thoughts at christmas

As you go about your last minute preparations for Christmas I want to remind you of something.

The Word became flesh and lived among us.

As you ready the house for guests or pack to be one let me remind you that:
Christ Jesus made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

As we celebrate the birth and gift of Christ allow me to point your mind not to the end at the cross but to the beginning.
God became man
The Creator became the created.
The infinite became the finite.

Isaiah 53:2-3
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

He was despised…the original Hebrew carries these meanings as well:
to be despicable
to be vile, worthless

Rejected…..or:
transient, fleeting, lacking

A man of sorrows….also:
Pain, sorrow
Physical pain
Mental pain

From whom men hide their faces…as in:
hiding, act of hiding, one who causes people to hide


It is easier to look at the cross, with all of its pain and anguish, than to look at the Christ who made himself nothing.
You see even the horror of the cross can be tolerated because it has a hero’s end.

I am not trivializing the cross, but I think we have trivialized the birth of God as man.
We have cleaned it up and portrayed it in beautiful wood carvings and crystal shapes.
The nativity was and is a glorious event.
“Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God…”

However, we often times forget to see in it God lowering himself. We forget to see that Jesus was not a hero.

Christ was not born to a king or even a wealthy family. He was born to a laborer and a poor family.
Jesus was homeless, a transient. When others saw him they pretended not to see him.
As Jesus grew and lived and walked this earth he was not beautiful.
His appearance caused people to hide.
To others he was despicable, vile and worthless.
He lived in pain.

It is hard. You see, that is my God and my Savior. I do not want to see Him that way. The pictures tell me he is tall and lovely with a look of peace on his face. The movies show him to have a nice easy gate and to move swiftly about. He is smooth voiced and well spoken.

However, scripture tells me that God did not just become a man. He became a lowly man.

When we look from the nativity straight to the cross we miss the humility and lowering of God.
We miss the God who became nothing and took the very nature of a servant.
We miss the God who had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
We miss the God who was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. We miss the God who was one from whom men hide their faces.

Before you continue the activities and demands of Christmas reflect on the true picture and nature of the nativity and the true nature and picture of the Christ.
As you do remember the words of that Christ:
You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am.
I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master… John 13:13, 16