Beyond the Manger

December is a favorite month for many because of the celebration of our Lord’s birth. It is always a blessing to be reminded of his rescue mission to this world. He came on a mission that would prove his lordship, but he came first as an obedient servant. Often we become enamored with the glory expressed by the angels, with the image of a star as a birth announcement, with the appealing idea of shepherds and lambs, with the honor of wise men coming to worship.

Yet our focus must move from the romanticism of the manger to the indignity of the cross. Without the completion of the mission, the start of the mission would mean nothing. The coming of the Son to the created world was not in order to receive honor for himself. It was a to accomplish the task that had been assigned by the Father.

John tells us, “he came to his own, but his own people did not receive him.” Many would have accepted a king coming to grasp power to himself and set up his rule, yet most were unwilling to accept a servant coming to redeem their deficiency. That is what he did, he came as a servant not for his own benefit, but to suffer and give his life as a ransom for those that are slaves to sin. It was the completion of that mission that gives meaning to the start of it.

This month remember cross is the reason for the manger.