Written by David Wheeler, Legacy Coalition Pastor’s Division
The holidays are usually marked by noise and chaos: little ones running around with screams of delight…lots of music…conversations around dinner tables…football games blaring on the TV…etc.
“Silence” isn’t a word we resonate with during the holiday season, unless we hear the song “Silent Night” playing at the mall.
However, decades ago, I read an article that impacted me powerfully concerning the Incarnation. I couldn’t remember the title, and I’ve searched for it frequently over the years with no results. Today, I found it…just in time for this blog article.
The title is “The Long Silence.” The author is apparently anonymous. I wish I could thank her/him for this fresh insight into the arrival of our Savior into this fallen world. I’ve made a few minor changes to fit the culture in which we currently live. Here it is:
“At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God’s throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly – not with cringing shame, but with belligerence.
“How can God judge us? How can he know about suffering?” snapped an older woman. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. “We endured terror…beatings…torture…death!”
In another group, a black man lowered his collar. “What about this?” he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. “Lynched…for no crime but being black!”
In another crowd, a pregnant young girl with sullen eyes stepped forward. “Why should I suffer?” she murmured, “He took advantage of me.”
Far out across the plain, there were many such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He permitted in His world.
“How lucky God was,” they seemed to say, “to live in heaven where all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred.” What did God know of all that humans had been forced to endure in this world? “God leads a pretty sheltered life”, they said. “What right does He have to evaluate our lives?”
So each of these groups sent forth its leader, chosen because he or she had suffered most. A Jew, a black man, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a child who was a victim of human trafficking, and several others. In the center of the plain, they consulted with each other.
At last, they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever.
Before God could be qualified to be their judge, He must endure what they had endured. They decided that God should be sentenced to live on earth as a human man! One by one, they proclaimed their conditions.
- “Let him be born into a poor, conquered country and into a despised minority group…perhaps a Jew.
- Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted.
- Let him lose a parent early in life.
- Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind when he tries to do it.
- Let his motives be misunderstood.
- Let him experience extreme temptations and deprivation.
- Let him be betrayed by his closest friends.
- Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury, and convicted by a cowardly judge.
- Let him be tortured horribly.”
“At the last, let him experience what it means to be so terribly alone. Then let him die painfully. Let him die so violently that there can be no doubt that he died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify his death.”
As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled.
When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. Slowly, smug smiles disappeared. No one uttered another word. No one moved…except for heads bowing in shame. For suddenly, all knew the staggering truth: that God had already served His sentence.“
The word “Incarnation” means “God is with us.” I remember a statement by Jill Briscoe: “In the garden, Adam and Eve bit into the forbidden fruit. And in heaven, Jesus began making preparations to depart for Bethlehem.”
He arrived into the noisy, crowded town of Bethlehem and took up residence in our midst. (John 1:14) It’s very doubtful that it was a “silent” night. Francis Schaeffer had a great title for one of his books: “He Is There and He Is Not Silent.”
The Bible clearly records that since the dawn of creation, God has been communicating. Hebrews 1: 1-2 informs us that “In the past God spoke…through the prophets…but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son…”
At great cost, God entered time and space to proclaim: “I am fully aware of the suffering you experience on this sin-sick, fallen planet. And I care deeply.”
So, at Christmas we celebrate that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:16-17)
Don’t stay silent about this good news. Go tell it on the mountain…or at Christmas dinner with your grandkids!
