(Jeremiah 20.7)
His hands are empty,
He did not even take a sheep with him.
And people call him the wonderer!
The wonderer –
The one who is always in awe.
Dumbfounded and lost at what he is seeing!
He just stares at Him,
the Redeemer who is lying
in a little damp manger.
Not even if they put in front of the wonderer
the most gorgeous stuff in the world
he will remain engrossed looking
at the light, the joy, the life
he has just found…
The wonderer…
He just presents himself in the grotto as he is.
With mud in his shoes.
With dirty hands.
With tattered clothes.
His staring eyes speak volumes…
It is as if he is telling baby Jesus,
“Please, take me as I am…
… this is all I am!
No pomp, no splendor…
If I possess something, I would give it to you
but I have nothing…
I have only these pair of enchanted eyes
I welcome you as you are
…as you are!
Small, tiny, quivering, poor…
You don’t even possess a crib,
let alone, a home, furniture, clothes…
I welcome you shivering with cold,
and with the hay of the manger to warm you up.
I welcome you even I know
that befriending you, I may be treated like an outcast
like the way people are treating you now in Bethlehem.
When one is poor like you
people won’t leave you alone.
They send you packing.
They strike your cheek.
When you stretch out your hands too much
– as you do –
people will take advantage of you.
They will make fun of you.
They will spit on you.
They will crown you with thorns
They will crucify you.
When you love
the way you loved,
people will put you aside,
they will not understand you,
they will pierce your heart with a lance.
But…
You are so beautiful…
You enthrall me!”
Let our prayer be …
“Lord.
Enthrall us too
Make us wonder more.
Perhaps
then we will start understanding something.
“Yahweh, there is no one like you,
no God but you alone,
as everything that we have heard confirms.
Is there another people on earth like your people Israel,
whom a god has proceeded to redeem,
to make them his people,
and to make them famous
and do for them great and terrible deeds
by driving out nations
before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt?
What is more, you have deigned to bless your servant’s dynasty,
so that it may remain for ever before you,
and since you, Yahweh, have blessed it,
blessed will it be for ever.”
(1 Chronicles 17, 20-21, 27)