Today, thousands of atheists fear the mere sight of a Christmas tree and millions of Muslims and others fear the thought that God could be so powerful as to visit every one of us in person.
Like the farmer who wished that he could change into a bird in order to lead a flock of sparrows into the warmth of his barn during a blizzard,
God understood that he had to persuade – not force – us into following him into the protective warmth of His Kingdom.
Neither a politician wearing tailored suits nor a “prophet” bearing armor and a sword could walk on water or change that water into wine. Nevertheless, Christ did. No entertainer or athlete could calm a storm or give sight to the blind. Nevertheless, Christ did. Buddha, Mao, and Muhammad inspired billions, but they could not raise the dead.
Yet Christ did. And to think that he loved us so very much that his greatest gift was to come to us as a mere child, thrust into an inhumane human world, without home or friend, and ultimately suffer an unimaginably horrible death for our sins just so that we could have eternal life – if we so choose to believe in him.
As they say, only a child could conceive of such a story…
R.J. Godlewski