When Angels Cried

A friend of mine, Esha Christie, shared these words at a recent Christmas dinner for international students.

Have you ever been to a party where the Birthday boy is not present? Go to a Christmas party. Christmas has become one of the celebrations in the world where Christ is omitted. Today, I am going to tell you what Christmas mean to Christians. Especially what it means to me.

Moving from St. Louis to Texas has been one of the hardest things that I have done. In fact, it has been a year and it still leaves me in tears sometimes. That has made me think what made Jesus move from heaven to earth? Talk about a move!!!! It’s a pretty big move if you think about it, leaving all the comfort of heaven, angels waiting on you and everything… leaving all these glory and coming to earth, to a broken earth… Has it has ever caught you wondering why Jesus had to do that? It has made me wonder.

One of my favorite things to do during Christmas is to sing carols. These are songs that tell the story of Christmas. I won’t go into detail about the story because you just saw it in Charlie brown video. But let me share one specific Christmas carol that has been one of my favorites for past few years. It’s titled “The Angels cried”. Now, this may catch you by surprise because when we  think of Christmas, we think Cakes and Christmas trees and Carols and everything fun. But this song really captures the story of Jesus in the most powerful way. Let me share a few lines:

The angels knew what was to come
The reason God has sent his son 
And knowing of his destiny
And the creatures gathered 'round
And didn't make a sound
And the Angels cried.

     And wondered if they realized      Was sent to tell all of the land     Would soon become the son of man.

from up above
It filled their hearts with joy to see
Came tears of love.

I've often thought about that night
that star so bright
that the son of god 

        And the angels cried.

The song is a powerful reminder to me why Jesus came to this earth. The reason Angels cried looking at the baby Jesus is because they could look into the future and see what was to come. They knew Jesus’ life was going to be full of pain, shame and dishonor from people. And to top that all, He will die on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. This is the meaning of Christmas to me. It means to me that God is Love, such powerful love that he would come down to earth in the form of a baby and eventually die on the cross for me. Thankfully, the story does not stop there. He will rise again on the Easter day and live forevermore so that I can live forevermore with Him. This is Christmas to me. This is Christ to me.