For Whom He Came

 Unto us the Miracle came. 

Not unto the elites and the know-it-alls (although He came for them, too) but unto the humble, the weak, and the broken. The wrecked and lost ones who needed Him most. After all, He said that the sick were the ones who needed the Physician and that the so-called "righteous" were not those for whom He was destined but sinners in need of repentance, healing, and some serious "good news." 

He did not come to us in stately form, parading His way into our lives with fanfare and royal arrival; rather, He showed up in the form of a helpless baby raised by teenage parents. Talk about turning the traditional kingly script on its head! 

No ruler ever showed up this way before, and no ruler except Him ever will. And then next time He comes He will arrive in all the splendor and pomp that He set aside in His first coming. 

Perhaps this is what is so striking about the birth of Jesus - that everything humanity had ever known regarding a king's reign suddenly got re-framed, re-written, re-made. 

And He has been in the business of re-framing, re-writing, and re-making ever since. 

Typing this post on a chilly winter day, I'm struck by the power behind the simple words of Isaiah's declaration of promise: 

"Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6) 

In this King of Kings came all the things our souls ever longed for, all the things our hearts ever needed. In this God-Man came the promise of a redemptive turn to all things broken - of history being given hope and people being granted life and all messes being made into beauty. Does He not come to us in that humble manger, we do have the assurance of any good coming from the death and despair of this fallen world. We do not have the realization that all things in all circumstances come together for His plan in His time and His way. 

And so, in the profoundest sense, Christmas is where it all begins. No heavenly child born in that manger equals no fulfillment of all past longing, no foretelling of future glory in the resurrected Christ. No holy moment as shepherds worship and angels proclaim means no eternity for us spent doing the same. 

As we remember that midnight clear in the city of David where the trajectory of the world was forever changed, let us reflect on the mind-boggling fact that messed-up, weak, broken, weary us were the ones He came for: God looked down through the ages and had us in mind when He sent His only Son. 

That, friends, is a truth worth celebrating. A joy worth sharing. A hope worth telling. 

That is the light and spirit of this season that continues to pierce all darkness and all discouragement and all dying in all places because that is the Reason for all days and all times and all years. That is the truth that assures every heart that prepares Him room that we are not forgotten, we are not alone, and one day, He will come not just to us, but for us and take us home to be with Him forever. 

So let cheer run deep and love live large in this, another Christmas, and let every soul look up and breathe humble-thanks for a God who cared enough to make a way. For a God who became The Way and through whom we have everlasting hope.