If We Invite Him In

I loved our Christmas program in sacrament meeting this year, we sang the hymns we love so dear, yet more than that we not only heard of Christ's birth, but also of His life in both the Old and New world. In our modern world we sometimes hear that Heavenly Father sent His son as a baby because a baby is more approachable than a grown man as Savior of the world and to a certain extent, I think that is true. Just look at the many of the world that chose to go to church on Christmas, but not necessarily any other time of the year or those whose hearts are softened and are more willing to give at the time of a baby in Bethlehem than at any other time of the year. But I also think that it is more than that.

In fact, here's some irony, many of those on earth at the time of Christ's birth and life couldn't accept that He was the Savior because He had come as a babe. They were expecting a political Savior. The house of Israel's lot in life at this stage of history was very grim, they were a minority facing political oppression and those in Jerusalem faced an especially hard time not only did they face political oppression, fear of persecution, fear of injury, fear of imprisonment, fear of death (in the Meridian of time many were hoping for and seeking a Savior, they were expecting a political Savior, someone to ride in on a stallion, armor and a host of warriors to storm Jerusalem and overthrow Herod the Great {and later Herod Antipas}, this meant that the Herods often imprisoned Jews and persecuted them to de-moralize them and stop assassination attempts before they were enacted, during this time there were many riots in the streets, many Jews imprisoned and murdered for the name of peace). With this knowledge can we blame the Jews for hoping for a fighting Messiah, can we blame them for seeking hope from continued violence and persecution? Then add the religious turmoil within the Jewish faith. Jews at that time knew that their high priest had sold out to the tetrarchy and that the rulers of the temple were using Korban* (sacred, set aside) temple funds to build aquaducts for the glory of Rome. There were many who were faithful and continued living the law of Moses the best they could, but I'm sure they wondered if their obedience was enough with corruption in the positions of those that were supposed to be helping them draw nearer to God.

Then you have other groups who have put up so many laws, ordinances and suggestions around the Law of Moses, that they no longer lived the law or remembered the Spirit and purpose of the Law, which was to draw them nearer to the Savior and Messiah. Since the days of Adam mankind has looked to Jehovah, Yahweh, the Savior of all mankind who would come to save them from their sins. Yet in the environment of Christ's birth many had forgotten what His coming could mean, many thought He would come with a flaming sword and others had lost any hope that He would even come at all.

Yet He did come, I testify that He came to earth as a baby to draw all men to Him and back to His Father. Christ came as a babe, not just to be less intimidating, but to understand what it is to be a baby dependent on someone else for everything, to be a toddler learning to walk His first steps, to be a five year old and understand what it is when someone doesn't like you for the first time, to be a teenager with teenage angst and confusion, to be a young man learning His way in the world and to be a man without a home and with few true friends. Our Savior is our Savior and Redeemer not just because of a night in a garden when He felt our pains and sins and not just because He died on a cross and rose from a garden tomb (though without these things He couldn't have been our Savior), He is our Savior and Redeemer because He also was born in a manager after leaving a throne. Because He learned grace by grace, because He understands loneliness, sadness, happiness and joy, because He lived them. He didn't just experience our joys and sorrows, He experienced His own so that He has true empathy. He knows us, He knows mortality, He knows the sting of effort un-received, of things not going as He'd hoped and of sometimes sitting alone. Our Savior came here down below so that He could walk with us in perfect understanding and exalt us to heights we never knew existed.

Christmas starts in a lowly stable, with a poor mother and father not knowing how to get to what needed to happen next, with shepherds of the temple flock, shepherds who had long tended sheep that would go to the temple to be sacrificed for the sins of the people, these shepherds were the first to see the final necessary sacrifice for All mankind. These shepherds saw the last korban** first born son, they who had provided the needed lambs for sacrifice for all the house of Israel saw the Savior of all of Israel, and all of God's children everywhere. Then came the wise men declaring to the world that not only had they met an equal in the gifts they gave Him, but they had met the King of all Kings. Then came Simeon and Anna at the temple who had received the promise that they would see their Savior before their death and they added their testimony to His eternal and immortal work. Then came His disciples who saw Him preform miracles, who blessed bread and fed the five thousand, who healed the sick and raised the dead and saw Christ, their Savior and friend return to life. Then comes the martyrs through the centuries protecting, living and dying for the truth of a Savior. Then came Joseph Smith who restored knowledge, truth and ordinances that were lost and now comes us.

We are called to Live for Christ. We are called to not only go to that stable and see Him as a babe, we are called to see Him as a Man, as a Savior, as our Redeemer. Just as the Jews in the meridian of time no longer knew who their Savior was or how He would come, we live in a world that has largely forgotten their Savior and has forgotten that He comes to us. He lived a  mortal life to know our lives and to succor us and He comes in His own time and His own way to each of us. May we let Him in, in this mortal journey that can be full of joy and pain. May we always make room for the babe of Bethlehem, for the King of Kings, for our Savior and our Friend. He came for us, now we live for Him and please let Him in. Embrace the life and path He prepared for you, for ultimately that path will lead us closer to Him, if we invite Him in.




*Corban [N] [S]a Hebrew word adopted into the Greek of the New Testament and left untranslated. It occurs only once ( Mark 7:11 ). It means a gift or offering consecrated to God. Anything over which this word was once pronounced was irrevocably dedicated to the temple. Land, however, so dedicated might be redeemed before the year of jubilee ( Leviticus 27:16-24 ). https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/corban/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korban

**All first born sons in Israel were considered korban, set aside for God's purposes and His work.  The tribe of Levi fulfilled the role of temple workers for the entire house of Israel. Thus first born sons were brought to the temple to be redeemed through the sacrifice of a lamb from that role.