Holy Help

 ^“They were all filled with awe and praised God. ‘A great prophet has appeared among us,’ they said. ‘God has come to help his people.’”  Luke 7:16

Early this morning I sat on my couch, stared at my beautiful Christmas tree (I can say that without arrogance because my girls did all the decorating!), and read in the gospel of Luke where Jesus transformed a funeral into a fiesta by bringing a dead guy back to life. As the awestruck crowd raised their voices in praise, they made two seemingly similar but quite different statements. “‘A great prophet has appeared among us,’ they said. ‘God has come to help his people’”(Luke 7:16). If the people believed both, they were right, but if they only assumed the first, they were wrong.

Though thousands of years have passed since that hearse was halted, those two points of view still prevail. “A great prophet has appeared among us.” Most in the world look at the baby in the manger as a great guy who came to give good advice.  “Treat others the way you want to be treated.”  “Turn the other cheek.”  “It’s better to give than get.”  “Don’t be proud when you pray.”  Wise words from a nice man who lived a wholesome life and died a horrible death. The end.

But there are those few who dare to believe the second claim—the ones who by grace stake their future on the fact that the baby born in Bethlehem was more than good—He is God. “God has come to help his people.” Our situation was so dire and desperate that another good speaker, great preacher, never-wrong future-teller would be of little comfort and even less help. We needed someone not to assist us in our efforts but to save us from sin and death, and none less than Deity would do. 

This season as we celebrate God’s arrival in person on our planet, be “filled with awe and praise.” It was your funeral Jesus turned into a fiesta, for “we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ”(Ephesians 2:1-4). No mere prophet—not even a great one—can resurrect a lifeless soul, but a mighty God can do just that.

And He did.

“God has come to help his people.”