Jesus Came Down

JESUS CAME DOWN

IAN JOHNSON www.papelim.org.nz

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” – 2 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV)

What does that mean, “he became poor”? It means that he gave up his honor and glory, he let go of his position, he relinquished all of the riches of heaven, in order to become one of us, in order to save us from our sins. He gave up that glory in order to become a human baby. Not even an adult. That would be humility enough, to give up the glory of heaven to become a man. But instead he became a helpless little infant.

Teresa of Calcutta has been critised alot for some of things she said, one thing she said was “Every time I wash a dying person I feel I am washing Jesus, what a privilege”

She was just taking the words of Jesus to heart, “For that which you do for the least of these, you do for me”

I am overwhelmed when I think of some of the Orphanages I have visited, There is one on the top of Thomas mount in Chennai. I watched with great Joy the expressions on the face of the Children. I watched a 60 year old Nun dance with child like abandon with the kids, I watched them hold and cuddle the little ones, and I watched the smiles of response from much loved little ones. It was the touch of love that made the difference.

Illustration: Did you know that touch is the first of your senses to develop, and continues to function even after your sight and hearing have gone? In fact, it’s so important that babies fail to grow and thrive if they never experience the touch of another human being. This was dramatically demonstrated in Eastern Europe when many of the Orphanages were uncovered after Communism fell. The children were listless and unresponsive, hadn’t developed socially or mentally.

Psychiatrists, for example, have long known that patients respond positively to having their hand held far more quickly than they do with no form of contact. Scientists still aren’t sure why the effects of touch are so beneficial to our health and well-being, But God knows, and He knew that man needed to feel His touch, that’s why he sent Jesus!

PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11 5 Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. 7 He made himself nothing;* he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form.* 8 And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

When I was 17, and had never heard the Gospel, I went into a youth meeting held at a local Church in a drunken state. They turned me away, because I wasn’t fit to be seen in a Church meeting! I had a genuine heart, but my condition didn’t match a religious expectation of how I should act. But within a year Christ had taken hold of my heart and I was a Christian!

The religious stand on their high hills, and proclaim judgement against all that is sinful, but Jesus comes down!

He came down to the gutter where I was, He sought me out and tracked me down, He wanted me to experience the touch of God, the touch that would ignite the lost Child in me to grow into a man of God!

God could have exercised all his rights according to the law where I was concerned! But he came down! He took a humble position and rescued me. How grateful I am to be in His kingdom. If it was left to the religious, I might still be drunk in need of help. But Jesus knew that if I felt the touch of God I would be awakened from sin and born into a new life in Christ.

The pictures we see of Jesus are always of a clean well manicured man with perfect hair and clean feet! But the Jesus I know went to places that allowed his hands and feet to get dirty, He went to where the sinners were, to touch them, to heal them, to restore them.