I read an old legend about a Christmas party that Satan and his pack of demons were having in hell. As the demonic guests were departing, one laughed and grinned and sarcastically said to Satan, “Merry Christmas your majesty!” At that, Satan replied with a growl, “Yes, keep it merry. If they ever get serious about it, we’ll all be in trouble.”
Today the focus is all about the Messiah and we need to be serious about it. It is the birth of the baby Jesus, the Messiah. It is the coming of God…the doctrine of incarnation. It is the intervention of God’s presence among humanity.
As someone observed — it was the year of destiny. According to Greek theology, the planet Jupiter entered the Great Conjunction by proclaiming the coming ruler of the final Golden Age. In Rome Augustus was at the apex of his career. On the Nile in Egypt the Emperor was being celebrated as the freedom-giving god, Jupiter. On the Euphrates the astrologers were setting out for Palestine to see the promised king of peace. The country of Israel was a different setting. There was a tempest brewing.
Stauffer related to his readers that Herod had been demoted several months before Quirinius’ census-takers were spreading like a swarm of locusts descending upon all the towns and small villages of Israel, with swords in their hands. The bureaucracy ran rampant and the people fought back with resistance including rebel bands. Six thousand Pharisees refused to take the imperial oath to Jupiter that Rome demanded. Herod, the puppet king of Israel was nervous. He did all within his power to satisfy Rome’s tax collectors and commissioners. There was sedition and plots whispered throughout the land. Herod’s ears were everywhere and whenever he suspected that a plot to overthrow his government was bubbling up, he acted with vengeance. In Samaria he had the two Hasmonaean princes killed. Along with the princes he had three hundred officers faithful to the Hasmoneans assassinated. His eyes were on anyone who might be a descendent of David.
It is this apocalyptic environment that Jesus came into the world…the son of David born in the ancient, holy, royal city of Bethlehem.
Christmas is about the birth of the Messiah (Luke 2:1-7).
People in Western culture who have grown up in the church know the elementary elements of the story. Today the story is different. With the decline of Christianity and church attendance many have no idea of the events. Let me just recount some of the events.
Rome decided it would be a strategic decision to find out the population of their Roman states and satellite lands. The Gospel writer, Luke begins the Christmas story with the quick mention of Caesar Augustus, who was the biological nephew of Julius Caesar and Augustus, who became Julius’ adoptive son. It was Augustus who led Rome’s transformation from a republic form of government to an empire that would last for 200 years. Augustus shrewdly combined military might, institutional building projects and lawmaking tenants to lay the foundation for his rule. There would be no time in history where the birth of the Messiah could have been more appropriate up to that time.
Luke told us that Joseph and Mary went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to the sleepy village of Bethlehem because Joseph’s heritage was from there. Old Testament prophet Micah wrote 700 years before the birth of Jesus that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:1-2). The meaning of Bethlehem is “house of bread.” What an appropriate place for Jesus to be born. He said of himself, “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:35a) and continued in that verse to say to people, “Whoever goes to me will never go hungry” (John 6:35b).
The gospel writer sketched in another character in his story…the innkeeper. This businessman has been painted as a villain by most of us. Probably more accurately he was busy and his inn was full. He had no idea who he was refusing a room to at that moment. Tell me what paying customer would he kick out? Wouldn’t you be upset if he tried to take your room? He did the best that he could with the situation at hand. He was being expedient like most of us today. So don’t be too hard on him. “In the season when we celebrate this birth we get so busy with Christmas cards and presents, with year-end internal revenue matters, with shopping and cooking, that there is no room in our lives for the most important guest of all. Like the innkeeper, we are not villains; we’re just preoccupied and harried.” (Bruce Larson, The Communicator’s Commentary — Luke, p. 48).
Joseph and Mary took the stable offered by the innkeeper. It was there that Mary gave birth to her son Jesus. This little baby who fit so snuggly into his mother’s arms, who felt so light in the rough hands of his stepfather, Joseph…this baby was the Messiah sent from God the Father to become the Messiah to Israel and the world. The etymology Meshiac means “anointed one.” In the Old Testament when it was applied to persons, the term indicates induction into a sacred office. It was applied exceptionally to prophets, occasionally to the chief priests and most commonly to the king of Israel, who was called Messiah of Yahweh (1 Samuel 24:6, Ezekiel 29:7, Isaiah 54:1).
Once Judea was destroyed in 586 BC the Jews found their hopes centering upon an earthly establishment of the monarchy by a descendant of David. But the prophets began to help their people to understand that the Messiah was so much more than an earthly king.
