Sound Effects

“For unto us a child is born.” Isaiah 9:6

This past Sunday’s sermon was superb—and so were the sound effects.  I’m sure it wasn’t planned, but three pews back to my right, a baby cooed as if on cue.  The pastor’s declaration from Isaiah 9 of light for those who walk in darkness and delight for ones in distress was underscored by the audible reminder that “the hopes and fears of all the years” were met not in a battle but by a birth.  “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given”(Isa 9:6).

The child in my church seemed to sense when the pastor was emphasizing a point and added her own exclamation.  Her noises were not cries or fusses—simply calls to all listening that she was present and pleased to be there.  I smiled every time her little voice reminded us of how God “has spoken in these last days through His Son”(Heb 1:2).

When the service ended and I saw the baby in her mother’s arms, I was struck again at the helpless and dependent manner God chose to show up in on planet Earth.  Someone had to feed Him when He was hungry, change Him when He was dirty, and comfort Him when He cried. He needed to He cuddled and cared for, loved and listened to, cheered for and cheered on. Though it seems impossible that the Divine would wear a diaper, He did.

For our salvation to be secured, Jesus couldn’t arrive as an adult ready to walk to the cross.  He needed to be fully human, along with being fully holy.  He had to begin as an embryo, develop into an infant, become a child, transform into a teenager, and mature into a man.  The baby’s cries on Sunday were a precious illustration of how far Jesus was willing to stoop down to bring us up. 

The miracle of the Incarnation is summed up in one marvelous announcement—“For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!”

To die, He had to live. To live, He had to be born.

Away in a manger.