It seems that I was there not so long ago but now realize it has been four years. Madina (pronounced Mahdeena) is a small village a few laborious hours outside of Freetown, Sierra Leone – Africa. There is a school there with 365 young students attempting to make a dent in the high percentage of illiteracy in that country. I just received news that one of the cooks at the school died while in childbirth. That is something that one does not hear so often around in this part of the world. Does Jesus’ birth make any difference?
A former church member of years ago who is now a pastor in another state posted the news that his 38 year old daughter has cancer throughout her body including many lesions on her brain. She is married with a 17 year old daughter and 12 year old son. Does Jesus’ birth make any difference?
There could be a very long list of challenging circumstances of life where we find people on the brink of “jumping off of the ledge” in a feeble attempt to escape it all. My call, vocation, and career place me (and many others like me in other fields of people care) right smack in the middle of the indecisive gray of the human condition.
The scriptures of Advent make it clear that “to us a child is born” and “a son is given” upon “whose shoulders the government will rest.” (Isaiah 9:6-7) Furthermore, this baby will be the Savior of the world. Songs have been written, movies made and books a million have been published in addition to this baby’s autobiography; the Bible. BUT, it all boils down to those gray moments of the human condition when we hurt, grieve, suffer, anger and when actively dying that we begin to dig deeper under the songs, stories, and scripture. Does Jesus’ birth make any difference?
I’m sure you are waiting for this next part….
Yes, it does make a difference. It makes a difference to me.
When it all boils down to that moment when the children of the mother who died giving birth to their sibling or when my friend seeks prayer for his daughter, I can speak for no one else but me. And I do.
BUT, I can say with great certainty that Jesus’ birth makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE to me when I am confronted with the conundrum of situations that seem so unfair, so unjust and so wrong that the laws of society and the physics of nature have nothing to say. The difference for me is simply this:
Without Jesus’ birth?
There is no Jesus.
Without Jesus, there is no Savior.
Without a Savior there is no Hope.
I can’t live, we can’t live, no one can live without hope. People without hope end their lives every day. Hopelessness is a depth of despair that sucks the light out of one’s heart and life and fills it with darkness. Jesus is LIGHT!
Jesus is Hope!
Jesus says” I’m here.”
Jesus says “I’m with you.”
Jesus says “I’m holding your dying hand, your suffering hand, your hurting heart your grieving spirit. I love you period.
Jesus’ birth makes a difference to me.
Pastor Craig 