Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

I've been reading the new book, Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus, a compilation of perspectives on Christmas from various writers and edited by Nancy Guthrie. As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, here is an excerpt from Tim Keller's chapter that seemed especially relevant to our current cultural mindset:

But Christmas teaches that God is concerned not only with the spiritual, because he is not just a spirit anymore. He has a body. He knows what it's like to be poor, to be a refugee, to face persecution and hunger, to be beaten and stabbed. He knows what it is like to be dead. Therefore, when we put together the incarnation and the resurrection, we see that God is not just concerned about the spirit, but he also cares about the body. He created the spirit and the body, and he will redeem the spirit and the body.

Christmas shows us that God is not just concerned about spiritual problems but physical problems, too. So we can talk about redeeming people from guilt and unbelief, as well as creating safe streets and affordable housing for the poor, in the same breath. Because Jesus himself is not just a spirit but also has a body, the gift of Christmas is a passion for justice.

There are a lot of people in this world who have a passion for justice and a compassion for the poor but have absolutely no assurance that justice will one day triumph. They just believe that if we work hard enough long enough, we'll pull ourselves together and bring some justice to this world. For these people, there's no consolation when things don't go well.

But Christians have not only a passion for justice but also the knowledge that, in the end, justice will triumph. Confidence in the justice of God makes the most realistic passion for justice possible.

Merry Christmas to you and your families! I'll be back blogging next week, God willing.

Comments

[emsolideogloria]

Amen! What a great excerpt!

[Jon C]

That's a great post, thank you for sharing! Merry Christmas.