IT’S ELEMENTARY??? WELL, MOSTLY !!!
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson went on a camping trip. After sharing a good meal and a bottle of Petrie wine, they retire to their tent for the night.
At about 3 AM, Holmes nudges Watson and asks, "Watson, look up into the sky and tell me what you see?"
Watson said, "I see millions of stars."
Holmes asks, "And, what does that tell you?"
Watson replies, "Astronomically, it tells me there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Theologically, it tells me that God is great and we are small and insignificant. Horologically, it tells me that it's about 3 AM. Meteorologically, it tells me that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you, Holmes?"
Holmes retorts, "Someone stole our tent.”
While it may not have cost much for Dr Watson to miss the obvious, it can cost us everything, if we miss out on basic Christmas related facts (some very obvious and some less obvious but nevertheless very significant ones’)...
Charity...
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life...John 3:16
If Christmas doesn’t remind us that God loves us infinitely, we are missing out on the obvious. Let do some quizzing...pray, tell me (sic...Sherlockian colloquy) the opposites of the words...love and obedience respectively...well, do I hear ...hatred and disobedience. Good, folks, you have got it right alright.
Now consider this Biblical portion...
“If we love God, we will do whatever he tells us to....” -2 John 1:6
What would be the opposite of it...simple...hmmm... elementary...
“If we hate God, we would disobey Him”
What Adam and Eve did when they originally sank their teeth into the forbidden is just that...when a man sins is heart is hardened to the point of hatred against his Creator and Eternal benefactor.
We the descendants of Adam and Eve all “genetically” inherit that “hatred” for God and His ways. Every one of us are born with innate sense of “independence” from the very One who has created us. Oh for some, seasonal affair with God may be convenient but a lifetime of continual obedience,,,Boy, it’s scary for them. Then there are some who are “indifferent” to Him, masking all the time their hatred to the very One, they owe their lives to.
It is precisely into this World of proven “God-haters” (Rebellious First parents through murderous Cain to spiralling violence and corruption of Noah’s days to the rebellious Babel Tower project...etc etc) that God sent His Son. Jesus never said in the Gospels, He was born for a purpose but always employed the word “sent” meaning His life did not begin merely on First Christmas rather He was alive from the “very beginning” (John 1:1, 8:58, 17:5).
Oh yes, it is so easy to love when there is reciprocal response but while we were yet sinners (His enemies) Jesus came and died for us (Romans 5:10). Talk of a hero dying for a villain...oh yes, Gospel is the only story where a “Holmes” would die selflessly for a fiendish Professor Moriarty in order to reform the latter!!!
Humility/Propitiatory...
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.-Phillippians 2:5-9
Another truth clear as a crystal. Minus Christ’s immeasurable humility, first Christmas would not have come about. Well, first Christmas symbolized merely Christ’s first step towards the Cross. Wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), Jesus paid the price on our behalf. God’s perfect character of holiness required that price be paid for our sins -not merely issue a ticket for our transgressions but issue a death penalty itself- at the same time His infinite love demanded that man be set free from that condemnation.
Welcome to a true story which in a small way mirrors Christ’s eventual propitiatory act of dying on the Cross after condescending to be a mere human...
On Oct. 4 2014, Officer Ben Hall of Emmett Township, Mich., received a call to investigate a car in which, reportedly, an unsecured child was observed. It turned out that a poor widow (mother of the child) was driving that car when Officer Hall went for investigation.
There, instead of writing her a ticket which he was officially bound to do, on seeing her plight of limited means, he purchased a booster seat for her daughter. The grateful mother made sure that Hall's actions were recognized, posting to the Emmett Township Police Department's website her thanks.
Coming back to the spiritual realm, let the Scripture take over at this stage...
For our sake he made him to be sin (in the Cross) who knew no sin (being conceived in a Virgin’s womb...holy right from conception), so that in him we might become the righteousness of God- 2 Cor 5:21
The Saviour humbled himself condescending to being a human baby on the First Christmas in order that He pays the ultimate price on the cross.
Poverty...
If at all there was one person who could have chosen affluent parents to live a life of ease, it was Jesus. Yet, He chose lowly carpenter’s abode to grow-up. Want proof of Jesus’ earthly “parents” poverty...consider these Scripture portions.
As per the Mosaic Law, for a mother’s purification ritual, the woman was required to...
“And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.”-Leviticus 12:8
So what did Mary and her supportive husband Joseph do??? Let the Scripture speak again...
And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”-Luke 2:22-24
Hmmm...well time for a subject within a subject. Donning the Sherlockian hat, one can say that the Wisemen bringing gold as one of the gifts to the Christ-child did not exactly arrive on the Christmas day...otherwise Jesus’ parents would have easily afforded a lamb. In fact, the Christ-child was not even in the manger but in a house when they came (Matt 2:11).
Now coming back to the “financial” track...what about our Lord during His Ministry? Enormous crowds followed Him (Matt 4:25). Did He greedily and opportunistically fleece the” flock” or feed it? Well, the Saviour who had no place (read home) to lay down His head to sleep (Matt 8:20) during the time of Ministry owned nothing more than one seamless garment (John 19:23-24) towards end of His life, to acquire which the Roman soldiers cast lots for.
