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Jesus’ despised background did not limit His victory

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This season, we commemorate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, born in circumstances that were deplorable and did not fit the image of one who was destined to be King, but later became the Saviour of the world. In reference to this, Can Grace Kaiso and Pauline Akello examine further how God changes narratives, despite the humble beginnings.

Nazareth, the despised village
There is a Luganda proverb ‘Nezikokolima gali maagi’ literally translated as ‘even the big cocks that crow were once eggs’.

Jesus was born in Nazareth, a village that was commonly detested. It was a tiny farming village, far from main trade routes.

Being born in the Kraal was something thought unworthy for a man of Jesus’ calibre. (Source/Wallpaper Flare)

It is a no wonder Nathanael asked if anything good would come out of Nazareth (John 1:46).

Before the birth of Christ, there was nothing or little known of this ‘obscure’ place.

Indeed, the prophecies suggested that Jesus Christ would be born in such undignified circumstances.

The irony here is that God the Father, the Almighty, the Omniscient, Omnipotent chose to demonstrate His power through a virgin, whose reputation had been severely damaged.

Like these days, it was deplorable to have a child out of wedlock. These choices were deliberate, after Adam and Eve had sinned and God’s plan seemed to have been frustrated.

However, in the birth of Jesus we see Gods’ commitment of turning things around (Isaiah 43:19).

One would have expected that He would do this through thunder and lightning so as to draw attention to not only His power, but to His intention as well, but He started from a lowly place.

He purposed to redeem the world, to bring fresh hope to His creation.

This pattern of preferring simple beginnings, to demonstrate His power is one that we need to be awakened to, given that the world today believes in pomp and showbiz, and we tend to despise simple ways of believing and living.

God is not limited
Think about the Covid-19 experience and the way God has provided, guided, and upheld us during the loss of our relatives and friends.

The possibilities that have emerged through digitalisation, creative ways of working and new habits.

In the Exodus 3 and 4, we have the example of Moses born with a stammer, which would have disqualified him from being assigned the mission of delivering the Israelites from Pharaoh’s hand, because such a task needed effective communication skills.

God appreciated his limitations by raising a helper in the person of Aaron. Moses, therefore, lost the ground of ducking out of the mission of leading the children of Israel out of Egypt and became one of the cornerstones in the salvation history.

Jesus defeated death by rising from the dead. (Source/Buildingontheword)

We could also draw from the experience of David, who, because of his age and stature, was belittled by his brothers and denied going to the front line, not knowing he had had silent victories over bears and lions while he looked after his fathers’ flock (1 Samuel 17:28).

However, as we know the story, these limitations were not enough to stand in the way of what God had planned for him.

David was anointed King, despite lacking the imposing presence of his brothers and went on to restore the dignity of Israel through his encounter with Goliath (1 Samuel 17:50).

These examples together with our own personal stories of where God has taken us from are evidence that God is able to do far much more than we can pray for or even imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

The power of God is beyond measure, it is great and awesome. It made Heaven and Earth and everything in it.
That power determines the boundaries of land and sea.

It made a virgin conceive and give birth to the Saviour, it made the blind see and the lame to walk and it is the same power that makes people born again.

We see the fruit of that power in the life of the early Church, as it breaks down boundaries between the Gentiles and the Jews, and builds bridges between men and women (Acts 10).

We see the fruit of that power in the life of Paul, after years of persecuting

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