S121P1 – The Savior’s many faces: the child
Lk. 2:6-7
So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
The man was a giant by anyone’s standards. The main reason he could not be beaten was not because of his skill or his smarts. He was just so much bigger than every other opponent that no one could figure out how to take him down. People would stand back in awe when they saw him in person because they simply could not believe his size. No one encountered him without being amazed except for one woman. She had given birth to the giant, but he was no giant in those days. She knew that man when he was a small, helpless child, and she always saw him as her baby. Yet, when the public saw him, they simply could not imagine him ever being a child like everyone has been.
I think of the birth of Jesus Christ, and I try to imagine the questions that could have been swirling through his parents’ minds. This is the One who would save the world, but He was introduced to that world in the least formidable form. He was weak, small, and could not even take care of himself. I wonder whether they asked themselves what the journey would look like as they realized that this Savior would not be saving them any time soon. They would have known that there would be a long journey ahead before his purpose would be fulfilled. It would take time for him to grow and learn, to become a man. The Savior was delivered to them, but it was they who had to care for and watch over him.
Jesus Christ, the One who was sent to fulfill every need of ours, came to this world in the neediest form himself. He made his appearance not as a powerful king but as the most vulnerable of people. To me, that speaks of the Father’s confidence in the plan that was set in motion before the foundations of the Earth were laid. Jesus was introduced to us with a target on his back and no physical power of his own. His introduction as a baby tells me that God fears no power that tries to come against his plan or purpose. Father, give us a measure of the confidence and resolution You showed when You sent a babe to save a mad world.