| The people called out, day after day. "Lord, have mercy, please save us." Year after year, decade after decade they would cry, "Lord, have mercy, please save us. Year after year, decade after decade they people would find themselves in poverty or worse, slavery. Finally, came the worst masters of all. Not only would they tax them to the point of starvation, but they invented a method of execution so cruel that they wouldn't even use it on their own kind, but they found every excuse to use it on the people. | -1.JPG) | "Lord, have mercy, please save us." |
His parents named Him "Jesus", meaning "God is our salvation".
Soon the boy grew to be a man. Nobody but those who lived with Him in the small town where his parents raised him knew much about how he spent his time. Did he work with his father in his carpentry shop? Did he spend a lot of time at the synagogue reading and studying? Did he have many friends? Were his brothers cruel to him? Nobody really knows.
We do know that one day he went to visit a man named John, who they called "the baptist" because he baptized people in the river. John happened to be a relative of Jesus, maybe his cousin or something like that, no one really knows; but John knew who Jesus was and what He had come to do. John would say "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' "
Though John tried to refuse, Jesus insisted and was baptized. In the presence of everyone watching, the Holy Spirit came from Heaven and settled on Jesus like a dove and a voice rang out saying "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." If any had doubt about who Jesus was and what He had come to do, their doubts should have been expelled.
Jesus went on to call to Himself those He could teach to spread His message, especially after He was gone. He performed many miracles to prove who He was and He taught to show He knew the secrets of the Kingdom of God.
There were those who feared what He had come to do. They knew who He was, but they were afraid of what He would do. So they conspired to kill him. But they did not know that this was truly what He had come to do. The baby that laid in the hay had come to die.
They arrested Him, they beat Him and in the end they crucified him - that terrible form of execution reserved for the worst criminals. But in that moment, the plan was fulfilled. We have to wonder if His mother, who birthed him in that stable among the animals, who held him through that cold night as the shepherds came to see Him, did she look upon her child and remember that unusual birth?
And so He died. It's hard to explain, it's hard to understand, but God placed upon Jesus all our sins. In that terrible moment of pain and death, somehow the punishment for your wrongs and mine were placed upon Him and He died so we don't have to. He died for us to give us life.
And to give us hope, He rose.
Three days later, He proved he had power over death, giving us the hope that someday we too will overcome death and be with Him.
As you go about your business this Christmas season, remember my little story here. If you remember nothing else, remember two things, the manger, where the Savior lay and cried the cry of a newborn child, and the cross, where He cried to His Father as He saved the world.
Merry Christmas
