A Christmas thought

During Advent as we have prayed the Advent Collect, the words, ‘your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility’ has struck me. The way Jesus came to us as the incarnate Word of God, as the Son of God is not what we expect. Many Jews in the first century expected the Messiah to appear as a great ruler and liberator from the Romans coming in power and might. But when Jesus came to us he came in the most humble of circumstances.

First, he was born on the margins of society, the child of a poor rural teenage girl in Galilee. She was no princess or from a royal family or even from a priestly family. Galilee was the hinterland as God acted in and around Jerusalem.

Second, his birth was in a stable because there was no room in the Inn. God comes and dwells, not in a five star hotel or some palace, but in a smelly animal barn surrounded by animals instead of royal attendants or security guards. Even for a human of that time, this was very humble surroundings for the birth of a baby. And no fancy clothes or baby outfits, but simple strips of muslin cloth to wrap him in.

Third, the first attendants to come and celebrate his birth were Shepherds. They were distinctly working class, towards the bottom of the social ladder. They could not afford to bring gifts worthy of this guest from heaven’s courts. Yes, angels sang and heavenly messengers brought good news as the heavenly hosts could not contain themselves. They too wanted to see this remarkable thing: God in flesh, in a manger of hay, born to this lowly young woman.

Jesus came in great humility to be one of us, one with us. The circumstances of his birth reveal the kind of God we worship and serve. The ultimate manifestation of God to humanity in Jesus was unassuming, gentle, embracing the lot of the poor. It was the humility of one who comes to serve. Ponder a new the humble birth of our saviour.