God With Us

Well, it's that time again. It's Christmas. Somehow it's sunk up on me this year, I'm not quite sure how. It's not like there haven't been obnoxious Santa advertisements blaring every time I turn on the radio for the past month. But some how the "Christmas Spirit" seems to have passed me by. I realized a few weeks ago that I had missed the first Sunday of Advent, and than boom! Christmas has come and nearly gone. But I'm sitting back and thinking, thinking about the mystery of God With Us, and I'm reminded of the first chapter of John.

IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things where make through Him, and without Him nothing was make that was make. In Him was life, and that life was the light of Men. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He came unto his own and His own received Him not. But to as many as received Him to them He gave the right to become the children of God, even to those that believe in His name.

The world has no problem with "Baby God" in a manger, all cute and cuddly. It likes angels and shepherds and Wise Men. But what seems to be forgotten is that that cute baby in a manger claimed to be God Himself. And not only that, but the only God. A holy, just and jealous God who will suffer no rival. The Alpha and Omega, first and last. That is a problem. That's insensitive. That has a very "I'm right and you're wrong" ring.

On another note, I'm thinking about Mary. Something I've realized is that God didn't shower Mary's path with roses. Why did God choose just that way to bring his son into the world? Why the stigma of an unwed mother? Jesus would deal with snide remarks about his parentage for his whole life. This was a world where a woman's purity was her greatest treasure. According to the Law her purity was to be all but announced from the rooftops on her wedding night. But here was Mary, who everyone knew wasn't married, pregnant. Why wasn't God more interested in saving face than that? I wonder how many nights she wept because of the things people said, or perhaps because the people she loved treated her differently.

But than again, I wonder how many nights she stayed awake marveling at the life inside her and wondering what it all meant. Could she has fathomed that this little baby living in her womb was God Himself? She knew that He would save His people from their sins. But I wonder if she had any inkling of just how much that meant. I wonder if she knew that this Child would change the world, that he would reign literally forever. I wonder. There was short lived heartache, but in the scheme of eternity, what did it signify? I would think if anything, it only served to make her her more dependant on God.

And I think of what that all means to me. How many times in my life to I forget the long term gain in view of the short term trails? Sometimes I forget the Creator if the Universe is in the equation. He is God, and He is with us. Thank God, He is with us.