The Meaning of Christmas

Echoes of Calvary

It pleases the Lord from time to time to remind us what true love, what great love looks like.  This Christmas season in New Zealand He has done just that--yet again.  Here is the story, as it appeared in Stuff:

Mother makes supreme sacrifice for son

HARRY PEARL

Last updated 05:00 21/12/2013

 

Jennifer Doolabh was never meant to fall pregnant for a third time.

She had a new partner, sure, but the doctors told her it was rare for someone in her situation. She had undergone nearly a year of chemotherapy and radiation after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012.  But around June, while enduring another bout of radiation treatment and preparing for hormone therapy, she was delivered the news.

"It was a shock," she says, at her home in Hamilton. "We just thought I couldn't get pregnant and they were just about to suppress my ovaries. I was about to go on other treatment as well." So instead she stopped treatment, in order to give her baby a better chance of survival.

On Monday she'll finally give birth to her son Matthias - which means God's gift in Hebrew - just in time for Christmas, though she knows it could be the last one she will spend with him.  He'll be born six weeks early, but it's a wonder he will be born at all.


Because she wasn't having treatment, her condition worsened and at 22 weeks, she was given six weeks to live.  "I was getting ready to die," she says, matter of factly. "We were getting everything ready for the funeral and I was getting ready to die."  The family and doctors met to discuss what to do. For Matthias to be born healthy, she was told she would need to make it to 28 weeks. She decided to start chemotherapy again.  The effect the chemotherapy, radiation and scans will have on her son, no one will know until he is born, she says.

All along, the doctors wanted her to abort the baby - even at 23 weeks.  But Doolabh couldn't. She says she is morally opposed to abortion.  "You can't just kill a baby."  The family will have Christmas together - in the hospital.

Understandably, Christmas this year has been tough - emotionally and financially.  Since she became unable to work, the family have relied solely on her husband's income, which has been a struggle. "We've only had enough money for our bills."  Harder still has been preparing her kids for when she is gone.  "We made some videos and things like that," she says. "That was hard, saying goodbye." Her 10-year-old son Te Waraki understands, but her 5-year-old daughter Bailey doesn't, she says. "She thinks death is temporary."

And then there is Matthias.  Despite knowing she will not be there to support her son, she says she is not worried. "His father is amazing. He'll have lots of support, so he'll be fine." . . .

Love so amazing, as the hymn puts it.   Thank you Jennifer for being an echo and reflection of our Saviour's love for us, when He was "crucified, dead, and buried," as He "descended into Hell" for us and our sake. 

May Matthias indeed be God's gift to you and your family as you lay down your life for him.  Merry Christmas.