This is Our Gift

...While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:6-7)

...an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” (Matthew 2:13)

This is how the Messiah entered the world, born in a filthy manger among the animals, in the dirt, rejected before he had breathed his first. Soon after his birth, the king even tried to kill him. The Redeemer of all, past, present, and future, was abandoned by his own people. This would be his entire life.

When Jesus was twelve, he was accidentally left in the temple in Jerusalem. Upon returning and finding him, his parents were astonished.

His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."
"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" (Luke 2:48-49)

In this beautiful moment, Jesus claims the temple in the name of God, his Father, not unlike when he cleanses the temple towards the end of his life, declaring it the house of God. Similar to so many times throughout his life, they do not understand what he is saying.

Despised.
Rejected.
Oppressed.
Afflicted.
Pierced.
Crushed.
Slaughtered.

Raised.

This is our Christmas gift. May we understand, accept, rejoice, and love; we have a risen and living Savior!

-Matt