I have a 1 year old and ever since the day she was born, I have kissed her. Many times a day. Every day.
She had no say in this at first – although she does now occasionally bat me away – and it’s only recently that she has started to “kiss” me back. When I say “kiss”, I mean that she opens her mouth wide and presses it to my face; it’s very sloppy and well, wet! It’s not what you’d see in a romantic film but, to me, it’s the best kiss ever (sorry husband).
Recently, on our church WhatsApp group, I posed the following poll question:
‘Are you okay with the line: “heaven meets Earth like a sloppy wet kiss” in the song ‘How He Loves’ (here’s the song if you haven’t heard it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLvgqqZvLZk )’
The results of the poll were overwhelmingly negative, with 17 votes for ‘Ew, no! Never liked it 😬’ and only 5 for ‘Yes, love it!❤️’.
The resulting chat was also revealing, with one person even saying the line reminded them of being slobbered on by a dog!
Well, guess what? I was one of the five. And I’m now going to attempt to convince you that you should love the lyric too.
When Jesus came to Earth, he came as a baby.
Here’s all we get about his birth in the Bible:
In Matthew’s gospel: “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”
and in Luke’s gospel: “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.“
I don’t know if you’ve ever had a baby, or you’ve been there when one was born but let me assure you, it’s not this neat and tidy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful and amazing but it’s also exhausting, painful, and messy. There’s blood, sweat and tears at a minimum, and sometimes much more! I’ve often thought Mary doesn’t quite get her due in these few short verses.
Back to the mess… Jesus won’t have come out of the womb a perfect, clean, glowing baby. He will have been born covered in blood and also in a white, waxy substance called vernix caseosa (protects a baby’s skin in the womb – amazing!). Even if it was a straight forward birth, Mary will have needed time to recover for weeks to come.
Yet this is how God chose to enter the world. He didn’t appear fully grown, untouched by human weakness. He came through pregnancy, labour and birth.
We believe that Jesus is fully God and also fully human. He was grown in Mary’s womb before he was laid in that manger. He kicked her ribs. He made her uncomfortable. Perhaps she sang to her bump. Perhaps Joseph felt a kick. Nine whole months she carried him, literally, until her hips hurt. She will have had mood swings, food cravings, painful breasts, swollen ankles, the joyful list goes on.
I learned recently that during pregnancy, cells and free-floating DNA pass between mother and baby. Some fetal cells remain in her for the rest of her life.
Think about that for a minute.
Mary wasn’t merely some vessel who carried a baby for nine months and then birthed him. It’s possible that some of Jesus’ cells remained in Mary’s body long after his birth. She was forever changed by the presence of God in her womb. The incarnation changed her physically, as well as spiritually. God coming to earth was a deeply personal, intimate and messy thing, not a distant, or abstract event.
We focus on the cross (rightfully so) most of the time. At Christmas, we focus on the nativity and the beauty of the story, with candles and carols. We often skip over the rawness of the reality of Jesus’ birth.
Which brings me back to THAT lyric.
You might find “heaven meets Earth like a sloppy wet kiss” uncomfortable but maybe we should. After all, the Creator of the Universe, coming down from Heaven, as a vulnerable little baby, to submit himself to broken human parents, to go on to eventually die on a cross for you, is uncomfortable. It’s scandalous. It is outrageous love. It’s not pretty love like a kiss in a film. No, it’s more like a kiss my 1 year old gives, full of love (and drool or whatever else happens to be on her face at the time).
Still not convinced? Jesus tells a story in Luke 15 about a son who has rejected his father and squandered everything. Yet when the son returns, we read:
“While he [the son] was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” — Luke 15:20
This is how God loves us. While we were still sinners, he died for us. He doesn’t stand at a distance waiting for us to clean ourselves up. He runs after us, embraces us and kisses us (maybe with a sloppy wet kiss!), welcoming us home.
And then there is Song of Songs:
“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine.” — Song of Solomon 1:2 (ESV)
One historic interpretation sees this book as a picture of Christ’s love for his people. It reminds us again that God’s love isn’t distant; It’s deeply personal and intimate.
God’s love isn’t like a perfectly choreographed kiss in a film. It’s closer to my daughter’s kiss: sloppy. Wet. Full of love and affection. Unembarrassed. Full of delight.
Maybe that’s why I love that lyric. That’s why, when I hear “heaven meets Earth like a sloppy wet kiss”, I don’t think of a dog slobbering on me. I think of God entering the world as a baby – blood, sweat, tears and all. Not something disgusting, but something deeply intimate. A God who didn’t stay in Heaven, but outrageously came to Earth; close enough to be held, kissed and loved by broken human parents and who grew up to probably give them a sloppy wet kiss during his toddler years!
