Advent Reflection: Immanuel
Matthew 1:18-25
"Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.' "
[Matthew 1:23]
Several years ago a popular song celebrated the fact that "God is watching us from a distance." From his far away perch, God sees the beauty and harmony of this world, rather than its brokenness and strife. For some reason, this out-of-touch divine perspective was supposed to encourage us to be more loving and peaceful.
The biblical story celebrates the opposite truth. Not only is God intimately involved with this world in general, but he actually entered this world as a human being. The child conceived within Mary's womb was indeed "Immanuel," which means in Hebrew, "God with us."
When we face struggles at home or setbacks at work, when we suffer physical pain or seek to alleviate the injustice in our world, there is nothing more encouraging than the fact that God is with us. God was with us in the once-for-all incarnation of the Word in Jesus Christ. And God continues to be with us through the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts and in our fellowship with other Christians.
