The Lodestar

The most popular images of Jesus Christ are of the infant Jesus in the crib, with his mother, or the weak, skinny body on the cross. These depict the beginning and the end of Jesus’ life on earth. But he had a life in between.

Jesus did not remain a helpless babe in the manger; he grew up and lived for 33 years. He came to atone for the sins of this world through his death. But he also came to serve. He went around preaching the good news that God’s rule had finally arrived among those who believed in him. Beginning with the Synagogue in Nazareth, he preached on street corners, at the seaside, at social gatherings, and at courts of the Temple, wherever he could find an audience.

He was not only a preacher. He healed those who were sick, raised the dead, cast out demons, calmed the sea, and fed the hungry. Finally, he gave himself up into the hands of the rulers to be treated as a criminal and killed. But by his death on the cross, all criminals who believed in his name, even the man hanging on the cross by his side, were justified by God’s standards.

Christmas is a story that has a beginning but no end. The story continues through our lives as we hear his voice in his Word and experience him. Christmas invites us to a fuller experience of the Lord. Let us begin that journey by reading through the Gospels during this Advent season and immersing in his story that stretches beyond the manger in Bethlehem.

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