Mystery.
Christmas is a collection of unimaginable events, with unlikely heroes, and improbable circumstances. Yet, singularly, it is Christ’s birth in Bethlehem that provides the fulcrum on which all of history is leveraged.
And in this mystery, questions emerge. Not irreverent questions, but authentic and ponderous questions. Indeed, questions that only God can answer, but that are worthwhile to ask. It is often in the asking of questions that we become more awestruck with the vastness of the answer.
To start… Why Then?
Why?
Roughly 400 years of apparent cosmic silence had escorted the Jews from the Old Testament era to the coming of Christ. God wasn’t napping, He was preparing. And the people waited. Advent.
The birth of Jesus came while the political and military grip of Rome squeezed tightly around any dissident throat. Augustus was the Emperor of Rome, and as such, he delegated power to subservient states… like Judea, where Herod the Great was king. Yes, Herod. Self-absorbed, opulent, power-hungry Herod.
It was into this oppressive mix that God sent His son. Under the powerful and paranoid thumb of Herod, God delivered a baby on whom the history of the world would pivot.
Forget not having the internet. No, it would be over 1400 years before Gutenberg would invent the printing press. And still… God chose then.
The Jews looked for a military warrior, a general, a champion… out of the silence they prayed for liberation. For victory. For revenge.
And the rest of the world extolled the virtues of the mind, the satisfaction of the stomach, the liberty of the will, and the exploitation of the weak.
Into this chaos, into this melee, into this confusion… Jesus.
Why?
Perhaps because it’s not difficult to overlay every season of human history with that season of history. Power as the currency for control. Wealth as the measure of success. Pleasure as the pursuit of meaning. And autonomy as the symbol of freedom.
Thousands of years of mess making, and God intervenes. Personally. Sacrificially. Unmistakably. And the tectonic plates of history shifted. Absolutely nothing would be the same. BC became AD.
Silence interrupted. Forever.
Power challenged, without an army or a weapon.
God is not opportunistic, He’s omniscient. His ways are not our ways. His timing is not our timing. But, He is always right. Always. Including the very moment that His son was born.
The timing of Christ’s entry into the world didn’t end evil. Then or now. It didn’t raise a rebel fist to Rome, rather it bent a knee in service. Love unleashed. Grace lavished. Truth revealed.
Once a baby, now a King.
Yes, then.
To be continued…
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