The 30 Years Before the Cross

 I just recently started reading through the book of Luke in the Bible.  My thought was to read it in preparation for Easter, but I'm nowhere near close to the Resurrection and Easter is now 4 days away.

I just finished reading about Jesus' birth in the stable in Bethlehem and I'm now at the part where He is 12 years old and Joseph and Mary lose track of Him and have to search for Him and finally find Him hanging out in the temple, "sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking  them questions" (Luke 2:46).

I have 21 chapters to go before I get to the Easter Story.

So, after reading the first two chapters of Luke in anticipation of Easter, here's the question I wrote in my journal this week:

"Why did God send Jesus as a baby?" 

Because if it were me I would have just beamed him down to earth at age 33 or however old He was when He went to the cross...when it was the right time for Him to do what He came to do.  

I would have gotten straight to the main point.

Because that was the  main purpose in Him coming to this earth, right?  For Him to die on the cross to take the punishment for our sins...and then to rise from the dead to show that He is victorious even over sin and death?  Yes!

So why the manger?  Why the 12 year old visiting the temple?  Why all those "silent" years between that visit to the temple and the next time we see Him, when John the Baptist baptizes Him and He is probably around 30 years old? All we know about those years is that Jesus "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men" (Like 2:52).

God always has reasons.  And I think He had a lot more in mind than simply giving us a reason to decorate Christmas trees 2000 years later.  :)

I don't know all of the reasons why.  Here are a few that come to mind right away:

Jesus came as a baby and grew up on earth so that we could more fully relate to Him...who is fully God but also fully man.  To show Christ's humility and submission to His Father, that He would humbly live a fully human life on this earth.  To prepare the public for what was coming.  To fulfill prophecies that the Messiah would be the Seed of Abraham, from the line of David.  So that He could be called Immanuel, which means "God with us."  So that He could sympathize with our weaknesses.

What is important is that there are reasons.

God is not in a hurry.  He's not in a rush.

He allows things to seep.  To marinate.  To mature.  To ripen.  To unfold.

We live in a culture where we microwave hot tea.  We buy pre-seasoned meats so we won't have to wait for them to marinate.  We pick fruits when they are still green and add chemicals to make them ripen at just the right time.  We are so efficient.

We want everything when we want it, how we want it.  And we can often get it that way.

I do, too.  I want everything when I want it, how I want it.  I don't like to wait.  I don't like it when I can't grasp the future.  I tend to want to speed through today so I can get to tomorrow.

But God's plans unfold slowly.

He shows us beauty and mysteries along the way.

He tears us down, He builds us back up to make us stronger.

He prepares us.

He prepares others.

The path is just as important as the destination.

God is all about the process.

He is going in an ultimate direction, to an ultimate end; He has a plan.

But He's not in a hurry.

I don't know if I'll make it all the way to Luke 24 by Sunday or not, but I think God already gave me from Luke 2 an important reminder that I needed this Easter season. I know the Big Event (the Resurrection) is coming.  But there are reasons for the chapters leading up to it.

And there are reasons for the chapters we're living right now. 

Many of us are going about our everyday tasks waiting for the next "big thing" to happen in our lives.  And ultimately, we're waiting for the next "Big Event" in history, which is Jesus coming back again.  (This time not as a baby but as Risen King!)

There is a plan in our waiting for Him today.

God has plans for my future, but He also has plans for me where I am right now.

Tomorrow will come, but there is a reason for today.