Immanuel

So I had an epiphany of sorts on Friday. I was listening to this Christmas song by Steven Curtis Chapman about how God came down to be with us so we wouldn't ever have to feel alone again, we'd know that Jesus came here just to be with us.

It hit me in the middle of this song, driving downtown, tears streaming down my face, that it's not just that He came here as a baby to physically be with us; though that did happen and it's great, or that He's still here among us; although I believe that too and that's great.  It's also that Jesus went through the full range of human experience.

Now maybe you might say "Whoa! No He didn't! There's a lot He didn't know."

But, here's the thing. I think He just might have. He was completely human and completely God, so He felt everything we feel.  We know he grieved greatly when he lost someone He loved, He knew what it was like to be wanted not for Himself but for what He could give others, and, on the other end of it, to be reviled for who He was and said.  To be unjustly accused and persecuted for it.  To be betrayed by a dear friend. A lot of people say "You can't know what it's like to lose a friend/spouse to cancer unless you've been there." And if we can't know what it's like, we sometimes are not as good at comforting someone as we would be if we had gone through it.  That's not to say that if you haven't then your comfort is less, not at all! It's just if you've been through something like infertility or losing someone close to you, it gives you a different perspective, a more intimate one.

What if He also knew what it was like to be infertile?  He never married, what if when He held a child He sometimes felt a twinge because he couldn't have one of his own?  He was human after all.  I don't know, I may be reaching here, but I felt like He was reaching out to me on Friday, that He was saying "Me being with you is not just being by your side. I know what you're going through, intimately."  

I gotta tell you it comforted me so much.  To know that Immanuel, "God with us," is not just limited to a physical or spiritual presence. He is with us, He knows my pain intimately and shares it with me.

Maybe this is too "Whoo-Whoo" for you, but maybe it's the way I"m saying it.

I don't think language can quite capture an epiphany properly.

Any way, if this time of year is hard for you, I hope this gives you a little comfort. It certainly has me.