This new Messiah would spread the knowledge of the true God to the very ends of the world. His plan was to do it by not imposing his will on others, but by uncomplaining endurance of contempt, injustice, suffering, and death. Who was this Messiah? It was the one who lays bare the kingdom of God and the realities of God’s redemptive work. It was Christ who calls a wayward Israel and world back to a loving holy God. The baby Jesus who would grow into manhood and become God’s Messiah for the world. He is also our Messiah and he comes directly from heaven for our salvation!
Christmas is about the Incarnation of God (Luke 2:8-14).
Entering the scene were shepherds and angels…humans and celestial beings from the realm of glory. Going about their nightly duties, these shepherds of the temple flocks encountered a sobering and life-changing event. As they were watching over the sheep sleepily — suddenly an angel stood by them, and the glory of God — that radiating, brilliant splendor or majesty of God dazzled them. The Old Testament called it the “Shekinah glory” of God.
Their unexpected guest told them not to fear for he had wonderful, glorious news for them. He was there on God’s behalf to tell them a secret. But the secret would soon be out for all the world to hear! He was there to tell them about the Savior….the one who would take away their sins…help them in their most desperate moments…who would save them from eternal hell…that Savior was being born that very night! He was the divine Savior the very incarnation of God himself.
We Christians firmly believe that the eternal second person of the triune Godhead joined himself with a complete human nature and was born as Jesus, the God-man. The apostle John wrote, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us!” (John 1:14).
James Montgomery Boice’s chapter in his book, God the Redeemer, stated that Paul also wrote about the incarnation. According to Boice, Paul traced Christ’s life from eternity past, when he was in the form of God and equal to God through the events of his earthly life and eternity future, where he once again glorified with the father in Philippians 2:5-11. Boice said that Paul used two words in speaking of the position that Jesus enjoyed with the Father. The first is the Greek word, “morphe” found in the phrase, “the form of God.” It referred to the internal fitness of the two together. As someone said, “(Jesus) possessed inwardly and displayed outwardly the very nature of God.” The second word is “equal.” It is like the isosceles triangle with two equal sides. It means that the two are equal. Jesus is fused as God and man in such a way that he became our one and only hope of salvation.
A legend is told about the casting of a great bell in Peking. It is the bell on which midnight is sounded, and it was cast a century and a half ago. Two attempts at casting were made and ended in failure. The emperor sent for Kuan-Yin, the official in charge of the task. The emperor informed Yin that if he failed again he would be killed. The legend continues that the man’s daughter, Ko-ai, consulted an astrologer, who told her that unless a virgin’s blood was mingled with the metal the third casting it, too, would fail. She asked permission to be present when the attempt was made. As her father and his helpers were rushing to get the white-hot metal from the furnace into the great mold the devoted daughter sprang forward with the cry, “For my father!” and leaped into the fiery stream adding her life-blood into its composition, and won her father’s safety and success.
The unknown author of the story makes the spiritual application as he wrote that the great bell of humanity was out of tune. It swung gloomily and sadly, and its music was all harsh, grating, and discordant. Then our Savior threw himself from the heights of heaven. His life-blood entered into a world’s alloy, and ever since, the vast bell has been growing sweeter and more attuned to the heavenly music for those who have found the redeemer.
Christmas is about sharing the story of God (Luke 2:15-20).
The shepherds journeyed to find the baby. At The Bethlehem Inn they found Mary, Joseph, and the focus of their search, Jesus. The Bible says that after they had seen the child, they spread the word concerning what had been told them…and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.” They were truly the first evangelists of the gospel of Jesus!
That is our job once we have encountered this Jesus…incarnate God…Savior…we are to share with others the good news that we are loved by God. He has given his Son to us for our salvation!
They went back to the fields, back to being shepherds, back to the routine of life, but with a whole new perspective. This is true of us. Each year as we celebrate the joyous services, countless cantatas, the festive parties, all of the excitement and thrill of the season what have they done to change our lives? What difference will this Christmas mean when we go back to the lives we lead in our schools, jobs, homes and lives? If we believe the message of the angels we go back to the ordinary with a new focus…a better focus…a spiritual focus on Jesus!
Conclusion
Joseph Bayly wrote a wonderful poem about the meaning of Christmas. The last two lines inspired me years ago when I read it.
“I will sing praise to the infinite, eternal Son,
Who became most finite, a baby who would one day
Be executed for my crime.
Praise him in the heavens, praise him in the stable, praise him in my heart.”
Friend, can you praise him? Do you know him? Is he your Christ, your Lord, your Savior? He wants to be. That’s the reason he came into this world!
Amen.