A Christmas Wish

Christmas is one of the most amazing seasons of the year.  For the businessman, the success or failure of the year rides mightily upon the shoulders of customers during these weeks preceding Christmas.  For children, the anxieties of the almost "eternal wait" for Christmas often become apparent in abnormal behavior; after all, a person can only be "good" for so long.  For moms and dads, it is the anticipation of having all the kids coming home; it will be a celebration of family as remembered in the past. 


Christmas is also the time when busyness seems to dominate our calendars.  There are the Sunday school programs at the local church.  Then throw in a couple of nights of concerts at school.  Perhaps there is a party or two at work.  There are cards to address, letters to write, gifts to purchase and then wrap, cookies to bake, a tree to decorate.  Whew! I got tired just writing down that list!  Now, all of the above are good and I would certainly not want to eliminate any one Christmas tradition. 


But what I do find missing today is an overwhelming sense of the mystery that is Christmas.  It is that mystery that we know as the Incarnation.  Allow me to share some brief thoughts from the first chapter of John's Gospel.  John begins with words that are so easy to read, yet are so difficult to fully comprehend.  John writes, "In the beginning was the Word..."  Okay, let's stop right there.  I may have a difficult time understanding about when the beginning actually began, but I certainly do understand the concept of there being a person there at the beginning.  And that person was the Word.  Okay, I get that.  The Word was at the beginning. 


But, let's continue: "...and the Word was with God."   Okay, let's stop again.  I get this as well.  So, at the very beginning there was the Word and there was God.  So, not just one person present at the beginning, but actually there were two.  Okay, nothing too out-of-the-ordinary so far. 


But, here is where the mystery of Christmas begins to take shape.  John writes, "...and the Word was God."  Hold it right there!  Let's back up and read that again.  Let me see if I get this right: In the beginning there was the Word and there was God - two persons, but the Word actually was God.  So, there was two but only one!  Yes, that is exactly what John was saying.  Sort of tough for a finite mind like mine to get my arms around. 


But, John is not finished quite yet.  Let's jump down to verse 14.  "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we perceived His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth."  John says that the Word, which he has already identified as being not only with God, but in actuality was God, became flesh.  In other words, God took upon Himself flesh, that is, a human body, and entered into the human race here on earth.  God became one of us!  If that doesn't constitute a mystery, then I am not sure exactly what does. 


That baby, born to Mary and laid in a manger in a cave in Bethlehem, was the infinite, holy, eternal, omnipotent Creator of the universe.  That baby was God!  Friends, just sit down right now for a few moments and ponder the reality of that truth.  That scene at the manger was the intersection of the divine and the human, of the heavenly with the earthly.  It was God Himself stepping onto the stage of this world with the purpose of reclaiming that which was His own. 


A few years ago, Mark Lowry wrote a song which, I think, truly captures the mystery of the Incarnation in a profound way.  It has become one of my favorite Christmas songs and I share those words with you as my Christmas gift and challenge.


"Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your Baby Boy has come to make you new?
This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you.


"Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy will calm the storm with His hand?
Did you know that your Baby Boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God?
Mary, did you know...


"The blind will see.  The deaf will hear.  The dead will live again.
The lame will leap.  The dumb will speak the praises of The Lamb.


"Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy will one day rule the nation?
Did you know that your Baby Boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
The sleeping Child you're holding is the Great, I AM."


I want to wish you all the joys of this Christmas Season as you celebrate the mystery of "the Word becoming flesh."