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‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’ (Matthew 1:23)
I sat in the courtroom
behind my friend, accused of a crime he did not commit. We spoke each time the
judge called a recess, and each time he thanked me for being there, with him,
until one time when I finally knew exactly what to say.
“I am not here because
you are in trouble,” I said. “I am here because I love you, and I carry the
love of a whole community that loves you. I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
Neither would the God
who comes to us in our Lord Jesus Christ.
There’s division of
opinion in the history of Christian thought. Some say God needed to become
flesh, Emmanuel, because of our sin, our death and sorrow.
The other opinion holds
that the Incarnation was God’s plan before the creation of the universe. In
other words, Christ was always going to come from eternity into time even if
there had been no sin, no death, no broken lives and wounded hearts to heal.
Christ comes because God longs to be with the beloved.
Love wouldn't have it any other way.
David L. Miller
