God’s
Son
When I get an opportunity, I enjoy watching the history
channel. One of their segments is a documentary
series about some of the most amazing marvels of human creation.
The Egyptian Pyramids: Constructed mostly as tombs for the
ancient pharaohs and their consorts, over 100 pyramids (that we are currently
aware of) remain in Egypt. Most of them
were built during an 85-year explosion of building in Egypt, but many go back
nearly 1,000 years prior. They stand as
cultural and engineering marvels of staggering proportions. Even today’s engineers wonder at the scope
and precise building of these ancient structures. Most have stood their ground for 5,000 years,
deteriorating only as the constant wind and sand erode them.
The Great Wall of China: It took nearly 3,000 years to
build with most of the wall built between 1368 and 1644. Although only about 4,000 miles of the wall
were actually built along the northern borders of China, with natural barriers
such as hills and rivers altogether the wall stretches over 13,000 miles. Although the wall was constructed to keep out
invading empires; over the years the Tartars, the Mongols and the Manchus all
breached the wall easily and invaded China.
Regardless of it’s lack of defense, the Great Wall of China stands as a
testimony to the spirit of humanity’s ingenuity.
The Eiffel Tower: It was meant to be a temporary exhibit, a
demonstration of French engineering acumen at the Paris World's Fair. But to Parisians, the tower, designed by the
brash, young Gustave Eiffel, came to stand for much more-revolution, innovation
and a soaring spirit.
The Chunnel: The job of joining Britain and France via a
tunnel under the English Channel was a huge challenge. Geologists tracked the only safe route with
satellite technology, and French and British teams drilled towards each other
using two of the largest Tunnel Boring Machines ever made.
I could also spend some time talking about unbelievable
scientific inventions that I’ve heard about on the Science Channel, like the
mapping of the human genome or the discovery of photon molecules, or the
creation of self-replicating synthetic bacterial cells, or how gravitational
waves in black holes work; but quite honestly, I rarely understand any of it.
Why; on Christmas Eve, do I mention these human feats of
incomparable excellence? Why? Because it all pails in comparison to what
God has done for us. As amazing and
wonderful as those achievements have been, none come even close to what God did
for us this night.
Soren Kierkegaard, the great Danish theologian of the 19th
century, tells a story of a prince who wanted to find a maiden suitable to be
his queen. One day while running an
errand in the local village for his father, the king, he passed through a poor
section of the town. As he glanced out
the windows of the carriage his eyes fell upon a beautiful peasant maiden. During the ensuing days he often passed by the
young lady and soon fell in love with her. But he had a problem. How could he possibly seek her hand in
marriage?
He could order her to marry him. But even a prince wants his bride to marry him
freely and voluntarily and not through coercion. He could put on his most splendid uniform and
drive up to her front door in a carriage drawn by six horses. But if he did this, he would never be certain
that the maiden loved him or was simply overwhelmed with all of the splendor at
his disposal. As you might have guessed,
the prince came up with another solution. He would give up his kingly robes. He moved into the village, entering not with a
crown but in the garb of a peasant. He
lived among the people, shared their interests and concerns, and spoke their
language. In time the maiden grew to
love him for who he was and because he had first loved her.
This is a very simple, almost child-like story, written by
one of the most brilliant minds in philosophy and theology trying to explain
what we Christians mean by the incarnation – that God came in human flesh to
live among us. When people ask what God
is like, we, as Christians, point to the person of Jesus Christ. God who made the stars in the heavens, the
universe that envelops our planet and stretches beyond what we can grasp. God, who creates living creatures that
breathe and have a being. God, who
formed the oceans and the rocks upon which the mountains of the earth
stand. This God is incomprehensible to
us, but in Jesus Christ we get a glimpse of that glory. In the person of Jesus we are told that God,
that mysterious Person that created the stars and the universe, is willing to
go all of the way to be one of us, talk our language, eat our food, share our
suffering, and ultimately die on a cross. Why? So
that a single person: you, me, might stand in awe this night and comprehend
what God did for us, be redeemed of all our sins...and somehow in that miracle
grow to love God.
The marvel of Christ's birth is the greatest of all events
recorded in the annals of human history. There is nothing that can compare to it, there
is nothing that can equal it, and there is nothing in heaven or on earth that
can accomplish for us what His birth accomplished.
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