Dec 20th

This is a poem written by a poet friend of mine - Tony.   He wouldnt call himself a Christian but his wife is and he thinks long and hard about matters of faith.   I love this view of the birth of Jesus

Nativity

The hard and beaten earthen floor,
Spread with the dry fodder of kine,
Had to form your natal bed.
The only place you could recline.

And as your body tensed with pain,                                  
In anguish and in mortal fear,
Your mother was your only wish;
But all you had was one man near.  

The man himself a frightened soul
Who helped as you laboured in birth,
Nervous of the mess and blood
That stained the floor of beaten earth.                    

He held the wet and bl**dy child.
You waited for the babe to cry
And when it did you felt relief,
Undid your raiment with a sigh.

The man then placed the infant child
Against your heavy well filled breast
And wrapped your clothing over you
And told you that you needed rest.

In the squalor of that place
You felt despair and so alone.
You wept and wondered why it was
This had to happen far from home.

You would have wept more bitter tears
If you had known in future years
The babe you held against your breast
Would only live for thirty years.

The strangest thing about this tale,
A fact that I find very odd
Is that the birth and death described  
Is counted as a gift from God.

When I asked Tony if I could share this he was a little surprised because he thought I might be offended by the last verse.   But I am not at all.   I agree that if you look at the life of Jesus it hardly seems like a gift from God.  It seems cruel of Him to subject His own son to a birth, life and death like this.   It makes God a cold sadistic father doesnt it? 

Well, only if God demands this from His son.  If Jesus has no choice in the matter then yes, God is mean.  But thats not what the Bible tells us.

¹⁷ “The Father loves me because I am willing to give up my life, in order that I may receive it back again. ¹⁸ No one takes my life away from me. I give it up of my own free will. I have the right to give it up, and I have the right to take it back.  ( John 10) 

Jesus is not coerced by God into this plan for salvation.  He is a willing volunteer.   He gladly leaves the throneroom of heaven to be born in a stable and to live in obscurity for 30 years and then die a gruesome death.  He does it because He knows it is the only way to buy mankind out of the mess they have got themselves into.  He does it because He loves His Father and sees the heartbreak God experiences when His creation is far from Him.   He does it because He knows and loves every single one of us.   It is a willing sacrifice.  And therefore it truly is a gift.


Lord, thank you that it was all for love.  A willing sacrifice.  An amazing truth. May we grasp it more profoundly this Christmas
Amen