Former co-workers of mine lived for many years in a remote mountainous area of Mexico. They shared in the lives of tribal people who were gracious enough to open their village and hearts to these strange outsiders. My friends worked hard at learning the language and culture of their host families. They washed clothes in the nearby stream, shared food and hospitality and in the process, developed strong and lasting friendships. When it became necessary to return to the States because of their children’s schooling, it was a difficult and tearful goodbye. A few years later they had opportunity to return to the mountains and visit with many of their friends. A question that was often asked of them was how the brothers and sisters on the other side were doing. Several wanted to know if Christians on the other side prayed for them. “North of the border” might be the phrase we would have chosen to use, but “on the other side” works just as well.
At Christmas, we celebrate Jesus, who became God in flesh so we might understand more fully the Father (Colossians 1:15). In the process of coming to “the other side”, Jesus became one of us—someone we could identify with and relate to. There is perhaps nothing more universally shared among cultures everywhere than a love for babies. Want to melt someone’s heart? Show them a baby. I think that is one of the reasons Jesus chose to come as an infant, the God-child, wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.
In Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi, we get a glimpse of what this meant for Him. In 2:6-8, Paul tells us that Jesus didn’t grasp or hang on to his equality with God, but in all ways except in sin, became like us. This same Jesus who is God and brought everything there is into existence (John 1:1-3) became a helpless, innocent baby at His incarnation. This is what it meant for Him to come to the other side.
Luke tells us the angels knew the magnitude of what was taking place; the skies rang with their song of “Glory to God in the highest”. And the shepherds returned to their sheep after seeing the baby, glorifying and praising God for all that they had seen and heard. Even Mary, the one God chose to bring Jesus to our side, exclaims to her cousin Elizabeth, “My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.”
I realize you can get yourself into trouble by giving God human traits and I also know that God is omniscient (He knows everything). I wonder, though, if He ever is “bewildered” at Christmas at how the brothers and sisters “on the other side” are doing. Are we doing well or are we allowing ourselves to be swept up in the hectic commercialism of the season? Fortunately for us, God’s foreknowledge is eternal and the Father’s plan from the beginning was to send Jesus, God the Son, as the baby who would later humble Himself by becoming obedient to death on a cross. That is what Christmas is really about—a celebration of God’s love to mankind in the form of a baby, the Savior of the World.
Luke tells us that Jesus came to give us the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of our sins. Because of God’s tender mercies, Jesus visited those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide their feet into the way of peace. Because of that, I can look forward to one day being “on the other side” with Him.