O Antiphons: Day 7–O Emmanuel
He helps the helpless
“God helps those who help themselves.” It almost sounds like it is from the Bible, but it isn’t. It is actually anti-biblical. The Bible actually says the exact opposite: God helps the helpless, those who cannot help themselves. God saves those who cannot save themselves.
We are citizens who have been bound and carried away into captivity. We mourn in our lonely exile away from the presence of our Lord. Sin, our jailer, has made us prisoners who cannot free ourselves. Death, our overlord, has killed us and we cannot raise ourselves. Satan, our captor, has made us hell-bound and we cannot change our direction.
God must come to help us. He must reach down to us; we cannot reach up to Him. He must come to be with us.
One of us
One of the great prophecies of Christ proclaims: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Immanuel/Emmanuel means “God with us.” God knew that we could not go up to Him, so He came down to us. Our God is not a distant king sitting on His throne in a far-away galaxy. He is a God who comes near to us. He comes to be with us. He comes to be one of us.
God left His heavenly throne to be laid in a manger. He set aside His golden crown, took off His royal robe, and put on the work clothes of a servant. He put on our humanity. He rolled up His sleeves to go about the business of helping by becoming one of us – in His birth, His baptism, His defeat of the devil, His healing of the sick, His raising of the dead, His suffering, dying and rising again. Emmanuel works and weeps and suffers and sleeps and bleeds and dies and rises again.
Jesus came to earth so we might be taken to heaven. He surrounded Himself with Mary and Joseph and shepherds and Magi so we might be surrounded by saints and angels. He endured temporary suffering and pain and wrath and death so we might enjoy life and blessings eternally. He who is divine became mortal so that we who are mortal might be in the presence of the divine.
God comes to help those who cannot help themselves – for He is Emmanuel.
Michael Zarling
For the first 8 years of my ministry, I served at Faith Lutheran Church, an exploratory congregation in Radcliff, KY. I presently serve at Epiphany Lutheran Church and Wisconsin Lutheran School (WLS) in Racine, WI. I am also very involved with our youth as the WLS head soccer coach and the head counselor for WELS Training Camp, a youth camp for 3rd – 9th graders. I have been married to Shelley for 20 years. Together we have 4 beautiful daughters – Abigail, Miriam, Lydia and Gabrielle. We also have 2 dogs – Messi and Mia – named after Lionel Messi and Mia Hamm (the Zarling family really likes soccer!)
