And yet it is God himself who is focussing the attention. He has arranged the PR machine. He seems happy to present his son in this way. No pretension here, that’s for sure. No well-to-do provision for his birth.
It’s as though God wanted us to see him like this. As though he didn’t like hubris and pretension. It looks like God is taking pride in humbleness. As though this is what he values. Maybe it is a sign of how the child will grow up.
Since people started drawing pictures of Jesus he has generally been pictured as handsome (according to the artistic standards of the time). In our generation he has often been portrayed as a handsome hippy type (with clean brushed hair of course). A man was allegedly evicted from a pub in England last week because he looked like Jesus (he was distracting the darts players apparently).
But maybe this is mistaken. Maybe he was just ordinary. Nothing about him to make you notice him. And why? Not because of his origin, but because of his immediate destiny. He was the centre-piece of God’s plan to rescue the race of humans who had tried to squeeze God out of their lives. He came as one of them. Intentionally weak and low.
Because they were weak and low, with no power to get back together with God. The great rescue plan involved taking them through death to a glorious future where they could be friends with God again.
A future that is still on offer to everyone who will not shy away from Jesus. God calls on everyone to give themselves up to the humble Jesus.
Dale