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You are almost there. The journey is winding down. The road that has brought you here has been filled with anticipation as well as distraction. You have journeyed in spite of both. Sometimes because you wanted to, sometimes because you needed to, and sometimes because – well, honestly, because you have always made the journey and you cannot imagine not making it.
You arrive at the manger. There is a baby wrapped up snugly. This child is the purpose behind each step you have taken to get here. You wanted to see Jesus. You know there is something about him that is different. Somehow, some way, it is within this child to make your life different – to make it what God intended for it to be.
As you admire this newborn babe, you hear his mother praying/singing an odd sort of lullaby. You don’t know this, but she sang it for the first time while visiting her kinfolks in the Jordan hill country.
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for He has looked with favor on
the lowliness of His servant.
He has brought down the
powerful from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty.
You wonder what sort of man this baby will grow up to be. Will he be the sort of person who has the Spirit of the Lord upon him because he is anointed to bring good news to the poor? Will he be the One sent by God to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor?
The baby’s mother continues humming her tune and you continue wondering about this baby’s future. Will this baby ever have a home in a world where foxes have holes and birds have nests? Will he see neighbors where others only see enemies? Will he welcome children, women and those with incurable diseases? Will he say to them and to others that following him means denying yourself and taking up your cross daily?
Mary continues humming and still you wonder. Will this baby one day offer wounded hands and scarred feet to doubting disciples to calm their fears? Will he invite them to touch and see that he is indeed alive even after being brutally tortured and nailed to a cross?
You no longer hear Mary’s song. The baby and his family have fled. The powers and principalities of this world already know who he is and who he will be. They want him dead -- the sooner the better.
Now you really wonder, like the disciples of John the Baptist, is this baby the one, or do we wait for another? But he is the one. There will not be another like him. He is your salvation.
Joy and peace,
Ed
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