3 December 2013 - a little child to guide us

3 December 2013 - a little child to guide us
 
with a little child to guide them.

Jesus comes to us as a child.  He flies under the radar of our pride.  Too much glory and our defenses are up.  'Who is trying to displace us from our throne?' we think.  Jesus allows us to see his humility and love before he shows us his glory and might.  Maybe the "rod of his mouth" that strikes the ruthless are his delicate cries for his mother.  Maybe the "breath of his lips" that will "slay the wicked" is his baby breath.  Maybe his humility can destroy the ruthlessness and wickedness in our hearts.
By coming to us in this way he reveals something about the Father who hides "these things from the wise and learned" and yet reveals them to those of us who are childlike.  He does not ask anything which he does not first demonstrate to us in his incarnation.

"Blessed are the eyes" that see him come as a child.  He is the bud which blossoms from a lifeless stump.  He has the fullness of the LORD's Spirit more than anyone else in history. 

He comes as a little child to guide us, not just to be observed by us.  We long to see justice flourish and "fullness of peace for ever."  He does not come to do this apart from us.  He comes to show us the way in which "all the tribes of the earth" are blessed.  He himself is that way.

Only the humility of God can bring the world true peace.  Only this will create a world where:

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
The calf and the young lion shall browse together,

Many have "desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it."  Therefore let us listen attentively, fully engaged.  Let us allow the Christ child to reveal the Father to us.

May his name be blessed forever;
as long as the sun his name shall remain.