Work is hard sometimes, one may even say it is unbearable. We have a savior that can identify with us in so many ways. He was hungry. He was thirsty. He was angry. He was tempted. He had a pretty demanding job at times. His occupation of being “Savior of the World” led to his healing of many.
In a column on art restoration, Robert Fulford writes, “A scholar came upon a striking fact: in the year 1516, the Brancacci Chapel in Florence burned half a barrel of oil every day, just to keep its votive lamps flickering. The oil of course produced soot, which floated upwards and coated the art on the walls. Multiply that half-barrel by the days of the year, multiply again by the number of years this practice was followed (say, 400), then factor in the wax from candles lit by individual worshippers.” Believe me, that’s a lot of soot covering up the artistic masterpieces in that chapel.
In some churches, Jesus is held up as a miracle worker and someone who seems to be beyond our grasp. We may think, “how in the world can we, sinful men and women, ever identify with Jesus?” He did this miracle. He did that miracle. He never sinned. We may come away with the idea that He’s too different from us.
No matter how much pity we want to party with, there’s no such thing as a Christmas without gifts. Seriously, I thought we were having a giftless Christmas one time, actually more than one time, but I learned a lesson that no Christmas is really without gifts.