The First Day of Christmas
This day of celebration can be so obscured by the food and the gift-giving that we miss the important, far-reaching gifts brought by the One who truly loves us.
On each of the next twelve days, I will be posting a short meditation on what our Bridegroom has brought us by His life here among us, and by His death and resurrection.
On the first day of Christmas my True Love gave to me…Himself wrapped in human flesh! Coming as a helpless human infant into a hostile environment, exposed to danger, hunger, rejection, measles, communication breakdowns, and fear means that Jesus experienced every kind of human pain and misery. He did it because He wanted to. By coming as a an infant human, He launched the greatest search and rescue mission ever conceived. The plan was a crazy one: the rightful king of the universe strips Himself of everything that makes being the King cool, and takes the absolutely most vulnerable place, growing into a man dedicated to releasing the captives by wearing their chains.
I sang for a funeral earlier this week, and tonight my daughter’s family dog died. It is more than empty words that He has “borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;” He has felt our sorrows and not left us alone in them. In all our afflictions, He is afflicted: He is vulnerable to our injuries and wounds, but He is not taken down by them, He knows just how to bring them to the Father to be healed, and He shows us the way.
Jesus taking on human flesh means He “gets it!” We don’t have to sanitize our conversation with Him: He already knows! What a great gift!
Merry Christmas! May you experience Him as Emmanuel: The With-Us God!
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