In a moment like this on a day like today
The King of Kings came quietly,
To an obscure town with no royalty around
The start of a life that would end on a tree.
The Greatest Christmas Gift
Humble
Kings were untouchable in the ancient world. You could be put to death for entering the presence of a king without prior permission. Even a queen was no exception to this, as we see in Esther’s account. However, the King of Kings entered the earth in the most approachable human form: a baby. This brilliant design nullified man-made hierarchal structures, creating a universal approachability to God.
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old,
Micah 5:2
from ancient days.
Obscure
The King of Kings was born to an average and unassuming young virgin and her fiance, who couldn’t even get a room for her to give girth. This couple didn’t have political or societal clout, or they would have been ushered to the front of the line and given the best room. God’s advent wasn’t a massive public event but a holy and humble grace-filled moment of heaven coming to earth. It was exclusive but not based on human priorities. These privileged few ranged from the bottom of the social ladder to the top. The only ones who knew about the birth were the lowly shepherds to whom the angels appeared and the wise men who sought Him.
7 and she gave birth to her Son, her firstborn; and she wrapped Him in [[a]swaddling] cloths and laid Him in a [b]manger, because there was no [private] room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:7
Miracle
God has an infinite mind that is unfathomable even to the most intelligent human. His ways and thoughts are so much more advanced and higher than ours. * The entrance of the Lamb of God, destined to take our sin, began in a meager manger. Jesus began His earthly life cradled by a wooden manger and ended up stretched out on a wooden cross to die for our sins. No one at the time knew the destiny of that tiny child. Who knows what miracles we could miss as we walk through an average day of chaotic distractions? Maybe God’s blessing is there for us if, like the Wise Men, we seek Him wholeheartedly or, like the Shepherds, step away from the noise of this world and wait in the silence of our souls.
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, [a]wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”
Matthew 2:1-2
