Daily Reflections ...

Tomorrow, we celebrate the birth of the King of the Universe, who comes to us in simplicity and humility as a child born in obscurity. Why did God, author of all creation, choose Nazareth and Bethlehem, small villages in Israel, for the home and birthplace of the Son of the Most High, Ruler of the House of Jacob, and King of a Kingdom that never ends? Just as Mary was perplexed by the greeting of the angel Gabriel, so too, we can marvel and shake our heads at this mysterious choice for the Incarnation. “God chose what is foolish in this world to shame the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27). 

Strange as it may seem, God’s coming among us in the ordinary has brought him close to us in a way that a royal and majestic figure could not have achieved. Jesus is one of us, in all things but sin, yet never relinquishing his power and majesty as the Son of God. Who else but a God who loved us into existence would be willing to make such a sacrifice to dwell among us so we could share in the divine life of eternity?

As we prepare to sing with the angels of Christ’s impending birth among us, let us give thanks and praise for a loving God who “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness” (Philippians 2:7) so that we might have a Saviour, Christ the Lord. May we recognise that, like Christ, we find our greatness in the ordinary and our majestic destiny as sons and daughters of the King in the obscurity of faithful lives as disciples of Jesus. 

by Mike Humphrys