Immanuel

I've been contemplating this glorious message of Christmas, how Jesus is Immanuel, God with us. GOD WITH US. Why do we celebrate Christmas? Not because of family or gifts or giving. Not because of traditions or music or stories. These are all ways to celebrate, but they aren't the reason (although looking around, you'd think that the means of celebrating was the reason).

Christmas is a time of remembering Jesus come to earth to live a life of flesh and bone, heartache and sorrow, relationships and joy. I've been sick this week, my body racked by painful coughing (I'm getting better)...and in the course of being sick, I've thought of my Lord, who left eternal health for a moment in time to take on sickness; I imagine he had a few flus, stomach trouble, scratchy sore throats, maybe even a painful cough; perhaps He had a broken arm or an ingrown toenail (after all, these are the things of bodies). So in my moments of sickness i can think of the God of the universe being sick and understanding the discomfort. if we are to believe that He truly was Immanuel, God with us, then we accept that the incarnation (God taking on flesh) means he took on the very same flesh that interrupts health.

Jesus, the God I serve, lived like me. Yet, He didn't. Jesus was able to defeat sin for us all because He did not sin. His ministry in life, His teaching and healing and serving, His sacrifice on the cross, His defeat of death in the resurrection which welcomed into the world Life eternal...these all were possible because He lived the holy life He calls us to. Jesus lived in the flesh to show us what living perfectly is like, so that when He called us to reflect His holiness, we would see in His life an example to follow.

But He didn't even leave us there. None of us, ever, could live holy lives just by an example. There is nothing in us strong enough to defeat sin simply because we want to. when Jesus left the earth He left us something incredible. Jesus left His Spirit...the Holy Spirit, which lives in the spirits of those who tell Jesus they accept Him, they believe in Him, that they'll follow Him. Step one. The Holy Spirit comes in us then and empowers us with the power of God to live those lives of holiness that exemplify who God is. (Some call this "godliness"; either way, it is reflecting the character of Christ.) We become Christ's incarnation in this world...letting Him live through us.

The Gospel message, simply put, is that Jesus came to break the barrier that sin puts between us and God; when He returned to the Father, He left His Spirit, which guides us to live lives that show the character of God. No law can complete us, although law serves as a guide. Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, came to earth 2000 years ago to begin an age of people knowing God personally, intimately, beautifully, eternally.

Thank you, Jesus, for doing the unimaginable and leaving perfection on our behalf, taking on the load of sin and shame and guilt that we all deserve to bear, defeating death so that those who follow you might know what true Life without death is intended to be, and leaving Your Spirit so that Your work on earth may be fulfilled through the lives of Your saints. Oh Jesus, may I look like Christ to someone today? Will You live through me so that someone might know You better? Oh Christ, thank you for coming. Thank you for being Immanuel, God with us.