There was a grandfather who went to visit his grandson one day at his daughter’s house. When he walked into the living room, there was little Timmy standing up in his playpen, screaming at the top of his lungs. When little Timmy saw grandpa come into the room, he reached out his chubby little hands and said, “Out, Papaw, out”. It was only natural for the grandfather to want to reach down and lift his grandson out of that predicament. But just as grandpa reached into the playpen, Timmy’s mother came walking into the room and said, “No, Timmy. You can’t ask grandpa to take you out of your playpen. You’re in timeout.” Timmy started to cry even louder, and it looked like grandpa was starting to tear up as well! He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to interfere with his daughter’s parenting, but it was tearing his heart out to see Timmy so upset. What would grandpa do? Timmy is screaming to get out, and Momma’s saying, “He has to stay in.” His daughter went back to the kitchen to finish up some work, and after a few moments passed by, she realized that Timmy wasn’t crying anymore. In fact, she heard him giggling and playing in the other room, so she went to check things out. When she walked into the living room, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Timmy was still in the playpen, alright, but grandpa was in there with him! His daughter said, “Daddy, what are you doing?” Grandpa replied, “You said he couldn’t get out, but you didn’t say anything about me getting in!”
At its very foundation, this is exactly what Christmas is all about. It’s about Jesus coming to where we were! We were in the playpen of this sin-cursed earth, and the holiness of God would not allow us to get out. Our sin had to be cleansed by the sacrifice of a worthy Lamb. So, Jesus because our Immanuel. He wrapped Himself in the flesh of a man, and He came to this world to live among us. He lived a perfect life, died a prophesied death, performed a victorious resurrection, and made a way that we could get out of the “playpen”. He did so by becoming our Immanuel, meaning “God with us”. No wonder the angels sang on the night of His glorious birth, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men.”
