Meditation: Why Did He Come?
This Word who now becomes flesh is the very same God before Whom the Seraphim in the vision of Isaiah covered their faces with their wings and exclaimed in fear and trembling: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Sabaoth!” The creature did not dare to look up. Such was the overpowering greatness of God. No man could see God and live.
It is this transcendent, unapproachable, unfathomable, mysterious Word who becomes flesh. He comes so close to us as to say, “Behold, I stand at the door and I knock. If any person hears my voice and opens to me I will come to him, and sup with him and he with me.” The great God. Whom all of outer space cannot contain, wishes to make His home in the inner space of your heart and mine.
“Behold the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more” (Rev. 21:3-4).
Meditation: Emmanuel
“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel’ (which means, God with us.)”
Not “Emmanuish”, man with us; but “Emmanuel”, God with us! The Gospel of St. Matthew begins with the presence of God among His people-Emmanuel-and concludes with the promise of His continued Presence, “And lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (St. Matt. 28:20).
How tragically true it is that Christians often think of Jesus in the past tense-the Christ who was, or in the future tense-the Christ who will be. How seldom we think of Him in the present tense-God with us. Yet how much we need this promise in days of confusion, darkness, and struggle. In the Gospel of John we are told, ‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” This is only another way of saying, “Emmanuel, God with us.” Not in some distant heaven, not on some faraway planet, but here among us, sharing our sorrows, helping us bear our heaviest burdens, touched with the feeling of our infirmities, cleansing us of our sins, showing us the kind of life that has eternal value.
Christmas has a special message of comfort for the lonely. It is the message of Emmanuel-God’s presence with us, whoever we are, wherever we arc, if we will but turn to Him with a, much as a prayerful sigh!
As Christians we are called upon to share the joy of God’s presence with others. For example, this Advent and Christmas look for some lonely person for whom this season is the loneliest time of the year. Pay him or her a visit or make a telephone call. Show that you care as Christ cares. You will come away with the joy of God in your heart. This will be His reward to you for having brought Emmanuel to fill the void of an empty heart.
Meditation: Emmanuel
A famous surgeon would bow his head and pray before each operation he performed. An astonished reporter who once witnessed this asked him. “Do you always pray before an operation?”
The surgeon answered with a smile. “Always. Because I never know what trouble I am going to run into, and when I will have to turn the scalpel over to the Great Physician and bid Him carry on. Many times in my surgery, when I was at the end of my human ability. God has taken over where I left off.”
Emmanuel-God with us!
God’s great gift to us at Christmas was neither a code of ethics nor a philosophy, but Himself! Christianity is far more than a series of commandments. More than anything else, it is a Presence: Emmanuel-God with us! With us in sorrow-to brush away the tears. With us when we fall-to raise us up. With us in weakness-to make us strong. With us in death-to make us confident. Yes, and with us forever beyond death-in a place where “eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it ever entered into the heart of man what things God has prepared for those who love Him.”
“Behold, I bring you tidings of great joy which will be to all people…. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel (which means God with us).”
~ Presbytera Emily Harakas & Fr. Anthony Coniaris, DAILY MEDITATIONS and Prayers for the CHRISTMAS ADVENT Fast and Epiphany: Living the Days of Advent and Epiphany according to the Orthodox Church Calendar
