Christmas 2024 Luke 2:4-7
Merry Christmas. What a glorious act of God we celebrate tonight, the birth of the world’s savior. But it’s more than this. It’s much more personal than this. Jesus comes to the world tonight, but it is for each one of you that he came. God knew you before he separated the land from the sea, and he loved you so much from them that he planned this blessed event for your individual benefit.
How can we have confidence in this? We just need to look at the Christmas story, those events surrounding Jesus’ birth.
Jesus came to earth as a baby. He came to earth through a human birth as a totally vulnerable and dependent baby. In many mythologies, the gods come from other elements such as earth and fire. And often these gods were in conflict with man. Our God doesn’t come from something, he is eternal, always existing. Our God wasn’t created he did the creating. And our God isn’t in conflict with man, he loves man. By being born as a human baby with all the vulnerabilities of a human baby, our God shows he is not in an adversarial relationship with us. God did not enter the realm of man so he could interfere in our lives for his own enjoyment, he came to create a pathway for each one of us to attain heaven.
And when God came to earth, where did he appear? In a manger, in a lowly, dusty manger surrounded by the animals kept there. Jesus could have been born in a rich family. He could have been born to a Pharisee and his family. God could have revealed himself to the powerful and godly. And if he did, he would have been sequestered behind mansion doors or Temple walls. He would have been separated from the majority of men. Scripture tells us Jesus didn’t come for just the rich and powerful; Isaiah 9:6, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God…Prince of Peace.” For to us; all of us. Jesus came to offer salvation to everyone, every man, woman and child.
Jesus came to a humble place in a humble manor. He didn’t come to rule over us as a tyrant. He came as one of us, to be one of us so we can feel confident in approaching him. Hebrews 4, verses 15 & 16, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet did not sin. Let us approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.”
Jesus coming to a dark, dusty manger show all humanity that our God will go wherever we are, wherever we need him. God was born in a manger, he will be with you in a hospital, in prison. He will be with you as you use drugs. He will be with you as you mourn. Our God will be with you where you face persecution, abuse, or loneliness. Our savior will go to whatever dark and dusty place you may find yourself in.
At Jesus birth, shepherds came from their flocks and pastures to find him, to see the glory of God on earth. Shepherds, the lowest of that society show us our God wants you as you are. He wants the lowly, the outcast, the hurt, the lost. Our God’s birth was met and witnessed by those on the edges of that society as a demonstration of his desire to welcome us all. In him we are all brothers and sisters no matter where we come from, no matter how we live.
And as Mary and Joseph didn’t send the shepherds away to wash the smell of their flocks off them, God wants us no matter if the dirt of our sins still clings to us. Jesus demonstrates this to us himself in Luke 5. Luke 5:12-13, “While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said,’” Whatever our sin, whatever our condition, Jesus welcomes us to him.
Now everything we’ve seen so far can make it seem that Jesus only came for the impoverished, that he has no room for those in a better situation. Not true, the events around his birth dismisses this notion. Matthew chapter 2, verses 1 & 2, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea…Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’”
Jesus was born in a dusty, dirty manger among the poor and the outcast; and among the rich, the powerful, and the scholars. Jesus came to earth among representatives of all mankind. Those present at his birth show the world for centuries that our Savior came for all mankind. Those present at Jesus’ birth demonstrate for all the age, that God is reaching out and offering peace and redemption to all people. God is offering salvation to everyone no matter their country, no matter their family, no matter their position in life.
Jesus birth in a manger and those witnesses to it, give me confidence in my approach and place with God. This birth tells mankind God is not an advisory, he is a loving presence in the world. Jesus in the manger tells mankind he will come to where we need him, in whatever dark or dirty place our sin brings us. No where is beyond Jesus’ reach.
The shepherds who went to Jesus’ birthplace tell humanity all are welcome. Nationality, family, lifestyle, disease, social outcast; nothing is beyond God’s healing love and power.
And the Magi coming to worship this newborn baby, demonstrate to all mankind, for all time; whoever you are, wherever you come from, faith gains access to Christ.
I pray this Christmas blesses you. And I ask all of us to pray this Christmas will touch those in need of Christ’s love and healing, wherever they are, and whoever they are.