Recently I, along with over two million others, made a once in a lifetime pilgrimage to a Mecca for the lost, the hurting, and the poor. We were going to witness history. Many of us made financial sacrifices so that we could make the distant journey to our nation’s capital. We stood in long lines in freezing temperatures just so we could get a glimpse of our leader, to many a savior, President Barack Obama. People screamed, “Yes, we can” and “Change we can believe in,” while many of us couldn’t hold back the tears. A man born into a world where he shouldn’t have even graduated from high school, being an inner city, African American living in a single parent home, defied a plethora of statistics and stereotypes. Being the very embodiment of the American dream, primarily our own dreams for we had all been victims of some of those very same stumbling blocks, President Obama ascended the throne not only as the President of the United State of America, but as an emancipator of those shackled to the pitfalls of capitalism.
When the shepherds heard of the birth of Christ from the angel in Luke 2:15, they decided among themselves that this was an opportunity they couldn’t miss. They were going to witness eternity. When Jesus was born, there were only a small number of people that made the journey to witness his birth. I can’t help but wonder if we would have been willing to make that same pilgrimage and stand in those same temperatures just to catch a tiny glimpse of our Savior, the change we can truly believe in. Would we have been willing to travel thousands of miles sacrificing multiple paychecks to go the little town of Nazareth to see a baby in a manger? Then, I remember that we did. Mark 15:6-15 tells of a very large crowd that gathered to see Jesus Christ. The lost, the hurting, and the poor assembled to witness the ascension of a man born into a world where He should have never been able to achieve anything, being a rural, son of a carpenter living in no home at all. Being the very embodiment of Grace and Mercy, primarily for our own undeserving selves, Jesus descend to Earth not only as the Son of the Almighty God, but as an emancipator of those enslaved by sin so that we might receive eternal life. Thousands of people, similar to those who gathered in Washington, D.C., screamed and shouted for their Savior. “Crucify him!” they shouted, “Crucify him!”
