God with us

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means, “God with us” — Matthew 1:23

Jesus is God.  

He is God with us.

This is Christmas! Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, and Peter all make it plain in their writings. Jesus is God!   That child who was laid in a manger was God.

Some ask, “Why can’t you just put Christianity on the buffet table with the thousands of belief systems out there and be satisfied?”

Here is why. Jesus is too big to fit on the buffet table with others. “God with us” makes the Bible platter too big to share space with others.  

It is exactly for that reason that Jesus will never, ever be politically correct. It is for that reason, that Christians have been, and always will be, a remnant people in the world.

Now do you understand why some stores and institutions prohibit their people from using the “C” word in December?

There have been quite a few in world history who have come along and offered, “Let me show you the way to reach up and find God.” Then Jesus comes along as predicted by prophets of old, and says, “I am God.  I have reached down to earth to find you.”

Jesus is God with us.  

That, by itself, ought to cause us to stop in our tracks when we hear “O come, O come Emmanuel” played. It should give us pause to ponder the closing words of O little Town of Bethlehem… “O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Immanuel!” Those words make an incredible and astonishing claim about Jesus’ birth.

It’s a reminder that the same God who “determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name” (Psalm 147:4)… that same God came and walked our sod in the person of His Son.

Why? Again, every other religion says, “Morality and goodness is enough. Try your best. Try to be nice.”   

Jesus comes along and says, “Your situation is so bad and so dire that your morality and goodness don’t even begin to measure up against God’s standard of perfect holiness. The Son of God had to come to live the perfect life that you should have lived, and then die the death you deserved to die, so that you might put all your rest, hope, and trust in Him.

God came to earth to earth some 2,000 years ago. But there was no room in the Inn for Him or his family. Has anything changed in 2000 years?   

It begs the question. On Christmas 2024 and in all the days following, is there room in your life for Jesus?  

And if your life is too busy for Him… what in the world is of such great importance that you have no room for Him? 

Good news.  

Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.

John Lehenbauer, Pastor

Christ Lutheran Church and School, Perry

christlutheranperry@gmail.com