You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).
I remember driving past our local supermarket the other Christmas. Fortunately, the inside lane I was driving in was clear, but the outside lane had a long queue of cars stretching for several hundred yards. The cars were waiting to get into the car park of the store. I began to think about the frenzy of activity that overtakes us each December. But then I realised that the very first Christmas was probably just the same. In the Roman Empire, on that day, the whole world was moving. In every city, town and village people were travelling. Everyone was travelling to the places where their ancestors were born. They needed food and shelter. I suspect it was a good time for business. All the shops and hotels were doing a roaring trade. But what was going on? If you could have asked them, they would have probably said, “It’s the Romans. They want to count how many people there are in their empire.” In one sense they would have been right. The most powerful man in the world, Caesar Augustus, decided to do a census of his empire. And in a display of extraordinary power, he ordered everyone to move, and the whole world moved.
It is only when you read the Bible that you discover it was not man’s power at work but God’s. Christmas is all about God moving. He moves the whole world by using the power of the Roman Empire. God has a distaste of great men counting the people they rule to discover the extent of their empires, or proudly viewing the great cities they have built. He punished David for numbering the people of Israel. King Nebuchadnezzar gloried in his building of Babylon. Then God humbled him and he “blessed the Most High and praised and honoured Him who lives forever” (Daniel 4:34). Their counting is always imprecise. There is always a margin of error. God was being precise, by ensuring the promised Saviour of the world, His Son, was born in the little town of Bethlehem and He moved the whole world so that it would happen.
When I was young and it thundered, my Grandmother would say God was moving the furniture. He does move powerfully. In judgement He used the Babylonians to discipline Israel. In mercy He used the Persians to bring His people back to the land to rebuild the Temple and Jerusalem. In judgement He used a great fish to capture Jonah’s attention, and in mercy He used a tiny worm to teach the prophet compassion. God used extraordinary power to bring Joseph and Mary into Bethlehem. That night, whilst so many were returning to the warmth of homes and families, unwitnessed and homeless, Jesus was born. He became a refugee in Egypt whilst still an infant. He never owned a home: “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” He died on the cross that Barabbas was expected to occupy; everything He owned was taken and gambled over by the soldiers, and He was laid in another man’s tomb. God’s all-powerful grace was revealed through the poverty of the Saviour.
In a bustling world of extravagance, the Son of God is excluded. His life is reduced to a background myth. But we can stop to worship the Saviour and thank God that we “know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ”. And may we never stop responding in devotion and service to the One whose poverty has made us rich.
