THIS is Jesus.
This time of year, there's a lot of talk about Jesus. A lot of pictures and ornaments, decorative nativity scenes and yard blow-ups, hymns and sermons... all with the same focus - sweet little baby Jesus. That precious baby is such an incredible picture of His humility. Such a beautiful reminder of His desire to meet us right where we are and to experience every part of this life alongside us.
Hebrews tells us that, "we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet is without sin. Therefore, let us boldly approach the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." // Hebrews 4:15-16
That baby became a tantrum-throwing toddler and then a hormonal teenager and then a man who felt sadness and doubt and fear. He has been tempted in all things, as we are. Whatever you're feeling - whether it's hope or hurt, triumph or trial, that baby on your mantle or on your aunt's Christmas card or in the yard next door - He's been there.
This is Jesus.
But His purpose in coming as that precious baby wasn't just an experiment to find out about us and then sit with us in our mess. That baby's purpose was to make a way for us to boldly approach the throne of grace. If that's not the most incredible and empowering line in the whole Bible, I don't know what is. It gets me every time. To boldly approach the throne of grace - how glorious and freeing?! The throne of grace is where we receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That baby made a way for us. And He made a way for us despite living in our skin and knowing every part of our mess.
This is Jesus.
I was reading through Mark 14 the other day, and a passage stopped me in my tracks like it never has before. It's the scene of the Last Supper - when Jesus is eating with His disciples, and He knows what's coming next: He'll be arrested, mocked, beaten, and crucified.
He opens dinner with a pretty bold statement: "Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me - one who is eating with me." The disciples get really defensive at this point, all denying they would ever do such a thing - which we know isn't the case. We've got 20/20 hindsight because we've got the Bible. We can read Mark 14 and see it all unfold. We know that one of His disciples did in fact betray Him and sold Jesus to the men who would murder Him. We also know that one of Jesus' most trusted disciples completely denied even knowing Jesus, not once or twice but three times the night of His death.
We know all of this because of the Bible. Jesus knew it all before it even happened. And still - right in the middle of telling His disciples that He would be betrayed by them and denied by them - He offered all of Himself to them, to us.
THIS is Jesus.
"...He took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to them and said, 'Take it; this is my body.' And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them and they all drank from it. And He said to them, 'This is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many...'"
He knew it all and still gave it all - putting His unwavering, unconditional, unfathomable, supernatural, divine love on display in the biggest way.
All I could think after reading that was: THIS is Jesus.
This is that baby. This is the one sitting on top of our pianos and in our grass and in the snow globes and on our trees - that's Him. The One who knows our mess completely - the One who walked this same earth, shared the same struggles - and still chose to offer His body and His blood to make a way for us to boldly approach the throne of grace.
THIS is Jesus.
So when we see and sing about that precious baby boy lying in a manger on that silent and holy night, let's rejoice in the truth that His love doesn't depend on our goodness, and that our flaws don't determine His grace.