Scripture References: John 1:1-18
God Identified With Us
By taking our human form, God identified with us. He looked out upon our world through human eyes. It is one thing to look at our world from above and outside it. It is another thing to look at it from the inside.
Our astronauts, orbiting the moon at Christmas of 1968, looked at our earth from beyond it and saw it as a beautiful blue disc floating in space. But from there they were unable to see it as it really is, as they had known it when living within its space and time. It was one thing to see our planet from beyond it, another thing to see it from the inside. The incarnation allowed God to see our world from the inside, and it must have looked different even to Him.
God has looked at dawns, sunsets, and starry nights as well as parched fields, wildernesses, and lighted cities through human eyes. He has seen its beauty and its ugliness. He has felt its joy and pain. He has gotten beneath the terrible load of our shame and guilt. God has been hurt. He has been wounded.
We say to God: “I am so lonely,” and He replies: “I know. I felt the most terrible loneliness in My Son when He was forsaken by friends, denied by a follower, and betrayed by a disciple.”
“But I am so sad and depressed,” we say. And God responds: “I have known the depression of Gethsemane.”
“But I am afraid to die,” we continue. “I understand,” He answers. “I endured the shameful and agonizing death of the cross.”
But on a better day when we exclaim, “I am so happy and elated!” God is still identified with us: “I have known human ecstasy and joy through My Son.”
When God took upon Himself our flesh, He didn’t dwell above us, or beneath us, or away from us, but with us. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). He was not vaguely present everywhere but nowhere in particular. His taking upon Himself our limitations forbade that. He lived in familiar places among familiar people.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth, worked out of Capernaum along the Sea of Galilee, and was crucified outside Jerusalem. He belonged to a family, grew normally, and played with little friends in the streets of Nazareth. He went to school and was faithful in the worship at the synagogue. He attended weddings and funerals. He worked with His father, Joseph in his carpenter’s shop where he acquired the skills and used the tools of the trade. He lived with people in their hopes and dreams, in their pain and despair. He never denied nor sought to escape the tragedy of life. No one has ever been more in touch with the common life we live. No one has ever been closer to the human situation, both in its heights and in its depths, than Jesus.
A Chinese man once told why he became a Christian. He dreamed he fell into a deep pit and, try as hard as he might, he could not get out. Just when he thought he was about to escape he would lose his grip and fall to the bottom again. Over and over again he tried, but always with the same results. A Confucian came by and seeing his plight, leaned over and said, “Let me give you some advice, my friend. If you get out of your trouble, don’t make the same foolish mistake again.” And he was on his way. Later on a Buddhist came by, looked down upon him in the pit, and said: “If you can manage to climb up so I can reach you, I will help you out.”
“Finally Christ came along,” the man said, “and without a moment’s hesitation, climbed down into the pit, gently picked me up, and carried me out. Now I know what the word ‘Immanuel’ means.”
God in Christ did not dwell aloof from us. He lived with us and among us. There is no depth into which He will not descend to rescue us. He is willing to get down into the deepest pits of our despair and lift us out.
To Be Continued Christmas Day
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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