In John 10:38 and 14:11, Christ says that if we still struggle to believe on Him then we should believe because of His works. Among all that Emmanuel, God with us, represents, Christ shows us that He cares very deeply about suffering. God with us represented healing for many people. In Isaiah 35:5-6 and 61:1 and Matthew 11:5, the Messianic prophecy fulfilled included the blind seeing again, the lame walking, lepers cleansed, the deaf able to hear, the dead raised to life, and the poor hear the gospel. Intervention in human suffering was a mark of the Messiah, and truly, God cares about our suffering.
In Matthew 25:31-46, Christ says that whatever we do to the least of people we do to Him. In Proverbs 29:7, we read, “The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor, The wicked does not understand such concern.” The hallmark of a Christian is intervening in human suffering. “Poor” includes those who are low and weak, which will include those who are experiencing suffering.
Mother Theresa, who spent her life serving the very poor, said, “Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.”
God with us represents we, the body of Christ, offering ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice to a hurting world, a world dying in sin. Christ’s words in John 10 and 14 very much appear to me to imply that Christ’s intervention in human suffering is a means of grace leading to salvation.
Likewise, I believe our concern for the poor, those who are low and weak, represents Emmanuel to them and serves as a means of grace to enable their belief. We sometimes hear that acts of kindness restore our faith in humanity. Let kindness instead point others to God and remind us throughout the year that Emmanuel, God with us, remains in our midst through us, the body of Christ.
It is no mistake, then, that the original meaning of Santa Claus is centered around acts of kindness toward those who suffer, live in poverty, and have little voice in their communities. Since the 3rd century, Santa Claus has represented intervention in human suffering, Emmanuel, God with us.
This Christmas, let us remember that we, as Christians, no matter what resources we have at our disposal, have something to offer to those who are in need. By speaking into someone’s life through acts of kindness and intervening in human suffering, we are demonstrating that Emmanuel is in our midst and offering a means of grace to believe in Christ.
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