Old Testament: Micah 5:2-5
Gospel: Luke 1:39-45
Epistle: Hebrews 10:5-10
As I type this, half my family, (the women) are at a baby shower for my cousins’ baby. Many people understand what it means to wait for the birth a baby. We have showers, paint the baby room, and set the crib up. Christmas time is often just viewed as a baby story; a time to celebrate cute babies, and pink bows, and tiny cute feet. But is it more than that? The answer is yes and no.
This will again be a shorter reflection since I am in Redding
with the family and it is a bit crazy over here. Yet, I always enjoy writing these, so I persevere
through all the madness.
I want to start with the reading from Micah. We might wonder why Joseph and Mary had to
travel to Bethlehem for the census and for Jesus to be born. In the larger political sense, they had to
travel there because Joseph was from the line of David and had to go back to
his family home to be counted. This tells
us that Jesus was from the line of David, and important fact sense the Messiah
would be from the lineage of David. In
addition, Micah prophesied that not only would the Messiah be from the line of
David, he would be born in Bethlehem. Jesus
was born in Bethlehem to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies even if he didn’t
grow up there since later in life he is always referred to as the “Nazarene.”
Let’s briefly look at the readings from Luke. Here is where the baby story comes to
fruition even if we aren’t quite yet at the actual birth of Jesus. After Mary receives the word from Gabriel
that she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit, she travels to her relative Elizabeth’s
house. Elizabeth is also pregnant with
John the Baptists. We often discuss the
miracles in the Gospel, but even in this story before Jesus’ birth there is a
miracle. When Mary arrived, John the Baptists
leaps for joy in the womb. Although this
may be small, it is still a miracle; the baby recognized who Jesus was in Mary’s
womb from Elizabeth’s womb. This is a
bit strange, but a miracle nonetheless.
There is one more miracle in the birth story, and that is
the conception and incarnation itself.
In all of the excitement about the baby story, it is often easy to
forget that this baby is also the son of God, born of the Virgin Mary. This baby is unique as God, but he is also
like each human who as ever lived or will live.
The story of Jesus birth, as much as it is a baby story, it also
foreshadows and is incomprehensible without knowledge of Jesus’ life and death
also. Jesus’ conception by the Holy
Spirit and birth in Bethlehem only makes sense in light of his life and death
to save all of creation. Jesus came to
die as the perfect obedient sacrifice for the life of the world. In a sense his birth can never be separated
from his death. Just like his first
coming isn’t separate from his second coming during this season of Advent. In the shopping malls, and on TV, and in our
culture Christmas has become nothing more than a baby story. It is our responsibility and privilege to
challenge this assumption and share the message of the Gospel that Jesus not
only came as a baby, he also died as a man and was resurrected to redeem all of
creation.
Grace and Peace[1]
Grace and Peace[1]
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