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Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
᛭ INI
“With the poor and mean and lowly Dwelt on earth our Savior holy.”
That’s exactly who Jesus comes for: “the poor, the mean, the lowly.” That’s His crew, those who have nothing except Him. Not the great, the high, the rich. The Lord goes for those who’ve got no claims, no power, no anything.
No pretension allowed. Can’t fake it. You can’t put on airs with the Lord. He sees through all those shenanigans. He regards, pays attention to, saves only the poor, the mean, the lowly. Jesus doesn’t respect persons. Can’t flatter Him, can’t fool Him.
And so it’s not about your bottom line, your bank accounts, your name, your status. Even if you have those things you can fit into the category of “poor and mean and lowly.” It’s a matter of faith: no other trust or confidence than in the God become small in the womb of Mary. That God was then born and placed into a feed trough, surrounded by the muck and yuck of farm animals. The God come into the darkness of a world broken by us, by our sins, by death. The God bearing those thing, enduring those things Himself—our sin, our death. That we would share in Him.
This is the truth of the Christmas story. The true meaning of it. We wrapping-paper over that. Try to turn the Christmas story to be about us. Our service. Our bringing peace and cheer to others. “Jesus shows you the servant way. As He came to a poor stable, so we now bless the poor.” Or whatever else comes out at this time of year. This is even worse than majoring in minors. This upends Jesus’ apple cart that actually upends our own.
To our world the Savior came, God Himself came. “With the poor and mean and lowly Dwelt on earth our Savior holy.” He still does. Those who have no claim but Him are easy to spot. They seek Him, claim Him not just in words or actions toward others. Like the shepherds, they come face to face with Him. The poor, the mean, the lowly want to see Him, to hear Him, to hold Him not only in their hearts, but their ears, their mouths.
Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” God in a manger. God for you. He is FOR YOU. There is no giving gifts to Him. That’s not the way things work with Jesus. “With the poor and mean and lowly Dwelt on earth our Savior holy.” Still He would, and does. “Grant this Lord unto us all.”
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