I know that I am by no means in the minority when it comes to people disgusted by Joe Biden’s pardon of his son, Hunter. In fact, an AP-NORC poll found that only 22% of Americans approve of the pardon (though another 26% either didn’t approve or disapprove or didn’t know). Even among Democrats, only 38% approve. Partially the disapproval comes from the idea of a president using the power of his office for the benefit of his son and partially it comes as a response to Biden’s repeated statement that he would not pardon his son.

If you’re one of the few people not aware of what’s going on, Hunter Biden was convicted on both tax and gun charges. Biden said that the charges were a “miscarriage of justice” and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden ultimately decided to issue the pardon “because of how politically infected these cases were” and “what his political opponents were trying to do.”

The “politically infected” argument might have carried a little more weight if Hunter Biden had not already pleaded guilty to the charges and if Biden’s pardon were not so expansive. As to the guilty plea, Biden said that if the negotiated plea deal had held, “it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.” But because the plea “unraveled in the courtroom” and a number of Republicans “taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process,” Biden felt justified in issuing the pardon. Even if you want to accept that argument, though, Biden went further, issuing Hunter “A Full and Unconditional Pardon for those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.” In other words, Hunter was pardoned not just for the two crimes to which he plead guilty, but for any and all crimes he may have committed during an eleven-year period leading up to the issuance of the pardon. No matter what Hunter did, or may have done, during that period—at least half of which he was addicted to drugs and/or alcohol—he will get off scot-free.

As reprehensible as this from a political standpoint, and as dangerous as the precedent is that it sets, Biden’s choice is understandable from a purely parental perspective. Every parent knows the tug that is felt when their child is in trouble and the wish that there was something that could be done to save them the pain of their choices. If anything, Joe Biden’s tug when it comes to Hunter would be even stronger, exacerbated by the fact that he was unable to do anything to protect his first wife or the two other children he had with her. Neilia, his first wife, and Naomi (known as “Amy”), their one-year-old daughter, both died in a car accident in 1972. Biden had just been elected to the Senate and was on his way to Washington, D.C. when, one week to the day before Christmas, Neilia was driving the family station wagon with all three children and was hit broadside by a tractor trailer. Neilia and Amy were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Beau and Hunter survived, suffering a broken leg and fractured skull respectively. There was nothing Biden could have done for his wife and daughter.

Their first-born, a son named Joseph R. Biden III, but known as Beau, died of brain cancer in 2015. There was nothing that Joe Biden could do to protect him, either. Beau was a veteran, receiving the Bronze Star for his service in Iraq, and became the Attorney General of Delaware. In 2010, he suffered a stroke, but it was not debilitating. Three years later, after becoming weak and disoriented, a lesion was found on his brain and removed. He was given a clean bill of health but later that year was diagnosed with brain cancer. He underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, but died in 2015. Despite the fact that he was the vice president of the United States at the time, there was nothing Joe Biden could do about it. Leaving behind a wife and two children, Beau was just 46—and Joe Biden had outlived a second child.

So, as I said, it is completely understandable that Joe Biden would, now that he finally had the ability to do so, act to protect his son Hunter from time in prison. But the fact that it is understandable doesn’t make it right. In fact, it will be a lasting blemish on Joe Biden’s career of more than fifty years in public service. Whenever the time comes and his obituary is written, it will certainly be mentioned. It also sets a dangerous precedent that will surely be followed by Biden’s successors.

All of that has been on my mind since Biden issued the pardon on December 1. But last night, lying in bed trying to go back to sleep after a mid-sleep trip to the bathroom, I was thinking about it being Christmas Eve and what that is really all about. Somehow, in the middle of that somewhere-between-sleep-and-awake state, I thought about the contrast between Joe Biden and God. Yes, I know, the differences are extensive, but I do have a point.

Joe Biden used his power to enable his son to avoid the consequences of crimes he committed. God, despite His unlimited power, sent His Son to earth in the form of a human baby with the sole purpose of living a perfect, sinless life in order to die an excruciating death on the cross for crimes (sins) that He did not commit. God did that, and His Son consented, in order to provide a way for me to be pardoned—for me to avoid the consequences I rightly deserve to pay for the crimes (sins) I have committed. When He rose three days later, Jesus conquered sin, hell and the grave. Today He is alive and seated at the right hand of His Father. But that in no way negates or diminishes the awesome gift of salvation or the unimaginably self-sacrificial obedience of Jesus Christ.

Joe Biden loves his son and he thinks that using his power to enable him to avoid the just penalties of his crimes is a demonstration of that love. It really isn’t, but that’s not the point I want to make here. God loves His Son, too. But He also loves the world (as John 3:16 tells us). In fact, He loves the world so much that He sent His Son to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Joe Biden let his Son off the hook for what he did; God put His Son on the hook for what He didn’t do. In so doing, He gave “the gift of…eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). That was given “in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” and, as a result, I have “redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of [my] trespasses” (Ephesians 1:7)

You can have that, too. That’s the first, and best, Christmas gift.

Photo credit: REUTERS/Craig Hudson