The Passion of Jesus at Christmas
We spend a lot of time focusing on Easter for its passion. The raw human emotion of Christ, with his desire to save humanity from the sin they were drowning in while at the same time being crushed under the weight of pain and helplessness. The Creator of the universe walking through the streets of Jerusalem carrying a cross of wood, beaten bloody and soon to die. We feel the passion of Easter because it is visible to us: the sweat, the blood, the tears. God himself, walking to Calvary to be broken; going to the cross to break the power of the grave.
The walk of an innocent man, on the road to his death. The walk of a humble man, on the road to do his Father’s will.
The walk of Emmanuel—God come down to be with his children, to feel with his beloved family, to be rejected by them, to be murdered by the ones he loves.
The walk of Jesus to the cross.
And yet, this was not the first time that Jesus walked toward his great destiny, knowing that suffering and death lay at the end of his road.
Before Jesus walked the bitter road to the cross, he walked the lonely road of Advent.
Before Jesus walked the bitter road to the cross, he walked the lonely road of Advent.
Imagine with me for a moment: Jesus, God Almighty, who created all things. Who has existed in perfect communion with the Trinity since before time began, who has the power to create life and galaxies with one word. Who knows all things.
Jesus, who knows our hearts. Who knows the darkness and the brokenness of the people he made—in the image of God, with the breath of God in their lungs, with the spark of eternity in their hearts, yet twisted and powerless and overcome by sin.
Sin, which makes the best of us fall, the strongest of us laid low, the highest and mightiest of our people to be as nothing.
Jesus watched as generation after generation of his children tried, then stopped trying, suffered punishment, repented, and tried again.
An unending cycle but no escaping the fall.
But there was another way. And, finally, it was time.
Can you imagine the walk of Jesus toward earth?
Did Jesus hesitate by the tree of life, by the gates of the golden city, by the shores of the crystal sea? Did he pause in the throne room of God knowing that for the first time in all eternity his relationship with the Father was about to change? Did he pass by the saints and angels at attention, willing them to courage, grasping hands and shoulders as he went, telling them not to be afraid, as he went to bring life to the people of earth?
Can you imagine the process of releasing his power, his privilege, his position? Of willingly taking on the powerlessness of humanity, the frailty of our form, the weakness of our spirit?
Jesus—God Almighty—who created all things, would be one of these, one of us.
And as he went, it changed everything for us. He became our Emmanuel—God with us.
He stepped down from heaven, onto the earth he created. This earth, scarred by the effects of humanity’s injustice. He stepped into the pages of human history.
Jesus didn’t come as a conquering hero. He didn’t arrive as a man of strength, with an army on his right and left. He was born into this world as a baby.
He didn’t come as a conquering hero. He didn’t arrive as a man of strength, with an army on his right and left. He was born into this world as a baby.
The Creator of all things, the God of the universe, arrived unceremoniously in the middle of a cold night in an unimportant city, born to unimportant parents. The blood of his mother Mary mixed with the straw of the rough wooden food box where they laid him like a meal for the animals.
We look at the birth of Jesus as a calm, quiet, beautiful, even cute event. Little baby Jesus being born happy and healthy. One day he’s going to save the world, but today he’s just a baby.
In those moments before Jesus came to our world, as he said goodbye to heaven and prepared to enter our suffering, as he walked the path to earth, Jesus experienced the first Passion—the long walk of a man going to certain death. The walk of our Saviour, coming down to us, knowing it would cost him everything. Yet knowing it would all be worth it.
On that day as God became flesh, he united the Father with his family. He put in motion the plan of salvation, to return eternity to us—that which has been forever in our hearts but just out of reach.
Before I think of the Passion of Christ at Easter, I am thankful for the Passion of Jesus at Christmas.
Jeremy Penner with his wife Adrienne are EMC associate missionaries serving with Multiply in Thailand. They support national church planters ministering to Myanmar migrants who live and work in Thailand. Their home church is Community Bible Fellowship (EMC) in Swan River, Man.