Many years later, an inspired Apostle Paul would say...
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”-Acts 20:35
Felicity...
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:-Philippians’ 2:5
This Christmas what better gift we (those of us who are already walking with Him) can give to the Lord than by resolving sincerely to “have the mind of Christ” at all times. It would delight the Trinity, when we depending on the strength of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 15:4-5) strive to see issues as Christ sees, have inter-personal relationships as Christ would have, respond to persecutions as Christ would all for the Father’s glory (1 Cor 10:31). For one thing, such an act like it was intended in the Church at Phillipi, would bring complete unity on the Body of Christ.
Perpetuity...
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man[ Christ Jesus,-1 Tim 2:5
Finally, we come to the point...what exactly it cost Christ to condescend down as man. Excruciating death on the Cross? Wait there is something more (Sherlockian hat again to the fore-Psa 119:18)...let me illustrate...
A father and his son put up a beautiful bird sanctuary, housing variety of doves spouting feathers of various hues. Sadly one day these doves turn into crows and in their new ravenous nature start harming and even killing one another oblivious to repeated appeals of both the father and the son, not to do the same.
The father comes up with an idea to remedy the situation. His son would go amongst the crows as a bird himself, speaking their language in order they understand him and hopefully mend their ways. Hey from human perspective would not that be a case of lowering oneself by two notches (stooping below even the mammalian order)? When Christ condescended to become man, did not He lower himself below his own “second-ranked” created angels (Psalms 8:34-36/ Heb 2:7) that are superior to men but inferior to the Almighty (Job 15:15)?
Now once the son made up his mind to do become “a bird” (Phillipians 2:5-8), the father comes up with three realities which would come His son’s way. The son willingly agrees to take them ALL in his stride…
a) The crows may eventually kill him, not giving a hoot to any of his pleas’ to change themselves for better
b) The father by giving a kiss of life, would bring back the son now confined in the bird’s body to life
c) The son in a bird’s body would then be elevated, exalted and even glorified but he would still REMAIN IN A BIRD’S BODY… WORSE …WOULD CONTINUE TO BEAR THE WOUNDS THAT CAUSED HIS DEATH (Rev 5:6-TLB) THROUGHOUT ETERNITY. His being throughout eternity would be a far cry from a far better state, he had possessed before incarnation.
Dear Friends, is the enormity of Christ’s sacrifice of coming down in a mere man’s body and being confined in it for eternity registering in your minds and spirit? His condescention meant, He would forever remain man albeit in a Glorified body (Rev 1:12-16).
Consider these Scripture portions (in present tense, one of it is being repeated under this sub-topic) penned after Christ’s ascension, which are a “clincher” as it were, substantiating this “chilling” truth…
For in Christ there is all of God in a HUMAN body – Col 2:9 (TLB)
That God is on one side and all the people on the other side, and Christ Jesus, himself MAN, is between them to bring them together- I Tim 2:5 (TLB)
Now for a subject within the subject. What was the Father’s response to such a submissive, sacrificial obedience? He made His Son’s Name a Name above all names (including His- Philippians 2:9). Boy, if you are wondering where is the role of the third person in the Godhead- Holy Spirit (oh, He never clamors for attention)- in all these, let it be said that every word that has ever been written in appreciation of the Almighty’s Grand redemption plan has been inspired By Him…including this one of Yours truly. Of the perfect unity that exists within the Trinity in using the “redemption plan” to save the lost, it was said by a ransomed soul “The Father thought it, the Son bought it, the Holy Spirit wrought it, though Devil fought it, Praise God I got it”.
Coming back to the main track, let me conclude now with a relevant, touching story which goes thus…
There was an orphaned boy living with his grandma when their house caught fire. The grandmother, trying to get upstairs to rescue the boy, perished in the flames. The boy’s cries for help were finally answered by a man who climbed an iron drainpipe and came back down with the boy hanging tightly to his neck. Several weeks later, a public hearing was held to determine who would receive custody of the child. A farmer, a teacher, and the town’s wealthiest citizen all gave the reasons they felt they should be chosen to give the boy a home. But as they talked, the lad’s eyes remained focused on the floor. Then a stranger walked to the front and slowly took his hands from his pockets, revealing severe scars on them. As the crowd gasped, the boy cried out in recognition. This was the man who had saved his life. His hands had been burned when he climbed the hot pipe. With a leap the boy threw his arms around the man’s neck and held on for dear life. The other men silently walked away, leaving the boy and his rescuer alone. Those marred hands had settled the issue.
Even as Christmas is around the corner, let us reflect on the truth that Christ’s hands and legs still retain the scars we inflicted upon Him and respond with a resolution of life-long loyalty purely out of love for the ONE who has given His ALL to us, COME WHAT MAY!!! WHAT A SAVIOUR!!! HALLELUJAH!!!
Those who have not received Him yet in their lives, this Christmas receive into your lives the Indescribable gift-Christ Jesus (2 Cor 9:15). A gift ought not to remain as a mere gift but it has to be “used” for the purpose it is given. Then it would really be Merry, Joyous (this joy would be internal not dependent on any extraneous factor-John 15:11) Christmas for you!!!
Suresh Manoharan
An Unworthy Servant
