Max Lucado

One of the most difficult relationship questions is, “What do we do with Opposite You?” Your Opposite You is the person with whom you fundamentally disagree. You adhere to different codes of behavior, dress, and faith. How does God want us to respond to the Opposite Yous of the world?

I wonder if the best answer might be found in the short admonition to “accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” (Romans 15:7 NIV). This verb “accept”—paralambano—means more than tolerate or coexist. It means to welcome into one’s fellowship and heart. The word implies the warmth and kindness of genuine love.

Paul employed the verb when he urged Philemon to welcome the slave Onesimus (Philemon 17). And Jesus used it to describe the manner in which he receives us (John 14:3). Accept your opposite you.

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Matthew was a public tax collector. As crooked as a corkscrew. Everyone kept his distance from Matthew. Everyone, that is, except Jesus. Jesus said to him, “‘Follow me and be my disciple.’ So Matthew got up and followed him” (Matthew 9:9 NLT).

Then Luke 5:29 (NCV): “Levi gave a big dinner for Jesus at his house. Many tax collectors and other people were eating there, too.” An hour or so into the evening the door opens, and an icy breeze blows in. Enter the Pharisees, the religious police and their thin-lipped piety. But Jesus intervenes, saying, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do” (Luke 5:31 NLT).

The Pharisees were unhealthy and self-righteous. But since they did not think they were sick, they saw no need for Jesus. Matthew and the gang, on the other hand, made room for Jesus. As a result, Jesus made room for them.

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How does God accept us? I know how he accepted me. I was a twenty-year-old troublemaker on a downhill path. I’d spent five years claiming to be God’s son on Sunday mornings and buddying with the devil on Saturday nights. I was a hypocrite: two-faced, too fast, and self-centered. I was lost.

But when I finally grew weary of sitting in pig slop, I got wind of God’s grace. I came to Jesus, and he welcomed me back. He didn’t gloss over the self-centered Max I had manufactured. He didn’t accept my sinful behavior. But he accepted me, his wayward child. He accepted what he could do with me. He didn’t tell me to clean up and then come back. He said, “Come back, and I’ll clean you up.” He accepts us. May we accept others in the same way.

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When the angels announced the arrival of the Messiah, they proclaimed “good news of a great joy” (Luke 2:10 RSV). They did not proclaim “bad news of a great duty.” Where did we get the notion that a good Christian is a solemn Christian? May I state an opinion that could raise an eyebrow? I think Jesus went to the wedding in Cana to have fun.

Think about it. This wedding occurred after he had just spent forty days in the desert—a standoff with the devil. It hadn’t been easy. A good meal with some good wine and some good friends sounded pretty nice.

His purpose wasn’t to turn the water into wine. That was a favor for his friends. His purpose wasn’t to show his power. The wedding host didn’t even know what Jesus did. His purpose wasn’t to preach. There is no record of a sermon. This leaves only one reason: fun.

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Jesus was accused of much, but of being a grump, sourpuss, or self-centered jerk? Nope! People didn’t groan when he appeared. They didn’t duck for cover when he entered the room. He called them by name, he listened to their stories, he answered their questions. He visited their sick relatives and helped their sick friends. He fished with fishermen and ate lunch with the little guy and spoke words of resounding affirmation. He went to enough parties that he was criticized for hanging out with rowdy people and questionable crowds.

People were drawn to Jesus. Thousands came to hear him. Hundreds chose to follow him. They shut down their businesses and walked away from careers to be with him. His purpose statement read: “I came to give life with joy and abundance” (John 10:10 VOICE). Jesus was happy, and I think he wants us to be the same.

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Only one word describes the night that Jesus came—ordinary. No reason to expect a surprise. An ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. And were it not for a God who loves to hook an extra on the front of the ordinary, the night would have gone unnoticed. But God dances amid the common, and that night he did a waltz.

The black sky exploded with brightness. Trees that had been shadows jumped into clarity. Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity. One minute the shepherd was dead asleep, the next he was rubbing his eyes and staring into the face of an angel, who declared, “There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11 NKJV). The night was ordinary no more. God had entered the world as a baby.

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Gabriel had his orders: take the message to Mary. Must be a special girl, he assumed. But Gabriel was in for a shock. Mary was a Jewish peasant who’d barely outgrown her acne and had a crush on a guy named Joe. But Gabriel followed through on his assignment. He wasn’t about to rebel against his boss, who also happened to control the universe. He visited Mary and told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus” (Luke 1:30–31 NKJV).

The story of Jesus begins with the story of a great descent. The Son of God became the child of Mary. He became one of us so we might become one with him. He entered our world in the high hope that we will enter his.

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Prior to Bethlehem God gave us his messengers, his teachers, his words. But in the manger God gave us himself. Extraordinary, don’t you think? I imagine even Gabriel scratched his head at the idea of “God with us.” Gabriel surely was not one to question his God-given missions. When God sent, Gabriel went.

And when word got out that God was to become a human, Gabriel was no doubt enthused. He could envision the moment: The Messiah in a blazing chariot. The King descending on a fiery cloud. An explosion of light from which the Messiah would emerge. What he never expected, however, was a slip of paper with a Nazarene address. “God will become a baby,” it read. “Tell the mother to name the child Jesus. And tell her not to be afraid.”

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Jesus understands you. He’s faced hunger, sorrow, and death and wants to face them with you. The Bible says Jesus “understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15 NLT).

If Jesus understands our weaknesses, then so does God. Jesus was God in human form. He was God with us. That’s why Jesus is called Immanuel. Immanu means “with us.” El refers to Elohim, or God. So Immanuel is not an “above-us God” or a “somewhere-in-the-neighborhood God.” He came as the “with-us God.” All of us.

“I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NIV). Search for restrictions on the promise, and you’ll find none. There’s no withholding tax on God’s “with us” promise. God is with us. What great news!

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John 1:14 (MSG) says, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”

Let’s begin where the earthly ministry of Jesus began—in the womb of Mary. The God of the universe, for a time, kicked against the wall of that womb. He was born in the poverty of a peasant, spent his first night in the feed trough of a cow. He didn’t have to, did he? Jesus could have become a voice—a voice in the air. Jesus could have become a message—a message in the night. Jesus could have become a light—a light in the night. But he became flesh. Why?

Jesus came to be near you. And any concerns you might have about his power and love were removed from the discussion the moment he became flesh and entered the world. What a beginning. What an entrance. And what a moment.

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