Images of Christmas: A Divine Visit

I am sure you have noticed how people act when ‘someone special’ walks into the room; it is something to see! This has recently been demonstrated as the wildly popular singer Taylor Swift has made a few appearances during Kansas City Chiefs football games. Swift, as you probably know, has been dating a Chiefs player, Travis Kelce, and has appeared at several of his games. She has been seen with Travis in various events and places and with the wife of the Chief’s quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. People have gone crazy! NFL viewership and ticket sales have gone up, searches on the Internet about Kelse and the Chiefs have numbered in the millions, and it seems that even Chiefs fans have gotten caught up in the excitement – just because a famous singer has visited!  

              

I am not a big fan of Swift’s music, but many are. What interests me is the thrill of so many to know that ‘she might be here’ or to catch a glimpse of her, seated with Kelce’s mother or Mahome’s wife, almost a hundred yards away. Amazing!

               

One of the things that came to mind as all this was going on was that, in a very real way, mankind experienced a visit from someone even more special than Taylor Swift, especially many years ago. I am thinking of the visit of Jesus, the Christ-child, which began one cold desert evening in Bethlehem and lasted just over 33 years. Think about it: Jesus was literally “God in the flesh.” He had been with Father God in eternity and was God’s active agent (think ‘right-hand man’) in creation, and he came to draw man back to God. He was someone special!

               

This ‘Divine Visit’ of Jesus was more than just a high-class “meet and greet,” though. Jesus came to express God’s love to man in a way that could not be missed. 

 

He healed the sick, made the blind see and the lame walk, and helped people sense the Spirit of God at work in this world. He was incredible! Unfortunately, though, many were offended by his presence and teachings, his utter dismissal of positions of power and influence, and what often passes for things of high value on this earth. Instead, Jesus taught people to be humble, gracious, loving, generous, and forgiving of all they encounter. He showed them how to treat the lowly and downtrodden and clarified that the ‘ways of man’ were seldom in line with the ‘ways of God.’ Finally, Jesus was murdered by those in power! They lied about him, beat him, rigged a court action against him, and hung him on a cross, a death reserved for those who were deemed evil and dangerous. Three days later, of course, was the resurrection! This event demonstrated God’s power over man, the governments of man, and of death itself. God brought him back from the dead as an act of victory: Jesus had won the battle of good versus evil!

               

That was quite a visit! Interestingly, to this day, hundreds of millions of Christ-followers gather every week to worship the man Jesus, this ‘God in the flesh’ who visited earth. Christians gather on Christmas to celebrate his birth and on Easter to celebrate his resurrection. His visit really was a wonderful thing!

               

This Christmas season, let us all take a moment to celebrate the ‘Divine Visit’ that was the birth, life and death, and resurrection of Jesus. His ‘Divine Visit’ really was special!

 

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