Thursday, December 25, 2014

Merry Christmas! God With us!

  At our closing all school chapel the students presented a powerful skit featuring the battle between Jesus and Satan and how Christmas is the beginning of the end for the enemy. But as I listened to the students’ chuckle as it was revealed which one of their fellow classmates was portraying Jesus, I was struck anew with the mystery of the incarnation. Classmates and teachers alike were thinking of the differences between this student and the person he was playing. While this particular student is a good kid/student, he is not perfect. But didn’t those around Jesus have a similar reaction? Who does Jesus think he is? He is my neighbor, friend, classmate. He is just a carpenter from Nazareth. He's a good kid and all, but the Son of God...I don't think so. He looks and sounds like me, how could He be the promised Messiah?
  While I realize that my analogy quickly breaks down as the student portraying Jesus was neither sinless nor the Son of God, it still revealed my own heart.  I have often wondered if I would have missed Jesus had I been there2000 yrs ago.  I hope not, but it made me keenly aware of how easily I could have.  This was not what anyone had expected. At one point in time the Son of God, the Creator of the Universe was a teenage boy who looked much like one of my students. The Word took on flesh and dwelt among us.  What an astounding reality!
  My Christmas prayer is that I would have the expectant faith of Simeon and Anna, who didn't miss it, didn't snicker at the thought of the God of the universe being presented by poor parents as a newborn in the Temple. May we have eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to respond to the radical message of Christmas! Emmanuel! God with us!
Love, Anna