I may never understand the reason God chose to send His son to earth as a human baby. I struggle to think of Jesus in all His perfection being helpless and having to be taught the basics of life such as walking and talking. Why did it have to be this way, surely there was some other way God could have brought salvation to our world?
While certain aspects of the salvation story may be incredible and imponderable, there is one thing I know for certain: I could not be more grateful. I am thankful that Jesus chose to experience the same things I did growing up, that He chose to identify with me in the most tangible way possible. As Geoff Moore wrote, “He was one of us, somehow like you and me/The God we serve breathed the air that we breathe”. Our Lord gave up everything so He could experience the same things we do. He faced socio-economic, peer and financial pressures. He faced the temptations of sex, greed, pride and selfishness. He knows exactly what we go through, every trial we face. He chose to make this knowledge an intimate rather than anecdotal knowledge. He knows exactly how we feel at all times because He has been there as well.
What must it have been like for Jesus to live among those who were so much the same, yet so much inferior to Him? Yet Jesus never put on the cloak of pride; instead He chose humility and gentleness. He identified with us, and in so doing allowed us to trust and love Him even more. We will never have to face something that He Himself has not faced. He blazed the trail, finished the race and defeated our enemy. Jesus faced it all and in the end won not only every battle, but He won freedom for all who would come to Him. No matter how you look at it, Jesus is the ultimate winner.
Here’s where it gets even more incredible. Jesus, the ultimate winner went through everything He did for the sake of evil, sinful folks like you and me. Just as Jesus is without a doubt the ultimate winner, there is no doubt that you and I are perennial losers. We fail over and over again, we swear allegiance to Christ and then turn around and deny Him. We claim to care for the orphans and widows, and then spend lavishly on Christmas for friends and family without giving a thought to the homeless and weak. If the truth be told, we fall far more often than we walk. We struggle and fail and plead for forgiveness from our perfect Savior. We are, indeed, ultimate losers. This is why God sent His son to redeem us. This is why Jesus came to set a perfect example for us to follow. This is why Jesus chose to empathize with our weakness. He knows who we are and loves us still. He came that our broken lives would find healing in His mercy. His humility covers our pride and His perfection cleanses our failures. So in this season when we celebrate the birth of Christ, we celebrate Jesus choosing to identify with losers like you and losers like me. Yes, Christmas is for losers and I couldn’t be more grateful.