God Is On Our Side
In a week, we’ll enter the Season of Advent. Advent is a time of preparation for our celebration of Christmas and the coming of Jesus into the world.
Some think of the coming of God as like the unexpected arrival of a parent hoping to catch us with our hand in the cookie jar. They view God as a policeman, whose greatest delight is in catching us doing something wrong. Others see God as the “cosmic killjoy” who sniffs out any fun we might be having and stamps it out. Still others see God as a “control freak” who needs to be in charge of everything and everyone. I wonder if we aren’t just projecting our own deep-seated fears onto God. But, from any of these perspectives, the coming of God is bad news, because they mean that God is against us.
However, none of this stacks up against the reality of Jesus’ arrival at the first Christmas. When God first entered this world, it was not as a proud and arrogant ruler. He came as a baby, intentionally born into a poor and powerless family, weak and dependent. Nor was his coming a declaration of God’s judgment on a sinful humanity. Jesus’ described his purpose for coming into the world like this...
“…he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” (Luke 4:18-19).
Jesus proclaimed a message of worth and equality for the poor. Jesus proclaimed “freedom for the prisoners,” not judgment and punishment. Jesus proclaimed recovery of sight for the blind. The reality is that most of us are blind to God's truth. Jesus opens our eyes to see what God is really like. Jesus proclaimed, “the year of the Lord's favour.” In other words, God is not against us. He is absolutely for us, and that is “Good News.”
The coming of Jesus declares with great clarity a simple truth – that God is on our side! That is something worth celebrating.
Neil Percival
Some think of the coming of God as like the unexpected arrival of a parent hoping to catch us with our hand in the cookie jar. They view God as a policeman, whose greatest delight is in catching us doing something wrong. Others see God as the “cosmic killjoy” who sniffs out any fun we might be having and stamps it out. Still others see God as a “control freak” who needs to be in charge of everything and everyone. I wonder if we aren’t just projecting our own deep-seated fears onto God. But, from any of these perspectives, the coming of God is bad news, because they mean that God is against us.
However, none of this stacks up against the reality of Jesus’ arrival at the first Christmas. When God first entered this world, it was not as a proud and arrogant ruler. He came as a baby, intentionally born into a poor and powerless family, weak and dependent. Nor was his coming a declaration of God’s judgment on a sinful humanity. Jesus’ described his purpose for coming into the world like this...
“…he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” (Luke 4:18-19).
Jesus proclaimed a message of worth and equality for the poor. Jesus proclaimed “freedom for the prisoners,” not judgment and punishment. Jesus proclaimed recovery of sight for the blind. The reality is that most of us are blind to God's truth. Jesus opens our eyes to see what God is really like. Jesus proclaimed, “the year of the Lord's favour.” In other words, God is not against us. He is absolutely for us, and that is “Good News.”
The coming of Jesus declares with great clarity a simple truth – that God is on our side! That is something worth celebrating.
Neil Percival