Tabernacle Choir Christmas Video
Jesus, the Son of God, could have certainly chosen any other
birthplace. He must have come to a manger by design. Were there no
places in Israel? Were there no halls decked with finery, no
comforts in that country, no soft beds or medical attendants? He could
have come to us in a fiery proclaimation maing us tremble at his
presence, all flesh kneeling at his arrival. But instead he came in
humble simplicity, a small baby who cried with hunger and looked for
warmth in his mother's arms.
He came, Emmanuel, God with us, not a divine and distant being, too
high to comprehend our problems and our pains. He came, not to impress
us in ways we are used to being impressed, not by opulence or power
or distance. Though he was the Son of God he came among us to be a
man, to look like us and feel with us, bearing our griefs and carrying
our sorrows. He came to the sick, the Great Healer, whose own body
was wounded in the world. He came to the poor, a wanderer who had
no home. He came to the discouraged, a teacher deserted by his
followers at this most critical moment. And in some way
incomprehensible to us, whe he knelt in the garden of Gethsemane, he
took upon himself our sins and burdens. When we kneel, at the very
limits of our endurance, he has been there before us and can lighten
the load.
Lou Cassels, a former United Press Internation religion writer, tells
the parable of a man who sat by his fire on a Christmas Eve and
wondered about Christ's divinity, while a fierce storm whirled outside.
He just couldn't accept the belief that Christ came to earth as a
mortal. Just then he was startled by a thud against his window. It was
followed quickly by another and then another. He looked outside only
to find a flock of birds caught helplessly in the winter storm looking
for shelter. Just then he remembered the barn and ran outside, threw
open the door and turned on the lights. This will save the birds, he
thought, as he scattered bread crumbs to attract them to the shelter.
But the birds only flopped helplessly in the snow and wind. The man
tried shooing the birds into the barn but the birds scattered in every
direction. The would-be rescuer thought, "What can I do to make them
trust me? If only I could be a bird, then maybe they would follow me
to safety." Just then the realization came, and the man sank to his
knees in the snow. "Now I understand," he said. "Now I know why Christ
had to come among us and be a man."
Because he was one with us, Jesus Christ understands our needs, and
because he understands our needs he can be our personal Savior if we
will make an effort to know him. To know the Christ at Christmas!
For centuries before his birth the people cried, "O come, O come,
Emmanuel," and then when he came many failed to recognize him. For us
Christmas is a time to seek and see the signs God has left for us to
find him. He has come. His gospel in all its fullness is here. And so
we say again, into each of our own lives, "O come, O come, Emmanuel."
Spencer Kennard
