The Hero We Needed – December 25, 2020

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
Luke 2:6,7

The Hero We Needed

How many thousands of years had passed since the promise of a Savior had been made? For how many countless generations had the people of earth been waiting for God to rescue them? Our sins had separated us from our Creator. Only the living God could save us. Hell’s gaping jaws were open and ready to consume all mankind. Only heaven’s might could close them.

Surely, we needed a hero greater than all those who have appeared in ancient epics or modern movies. No doubt, we needed someone more powerful than all the world’s kings, conquerors, and corporate CEO’s combined. We needed a fearless warrior to defeat Satan, our wicked foe.

But what do we see? A baby. A newborn baby snuggled tight in a blanket. His humble parents watching while he sleeps, nestled in a tangle of hay. Is this all the help that heaven could spare? Don’t we as a human race deserve better? How could this poor, fragile child accomplish what was beyond the wisest and most powerful among us?

Ah, but selfish pride and sinful doubt put us under God’s wrath in the first place. Jesus is truly a great and powerful Savior, and he displayed his might in countless miracles. But the hero we required also needed to be humble and gentle, motived purely by selfless love. He had to be willing to sacrifice himself, not only for the best of us but also for the lowest, the poorest, and the vilest. He had to be willing to die for you. And he was—with great joy.

In Christ Jesus alone, we find the hero we need, the only one who was able both to die as our spotless lamb and to take up his life again as our loving Shepherd. Let us sing and herald his birth today with great joy!

Prayer:
I praise you, Lord Jesus, for your undeserved love for me, which brought you to earth as my gentle Savior. Amen.