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Our food bank is full
to overflowing; boxes upon crates
stacked on top of each other to the very
rafters of the old warehouse. It is the
polar opposite of July when the shelves
are bare except for racks of green beans
and cans of sweet potatoes. I love to
see the holiday abundance.
People think about the
poor in a special way at Christmas time.
It’s as if a veil separates us from one
another all year long, and for a few short
weeks, we pull that curtain back, hoping to
have an authentic encounter. Why is this?
What is it about Christmas that compels
people to try and reconcile the disparity,
touch “the other” and get a glimpse of Jesus
in His disguise? I have a theory about why
this is.
It is all about the
incarnation. Jesus came to earth in a way
that disoriented common wisdom. While Herod
looked for a rival king, angels invited
outcast shepherds to the birth of a poor
baby in a barn. While Mary and Joseph might
have been surrounded with creature comforts,
God’s own Son was hurled into fallen
humanity, and Mary and Joseph made due in
the reality of homelessness. Though all of
heaven paused to herald the coming;
bloodthirsty enemies were plotting the
murder of children in unsuspecting
Bethlehem. Christmas requires that we see
our world through this lens; where “rulers
are brought down from their thrones, the
humble are exalted and the hungry are filled
with good things”. (Luke 1:52, 53)
 Over
the years, Christmas authors have written
about this search to find the incarnate
Jesus among the poor; maybe their thinking
was that a story might help as this
Christmas desire is hard to understand. My
all time favorite is the story of “The Other
Wise Man”, by Henry Van Dyke. This fourth
wise man is unrequited in his quest to find
the newborn king; he spends a life-time
looking for this promised one, giving to
suffering people he can’t seem to be able to
turn his back on everything meant for Jesus.
At the end of his life, saddened that he
failed to find the king and is now bereft of
his intended gifts for him, He hears the
comforting words … “Verily I say unto thee,
Inasmuch as thou has done it unto one of the
least of these my brethren, thou hast done
it unto me.”
Recently, I found Leo
Tolstoy’s version. Originally called “Where
Love Is, God Is”, it is also found under the
title “The Cobblers Visitor”. Martin, the
shoemaker, after reading his Bible, wonders
what it would be like to have the privilege
of hosting His Lord in his own home. He
hears his Beloved promise to visit, and He
does, but in his distressing disguises. (See
the tale as told by The Neighborhood
Players)
The lesson of Christmas
is the invitation of the incarnation …
“enter in behind the veil, but not just at
Christmas”. Let the longings of Christmas
become a new way to live.
God bless you,
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