READ: ISAIAH 53:1-5; MATTHEW 2:13-18; JOHN 13:2-5

Son of Man

You chose to get Your hands dirty,

to get knee deep in human suffering.

To cry with us and bear our pain.

You refused to turn away

when we shouted with angry voices.

Clashing swords while You were being born.

You chose humility,

while we searched for mighty kings.

You ripped apart the fabric of our reality

when You decided to come and live

in the midst of humanity’s broken dream. • Catherine Valentine

• We live in a world that has been broken by sin, and we all experience hardships, like sickness, injuries, the pain of loss,and thesuffering of loneliness. What kinds of suffering and pain have you experienced lately?

• Sometimes, it’s easy to think that God is far removed from us and our lives. But that’s not true! In Jesus, God came to be with us. In fact, one of the names for Jesus is Immanuel, which means “God is with us” (Matthew 1:23). It can be hard to picture the almighty, perfectly holy God being present here, in the midst of our messy lives. But the truth is, God is not afraid of our mess. He loves us so much that Jesus came and died and rose again to be with us—mess and all. He paid the price for our sins with His life, then He ascended into heaven so that His Holy Spirit could live in us. That means, once we know Jesus, we never have to go through the mess of life alone. And Jesus promises to return one day to get rid of all the mess, sin, and brokenness forever. Hallelujah! Consider spending some time in prayer, asking God to remind you of how He is with you right here, right now, in the middle of your mess.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. Romans 8:38 (NLT)