God With Us

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of Bethlehem, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men.'

So. It's Christmas time. Everyone has heard the old routine about Christmas being too commercialized, and how we neglect the true meaning of Christmas, all that jazz. It's not exactly a new revelation for anyone, so I won't get into it.

But you know what's interesting to me? You know what gets me about the whole "Christmas story" thing?

That God would send his Son down HERE, to be on this crappy, fallen earth. To be with us.

A human baby is a most fragile creature. I've had a couple, and trust me, they can't exactly get themselves some breakfast if you decide you don't feel like feeding them. Babies needs constant care and attention. The manger scene of 2000 years ago was not some sanitized, cute little barn that you might see in a church Christmas musical. It wasn't even a *barn*. This was 2000 years ago. It was probably more likely a dirty little cave of some sort. It may have been cold. There was probably animal crap all over the place. I doubt that Mary and Joseph were a trendy, cute couple in their late 20s, wearing lovely white robes. Mary was probably 15 or 16. They were most likely poor, tired from travelling, and dirty.

If you were in charge of everything, if you ran the whole shebang, would you send your little God-baby to be born to a poor teenage girl in a dirty cave?

The most common question that people ask about the existence of God is Why would God let all of this shit happen? It's a perfectly understandable question. There is some really painful stuff that goes on in this life.

The question that I ask, then, is Why would God send his beloved Son into the midst of all this shit?

I would guess the heavens, wherever God and Jesus hang out, to be a pretty cool place. Perfect. No sin. No sickness. No death. Probably some really good music. And I'm not talking about that "angels playing harps" crap. I'm talking some sweet rock and roll.

Why leave? Why send Jesus down here?

It's not like He came down as an adult, ministered to people, healed sickness, raised the dead, turned some water into wine at a wedding reception, performed some other nifty miracles, and then flew back up to God after a couple of years. He came into a Jewish girl's womb. He was born in a less-than-sanitary environment. He wasn't raised in a wealthy family.

He went through puberty. His voice probably cracked. I bet he got acne.

He worked hard, with his hands. He probably did more stone and crude masonry work than what we think of a "carpenter" doing today.

He became an adult. He probably saw cute girls around town. He had struggles and went through the same kind of difficulties that we go through.

Then, just a few years after he did start healing sickness, raising the dead, helping people... He died a horrible, painful, excruciating death. Because he knew that's what he had been sent to do. To die.

So, why would God send his beloved Son into the midst of all this?

To be with us. To live with us, to eat meals in our homes. To grieve with us. To die a human death as a sacrifice for others.

The word "Immanuel" means "God with us." He's not nearly so removed from us as we might sometimes think.


I'm starting something new in January. More than once on my other blog, a few people have expressed some interest in learning a bit more about the Bible. So I thought, hey, let's pick a book of the Bible and go through it on a blog.

This isn't going to be me teaching something really complicated. And it isn't really even intended for serious Christians. This is more for anyone that hasn't had as much exposure to the Bible lately. Think of it as a group of people reading the same book, and discussing it.

I picked the book of Luke, just because it is a good overview of Jesus' life. And Jesus is a pretty good place to start, where the Christian Bible is concerned. If the Luke discussion goes well, who knows, maybe we'll continue into the book of Acts after that. Luke chronicles Jesus life and death, and Acts is a continuation of the story, as Jesus' followers started his "church" in the first century.

I'll pick up with the beginning of Luke after the first of the year.

Merry Christmas.