With lot of joy, we go near the crib to re-experience the Bethlehem event. What do we see there?
Here God reveals, not in the expected glory and power but in smallness of human limitations. God is present there in need of caring presence of others. He happily allows that dependency, not just at the manger, perhaps always and everywhere. That is why God is known as Emmanuel - God with us.
God is with us, taking our human nature, and living in our human conditions, in all our ordinariness. At the manger we find no great wonder and miracle; nor a great hero, it is just simple human life.
It is a great surprise too, because we do not expect God to reveal himself in smallness. We assume definite ways of God's revelation, especially in incomprehensible realities, inexhaustible light and magnificent glory, and we do not find him. We also cannot find God in any of our claims too. Our religious performance, righteousness claims, none of those can make God reveal in the way we want. We open our heart and our eyes and we will see God and God is present to us in our daily lives. Perhaps within our struggle and pain, temptation and sin, there is a feeble cry of God that a Messiah may be born in us. At our meeting we can offer whatever we have. Often it may be emptiness and pain. Yet in us a Messiah may be being born when we trust on to Him.
Take courage, there is a consolation from God for us. He says: Do not doubt, but have faith, do not be afraid but have courage, do not be saddened but rejoice. If we can count on this promise from God, we can see God as a companion to our life journey. God may not be a miracle worker all the time, but God is truly limping with the lame and groping with the blind. This little baby in the manger is the meaning for us to live.
