The King Who Became a Man – by Greg Albrecht
The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood (John 1:14, The Message).
During his reign (1910-1936) King George V of the United Kingdom and the British Empire visited Leeds, a city in the north of England. When he was informed that a school was situated next to the railway line, King George agreed to have the train slow down so that he could appear on a platform and wave to the children as the royal entourage passed.
When the king came outside the train he wore no outward signs of royalty, but was dressed in a suit, like any other male subject of his kingdom. After the train glided by and the cheers of the children faded, one little girl remained next to the fence by the railroad tracks, sobbing. A teacher came over to console her, and asked the girl why she was crying. “I wanted to see the king, but I only saw a man!”
Because he did not come with pomp and ceremony—because he didn’t wear the regalia befitting a king—when the Creator of the entire universe, the King of kings and Lord of lords, came into our world in the person of Jesus, many saw only a man who looked and dressed like everyone else.
Do you remember the old fairy tale where a beautiful princess kissed a frog and the frog was transformed into a handsome prince? When God came to be one of us, in the person of Jesus, the fairy tale reversed itself. God, demonstrating his love for all mankind, “kissed us” and promptly became a “frog” like us.
• God involved himself in our lives by becoming one of us—he demonstrated that he was not immune from the life experienced by his creation.
• Christmas is the announcement of the time when God inhabited our world—”The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14, The Message).
• Christmas proclaims the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, when God identified with us, in the miracle we often refer to as the incarnation. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
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