Joy to the WorldPrøve

The Smells of the Stable A stable? What a place to give birth to the Messiah! The  smells and sounds of a barnyard were our Savior’s first human experience. Like other babies, He may even have cried at the sounds of the animals and the strangers parading around His temporary crib. If so, they would have been the first of many tears. Jesus would come to know human loss and sorrow, the doubts His brothers and family had about Him, and the pain His mother experienced as she saw Him tortured and killed. All these hardships—and so much more—awaited the baby trying to sleep that first night. Yet from His very first moments, Jesus was “God is with us” (MATTHEW 1:23), and He knew what it meant to be human. This would continue for over three decades, ending at His death on the cross. Because of His love for you and me, Jesus became fully human. And being human allows Him to identify with us. Because of Him, we can no longer say that no one understands us. Jesus does. May the Light that entered the world that night cast its brilliance into the deepest corners of our souls this Christmas, giving us the peace on Earth of which the angels spoke so long ago. RANDY KILGORE Jesus understands.