Emmanuel is most often translated from Hebrew into English as “God With Us.” Who is this God who is with us? Who is this God who does the unthinkable and becomes human so that we might share all of what it means? We say it is the God who saves. Saves us from what? Saves us how?
The God With Us comes down. This God is willing to experience the same suffering, confusion, despair and questions that plague humanity. God With Us does not save us by removing them, but by being with us in them. This the God of compassion. This is the One who we now are – the body of Christ. Jesus was the Christ. Now we are Christ’s body together, collectively, as community joined together by God With Us.
