Emmanuel

If we had lived in those days before Jesus was born and had been told that God was coming to this earth, I wonder how we would have pictured it?  Perhaps we would have expected him to come in the skies with such splendour that all would bow down in obedience to him.

Expectation of the Jews: a King of force

The Jews, although they did not know that the Lord God himself was coming, were at that time expecting a great King sent by God and they believed that, when he came, he would make war on the Romans.  Palestine was, you remember, part of the Roman Empire and Roman soldiers were stationed in various parts of the country to keep the people in order.  The Jews thought that the great King they expected would lead the people in battle against the Romans and drive them out; and if he did this for them no doubt they would be very glad and proud to have him and to obey him.

Reality: the King of Love

How different it was when God the Son, the King of Kings, did come!  No gorgeous palace with marble pillars and floor and furnished with silken curtains was his birthplace – only a dark little stable cave, with rough, rocky walls and a straw-covered floor; no court officials and waiting servants, no bodyguard of soldiers outside with brilliant uniforms – only a few poor shepherds.  That is how the Lord God, Jesus Christ, came to this world.

He came like that, quietly and humbly as a little child, in order that he might stir up our love for him.  He would not make us obey him by force but only persuade us through love, and therefore it was as King of Love, not King of force that he was born that Christmas night.

He had no splendid palace because, through his love for us, he wanted to share and understand the life of even the poorest of us.  So, later on, he could say, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man (that is, Jesus) has nowhere to lay his head” (NRSV, Luke 9:58).  He knew what it was to be tired and sad and in pain and, at the end of his life on earth, all he had was three nails and a Cross.

With us always

So when you are sad or lonely or in pain, of one thing you may be quite certain; God knows and understands, for in Palestine he has been through it all himself.  And more than that, we know that he is always near us and with us now, as he himself said, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (NRSV, Matthew 28:20).  That is why one of the names by which Jesus Christ is called is ‘Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God with us’.

SUMMARY

1. ‘Jesus’ means ‘Deliverer’, ‘Saviour’; and ‘Christ’ means the Anointed One, the true Prophet, Priest and King.

2. He is God’s ‘only’ Son (that is, Son in a way no one else can be) because as God he has always shared Heaven with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.  ‘Our Lord’ means ‘Our Lord God’.  He is truly God and truly Man.

3. We also call him ‘Emmanuel’, which means ‘God with us’, because he became Man and is still with us now.