Matthew 2:1-12 2024/12/22
Christ is born!
Have you ever been lost as a child? Probably most of us would say at least once. You were engrossed in something fun, and then suddenly you wondered, “Where on earth am I?” All unfamiliarity before your eyes. Your blood turns cold. …You freeze for a moment in terror, then you panic and run back and forth. Then you finally acknowledge the situation you’ve fallen into… and choose the best way out.
You burst out crying. Children know the best way out very well. And that’s pretty much it. The adults around you notice and do all they can to help. Mom runs over and hugs you. Dad pats you on the head, half-laughing, saying, “Silly child.” Just as soon as you feel relieved, you burst out crying again.
Even in the Old Testament, a lost child cries out loudly.
“I call to you, O Lord; come quickly to me.” (Psalm 140, Psalm 141)
We always sing this at Saturday night prayer.
“Daddy, I’m calling out to you here, can’t you hear me? Find me quickly, come and get me…”
It’s a song about a lost child. It’s a song about a lost child who has become separated from God. It’s a desperate prayer from a lost child who doesn’t know where he is, and doesn’t know how to get home…to the warm embrace of God.
God didn’t turn away this lost child by saying, “You were fooled by the devil and got lost; you brought this upon yourself.” God sent his only son to us for us lost children. It’s Jesus. God himself has become a human being and come to us. It is to show the way back to those who have lost their way and can only continue crying. No, he is not there to teach them. Jesus said, “I am the way.” He did not come to show people the way by saying, “Go that way,” but to give himself to people as the way. Believing in Jesus and becoming one with him is the very path back to God.
Don’t forget. It is not us who have risen up to God. It is God that has crossed the boundary between us and Him.
The three Wise Men from the East, who traveled a long way to celebrate the birth of Jesus, returned home by “a different road.” We, who have been given the “way” of Christ, too will never go back to our previous ways; even if we wanted to, we could not once we have tasted the fellowship that surrounds the body of the Lord.
Christ is born!