Christmas Musing #11 Station or Status

 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Micha 5:2 English Standard Version

               When I was a junior officer in the Army the Soviet Union dried up and blew away. I was stationed in Germany during this time and remember it vividly. As with all who grew up in the sixties and seventies and then joined the military, I fully expected that eventually the U.S. and the Soviet Union would come to blows, and as a soldier I would be engaged in that titanic struggle. Imagine my surprise when without a shot fired the Soviets called it quits. Suddenly our major threat was gone. Almost immediately the Army engaged in force reduction. Suddenly what seemed to be a secure career was perilous indeed. During the RIF, or reduction in force, many fine officers and NCOs found promising careers cut short. They received orders that their services were no longer needed, and they had ninety days to wind up their military affairs and join the civilian world. This created great angst among the ranks.

               One person I knew did not worry. His father was a three-star general. In fact, when he sent his “official” photo in for inclusion in his promotion packet it was a picture of him and his father. He drew and arrow pointing to his father with the word “Dad” and an arrow pointing to himself with the word “Me,” at least that is what he said. At any rate, he was promoted, at least to Captain. I lost track of him after that. But the point is, he was well connected, and unafraid to use that connection.

               Unlike my acquaintance, Jesus did not enjoy high birth. He came from a small, insignificant village, a sort of suburb of Jerusalem. Then after spending some time as a political refugee in Egypt, his family relocated to Nazareth, again an unimportant village far off the beaten path. Evidently people from Nazareth were not well respected. As scripture points out, “⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” ⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” John 1:45-46 Jesus, born in obscurity and raised in a disreputable town. Were I to arrange things, Jesus would have been born in high standing and grown up in the best conditions possible; however, God arranges things. Jesus grew up in average circumstances. He accepted this situation without complaint. He understands what it means to come from meager beginnings, the wrong side of the tracks. He wanted to remove all the barriers between Himself and His lost and hurting people, so He embraced coming from such humble beginnings. He willingly made the journey into obscurity. As far as the world knew, He was just another Jew from some insignificant town. Advent reminds me that Jesus does not consider where I came from important. Zip-Codes do not matter to Him. After all, His hometown did not even rate a Zip-Code.