Christmas: God Answers the Cry, "I Want Love"

Introduction

The Christmas service on December 21, 2025, held at Zion Church of Yokohama (横浜シオンキリスト教会) and broadcast online together with Zion Church of Numazu (沼津シオンキリスト教会), opens with a reading of the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. Salmon fathers Boaz by Rahab; Boaz fathers Obed by Ruth; Obed fathers Jesse; Jesse fathers King David. Two women's names stand out in the middle of this list of men: a Canaanite prostitute, a Moabite widow. The preacher then asks the real question of this Christmas: why is God so intent on bringing his Son down through that very lineage? The answer lies in a phrase often heard around this time of year: "Christmas is time to love." But not some vague, undefined love. The love this sermon is about is the love that drove God to send his Son Jesus into the world, to forgive your sins and give you eternal life.

This message is not just words for the occasion. It is a call to recognize that the love you are searching for, the love your heart is crying out for, God has already offered you first, in Jesus.

Sermon Outline

1. The Genealogy in Matthew 1: God Rejects No One

The preacher begins by opening Matthew 1 and pointing out a detail many people skim right past. In an eastern genealogy, the fathers are named. Here, four women appear, including Rahab and Ruth. Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho. Ruth was a Moabite, a foreigner to the people of Israel. Neither of them had any human reason to end up in the lineage of the Messiah.

And yet God chose them. That is neither an accident nor an oversight: it is a message. From the very beginning, the Gospel says that God welcomes those whom society sets aside. Your past does not disqualify you. Your background does not disqualify you. If God folded Rahab and Ruth into the line that led to Jesus, he can fold you into his family too.

2. "I Want Love": A Cry That Comes from Deep Within

The preacher then shares a memory. At a Christmas Eve service at a church, the children are asked what they would like for Christmas. A little girl, around eight or nine years old, raises her hand. Her mother, standing behind her, proudly waits for a cute answer: a doll, a toy, a dessert. The little girl takes the microphone and says, in front of the whole congregation, "I want love" (私は愛が欲しい).

Silence fills the room. Awkward laughter. Then real unease, because everyone suddenly understands that this sentence, spoken by a child, is the cry carried by every human being. You can have your presents, your dinner, your family gathered around the tree, but if you have no love, you are missing what matters most. And no human being can fill that love 100 percent. Not your spouse, not your parents, not your children, not your friends. There will always be a gap.

3. John 3:16: God's Answer to That Cry

This is where the preacher opens to John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

The connection between the genealogy in Matthew 1 and John 3:16 becomes crystal clear. For generations, God prepared the coming of a Savior for all people, prostitutes, foreigners, people who feel like they have missed their own lives. And that Savior is Jesus, born in a manger in Bethlehem. The gift of Christmas is not, first of all, what you give to someone: it is what God gave you first.

4. What the Bible Tells Us About the Power of God

The preacher then recalls a few Bible accounts to ground this good news in something solid. Jesus multiplies loaves and feeds a crowd of more than five thousand people, women and children included (Matthew 14:13-21). Lazarus, dead for four days, rises again at the voice of Jesus (John 11). Moses stretches out his staff, the Red Sea splits in two, and the people of Israel cross on dry ground as they come out of Egypt (Exodus 14).

These miracles are impressive. But the preacher adds a line you should not miss: God's greatest miracle is not the multiplication of loaves, nor the Red Sea, nor Lazarus walking out of the tomb. It is that the holy and righteous God chose to forgive a sinner like you, to make you his child, and to give you eternal life. The rest is spectacular. This is overwhelming.

5. Life Here on Earth: Led by the Spirit, Filled by Grace

The preacher moves on to what the believer's life looks like today. Receiving Jesus is not only an assurance for eternity. It is also the promise of being led, starting right now, here on this earth, by the Holy Spirit. God does not save you and then leave you to fend for yourself. He fills you with his grace, he gives you a living hope, and he makes your heart overflow with gratitude.

This may be exactly where this Christmas needs to reach you. If you are tired, if you feel like you are moving forward with nothing left in the tank, remember: the one who loved you enough to send his Son continues to walk with you every single day.

6. The Preacher's Personal Testimony

Toward the end, the preacher becomes more personal. He shares that at the age of three, he entered a Christian kindergarten (幼稚園) founded on the Gospel of Jesus. And he adds a striking line: if he had not been enrolled in that school, he does not dare imagine what kind of life he would have today. It gives him chills.

What he emphasizes is that God had mercy on him even while he was not yet seeking the Lord Jesus. God was already thinking of him before he ever thought of God. And that same logic holds true for you. If you are reading this article today, it is not by chance. God remembered you first.

Key Takeaways

• Your past does not disqualify you. Rahab and Ruth prove it: God welcomes those whom society marginalizes and brings them into his own lineage.
• "I want love" is the cry of every human heart. No human being can fill it fully. Only God can.
• John 3:16 is God's answer to that cry. He loved you enough to give his Son so that you could live.
• The greatest miracle is neither the Red Sea nor Lazarus. It is the forgiveness offered to the sinner that you are, and your adoption into God's family.
• God was thinking of you before you ever thought of him. His grace comes before you; his guidance accompanies you today through the Holy Spirit.

Personal Application

1. What part of your story do you feel unable to bring before God? What does the presence of Rahab and Ruth in the genealogy of Jesus tell you about that?
2. If you had to finish that little girl's sentence ("I want…"), what would you honestly answer this Christmas?
3. What does it concretely change, in the way you live out this month of December, to know that God loved you first?
4. Who around you could you offer, this week, a concrete sign of the love you have received from God?
5. What "quiet miracle" of God in your life are you rushing past too quickly?

Verses Cited

• Matthew 1 · The genealogy of Jesus (Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David).
• John 3:16 · "For God so loved the world…"
• Matthew 14:13-21 · The multiplication of the loaves.
• John 11 · The resurrection of Lazarus.
• Exodus 14 · The crossing of the Red Sea.

FAQ

Why does the genealogy of Jesus mention Rahab and Ruth?

Because, right from the very first page of the New Testament, God wants to say that salvation in Jesus is offered to everyone, including those whom religious society considers disqualified. Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute (Joshua 2). Ruth was a Moabite (Ruth 1). Their presence in the lineage of the Messiah already announces the universal scope of the Gospel.

How can I respond to the cry "I want love" without hiding in sentimentality?

By going to the source. Sentimentality tries to fill that emptiness with fleeting emotions. The Gospel offers something else: an objective love, historical, proven, God really did send Jesus, Jesus really did die and rise again, you really are forgiven if you believe. This love stands firm even when you do not feel it.

What if I don't "feel" anything this Christmas?

Do not measure God's love by your feelings. Measure it by what he did: he gave his Son. Go back to John 3:16, read it slowly, let it become true for you personally. The preacher reminds us that God was thinking of you even before you ever thought of him. Your lack of feeling changes nothing about that reality.