I don’t want to miss the mystery of Christmas. Amidst the
Christmas lights, the smell of fresh cut trees, the warmth of fireplaces lined with
stockings, and the wrapping of presents…not just trying to find Christ in the
middle of all of this, but really trying to relish in God’s mystery.
Mysteries like…
Joseph and Mary being visited by angels before the birth.
The King of Kings being born in a manger.
The Son of God raised as a carpenter, building with his
hands.
The Prince of Peace being betrayed by His own people.
And although He is the Giver of Life, ultimately being
executed among thieves.
Max Lucado, in God
Came Near, alludes to the mystery, “The omnipotent made himself breakable.
He who had been spirit became pierceable. He who was larger than the universe
became an embryo. And he who sustains the world with a word chose to be
dependent upon the nourishment of a young girl…The creator of life being
created…Angels would watch as Mary would change the diaper, The universe
watched with wonder as the Almighty learned to walk…The Word had become flesh.”
Wow. What a mystery. God becoming flesh.
We say it, we sing it, but do we think upon the mystery of His
name Emmanuel, God with us?
Joseph and Mary alone on that night of
census, gazing at each other across the bed of straw, God is now among us.
The teachers at Jerusalem temple, twelve
years later, handing the child back to His worried parents, then realizing God Himself was here teaching among us.
The disciples, walking together down the
dusty road with their master, thinking with amazement, God is walking here alongside us.
The woman at the well, the one with the
past she’d rather keep to herself, telling others that,
“God was right here, telling me my own history.”
“God was right here, telling me my own history.”
And a Roman centurion, standing in the shadow
of that awful cross and the dead Jesus thinking, God was here with us.
My challenge today is not to seek an answer, but to embrace the
mystery.
God loved me enough to come shrouded in the mystery of a
babe, born to a young girl, ultimately crucified on a cross and resurrected to bring eternal life.
Thank you God for mystery.
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