Monday, 15 December 2008

• The Weakness of God

   by mr maple

  

  I've been doing my ob/gyn rotation at med school and have assisted in delivering a few babies.  It never ceases to amaze me how delicate the process of pregnancy is... and how traumatic birthing can be.  While the vast majority of births go well, the medical team has to be ever vigilant for early signs of dreaded complications.
  
  Even after birth, there are so many things left to worry about.  There are thousands of little things that people have invented to keep babies safe and happy.  There are knit caps for their heads, wipes for their little bottoms, and diapers for the things that come out of them.  There are bottles and sippee cups specially designed for their mouths.  There are car seats and booster seats and strollers. There are even plastic plugs for the electrical outlets in our homes.  We make and sell and buy these things because we seek to protect and provide for these children, little babies who have no strength or wisdom to fend for themselves.  There is nothing in all of creation as powerless and vulnerable as an infant.
  
  And yet somehow, in the baby Jesus - the prophesied Christ child foreseen by wise men and announced by angels - we were given the physical incarnation of hope.  Somehow this wailing, gurgling, and fragile little baby was God’s answer to millennia of suffering.  In this helpless babe we were promised one with shoulders to bear the weight of government, an iron scepter to rule the nations with justice and righteousness, and the ultimate authority to conquer death itself.
  
  In the divine irony known as Christmas, we see that God’s hope is not found in the signs and symbols of might, but in the weak things, the humble things of earth. God’s rescue is content to be seen as a helpless child. God’s authority rests easily in a needy and dependent infant. It is not unbelievable, then, to hope that God’s mercy is willing to live in people like us.  Isn’t that hope enough for us?
  
  Mary said it best herself:
  "My soul glorifies the Lord
      and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
   for he has been mindful
        of the humble state of his servant.
     From now on all generations will call me blessed,
      for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
        holy is his name.
   His mercy extends to those who fear him,
        from generation to generation.
   He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
        he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
   He has brought down rulers from their thrones
        but has lifted up the humble.
   He has filled the hungry with good things
        but has sent the rich away empty.
   He has helped his servant Israel,
        remembering to be merciful
   to Abraham and his descendants forever,
        even as he said to our fathers."      -Luke 1

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