Imagine having prepared to travel to a far distant land. You’re travelling alone but anticipating that all of the contact and messaging and preparations will mean you are well received. Yet on arrival you are first ignored and then rejected. They have your messages, but won’t believe those messages are from you. They’ve made preparations, but they won’t use them on you. At every point you feel misunderstood and rejected. Wouldn’t you feel sad – rejected and alone – eager simply to give up and go home? Yet, the Bible tells us, that’s what happened to the Lord Jesus that first Christmas.
Over the last few Sunday mornings we’ve read John chapter 1 vs 1-14 several times. Look especially at vs 11:
“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” (John 1:11)
The difference is that the Lord Jesus knew that’s what would happen to Him and came anyway:
Born as a baby in poor circumstances, the ‘no room at the Inn’ message was carried through the rest of His life for those who should have known better! Yet God the Son didn’t come for adulation and ceremony but to save us. He said that He didn’t come to be served, but to serve (Mark10:45).
Yet there is great news for us:
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12,13)
What place does the Lord Jesus have as you celebrate His Birth this year at Christmas? Have you received Him and given Him His rightful place as your Saviour and your Lord?!
Spencer Shaw