God sent His son...here?

The news of the Sandy Hook massacre has hit me hard, as it has our entire country. This weekend was hard, and I spent a good chunk of it crying and asking God, "Why?" Every Christmas carol took on new meaning in light of this tragedy.

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay 

Close by me forever, and love me, I pray; 

Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care, 

And fit us for Heaven to live with Thee there. 

The thought of God sending His son to die a painful, embarrassing, emotionally taxing death in our stead is unfathomable enough.  But this morning, collecting myself as I wiped the tears from my eyes and read about parents struggling to put their kids on busses and drop them off at day care centers, the Christmas story hit me from an entirely new angle.   Not only did God know what ultimately awaited His son, He sent Jesus to spend 33 years in this fallen world.  Our world of Sandy Hook and Columbine.  The world of the Holocaust and the Crusades.  Our world of Darfur and Rwanda and Gaza.  God sent His Son here, to live among us fallen and spiteful and mean people.

He knew Jesus would be bullied. 

He knew Jesus would hang out with and ultimately die for the Adam Lanzas and Jared Loughners of the day. 

He knew what hatred Jesus would see and experience.

God knew. 
And He sent His son anyway. 

So today, as we send our kids to schools we know can be unsafe, I remember that we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15).  God the Father knows how each parent who struggled to drop off kids this morning feels.  After all, He did a very similar thing for us 2000 years ago when He sent His Son Jesus to this Earth.

And this leaves me speechless, and I'm not even a parent.

Thank you. The words seem so inadequate -- and they are -- but they are all I have.  Gratitude and a life offered in submission to Jesus Christ.