At Christmas time, we always give attention to Christ being born. But what I always like to think about is that moment just before Mary became pregnant. Where was Jesus right before he entered into his mother’s womb?
We know that Jesus prior to coming to earth was fully God, sitting at a position of authority along with God the Father. Jesus was ruling and reigning as God, and then suddenly, He is transformed and implanted into Mary’s womb.
The amount of humility Jesus showed in this act is impossible for us to comprehend. Before coming to earth He is fully understood by all the angels. He is worshiped for who He truly is, and His every command is obeyed without hesitation.
When that planned hour finally arrived, Jesus does something totally unimaginable. He steps away from His throne. There is no vocabulary to describe what the trip from His throne into the womb would look like. It likely happened in the blink of an eye, but it is still the farthest journey imaginable.
Jesus leaves behind a realm where He was totally understood and totally obeyed to a place in space and time where He became totally dependent on His family to provide for Him. Nine months later, God in the flesh would need to cry when He was hungry. God himself would need to be changed and held.
As He grew, He would be misunderstood, betrayed, mocked and eventually killed. Jesus entered our world amongst the blood and pain of childbirth, and He left among the blood and pain of crucifixion. That is the way we treated the King of Kings. But the pain of death was not the final bookend to His earthly life. He would be raised again in victory.
The question I always ask myself is why did Jesus have to come so far? Why did he have to traverse such a great distance?
The truth is because that is how far away from God I was. It’s good to recognize and celebrate the birth of Jesus, but let us not forget the tragedy that caused Him to come to save His creation. I pray you are humbled as I am, whenever I think about that moment right before Mary became a mother.