TGIF

“Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.””

(Matthew 2:13–18 ESV)

This event does not make for a lovely Christmas card, but for me, it’s the key to understanding what Christmas is really all about…the Incarnation.

God becoming flesh and dwelling among us.

This is no scene of quiet sweetness, this is a scene of mass murder.

It’s called “The Massacre of the Innocents”.

This is the world that God entered.

A violent and harsh world of poverty, oppression, and blood.

A world where mothers were weeping for children slain in a political holocaust.

A world of corruption and false messiahs, a world void of comfort except for a select few.

A world that was not far removed from our own.

When He came he did not stop all the evil, He experienced it.

He experienced the worst this world could throw at Him so that when He left He could be the God who could sympathize with all of us left behind.

He knows how bad it hurts.

He left having not changed any of the systems,but having radically changed a few people.

They too would have to overcome the world with sacrificial love.

That…was the only weapon He left us.

He’s coming back and will finish what was left unfinished the first time He came.

He will bring the day when tears and mourning are no more.

In the meantime, He’s left us to occupy this veil of tears with the power of the Spirit and the sacrificial love that He modeled for us.

He’s still God with us.

God for us.

God with me, God with you.

God for me, God for you.

He is the gift among the tears.

Merry Christmas, my friends…and make your own application…