“But Then You Came”

[This first appeared on December 5, 2013, as a guest post on Mitzi C. Smith’s blog “Written Reality” (www.writtenreality.com).]

But then you came.

Several Advents ago, I heard a story from a sermon by Rick Ezell. As I recall the story, one day a young wife and mother snapped and ran away. She answered her husband’s frequent phone calls but wouldn’t tell him where she was. She ignored his repeated pleas to come home.

When weeks became months, he hired a private investigator to locate her. The husband booked a flight and made his way to her cheap motel room. Trembling, he knocked on the door.

When it cracked open, he said, “The kids and I love you. Please come home.”

She did.

Several weeks later the grateful husband mustered the courage to ask THE question that continued to haunt him. Why wouldn’t you come home? I called you for weeks. I kept telling you I loved you and missed you and wanted you back. But you always refused to come home. Why?

“Before, when you called, those were just words. But then you came.”

But then You came.

God came to earth 2000 years ago to live among us. Yet our Savior didn’t arrive with the typical fanfare of a king or president.

* No paparazzi jockeyed for position.

* No journalists lobbied for an interview.

* No five-star resort accommodated Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus.

At Christmas the Lord of heaven and earth quietly slipped into our world. God spent His first night in human form in an animal’s feeding box. The baby’s wrinkled red face filled the air with coos and cries while Joseph and Mary endured a cold dirt floor and the stench of animals.

A few shepherds stopped by, but their social standing ranked right up there with members of Congress, telemarketers, and scam artists who target the elderly. Back in the day, one didn’t proudly announce, “My daughter is dating a shepherd.” Yet an angel of the Lord invited some shepherds to be the Messiah’s first visitors.

But then You came.

God says throughout the Bible, “I love you. Please come home.” Then one glorious night in Bethlehem, the Word became flesh and dwelled among us (John 1:14). Jesus traveled a long way to knock on the door of our heart.

Yet our Savior gladly took the risk. His reward was to hear us say, “But then you came.”

What about you? How you are celebrating Jesus’ coming?

David