Christmas is a major event in the western world.  Some of it is big business. Shopping, eating, trees, lights, inflatable Santas, parties, family gatherings, concert tours, T.V.  specials, football, and so on.  If you asked a hundred people what their favorite part of Christmas is, they might name one of those things we just listed. 

If you asked them the meaning of Christmas they might say “peace on earth, goodwill toward men.”  But they would probably mean good will toward one another.  It’s the season to be kind to others and maybe drop some cash in the Salvation Army kettle.  They would probably know that Christmas was originally a celebration of the birth of Jesus by religious people and they might know about him being born in a stable and three wise men coming from the east.  They might speak of the Christmas story as just that…a story, a myth, or some fiction. It would carry with it nice sentiments and a feeling of family and a season of kindness, but the true message would be lost to them.  And, in the cacophony of Christmas activities, even those of us who follow Jesus might forget the true message as well.

Before Jesus the world was lost.  Judgment was postponed by adherence to the Law of Moses.  Sin was not forgiven, but simply “rolled forward,” as some theologians might put it.  The writer of Hebrews argued that if the blood of bulls and goats had been sufficient to deal with our sin before a righteous God, they would not have had to offer more sacrifices daily without end. Paul simply said, before Jesus, “you were dead in your trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1).

Of course, we see that truth more clearly at the cross than at the manger, but the sacrifice of his Son began before the cross.  Isaiah talked about seeing “the Lord high and exalted, seated on a throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isa. 6:1). In his gospel, John quoted that passage from Isaiah and said that Isaiah was actually beholding the glory of Jesus (Jn. 12:41). 

So, on the night we celebrate as Christmas, the Son of God stepped down from a throne of glory, surrounded by adoring angels. He submitted to the human process of being born as a biological child to a virgin under suspicion of being unfaithful to her betrothed.  The suspicion in their little village was probably what prompted Joseph to take her with him on an arduous journey to Bethlehem, very late in her pregnancy.  It was probably why they did not return but stayed in Bethlehem until Jesus was nearly two.  As Herod tried to kill this “king of the Jews,” this Son of God became a political refugee fleeing to Egypt for his life.

The King of Glory gave up a throne in heaven to be dependent on two impoverished young Jews whose names we would never have known if they had not parented Jesus.  He was born in a stable, probably a cave where animals were kept out of the weather, in an environment that was anything but sanitary.  Some fresh hay and some clean cloth was probably the best they could do. As far as we know, there were no friends or relatives on the scene.  Perhaps, a midwife was found in the village, but there is no mention of that in the gospels.  To see his beloved Son in poverty, isolation, and danger was part of the sacrifice. The only real witnesses to the event were shepherds who were tending sheep nearby. Some scholars believe they were watching the temple flocks from which daily sacrifices were chosen. Shepherds were at the bottom of the social strata in Israel because they could not keep the mandates of the Law while living in the fields. 

So… Jesus is born to poor, unknown parents on the run, unjustly disgraced in their hometown, and was welcomed into the world by a handful of  ragtag, “unclean” shepherds from the fields around Bethlehem.    Yes, some kings showed up from the East, but only after many months had passed.  The shepherds were initially terrified by angels announcing the birth of Messiah and only later gathered their wits about them to go see what the hosts of heaven had announced.  As far as we know, Mary and Joseph never saw the angels or heard their singing,  but only heard about them from the keepers of sheep.

All this is to say that the Son of God did not come into the world in a warm palace with soft sheets and servants to care for him.  He faced life as many have faced it in the Middle East.  As he grew, he knew the sting of both poverty, insults, and harsh discrimination from the Romans who ruled his land. And here is the thing…both God and Jesus knew what was waiting, including a cross, and yet counted us worth pursuing.  God is love and nothing else could have motivated him to send his son into this world to be abused, accused and misunderstood.  Peace on earth, goodwill towards men was God’s good will expressed in a manger.

He came in search of us.  He made the first moved He provided what we could never provide for our salvation. Christmas reveals the heart and the sacrificial love of God.  In Romans 12, Paul calls on us to be living sacrifices.  Jesus fulfilled that call first. 

In the Old Testament, Job stood before God in his suffering and asked, “Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees” (Job 10:4)?  In other words, how can you really understand what I am going through because you have never had to face the trials and pain of a mortal man. After Jesus was born in a stable, that accusation was silenced. God put on flesh and lived among us.  Not only did he live but he died on our behalf.

Many of us struggle with our sense of worth or value.  We wonder if we matter.  We wonder if even God could love us.   The Christmas story declares an emphatic “Yes” to our doubts.  That is the true message of Christmas.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (Jn. 3:16). This Christmas, don’t marvel at the lights or the concerts or the amazing food.  Go ahead and celebrate because God loves a good party, but marvel at his infinite love for you, wrapped in swaddling cloths, and lying in a manger.