THE INCARNATE CHRIST FOR ALL HUMANITY

THE INCARNATE CHRIST FOR ALL HUMANITY

We may never fully apprehend the mystery of the incarnation.  While God the Father lovingly acted for us, God the Son graciously acted with us as Emmanuel. (Matthew 1:23)  In the words of the Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, “The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding.”  Unquestionably, He loves us with everlasting and unfathomable love.

Jesus Christ entered this earthly plain with manifest humility and love, with the express intent of redeeming fallen humanity.  As such, the King of Kings was fully content with a modest stable at His birth – so we would have a mansion upon our death.

He never appeared as a Messiah sent solely for the empowered or elite, those whom we customarily equate with fortune and fame.  Rather, He came to compassionately minister to the lost and dispossessed – to set the captives free, to liberate people of every culture and color.

I love what one of my ministry mentors, the late Dr. E.V. Hill, said concerning this.  When questioned about the racial heritage of Jesus, due to the fact that He is often depicted in Eurocentric paintings as Caucasian, Dr. Hill wisely responded: “I don’t know anything about a white Jesus.  I know about Christ, a Savior named Jesus.  I don’t know what color He is.  He was born in the brown Middle East; He fled to black Africa; and He was in Heaven before the gospel came to white Europe.  So, I don't know what color He is.  I do know one thing: If you bow at the altar with color on your mind, you’ll get up with color on your mind.  So go back again, and keep going back until you no longer look at His color, but at His greatness and His power to save!"

Indeed, Jesus Christ liberates us from our inbred indoctrinations of prejudice, discrimination and racial animus.  According to Luke, the physician-apostle, “He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.” (Acts 17:26)  Therefore, our celebration of the birth of Christ should be the most unifying moment of our year.  And since the Word declares that Heaven will include persons “of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation,” wouldn’t it seem both logical and imperative that we learn to live together respectfully, amicably and lovingly down here?

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!