Two thousand years ago Jesus came to this earth to die for our sins and to defeat death through his resurrection. Now we celebrate Christmas and this can raise the question, couldn’t he have come as an adult, to do the ministry he needed to do? 

‘Why did Jesus need to come as a baby?’

In an earlier blog I wrote about how we are limited, gifted and broken. That is incredibly far removed from God, who is unlimited, beyond space, time and matter. He created the universe, he is infinite, perfect, he has no equal. 

The Bible tells us over and over again that God wants a relationship with his image bearers. Maybe this raises another question. How can a God that big relate to me? I am created in His image, but I’m also limited and broken. How can a perfect God understand me? 

That is why God sent his Son as a baby, named Jesus. He was born as a baby and lived his whole life in a broken world. He didn’t come as a king or god in a palace (then there would still be a big difference between Him and us).

• He was born in a stable, so he was born homeless.
• Luke 2:24 says that Joseph and Mary sacrificed two pigeons for his dedication at the temple, while the proper dedication sacrifice according to Leviticus 12:6-8 is a lamb and pigeons are only the alternative if you can’t afford a lamb. This shows that Jesus was born into a poor family.
• Matthew 2 writes that Jesus escaped to Egypt, so he was a refugee.

Jesus came and lived in a broken world and had to deal with the same limits that we have to deal with as humans. He knows what it is to be like us, to be broken and limited. Being 100% God and 100% man gives him the ability to understand each one of us. As a human He had needs, he needed to eat, to drink, to sleep, he cried, he bled, he grieved. He also had temptations, distractions, spiritual attacks. There is nothing we as humans go through that he doesn’t understand. So no matter what it is that is on your heart, bring it to Jesus. He will understand, because He is not a God who is far away. Rather he is a God who understands our brokenness and wants to restore us & our relationship with Him.
He longs for a relationship with us humans, not because of our brokenness or because of our giftings, but because He loves us, not for what we do, but just because he wants to.

Jesus wants to meet us in our pain and He knows how it is, because He went through it too. That is why Jesus had to come as a baby.