There’s a book I used to read to my kids when they were young, and that I now read to my grandchildren, called “Guess How Much I Love You” by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram. In it, Big Nutbrown Hare stretches out his arms as wide as he can in order to show Little Nutbrown Hare how much he loves him. “I love you this much!” he says.

Well, here’s God saying to us, “Guess how much I love you.”

“I love you this much,” Jesus tells us, stretching out His arms as wide as they can go.

This rescue, this demonstration of sacrificial love, began 33 years earlier when Jesus left heaven to appear among us as a helpless baby. “I love you this much, too,” He tells us.