Celebrate Christmas for real this season!
I hope you're excited about the season. It's Christmas time. A time of reunions, gifts, shopping, and many other exciting things. We've seen the Christmas crib, set it up in our own homes, and won competitions doing it. The Christmas trees are up in our homes. Starts lighting the night sky and also our balconies. We love everything about this season.
Even while we celebrate it, some of us may wonder, what the whole thing is about. Why the big fuzz? Many of us enjoy the reason but don't believe the story behind it. Questions are many.
When all of this is looked into without bias, being open to reason - we find strong reasons not just for His existence, but pointing to Him, as being someone more than a mere human, proving true the claims He made about Himself.
But beyond the factors that appeal to reason, His influence on the people of that time and today - is something worth looking at. What made Him different?
The power of touching lives
I first read about Dr. Paul Brand some years back through a beautiful book "Fearfully and Wonderfully made", which he co-authored with Philip Yancey. Dr. Paul Brand worked and researched extensively on leprosy to help the affected - back in the days when lepers were treated as almost untouchables and separated from their families in India. He was the one who found that the damage was not caused directly by the bacteria, but by ordinary, often small, injuries. The injuries happened because the person with leprosy could not feel pain, a new finding that would change the lives of many people.
One day, during a patient's visit, he touched a patient affected with leprosy to reassure him treatment was possible. Tears began to stream down the man’s face. An attendant explained the tears to Dr. Brand, saying, “You touched him and no one has done that for years. They are tears of joy.”
In his book, Dr. Brand writes about Jesus' ministry,
“I have sometimes wondered why Jesus so frequently touched the people he healed, many of whom must have been unattractive, obviously diseased, unsanitary, smelly. With his power, he easily could have waved a magic wand. In fact, a wand would have reached more people than a touch. He could have divided the crowd into affinity groups and organized his miracles--paralyzed people over there, feverish people here, people with leprosy there--raising his hands to heal each group efficiently, en masse. But he chose not to. Jesus' mission was not chiefly a crusade against disease (if so, why did he leave so many unhealed in the world and tell followers to hush up details of healings?), but rather a ministry to individual people, some of whom happened to have a disease. He wanted those people, one by one, to feel his love and warmth and his full identification with them. Jesus knew he could not readily demonstrate love to a crowd, for love usually involves touching.”(Fearfully and Wonderfully made, Paul W Brand, Philip Yancey)
He wanted those people, one by one, to feel his love and warmth and his full identification with them.
Jesus came Down
Being God, Jesus came down from Heaven, with this one purpose - to touch the lives of people, communicating love, hope, and healing. Christmas happened because God was willing to come down taking the form of a man - to touch our lives.
Born in the manger, in the midst of dirt and dung - He was declaring Himself to really be the 'God of the Poor'. In choosing 12 of the most unlikely men to be His disciples, He showed that His standards were very different. Through the words He spoke, He made it clear that His kingdom was of a different kind.
He was declaring Himself to really be the 'God of the Poor'
He didn't come to the most privileged and ones who thought they deserved Him - but to the underprivileged and undeserving. He was not lending a helping hand by standing far or dropping a rope down from heaven, but came and lived among the helpless and hopeless - becoming one among us - seeking the ones in need of a healing touch. In Jesus, we find the God who came down to the dirt - to clean the man-made mess & and lift us up out of the miry clay of sin. Nailed to the cross, Jesus fulfilled this purpose. "It is finished!", He cried out from the cross. The work of saving us was done, leaving an open invitation for the world to go to Him.
"It is finished!", He cried out from the cross.
Christmas becomes truly special when you realize that His birth has significance in your life. He was born for the world. He was born for you, for me. Jesus is the gift, and it's Him we celebrate in this season. I sincerely hope that you'll have a wonderful Christmas season, where you get to know more about this Jesus and get touched by Him. Merry Christmas!
Beautifully penned❤️