My favorite Christmas song has always been Amy Grant’s “Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song)” written by Chris Eaton and Amy. I think what fascinates me most is listening to the coming of the Messiah from the perspective of his 13 year old earthly mother. I know it was accustomed at that time for someone so young to be married, but the fact remains, she was barely a teenager. Not only was she faced with the responsibility of convincing her parents, family, and engaged fiancé/husband that she wasn’t a promiscuous whoremonger; while functioning throughout her daily tasks being pregnant for nine months; but also carrying the long awaited, long anticipated, Messiah.
13 years old.
Sometimes I find myself caught up in the images on Christmas cards, nativity scenes, or shown in popular cinema displaying this precious little, wide-eyed baby in the arms of this young, virgin girl. But my human mind, in all its mortal limitations, cannot fathom the immense enormity of Who she was actually holding. Isaiah the prophet wrote some hundreds year before that a “virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Translated literally, El, short for Elohim, the Almighty, and Powerful Creator God, was the name in Genesis 1:1 by which the Creator is known during His acts of creation. Elohim, who created time, space, and matter, exists outside the boundaries of time, space, and matter – each of which are subject to His beckoning commands. And as Hebrews 11:3 states, God created the universe ex nihilo, which is Latin for “creation out of nothing,” spinning out galaxies by only the Word of His breath. Immanu signifies with or beside us. Therefore, in her arms Mary held the Almighty Creator; exclusive in His being; existing beyond time, space, and matter; with all the Explosive Power of Creation at His beckoning call, the I Am that I Am; God, residing with us.
Paul describes the kenosis in Philippians 2:6 using the words huparcho and morphe, stating that the essence of the very nature of this little baby boy cradled in Mary’s arms was absolutely unalterable, unequivocally inalienable, and explicitly unchangeable. And that this little boy’s nature held all of the essential attributes of the inner nature of God, amplifying the inner reality of Who He was, which, by definition, will never change.
John, through the power of the Holy Spirit, carefully chose the word logos in the first verse of the first chapter of his gospel to describe this little baby boy. During that time, the Greeks used logos, which meant “the word” to represent the word still in the mind, or the reason. Philosophers used this word to designate the divine reason or plan which coordinates the entire universe, or the rational principle that governs all things. The monotheistic Jews thought this a great word to signify God, being that He was the rational mind (the reason) behind the creation and coordination of the universe. Thus John used logos which was meaningful to both the Greeks and Jews at that time, and in John 1:14 stated that this logos, The Word, the Rational Mind, or Reason Who governs both the creation and coordination of the entire universe – became flesh and pitched His tent (tabernacled) with us.
I was thinking of the sun, the most powerful entity in our galaxy. It stands 93 million miles away from us making up around 99.86% of the mass of the Solar System. The core of the sun is at a warm 24.5 million degrees Fahrenheit! It generates ridiculous amounts of energy through nuclear fusion. If the earth would move closer to the sun, all life, and in fact the earth itself would be destroyed. Imagine if you would the sun, in all its power, heat, and energy not just coming closer to the earth, but actually coming in contact with the earth. Just the mere thought of one thousand degrees, much less 24.5 million degrees is mind melting, (pun intended); pure, raw energy touching the surface of our “previously inhabited” home. This poor world wouldn’t stand a chance. Imagine a container able to harness this massive monstrosity of energy, enveloping the sun allowing it in all its dynamism to reside among us, yet with all its vigor swelling and swirling inside.
This is a poor attempt at a pathetic association to Who Mary held in her arms. For the sun is smaller than a miniscule insignificant piece of nothing in comparison to Elohim. Yet in all His awesome creation power, in all His essential attributes being the exact image and essence of God, and in all His governing and coordinating of all that has ever and will ever exist – there He lay. Vulnerable, helpless, needy. I remember holding my son in my arms for the first time. Standing in a wondrous stupor, with so many questions as to how I was going to fulfill my responsibility to raise from this defenseless bundle of joy; a man. How to provide all he needed to survive, how to protect him from all the hurts, harms, and dangers of this cruel unforgiving world. All this without the resounding angelic words that were penetrating Mary’s inner soul, that this baby is Jehovah’s salvation, the Son of God, the Messiah.
God with us.
Francesca Battistelli’s “You’re Here” is a modern day “Breath of Heaven” which again is a beautiful rendition of Mary speaking of the child she holds in her arms. A portion of the lyrics say:
Look at your hands, they're still so small
Someday You're going to stretch them out and save us all
Noel, noel, God with us Emmanuel
God with us, Immanuel…
