Column: Christmas season reminds us why Jesus came

This Christmas season our church is meditating on Ruth, a small book in the Old Testament of the Bible. The story focuses on a woman and her daughter-in-law, Naomi and Ruth, who have lost everything. Naomi and her husband left their hometown of Bethlehem during a great famine, but all they found was more grief. Her husband died, as did her two sons.

The Bible does not shy away from the pain and brokenness of life; in fact, the Bible gives an answer to why it exists. God made the world, and He made it good, but Adam and Eve rebelled against Him. They trusted in their own wisdom rather than God’s wisdom, and as a result the whole creation was plunged into chaos.

We feel its devastating effects all around us and within us on a daily basis, sometimes in large tragedies like Naomi and Ruth experienced but also in countless little ways.

What do we do when these moments arise? When the pain and grief of tragedy presses us to the dust? Naomi heard that the Lord had visited Bethlehem to give them food amidst the famine, and we need to hear the same truth.

That message, hundreds of years later, would be repeated throughout the land in the now-famous Christmas story: the Lord visited Bethlehem, this time by taking on human flesh and coming to live with us in the person of Jesus. God did not stay distant or removed from our pain, but entered into the broken world to live among us.

We also need to remember that he did not just come to live among us, but to rescue us from our sin and restore creation to the way it was supposed to be. He visited Bethlehem to provide food amidst famine; we are hungry, spiritually speaking, and Jesus said that he came to feed us, spiritually speaking. He told the crowds on one occasion, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35, ESV).

When he said he had something different in mind than physical nourishment. Jesus knew all about our sin and rebellion and brokenness – our spiritual hunger – and he came to feed us, forever. All who come to him and trust in him will be saved.

When hard times come, we need to remember the Christmas story. We need to remember that the Lord visited Bethlehem to be with us, and we need to remember that he did so to rescue us. Through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for sinners, we can have eternal life with him.

When we trust in Christ, the cry of Ruth to Naomi becomes our own: “your God [will] be my God” (Ruth 1:16, ESV). Ruth’s response is simple: she will not leave the Lord or his presence.

And more importantly, because of Christ, we know that he will never leave us, ever. Merry Christmas!

Josh Wilson is the senior pastor at Grace Church.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Column: Christmas season reminds us why Jesus came