The miracle of the Incarnation as Jesus came among us, more approachable than any other person in the history of the world, arises from the fact that God cares so much about our deepest needs, that He gave His one and only Son, to be born a baby as helpless as any of us; to grow through boyhood into youth, and on into manhood—facing choices—like each of us, for God or against Him, and making all of the right choices, glorifying and revealing God in every word and in every deed. Jesus lived out every day in the midst of people the absolute reality of God’s Love always reaching out to redeem them from the devastation of their sin and disobedience. Jesus laughed, He wept, He hungered, He grew tired, He felt the heat and the cold. He faced anger, disbelief, ridicule, desertion, denial and betrayal. He had sleepless nights, He slept often on the cold, hard ground. He walked hot, long, dusty roads. He recognized the evil that eats away at life just like leprosy eats away at the flesh of those who suffer the ravages of that ungodly disease. He absolutely knows our pain. He knows our suffering. He knows our weariness. He knows our disappointment. And so, in perfect love He offers us His love. He offers us joy. He offers us peace. He enables our patience. He enables our kindness. He enables our goodness. He inspires our faithfulness. He inspires our gentleness. He inspires our self-control. Only Jesus knows all of this, does all of this, in-builds all of this. He reminds us that the God Almighty, the Creator of the universe, is just as surely our loving Father, who holds back no good gift from His beloved children.

Here is an almost oxymoronic paradox:
God is certainly our Creator,
our Sustainer, our Redeemer;
and yet He is our loving, our
forgiving, our playful Father;
He is the ruler of the Universe,
the Mighty One, the Eternal;
and yet He is our friend who
willingly lays down His life
though we have rejected Him;
He is the One and only God
who makes and names the stars;
yet He with His tender fingers
shapes each and every one of
us as we are formed in the womb;
Eternal God, Immanuel,
The Lord of Hosts, Our Shepherd
Good and Kind and Merciful.

M.S.

Deuteronomy 32: 6

Do you thus repay the LORD,
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
who made you and established you?