Moses tells us that “because the outcry [the cry for mercy!] against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I [YHWH, the covenant-making, covenant-keeping God of mercy] will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me.” (Genesis 18:20) The Lord hears the cries of the people and he responds – to rescue them from their misery and to display the character of his glory.
Moses tells us later that “… the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham … God saw the people of Israel – and God knew.” (Exodus 2:32b-25) The Lord once again hears the cries of the people – this time not just any people, but the children of Abraham, God’s beloved; he hears their groaning and their cries for help and he responds – to rescue them from their misery and to display the character of his glory. Thus begins a long, amazing series of contests between the God who hears the cries of a weak, enslaved people and the gods of the world’s superpower – day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month the people watch, Egyptians and Israelites alike, watching as the heretofore unknown God makes himself known by systematically overcoming every obstacle and all resistance – in ways that were simply unimaginable and therefore beyond plausibility. Even those who witnessed it could not believe their eyes and struggled to trust their memories, losing that battle more often than winning.
Luke tells us that “in the days of Herod, king of Judea … in a city of Galilee named Nazareth … [in the days when] a decree went out from [the august, demi-god, Ceasar] that all the world should be registered, [the one] when Quirinius was governor of Syria …” a baby was born, even Jesus. In the midst of those dark days, when the people of God groaned under the weight of exile in their own land under godless Romans and their traitorous allies, from out of nowhere, a baby was quietly born in response to their cries, “How long, O Lord, how long shall we sing these songs?” Mark shouts out the imperial news: the emperor has come, the victory is sure as he opens his quick-paced account: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God!” John tells us, in some senses more fully, that in the person of this baby this was not merely an emperor, but more than that, “the light shining in the darkness;” in fact, “the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world,” and that this light “became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
We come to worship because the Lord has heard our cries for mercy, our groaning under the weight of a world gone terribly wrong – perhaps even a career, a marriage, a friendship, a choice gone terribly wrong – and he has come. It is his way; it’s simply who he is: because he is the eternally living and present, powerful and merciful One, he has heard our cries and he has come – to rescue us from our misery, from our oppressors, from our imprisonment and to display to us and through us the full scope of his glory in Jesus Christ. Come, then, with rejoicing as those newly rescued, and let us worship together without reserve.