What God Wouldn’t Let Me Forget
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means God with us.
Matthew 1:23
The greatest gift has already been given. Immanuel means “God with us.”
December has a way of pulling people in a hundred different directions. There are lists to make, things to wrap, plans to juggle, people to please, memories and emotions to navigate. We get caught up in buying and making sure everyone has a gift to open.
The commercialization of Christmas as a material holiday has turned it into a season about presents, when it was originally supposed to be about presence. I feel like society steers us away from the actual heartbeat of Christmas, and I say “heartbeat” deliberately to signify “life”.
The whole point of Jesus’ birth was for God to give Himself to us in a familiar form we wouldn’t fear and would freely approach, and to give us His presence on earth to shepherd us into His flock. Obviously it was also to fulfill prophecies, but that’s not what I’m doing here. I am merely trying to emphasize the simplicity of the message. We tend to get bogged down in details and miss the whole point of things sometimes. “Was Jesus really born in December?” Who cares? He was born unto us. He came. That’s all. “Did I get my second cousin’s first child’s child a gift?” Who cares? Are you present?
Jesus is God’s name for when He walked the earth. Kind of like how 8th Avenue in Nashville is called Franklin Road south of the city and Rosa Parks Boulevard on the north side. Same street. God is Jesus, and He came for us that day Mary and Joseph laid Him in the manger.
Because Immanuel means “God with us.”
The Bible, for me, is about what is said but equally about what is not said. He was not called “God over there” or “God with us if and only if we wrap that box pretty.” Immanuel does not mean “God waiting for us to make our lives perfect before He comes closer to us.” He is present with us in the chaos, waiting for us to invite Him in and give Him another quiet place so we can hear Him and feel His presence. He loved us enough to come spend some time with us on earth. He came to our births, ballgames, graduations, job promotions, medical emergencies, and legal quagmires. He came to our losses, our victories, our birthdays, and our Christmases.
Because Immanuel means “God with us.”
The earth is beautiful and magnificent in so many ways, but God didn’t come to speak to the mountains of Colorado, the canyons of Utah, the rivers of Montana, or the hills of Tennessee. The mountains, canyons, rivers, and hills can’t feel back. He only made us in His image. He did not make Thunderhead Mountain in the Smokies in His image. We are His living creations with the ability to respond to His love. We just have to receive His presence.
Because Immanuel means “God with us.”
Jesus was born into a world that was (is) messy, loud, complicated, and imperfect like December has become for most of us. Interestingly to me, God chose a cattle trough for His grand entrance into our lives, not a castle. He wrapped Himself in swaddling clothes and showed up in a place most people would overlook – pretty much the Vanleer of Judea.
He was delivered to parents who were just trying to figure out the right thing to do in that moment for the safety and security of their child, and that is essentially what God was trying to do for us when He came to earth as Jesus. It was not a prepared scene with decorations, a parade, and a perfectly cooked ham. The simplicity and utility of His first revelation is the place in the chaotic world where He chose to enter.
So consider that He was showing us how to find calm in a whirlwind. Israel was under foreign control, Herod was ordering the death of infants, and Augustus wanted a census. People, including Mary and Joseph, were frantically trying to get to the official place where they would be counted. But God still found a quiet place to begin the greatest story ever told, that we will be counted wherever we are if we love Him.
The older I get, the more grateful I am that God didn’t wait for ideal circumstances to show up in our world, because circumstances are never perfect. God came into a world that didn’t have “room” for Him, but He came to us anyway. So, for me at least, December and this Christmas season is about presence, not presents.
Don’t worry about the ribbons and bows. Worry about the presence – His with you, and yours with others.
Christmas, for me, is just an annual reminder that no matter how things unfold – peaceful or chaotic, joyful or heavy – the ultimate gift has already been given. We don’t have to go buy it, we don’t have to order it, and we don’t have to spend extra for rush delivery. It’s already here, and it arrived whole and on time.
We just have to relax and receive this presence and do our best to make sure everybody else has it, too. The best gift we can give each other this season or any other season is so simple, and we almost always over-complicate it. The best gift we can give to others is our presence in every moment, and the best gift we can receive is God’s presence in our every moment.
Don’t forget to invite Jesus to your family gatherings this Christmas. He is right there beside you waiting humbly to be asked to take a seat at the table.
Tidings of comfort and joy to you and all of yours this Christmas season from Big Beautiful Blog and Jenny.