Pengorbanan Di Malam NatalPada malam Natal yang dingin di tahun 1952, ketika Korea berada dalam keadaan perang saudara, seorang gadis muda berjalan dengan susah payah di sepanjang jalan sebuah desa, untuk segera melahirkan bayi. Ia meminta tolong kepada para pejalan kaki yang lewat. “Tolong saya, tolong bayi saya.”
Tak ada seorangpun yang memedulikan dia. Sepasang suami isteri yang sudah lanjut usia berjalan melewatinya. Sang nyonya mendorong gadis muda itu sambil mencibir, “Dimana ayahnya? Dimana pria Amerika itu sekarang?” Pasangan itu tertawa dan berlalu.
Gadis muda itu makin kesakitan karena kontraksi di perutnya meningkat ketika memperhatikan mereka berlalu. “Tolong…” ia memohon.
Ia mendengar bahwa seorang misionaris tinggal di sekitar tempat itu yang mungkin mau menolong dia. Dengan bergegas, ia mula berjalan ke arah desa itu. Semoga misionaris itu mau menolong bayinya. Dengan gemetar dan kesakitan, ia berjuang melawan cuaca yang membeku di pedesaan itu. Malam itu sangat dingin. Salju mulai turun. Karena ia menyadari waktunya semakin dekat untuk melahirkan, maka ia berteduh di bawah sebuah jembatan.
Di sana, sendirian, ia melahirkan bayinya di malam Natal. Karena kuatir akan keselamatan bayinya, ia menanggalkan pakaiannya, menyelimuti pakaian itu di sekeliling bayinya dan ia memeluk erat-erat bayi di tangannya.
Keesokan harinya, misionaris itu menembus salju untuk mengantarkan hadiah Natal. Ketika ia berjalan, ia mendengar tangisan seorang bayi. Ia mengikuti suara itu sampai ke bawah jembatan. Di bawah jembatan itu ia menemukan seorang gadis muda yang sudah mati membeku kedinginan, masih memegang erat bayi di pelukannya. Misionaris itu dengan pelan-pelan mengangkat bayi itu lepas dari pelukannya.
Ketika bayi itu menjadi besar dan berusia 10 tahun, misionaris ayah angkatnya itu menceritakan kisah kematian ibunya di malam Natal. Anak muda itu menangis ketika menyadari pengorbanan ibunya.
Keesokan harinya sang misionaris bangun pagi-pagi namun tidak menemukan anaknya. Karena ia melihat jejak kaki yang baru keluar rumah, ia segera mengikuti jejak itu. Rupanya jejak itu menuju ke sebuah jembatan.
Ketika misionaris itu sampai di bawah jembatan, ia berhenti, tertegun. Ia melihat anak angkatnya sedang berlutut di atas salju, telanjang dan gemetar hebat. Bajunya ditaruh di sampingnya. Ia mendengar anak itu berkata melalui gigi yang gemeretuk, “Ibu, apakah engkau dulu kedinginan seperti ini dan berkorban bagiku?”
Ingat Natal, ingatlah pengorbanan Kristus bagi kita sekalian! Dia mati bagi kita agar kita hidup kekal. Dia rela mengorbankan diri-Nya karena Dia sangat mengasihi kita. (Naskah asli ditulis oleh Bill Bright, diterjemahkan oleh Hadi Kristadi untuk http://pentas-kesaksian.blogspot.com - mohon keterangan ini jangan dihapus ketika anda memforwardnya atau mempostingnya di website/blog anda - terima kasih banyak)
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On a cold Christmas Eve in 1952, when Korea was in the throes of civil war, one young woman struggled along a village street, obviously soon to deliver a child. She pleaded with passersby,
"Help me! Please. My baby."
No one paid any attention to her. A middle-aged couple walked by. The wife pushed away the young mother and sneered, "Where's the father? Where's your American man now?" The couple laughed and went on.
The young woman almost doubled up from a contraction as she watched them go.
"Please . . ." she begged.
She had heard of a missionary living nearby who might help her. Hurriedly, she began walking to that village. If only he would help her baby. Shivering and in pain, she struggled over the frozen countryside. But the night was so cold. Snow began to fall. Realizing that the time was near to deliver her baby, she took shelter under a bridge. There, alone, her baby was born on Christmas Eve.
Worried about her newborn son, she took off her own clothes, wrapped them around the baby and held him close in the warm circle of her arms.
The next day, the missionary braved the new snow to deliver Christmas packages. As he walked along, he heard the cry of a baby. He followed the sound to a bridge. Under it, he found a young mother frozen to death, still clutching her crying new born son. The missionary tenderly lifted the baby out of her arms.
When the baby was 10 years old, his now adoptive father told him the story of his mother's death on Christmas Eve. The young boy cried, realizing the sacrifice his mother had made for him.
The next morning, the missionary rose early to find the boy's bed empty. Seeing a fresh set of small footprints in the snow outside, he bundled up warmly in a winter coat and followed the trail. It led back to the bridge where the young mother had died.
As the missionary approached the bridge, he stopped, stunned. Kneeling in the snow was his son, naked and shivering uncontrollably. His clothes lay beside him in a small pile. Moving closer, he heard the boy say through chattering teeth:
"Mother, were you this cold for me?"
That story reminds me of another mother and Son who sacrificed so much. One winter night, Jesus left his home, His glory and the warmth of heaven to be born in a stable to an unwelcome world. Just before He was born, Mary, His mother, was not welcome in any of the cozy inns in Bethlehem. Instead, she delivered her baby in the darkness of a cold stable. Th e Creator of the Universe, the Perfect Judge who could destroy the world with a single word, was willing to endure this inauspicious beginning for you and me. That is unconditional love!
We who have experienced God's unconditional love are commanded to share that love with others. John writes in 1 John 4:11,
"Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other" (New Living Translation).
God wants us to express His supernatural love to others. We become examples of God's love to the world as we love our neighbors through the enabling of His Holy Spirit.
My prayer for you is the same as Paul's prayer for the believers in Ephesians 3:17,18:
"May your roots go down deep in to the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is" (NLT ) .
You may confess, "I don't have that kind of love to share with anyone." To experience God's supernatural love, claim it by faith. We have the potential to love anyone God puts in our path. One of the greatest lessons I have learned in my Christian life is "how to love by faith."
When we by faith invite God's unconditional love to flow through us, we will discover a rekindled love that is alive and well. That is true for an "unlovable" spouse, boss, employee, or anyone.
Nothing breaks the hardened ground of unforgiveness and bitterness like sincere acts and words of love. Sometimes you and I, by faith, must take the first step of restoration. A positive response may not be immediate, but keep on loving and reaching out. There is no power on earth stronger than God's supernatural love. (Bill Bright) http://www.thoughts-about-god.com/christmas/marv_love.htm
Diposting oleh Hadi Kristadi untuk PENTAS KESAKSIAN
http://pentas-kesaksian.blogspot.com
