Day 7/25: Why a Baby and Not a Man?

Jesus entered the world as we all have. Well, sort of. He grew in a womb of a human woman, came out as a human baby, and was raised by his human parents. Now, knowing that He’s God, you may see how incredibly extraordinary that really is. But why? Since He is God, why not just mysteriously enter as a fully grown man at some point and start a ministry as he had? Or perhaps better yet, make a grand entrance hailing from the sky with a spectacular laser light show and the Gaither family performing a musical number to the side? Why did He go through that whole ordeal of growing up humanly and not just bippity-boppity boop our salvation into us?

I could start with some speculation of my own based on what I’ve understood about the bible.

No Christmas
If Jesus did not come through a woman’s womb, the most obvious difference perhaps is there would be no Christmas holiday. No birthday of this Jesus called “Christ”, God-incarnate, to celebrate. You may, as I initially felt on the idea, say, “Well, so be it. Christmas is corrupted these days anyway with all the consumerism and materialism. Bah humbug!” But once you think more carefully, our corruption of a holiday does not by any means corrupt the nature and character of a living God.

Different Prophecies…Maybe None at All
If Jesus did not enter the world as a bouncing baby human boy, the old testament of the bible as we now know it would be quite different. In many ways, it would be quite the same as other religions’ texts. It is strongly contested that no other religion aside from Christianity claims that their god will become a man as we all have and live a purely blameless life yet undergo the same exact pains and frustrations as we all go through daily. There are more than 40 old testament prophecies about Jesus. One of which I talked about yesterday – Jesus as a descendant of Abraham and therefore the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abe and us. Though there are many prophecies to go through in order to point out how important each one is to the Christmas narrative, it wouldn’t take long for you to realize how tragic it would be if they had not been fulfilled. But what we wouldn’t have known wouldn’t hurt us, right? Thank God we will never know.

An Inadequate Love…or None at All
If Jesus just came as a demigod in full glory, he would have saved himself from all the heartache of growing up as we have. This is quite a typical image of gods that humans imagine. A stoic, stiff, only slightly caring, or even wrathful god who cares nothing of what you go through. He only cares about how powerful he is and shame on you, or even damn you immediately, if you do not believe in his almightiness.. *Sigh* Depressing, isn’t it? Thankfully something more profound, necessary, and amazing happened which words of any language fall short to describe. Yes, there is jealousy and wrath that comes from Him but there is also…

The Greatest Love the World Will Ever Know
Jesus came quite the opposite of what we expected. Instead of an insanely bright and ear-piercing grand entrance, he came as quietly and as secretly as possible. He came through a common couple, in the dark of night, hidden in a barn outside of his parents’ original town. There were only a handful of people who caught on, though not understanding completely, to what was to happen that fateful night. One king wanted him dead and though not succeeding, killed many other newborns that day. Three men came and brought him gifts. God grew up under human parents He had chosen and lived a life just like you and I with all its joys and its pains to become a teacher, a healer, and a perfect sacrifice forfeiting His power and glory for our sake to become heirs, children, of the living God forever after this world passes away.

Without Jesus beginning His earthly life from square one being fully human yet fully God, there would be no true compassion and salvation for us. Long before Jesus, God ordered his people to offer animal sacrifices in order to cleanse them of their sins. Yet this was actually insufficient and it was more of a lesson of how our sin brings deadly results. So Jesus came as one of us sacrificing Himself for us, past and present, so that we may live with Him forever since He first overcame death. He came into us common people, in the dark of our souls, becoming hidden within our hearts. THAT is the great love of the first Christmas. One great Child for the multitude.