This is a perfect book to read if you want to embrace the true meaning
and significance of Christ becoming flesh and dwelling among us.
Throughout Joy to the World: How Christ’s Coming Changed Everything (And Still Does), biblical scholar Scott Hahn
includes thought-provoking insights into the culture at the time when Mary gave birth
in a barn, placed their firstborn son in a feeding trough, and watched in awe
as shepherds and wise men came to pay Him homage. Hahn says that: "Christmas is, for me, the joy and the love that passed between a young woman and the child who had been placed in her arms" (p. 6)
Combined
with the wisdom of theologians across the ages and some of the author’s own
personal encounters while visiting Bethlehem, we’re given a rich context for
the arrival of the long-awaited Emanuel, “God with us.”
I love how adept Hahn is at putting readers right into the
heart of the story. He gives a new
perspective to Scripture passages many have memorized or tend to glaze over because
they’ve become so familiar. He describes
Mary and Joseph’s heritage, the circumstances of Christ’s birth, and explains how
the early years of Jesus’ life fulfilled the prophesies of old about the Savior
of the world.
The wonderful story he shares about his visit to the Holy
Land with his daughter captures precisely what the season is about and how we
can go from being listless and bored, to feeling present, alert, needed, and
appreciated by the presence of just one person.
So often we’re closed off to yet another list of “important” facts or
statistics, but when we see a real human need before us, we are inspired to
do what we can to meet it.
If this season is about a person who lived 2000 years ago
and has no real influence on our lives today, then it might make sense to
spend a little time going over the
evidence and history of Christ’s life and then calling it a day. But that’s not the case. We are invited to encounter the person of
Jesus Christ who is just as present today as He was in Mary’s womb for nine
months and on the day of his birth in a little backwater town with no accommodations
available that had only one star.
We don’t have to travel a long way to connect with the love
and light, hope and joy, miracles and possibilities that were made flesh when
God came to dwell among us. If we’re
able to grasp even the smallest ray of light revealed through the birth of the
Messiah, then everything in and around us changes.
First-time parents prepare for the arrival of their child
without being able to fathom all the ways, big and small, in which their newborn will transform
their lives. In the same way, the deeper
into the mystery of new life and God’s will we allow ourselves to go, the
greater the awe and profound reverence we experience. The more complete the metanoia will be in, through,
and around us.
Complacency seems ridiculous, if not impossible, when we
begin to understand the magnitude of this miracle and the implications of it
for all of time and eternity. If the
Christmas story has become quaint, small or too familiar to be inspiring or
life-changing, I recommend reading Joy to the World to reconnect with
the celestial scope and hope of the Incarnation.
I received a free copy of this book from Blogging for Books
in exchange for an honest review. For
more information or to start reading Joy to the World now, click here.
