“An American Noel”: If Jesus came today, my 2nd favorite Christmas Song
My 2nd favorite Christmas song is a folk song by David Carter and Tracy Grammer. This little known song is beautiful in it’s simplicity. It poses a “What if?” What if Jesus was born today?
four in the mornin at the trade winds motel
the register reads all full up and the clerk thinks, just as well
but out in the tool shed by an old coleman lamp
a little family makes its meager camp
The ancient Hebrews believed that the Messiah would be born in a regal family. They didn’t suspect that He was going to be born of a lower middle class working family from Nazareth of all places.
In John 1: 46 Nathaniel asks “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” It would be if the Messiah was born in downtown Detroit or in the Appalachians .
Jesus came to save us all, but he also came to speak up for the oppressed and the poor.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[f]
When Jesus said this in a synagogue in Nazareth, his hometown, people knew that He was declaring that He was the Messiah. The wealthy and the powerful feared and despised Him. They plotted to kill Him and they did.
I believe that Jesus will return in all of His Glory. I believe that the wicked will be punished, the mourning will smile. The hungry will be fed. But if God decided to try it again, to come to the world in the flesh, he would be called a Marxist. He would be ridiculed on Fox News. Franklin Graham and other religious right leaders would want nothing to do with him. Trump would call Him a loser and his so called Christian supporters would agree.
Things haven’t changed much between 30 AD and now. Technology has advanced. We like to think of ourselves as more civilized but really deep down we are still the same greedy, prideful, sinful people we always were. And there are still the poor and the oppressed who are mocked. There are politicians who rig the system to benefit the wealthy. Just look at the tax monstrosity that Franklin Graham was silent about.
But there are also true believers, those who love God and serve Him and wait on baited breath for Him to return. They are wandering souls who live in the world but don’t really belong. Jesus gave hope to them when He walked the earth. He gives them hope today. I have a wandering soul and Jesus gives me hope and joy . I pray that He returns and returns soon.
and there comes a savior
and a preacher in the park
and he camps with the homeless
where they shiver in the dark
he delivers salvation
to the weary and the cold
and he brings joy, joy, joy to the wanderin soul
he brings joy, joy, joy to the wanderin soul
2timothytrump 