My heart has thrilled to think over the last few days - and so I pray that I might prick yours to so thrill - over the glory and condescension of the incarnation of Jesus...
Before the world, in the beginning, Jesus was. "Before Abraham was, I AM." "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."
God is triune. He is glorious, majestic, holy, loving, gracious, self-sufficient, sovereign, absolute, true! He is like no other; none is like him! He is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. He is ever worthy. From him, and to him, and through him are all things. Legions of angels, day by day are lifting up praises that are due to him. God is big! There is nothing he cannot do, cannot have! In his sovereignty, he commands total and absolute allegiance of everything.
And in the middle of all this, God willingly stoops down to save wretches like us. And leaving off the sin bit, he actually becomes one of us. He takes on human flesh! Jesus took on what it meant to be human. He was not immune to being tired, to being sick, to the full array of human emotions, to the full array of human temptations, to the sting of the death of loved ones.
And to start off with, he was born as a baby. God was born as a baby. How ridiculous! He was a baby born in a manger. There was no room for him in the inn. The nearby shepherds came to see this baby. But I am pretty sure he wasn't just glowing and giving off crazy vibes and such, spouting wisdom right out of the womb. He cried like any other baby. Mary and Joseph had to change his diapers, feed him, burp him, raise him up as their child. Just because Jesus never sinned doesn't make him a robot. It doesn't make him an alien. In fact, if we believe that sin corrupts our humanity, that would make Jesus the most fully human person ever. Most people accidentally fall into emphasizing either his divinity or humanity more, and I think in the circles I run around, the tendency would be to emphasize his divinity. But for now I want to emphasize his full humanity.
Jesus humbled himself so thoroughly. One of the most mindblowing pictures in the gospels for me is Jesus washing his disciples feet. Because that means he stooped down, taking the lowest position, to wash the feet of the man who would very soon betray him to the cross. And to the cross he goes. His flesh is thrashed. Nails pierce his hands and feet. Thorns pierce his head. His blood flows. He is betrayed. He is abandoned. He is mocked. He is spit on. He is despised and rejected. He is murdered.
Jesus was sovereign over it all. He chose to go in accordance with the will of his Father. It pleased him to accomplish this great salvation by taking the road of humility, by condescending to become human, and going further still, to becoming a curse on our behalf so that our curse might be removed. None of us is aware of just how low Christ stooped in order to do this. We may never know this fully.
But the crucified Christ was surely resurrected. The tomb could not hold him. He laid death in his grave! And ascending into heaven, he was given the place of honor. He was given the name that is above every name. The lowly and meek reclaimed his rightful place as high and exalted.
While we are here, while we live, we are to imitate Christ in his humility. We are not to seek our own self-interest. We are to selflessly love others, in his power and following his example.
Jesus, thank you for loving me. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for what you have done for me and for us. If you had chosen to avail yourself of all that was rightfully yours, if you had chosen to remain comfortable in heaven instead of walking the road to the cross, I would have never known you, except in wrath. Thank you for your great grace.
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