Let us never forget what it cost Jesus to come to earth to save us. While the humble birth, scratchy straw, and unhygienic setting for labor and delivery are part of this week’s story, when we look at the agony of the cross, we see something Paul E. Miller in Love Walked Among Us tells so eloquently: “But Jesus had never known the silence of his Father. …Jesus has never been separated from his Father–until the cross. The thought of this alienation–so undeserved–horrifies… Jesus. So on the cross, lost in a sea of human evil, separate from his all-loving Father, Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ In Hebrews 12:2 we read, and this is the true message of Christmas: “Fix your eyes on Jesus…who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.’ Miller reminds us: “Jesus knew that the coming joy was greater than the present sadness. The joy of being with the Father in an expanded circle of his love made the cost bearable.” Now, wish everyone you see Merry Christmas, for indeed it is the story of joy we experience because Jesus came to earth to save us.
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