READ: Luke 1
Verses
chosen for meditation: Luke 1:30-33
30 And the angel said to
her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And
behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall
call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will
be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him
the throne of his father David, 33 and he will
reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no
end.”
REFLECT
Almost
every time an angel appears in the Bible, the first words are “Don’t be afraid”.
When the supernatural meets with earth, it leaves humans in fear, as they can’t
make sense of what they see. We fear what we do not understand. In the many
forms that associates with God’s appearance, be it burning bush, whirlwind or a
bright majestic light, it inspires awe as well as fear.
But
in this chapter, it foretells of God appearing in a form that does not
frighten. What could be less scary than a newborn baby? We reflect on what this
means, the rights that God gave up for our access to him. Imagine becoming a
baby again, giving up language, muscle coordination, the ability to eat solid
food and control of your bladder. That’s just a small glimpse of the “emptying”
God goes through for the sake of humanity.
On
earth, Jesus is both God and man. As God, he could do miracles, forgive sins, predict
the future and conquer death. This inevitably provoked awe in observers. However,
for the Jews who were accustomed to images of God as a cloud or pillar of fire,
Jesus caused much confusion too. How could a baby born in a manger, a carpenter’s
son, a man from Nazareth (where “nothing good” comes from it) be the Messiah? Confused
skeptics would stalk Jesus throughout his ministry questioning his identity.
But today’s verses show that God has confirmed Jesus’ identity right from the
start.
RELATE
Why did Jesus EMPTY himself, giving up his rights to
take the form of a human with all its accompanying limitations? The Bible gives
many reasons for this, some theological, some practical. But all reasons are
for us. For the first time, ordinary people can hold a conversation with God in
Jesus. Jesus can talk to anyone (his parents, teachers, neighbours, beggars), without
having to first say, “Don’t be afraid”. Jesus emptied himself, so we can go to
him, without fearing the unknown, without the need to win approval, without needing
to put on a front. In Jesus, God comes close to us.
The other thing is Jesus’ identity and what he does
with that identity. “God”, “King of kings”, “Messiah”. What would we have done
with these titles attached to us, endowed with the power that God has? Countless
times, we have seen how people abuse authority and draw sense of worth from
their designations while despising others. Jesus shows what being powerful
means. What being a king and leader for the people means. He had the power to work
miracles, but did it only to serve the needy and advance the kingdom. He had
the means to overpower his opponents, but chose to be meek and showed what it
means to lead a servanthood lifestyle.
Jesus could do all these, because of his identity as
God. That boggles the mind. But that’s what it means, when we say we draw
strength from our identity in Christ, to do things for others we otherwise
would not be able to, given our tendencies. Many minorities in the world suffer
from having no identity. They can’t draw strength and regressed to addictions because
their identities have been taken from them. But God has given us the identity
of being his children. That is why we have the power to be servants of others.
We need no other identities that give us illusions of power.
Jesus is God. Out of the strength of that identity,
he emptied himself, gave up his rights to serve others, to wash the feet of his
disciples. We are children of God. Out of the strength of that identity, we can
do the same. That is the best way to show the uniqueness of our faith.
REST
What sets Christianity apart? C.S. Lewis responds
emphatically, “it’s grace!” He remarked how the notion of God’s love coming to
us for free with no strings attached runs against every human instinct. Other
faiths all offer a way and the need to earn approval. Only Christianity dares
to make God’s love unconditional. Let’s rest in the fact that we need not tire
to gain approval with our God, but draw strength from our relationship with Him
to give this same love to others, with no strings attached.
Chris Chong
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