It’s always been amazing to me that God chose the way He did to reveal His Son. Luke tells us, the Savior was first announced to shepherds…Wow..shepherds. Smelly, stinky, outcasts, who were shepherds. Why didn’t He go to the rich, famous, or powerful first? But shepherds?
And then there was the birthing suite…a manger. Not a manger! A place where animals sleep, eat, and smell like a barn? Is this a place for Royalty to be born? A place for the King of Kings? Would we really expect to find Deity in this place? But that’s our problem. We’re always looking for Immanuel “God With Us” in the wrong places! Wouldn’t we have expected Him to have held a public place of honor and power? He didn’t. Wouldn’t we have thought He would have attended a great university? He did not. And certainly He would have owned His own home somewhere. Wrong again! I guess we could say He was homeless. And I would have thought He would at least have written one bestseller, wouldn’t you? And oh, the people He hung out with, (less than desirable) well, we knew what they were like! Why can’t we see Immanuel more? Are we looking where we expect Him to be? Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe that’s why the religious can’t find Him, or the affluent. We’re just looking where we think He “should” be. God help us to see Jesus this Christmas, help us to look beyond where we think He should be, to where He really is. “God, open our eyes, we want to see Jesus this Christmas”.