A baby in a manger, a small group of wisemen, and a shepherd boy. . . decorated trees, presents, and a large bearded man in a strange red suit. What's it all about? I've heard people say it's about spending time with people you love and about "holiday cheer." I've heard people say it's about hope and love and counting our blessings. OK, I can accept that, kind of.
As our worship team gathered at church last week to discuss our Christmas eve. service I had an unsettled feeling. What if Christmas was just about the baby Jesus. I mean it's an amazing thing, God coming out of heaven in the form of a poor baby. This alone is almost beyond comprehension but what does it mean? I mean how does God being born in the flesh bring us hope? What if that was the end of the story? The wisemen pack up their camels and head back East. The shepherd boy goes back to the hills to tend his sheep. The bright star fades away. Mary and Joseph load up the donkey and take their baby boy back to Nazareth. Life goes on as usual. The first Christmas was a beautiful thing but without the rest of the story it makes little sense. Why was I unsettled? Why? Because I think many people and certainly many Christmas celebrations make no connection between the manger and the cross. As a matter of fact, many Christmas celebrations leave Christ out all together. But that is a different issue, one that I will likely address before Dec. 25th.
How was this this little baby in the manger hope for the world? What was the problem with the world anyway? Famine? Disease? Discrimination? War? Sure, all these things were going on and people were in need of help. But what could a baby do? As the baby grew, he did feed the hungry (5000 at one time with a couple fish and a few loaves of bread), healed the sick (He even brought a few dead people back to life), and brought dignity to the outcast (a prostitute, a tax collector, and a group of lepers) but as far as I can tell we still have the same problems today. Maybe it was just a short term fix. Maybe he was just to be just an example. Was the baby born to show us the right way to live so that we could have a better world? Maybe. I think that was part of it but we must have missed it somehow because we're clearly no better off than we we were 2000 years ago. At least as far as the eyes can see.
There must have been something more. There must be more to the story. If the baby was to really bring hope and peace to the world then there must be something that we're missing. We have to hear the rest of the story. That was it! That was why I was unsettled. I needed to make sure that when we tell the story of the baby in the manger we CAN'T leave out the part about the grown man and the cross. It was why he came (at least a major part of the reason). Without the rest of the story, we could lump Jesus in with the rest of the people who brought us hope (Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, and the like).
Here's my point: Jesus (Emanuel "God with us") came to save us from something WAY worse than famine, WAY worse than disease, WAY worse than war. He came to save us from ourselves. He came to save us from the power and the penalty of sin. He did that not as a baby in a manger but as a man on a cross. Three days after he was placed in the grave he rose bodily and was seen by hundreds of people then ascended into heaven. This is the rest of the story which makes that amazing day in Bethlehem so amazing, even more amazing (if that is possible) than God being born in human flesh.
Jesus Christ came to save sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came as a sinless man to become sin for us. He came to give his life as a ransom for many. He came to conquer the grave and to give us the hope of eternal life. That's the rest of the story! When you see Christmas lights, hear carols, buy gifts, and bring cookies to the office party please don't forget the baby Jesus and when you remember him don't forget the rest of the story, Calvary. If you are a follower of the Savior than don't forget to tell others the rest of the story. Someone you know just might need to hear some good news!
Peace in Christ (both the Christ child and the risen Savior)
David
