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Matthew1: 22-23 

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

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As I look upon the manger scene, I can’t help but think:

How can this tiny baby be everything we need?  The answer to human suffering, struggle and sin, let alone the answer to my prayers?  A baby so fragile, so small.  

What it must have cost you to leave all the power and glory of the heavenly realms to come to this limited human weakness. Why did you do it? You could have chosen a 1,000 other ways.

Immanuel, God with us.

My heart wants you to come in power to rescue me, to solve my problems, to save me from my situation, to help me.  A baby?  What good is that, my blinded heart cries.

God with us.  God with us.

With us.  Do I value it? Do I know what it means? God-with-us?  You valued it so much you made it the center point of history.   You chose this humble means: a tiny, weak, fragile form. 

The same God when housed in ark of covenant - no one could touch it lest they die! Or Moses when asked to see you in Exodus was told , “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 

And yet, here you are -the holy, untouchable, unseeable God- in the manger. You reduce yourself to a baby, to human flesh and bones.  What is this mystery? My heart opens, hope again:

God with us

It has always been you.

Genesis 3:8-9 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?

Immanuel, God with us

Matthew 28:20 “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”