I also agree AM.
The shadow of the cross rested over the manger. "To this end I was born", He said.
Here is an interesting parable that was floating around in the early 70s.
God leads a pretty sheltered life.”
“At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God’s throne of judgment. Some of the groups near the front were angry and bitter
"How can God judge us? How can He know anything about suffering?” snarled a woman, with a tattooed number on her arm from a Nazi concentration camp.
In another group, a black man lowered his collar. “What about this?” he demanded, showing the rope burns. “Lynched for no crime but being black!
Each group seemed to have some complaint against God for the evil and suffering they experienced in life. How lucky God was, to be able to live in heaven where all is sweetness and light, without sorrow, fear, loss or pain. Indeed, what does God know about man and about what we had to face? After all, they agreed, God leads a pretty sheltered life.
So the leaders of each group got together and decided: Before God would be qualified to be their judge; He must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth as a man.
Let Him be born in poverty...said the leader of one group
Let the legitimacy of His birth be questioned....said another
Let him experience sorrow and grief, others shouted.
Let Him be the object of hate and condemnation
Let Him be accused and convicted on false charges
Let Him be tortured and die the death of a criminal, alone and abandoned
As each leader announced his portion of God's sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the great throng.
Then after the last one had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved. For suddenly, all recognized the stark reality;
God had already served his sentence.
