Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord!
The greatest message of Christmas is that heaven and earth have united in producing a Savior for wretched and fallen mankind. The offense must have been immense - that original sin - if the remedy had to be this spectacular. And spectacular it is! Beyond imagining! Beyond the belief of many - still! God becomes a man in order to save us from the situation that we had gotten ourselves into by an enormous lack of trust and act of disobedience!
Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord!
From time immemorial men and women had been living a double-life! A life caught in the chaos of original disordering! Everything that had been “ordered” - created to operate in a specific and certain way - was now, inescapably “disordered.” And there was no way out - at least, not that man could produce himself! Because the order was created by God, and lack of trust in God keeping his promises, and disobedience - only a supreme act of trust and obedience by one who was both like and unlike us could save us! The God-Man Jesus Christ was the only one qualified to do this! And he did it freely, voluntarily, out of love for us!
Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord!
And he was born into this world of a virgin - to show that this entire process is extraordinary, yet very real! He was born poor - to show the reality of his majesty, the immensity of his power, the depth of his mercy! For if the all-powerful one, the all-mighty one, the all-merciful one could be contained in a tiny, crying baby boy - then he could do anything at all! Jesus identified himself with the poor, the unwanted, the homeless, the disrespected, the neglected, the shunned, the hungry, the naked and the imprisoned from the moment of his birth - when he was turned away from the inn!
Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord!
And yet, his birth was celebrated by the animals in the manger, and the shepherds on the hillsides, and the heavenly choir of angels who sang out his praises: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests! - peace to the lowly and the humble and those who embrace a life of poverty!”
Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord!
The only appropriate response that we could possibly make this Christmas Day is to promised with all of our minds and hearts to take the spiritual empowerment that we receive from the God who also was big enough, and loving enough, and merciful enough to transform himself into ordinary bread and wine for us and for our salvation: and translate it into direct, conscious, deliberate, consistent and lasting care for all of God’s poor - which includes EVERYONE - we are all poor in the sight of God - but especially those who are visibly living a life of physical, mental, emotional or spiritual poverty - whether by choice or not! WE OWE IT TO JESUS and HIS FATHER and the HOLY SPIRIT to use the gift of Christmas this way! We will be held accountable one day when the only question that Jesus, come as Judge will ask us is this: DID YOU LOVE AND CARE FOR THE POOR? DID YOU LOVE AND CARE FOR ME - WHO WAS BORN IN A MANGER BECAUSE NO ONE CARED?
Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord!
No comments:
Post a Comment