Man Of Sorrows

Dec 23, 2022

What is your favorite Christmas memory?

All of mine are based on the gifts people gave me! (I know it’s kind of shallow… please pray for me. 🙂) So for one Christmas, I got a very fun video game that I played all night. Another time I got these really nice basketball shoes. I still remember opening the box, feeling the new shoes, and trying them on!

Maybe for you, it was something related to who you were with, or a family tradition you have. Whatever it is, the idea is that it is supposed to give you the “warm fuzzies”, and make your heart jump a beat.

But this week, I was thinking about Christmas from the perspective of God the Father.

On the day Jesus, His one and only Son, was born, God the Father knew how His son would die. Of course, Jesus came into this world to be the Savior, so it is Good News and worth celebrating!

However, it’s crazy to sit and think that on the day someone’s baby is born, God knew when he would die.

Isaiah 53:3 reminds us how others would eventually treat this baby in the manger:

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

- Isaiah 53:3

The Christmas story is glittery with lights and gifts, but to be honest, it is also gory. Jesus was despised and rejected by the very people he came to save. The Bible says he was a man of suffering as he was crucified on the cross. Imagine any parent allowing their children to go through this kind of pain.

Yet, because God so loved you and me, because God so loved the world, He sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to be born and to die.

And so, we are to celebrate Christmas with gifts, family, friends, and even lights… but do take a moment to remember God the Father’s heart for you and me. He sacrificed and gave his only Son so that we can have life to the full. So that we can have eternal life forevermore.