A Strange Way To Save the World

Christmas simply comes alive in Cairo.

Under the tent off of Port Said Street, Bethlehem comes to Maadi, Egypt. From the camels, donkey, sheep, shepherds, angels, wisemen, and the manger scene, the Maadi Christmas Pageant brings to life one of the most wonderful stories ever told.

After previous years of being the fourth magi and Gabriel, I had the privilege this season of filling the shoes of Joseph, the earthly surrogate father of Jesus Christ. A role packed with the emotions of confusion, anger, forgiveness, understanding, joy, and love. As the play draws to a close, I had the privilege of sharing Joseph's heart in song. The lyrics of the chorus went,

"Why me? I'm just a simple man of trade.

Why Him? With all the rulers in the world.

Why here? Inside this stable filled with hay.

Why her? She is just an ordinary girl.

Now I'm not one, to second guess, what angels have to say, but this is such a strange way to save the world!"

Sometimes I wonder. Did Joseph recognize the magnitude of this child? As Mary's midwife, while he delivered Jesus, did he consider that this Child had come to deliver him? As Joseph taught Jesus the tools of his trade, did he consider the One he taught created life itself? As Joseph searched the temple looking for Jesus, did he recognize this One he looked to find came to earth to find Him?

Yes, sometimes I wonder.

Jesus did NOT choose to enter a clean environment. From being born to a single-mother, to calling an animal's manger in Bethlehem his first home, to his baby clothes being the rags of death, to being born a citizen of an occupied territory, to becoming a refugee shortly after birth, God's Son chose to come into this world in a state of poverty and social rejection. Brings life to the verse, "You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Even today, Jesus doesn't choose to come into a sanitary environment. Instead, he wants to come into my life. Your life. Our messed up lives. Our lives with all their shortcomings, failures, and problems. He wants to call it "home". He implicitly said, "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:32) He didn't come to clean stuff up. He came to save us from our desperate situation. But he doesn't intrude. He comes invited.

A strange way to save the world?

The idea that God chose to become man. "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity" (from Hark the Herald Angels Sing) Chose to "dwell among us." (John 1:14) To feel our pain. To embrace our heartaches. To understand our losses. To experience our reality. To share in our humanity.

The statement that "God so loved the world that He GAVE His only Son that WHOEVER believes on Him will not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16) isn't a simple mathematical equation. It's a story of love, mystery, sacrifice, and redemption. Requires faith. Not mere human logic. Faith that believes the story of Christmas.

"Unto you is born this day in the city of David a SAVIOR!" (Luke 2:11)

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.

But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.

(Taken from God Knew Our Greatest Need)

So my friend, as you celebrate your Christmas holiday, remember God's gift to you. With that, I wish you a Merry Christmas!

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15)

My Christmas Ornament

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

With Kenny G serenading my room with angelic Christmas melodies, I wiped the cobwebs and dust off the oddly shaped rectangular box above my armoire. Pulling out my Christmas tree and setting it up, I began meticulously decorating it with care. As I hung my few ornaments, one grabbed my attention.

The ornament is simple. A basic oval-shaped olive-wood carving of Mary and Joseph entering Bethlehem. Ordinary. Nonetheless, this decoration brought back vivid memories. Memories of turmoil, unrest, conflict, hatred, yet hope.

I purchased this piece in the land of Palestine earlier this year while working on a project in the West Bank. Finding this ornament in Bethlehem, I thought it an appropriate addition to my Christmas experience. A question, however, lingers in my mind.

When the angels announced Jesus' birth to the shepherds, they proclaimed, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:14) Yet sometimes I wonder, "Where is that peace? That goodwill?"

Visiting the middle of a conflict zone brings life into clear reality. The place of my accommodations in the West Bank felt like a low-security prison with the numerous checkpoints, armed soldiers on the rooftops, barred doors & windows, vacant streets, and barbed wire lining the pathways.

Yet, it is at such times that you realize the harsh reality of this world's wickedness. When you are playing football on the streets with young boys to an audience of armed militants, or holding a six-day old newborn whose house/tent has just been obliterated for political reasons, or when cradling the head of a sobbing child on your chest who is traumatized by life's pain, you wonder. Peace on earth?

What could those angel's have meant? Even Jesus declared, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34) Contradictory? Maybe at a glance, but here we have a beautiful promise. Christ didn't come to make this world His "kingdom." He openly stated, "My kingdom is not of this world." (John 18:36) Rather, He declared, "These things I have spoken to you that IN ME you may have peace. In the world, you WILL have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

On my way back to Cairo, I stopped in Jerusalem at the Garden Tomb for a few moments of solitude and reflection. As I sat there quietly, a verse struck me profoundly. "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but He is risen." (Luke 24:5b-6a) How often do we look for the solution in the wrong place; in our government, in society, in people? The solution for hope, peace, love, or acceptance.

True peace is not found in the absence of conflict, but rather, in the person of Jesus. Not in our vain and fruitless pursuits of trade agreements, peace treaties, and ceasefire. Rather, in the very person of CHRISTmas. "Peace on earth." Christ on earth! God's purpose for our lives is not that we live in the absence of conflict, but that we find Him through life's joys and difficulties. He joined our world two thousand years ago to seek us. In finding Him, we find peace. For both now and forever.

As the lights flicker magically from my three-foot Christmas tree and Kenny G's heavenly music continues to fill the air, I smile. Once again, Christmas is upon us. That, "thrill of hope The weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks A new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees! O, hear the angels' voices! O night divine, O night when Christ was born."