Question: Why did Jesus come to earth on that first Christmas Day?
Answer: In order to do the will of him who sent him.
For that’s what we’re told in John 6:38.
Back when I was a GP, I’m not sure that I always consulted as professionally as I ought to have.
Some years ago, having completed an assessment of a patient, I silently intimated to him to crawl under the couch on which I’d been examining him. Once he was hunched uncomfortably beneath it, I proceeded to drape a towel over its side in order to conceal the man more fully. Then, from behind the curtain that had shielded his 7 year old daughter from all that had been taking place within, I announced to her that I would now make her Dad disappear.
With a cry of ‘Abracadabra’, I pulled back the curtain revealing the empty couch. At at which point, a less than astonished little girl, who hadn’t even been fooled for a second, pointed to where her father had been earlier encouraged to hide.
Well I found it funny!
All of which goes to show that, as well as my having a childish sense of humour, some people will do what ever they’re asked to do, even when what they’re asked to do, isn’t something that they would normally.
Far more significantly however, there was one who always did what he was asked to do – even when what he was asked to do cost him his life.
Jesus said, ‘I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.’
And the will of the one who sent him was that he would lose none of the men women and children that God had given him to save. Or, put another way: Jesus came with a job to do – and that was to ensure that all those who put their trust in him, would, on the last day, be raised from the dead and given eternal life. [Jahn 6:38-48]
But in order to do this, Jesus would first have to pay the penalty that was rightfully theirs by being nailed to a cross and left to die.
The Roman orator Cicero described crucifixion as ‘a most cruel and disgusting punishment’ and suggested that ‘the very mention of the cross should be far removed not only from a Roman citizen’s body, but from his mind, his eyes, his ears.’
Crucifixion then, was a particularly unpleasant way to die – which was something that Jesus himself knew well.
On the night proceeding his execution, Jesus spent some time in the Garden of Gethsemane where, all too well aware of what would take place the following day, he sweated blood – a medical phenomenon known as hematohidrosis that can occur in individuals experiencing extreme stress.
No wonder then that Jesus prayed as he did:
‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me,’ he said. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.’ [Luke 22:42]
The cup here is a reference to the cup of God’s wrath that Jesus would drink so that we would not have to drink It ourselves. It was a truly terrifying prospect but, in keeping with the reason he had come to earth in the first place, Jesus continued to do the will of him who sent him.
And so it was that ‘for the joy that was set before him, [Jesus] endured the cross’ [Hebrews 12:2].
And what was the joy that motivated Jesus to suffer in the way that he did? Surely both the salvation of those he died for – and the glory of the one whose will he came to do when he came to Earth on that first Christmas Day.
To reveal the secrets concealed behind door 20 of last year’s Christmas Countdown, click here
Some musings 