The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, but little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes?  Surely he cried!  Jesus was fully human, crying not just as a child but as an adult:  for Lazarus (John 11:35), and in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:38).

   His very name is a cry.  The name Jesus was common back then.  The Hebrew Yeshua means "Lord, help!"  Most mothers in the intense agony of childbirth would cry out Yeshua!  Did Mary?  Names, in the ancient world, suggested something of a person's character or destiny.  So by extension, Yeshua, the plea to God for help, came to mean "Salvation."  Mary cried out, and once the baby was delivered, he cried out, and in that scream in the dark, salvation dawned.  Jesus (Yeshua, Lord help!) is the answer to the cry of humanity across the ages.  He alone can help, and he does help.  In the lovely novel, Mr. Ives' Christmas, Oscar Hijuelos calls Jesus "the most wanted child in the history of the world."  He is God's reply to the deepest desire of our hearts, to the riddle of history.

   Yeshua!  Lord, help!  We cry to you whose very name means Salvation!  You are all I want and need. 

James

james@mpumc.org

The complete eAdventWithMatthew series can be found on our web site.