The Great Reveal

As a wannabe DIY restoration guy, I occasionally enjoy watching a few of those Fixer-Upper episodes on TV.

They usually begin with someone buying a home that leaves things to be desired. The show hosts confidently encourage the buyers that they can make it into something better than new, customized to most of their wishes within a given budget. Then the work begins with destruction of the old and rebuilding of the new.

After the work is done the show hosts position a huge canvas print of the property in front of the house.

The transformation cannot yet be seen by the buyers. After talking them through some of the work done, heightening the expectations of buyers and viewers alike, the hosts ask: “Are you ready for the reveal of your new home?” Then they pull the giant two-piece print apart and the owner’s ooh and aww over their newly restored home, often accompanied with shouts and tears of joy.

 Although the beauty of what can be accomplished by great craftsmen and new designs can be amazing, there is one reveal that trumps them all!

Prophets had predicted it and weary people had expected it for centuries:

The coming of the Messiah, who would deliver his people!

The Gospel of John, (1:14), tells us about God becoming flesh and blood, living among us, so that we could look at Him, recognize Him, even touch Him!

Can you see the oohing and awing parents, shepherds and wise men, unable to resist touching the newborn baby Jesus?

For centuries God had been feared. He seemed unapproachable to common people. Only few were allowed or dared to draw close. Now, not only had God become approachable, he became a vulnerable baby, entrusting himself into the hands of a young peasant couple, revealing himself to the lowest of the low.

Although Jesus, God the Son, grew to be a man, he never outgrew his approachable nature. All through his life, people were drawn to him, pressing in, reaching out, touching him—and this is what God desires! He desires closeness, he is still approachable to us!

     During this time of year when we celebrate His Great Reveal, why don’t we, like the shepherds and wise men of old come close to Him?

His love is still irresistible!

He welcomes us, no matter where we have been and washes us of the shame that held us back.

He is our touchable deliverer!

Like a stone on the surface of a still river driving the ripples on forever, redemption rips through the surface of time in the cry of a tiny babe.

Bruce Cockburn, Cry of a tiny Babe)