The First Christmas, Part 4 – Luke 1:5-7

Rich or poor, all of us go through moments of hardships and struggles in this life. During these times, we often reflect on where things went wrong, and then backtrack to the basics and start all over. This is what we must do with Christmas. Christmas has become a secular holiday, where Christ is no longer central. We must go back to the true meaning of Christmas, and Luke 2:1-7 is the best place to go to do this. As believers, we must restore the significance of Christmas as we think about what God has revealed to us in Jesus Christ.

Mary is one of the central figures in the first Christmas. She is not to be idolized, as she is by the Catholic Church, but she is significant to the Christmas narrative because she was the mother of Jesus. Mary was a faithful believer, but she was a sinner, just like us. She was used as a vessel to bear the Son through a virgin conception. Mary’s role as Jesus’ physical mother points us to the central question of Christmas- why did God become man? In God’s omniscience, this was the only way to forgive our sin. God became man to deal with sin through His substitutionary death. As a Christian, we can not separate the thought of ourselves from sin. The Bible clearly states it- we are all sinners. If we deny and ignore the presence of sin in us, we can not be sanctified.

Was Jesus truly like us? Yes, Jesus was like us, yet without sin. Jesus is able to sympathize with all of our weaknesses, because He went through every suffering in His life. God the Son became flesh just like us, so He could suffer and atone for our sins. Christmas can not be separated from Jesus’ humanity, nature and work. This is why Christmas is full of power and hope, and able to rejuvenate our lost souls.

Can we truly trust Jesus’ work in His humanity? In Jesus’ humanity, Jesus became our ultimate substitute. Simply put, Jesus came to the world to die for us. We couldn’t do anything to atone for our sin- this is why God came to us to save us. (Heb 9:12) Jesus is our merciful High Priest who atoned for our sins.

What does Christmas have to do with our sin? When Jesus was born, there was no space for Him at the inn, so He was swaddled and laid in a manger. This is the humility of Christ- the King above all kings humbled Himself by becoming man. He was born in a dirty manger, signifying His humility to come into a sin-filled world in order to identify with sinners. Sin is lawlessness. Every man is born under the power of sin, with a natural disposition to oppose and hate God. But the good news is that this baby who was born in a dirty manger was the Son of God who has infinite power to abolish the power of sin for us. The world didn’t welcome Him then, and it doesn’t welcome Him now. This is the nature of sinful man. God had to become man to die for our sin, so He could transform us to a people who welcome Christ and celebrate Him during this season. This is the real Christmas.