Why Jesus Came the First Time
It’s Christmas! For those of us who have grown up with the Christmas story, it’s hard to imagine that so many others in the world don’t know it, or tell it, or believe in it, or share it—the real meaning of Christmas, that is.
Christmas is our chance as Christians to “light up” the world. Sadly, many Christians don’t put up trees or lights, and they’re Scrooges if anybody else looks excited about it, bah-humbugging everybody they pass.
How can anyone not be excited about Christmas? It’s the announcement heard around the world that affects every human being that ever lives. The story of Christ’s birth in Luke 2 is the go-to reading in December. I also found myself there again this morning as Christmas draws near, but it was the end of the chapter that caught my attention.
At that time, Jesus was twelve years old (that was quite a growth spirt in just one chapter), but verse 40 tells how He spent those years from 0-12: “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.”
The story that follows is the one where His father and mother lose Him. That’s always been a fascinating account to me. They must have been pretty chill parents. How did they go three days before they realized Jesus wasn’t with them! They lost Jesus! They found Him back in Jerusalem where He had tarried. He was sitting in the temple doing a Q&A with the doctors.
When His parents asked Him what He was doing, “he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49).
And that is why He came. His business? It’s found just a few chapters later in Luke 19:10 when Jesus told Zacchaeus, “This day is salvation come to this house...For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” He came for us!
You could have stayed in Heaven’s glory far above this mortal clay
You were completely fully God with nothing else for You to gain
You could have surely kept Your distance but Your love was just so great
You came anyway.
It's important that you know He is going to come again!
"And every eye shall see Him" (Revelation 1:7).
(Lyrics are from the song, You Came Anyway, written by Jeff Bumgardner, Michael Farren)
