s love and acceptance.
Barbara Adams
St Cuthbert Episcopal Church
Houston, TX 77095