God's Greatest Gift

"It is a miraculous story, only God could pull off."

THE MOST important man was born to an unknown couple, in a tiny town they were forced to be in that night, of an oppressed nation that shouldn't have existed. They spoke a language almost extinct today and worshipped in a temple which is no longer standing. They gave sacrifices, which are no longer observed.

It is a miraculous story, only God could pull off, the impossible come into being, just as God promised. Done so that there is everything remarkable about it but nothing historically significant. To the south, are the pyramids of Egypt, sarcophagus and hieroglyphs, of powerful Pharaohs. To the northwest, the incredible roads and remains of Rome. To the east, a wall encircles a massive Asian culture. But Jesus, who is He?

No one can find Him. There's barely a mention of King David. None of Joseph, and if Jesus is Israel's genetic King, then so would have been His Father. Joseph's willingness to leave all He owned to protect a baby who wasn't his, who wasn't of any physical conception, has always struck me. How much did He love Mary? How much did He trust God, to live in a non-Jewish culture and to support His new family there? So very much.

But who was he, this carpenter with his young wife and new son? Of famous names we have books galore and artwork and testimonies. Of this son, become a man we have only God's Word. Wouldn't He, the Almighty Father of heaven and earth, wouldn't He, so great, so powerful, want to be known? Not be a lost man in time, a voice rumored but not of significance.

Jesus testified of His heritage. He served its laws, worshipped in its celebrations. He was dedicated to it as commanded. One Jew among many. Many others held more legal authority. Many others had done worse crimes. Yet what we're left with, who we're forced to see in this, is a low peasant, a heretic, and a bunch of stories of what could not possibly happen.

From a virgin came the Messiah?

To impoverished Israel came heaven's kingdom and God's throne?

Amidst Caesars and soldiers formed the Word? The Creator who has always been?

And a prophet born to an elderly couple, too old to conceive. And a son born to an elderly couple who couldn’t conceive, generations before. And a king who was a shepherd, and their greatest warrior. And his son the wisest, the richest ever to exist. And a sea parted, the land made dry. And a river, years later, that did the same. A city whose walls fell because of praises. A rescuer chosen from the least of his family and the lowest known tribe.

What of Samson, the strong? Of Elijah's resurrecting bones? What of oil in a woman's vessel that never ran dry? Of a Queen's courage to save her people in a move that could have taken her own? So many lives rescued from countries and slavery, from servitude and war, so that a tiny family in an unimportant town would become the beginning of God's greatest thing.

Not as a parade or a coronation, nor a crowning of honor. There'd be no wide-written story, no museum framed piece. Our celebrations are manmade, our trust in Him self-led. We design it. We time it, the actual date unknown to all.

Yet there He is, in that place, infant, Prophet, Son of Man, Son of God. Rabbi, Messiah, King of Israel. King of Kings. The Highest of All, who worked wonders unwritten, except by those who followed, and those who believed in Him after it was said He had risen, and those over centuries who heard His voice.

A dead body does not Resurrect after lying dead for 3 days. A man from Judea doesn't heal multitudes, divide a few loaves into many, nor walk on water as is said. And a baby, in a stable, is not sung over by angels, to be worshipped by shepherds, then later by Wiseman, and today by all men who choose to believe. Of an unknown culture, in an impoverished people, created for Him, created by Him, for these moments and a glorious future with Him, that He has spoken. Except we do.

“And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” (Matthew 1:16)

Photo by Nathan DeFiesta on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com