Beholding the Christ Child

Merry Christmas! I feel like I am one day late; however, December 26^th is traditionally celebrated as Boxing Day, when gifts would be given to the poor, and household servants would be sent home with Christmas boxes to share with their families. However, I read recently that Boxing Day should not be observed on a Sunday, so this year Boxing Day will actually be tomorrow. So perhaps I should wish you all a happy Saint Stephen’s Day today instead, which has a multitude of Christmas traditions associated with it, too.
 
In any case, we are not quite done with celebrating Christmas, as today we will consider what it means to behold the Christ child. This covers the smallest window in time of any of our topics in this “big picture” series. So far we have looked at God’s process of creation (in some ways ongoing even now), the fallenness of humankind, the stricken earth, the tragic flow of history, the repeated interventions of God, and the promise of a Savior-Redeemer. Each of these cover huge time spans, significant chunks of history. The gestation, birth, and infancy of Jesus on the other hand was a very specific event, limited to just 2 or 3 years. But as we have already said, it stands at the center of history, with everything before anticipating it and everything after impacted by it.

We have seen how the coming of Jesus was hinted at way back near the beginning of Genesis and prophesied and illustrated in various ways throughout the Old Testament. Last time Carl talked about 20 Old Testament figures who were “types” of Christ, pointing ahead to various aspects of his life and identity. Because of the very specific prophecies given over hundreds of years the Jewish people were waiting for a literal Messiah, a king who would deliver them from all types of oppression and hardship.
 
However, there was not a uniform, global understanding of what would happen. There were – and continue to be – many different expectations about how God would (or would not!) intervene in the world. So when Jesus was born there were equally many and varied responses to the appearance of this baby in Bethlehem. We will be looking at some of these responses today. Everyone who heard about the birth of this child needed to decide what they would do with that information, even if it was simply to dismiss it as unimportant. And every time that we behold the Christ child even now we need to decide what our response will be too.
 
The first person to experience the reality of Jesus’ imminent birth was of course Mary. The angel appears to her and tells her that she will conceive and bear a son. She is to call him Jesus. He will be great and called the Son of the Most High, says the angel. He will be given the throne of his ancestor King David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever. His kingdom will never end.
 
Mary focuses on the prospect of having a baby, and her initial response is one of bewilderment: “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” But then, after the angel explains that this will be a miracle of the Holy Spirit, Mary says, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word be fulfilled.” We see the humble acceptance of something that she doesn’t really understand – and which must have been quite an overwhelming experience for this teenage girl.
 
Who was the second person to respond to the imminent arrival of the Son of God? It was actually John the Baptist, while still in his mother’s womb. When Mary greeted Elizabeth, it says that the baby leaped in Elizabeth’s womb. A yet-unborn child reacts with joy and excitement, recognizing that something special is going on. And in response to that Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaims, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!” Elizabeth also recognizes Mary’s faith in believing that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her. Her statement expresses her own trust in a good and faithful God.
 
Mary’s response in turn is an amazing song of worship called the Magnificat. This is where it is recorded in Luke 1:
 
And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
    of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
    holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
    from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
    but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
    but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
    remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
    just as he promised our ancestors.” – Luke 1:46-55
 
Mary is acknowledging how the Lord has blessed her and raised her up for a purpose. She does not mention Jesus specifically, but in her song she prophesies how he will turn the world upside down in a larger sense: bringing down the proud and raising up the humble, filling the hungry but sending the rich away empty. It is a statement about justice and mercy and blessing, that she knows is somehow associated with the baby that she is carrying inside her.
 
Zechariah, the husband of Elizabeth, has a song in this chapter as well. This is his prophecy after the birth of John, who he acknowledges will “prepare the way” for the Lord. He describes Jesus the Messiah as “a horn of salvation” who will rescue his people from the hand of their enemies and enable them to serve God without fear, “in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.” It is a message once again of mercy and redemption and salvation. Zechariah also does not refer to Jesus by name, but he surely speaks in anticipation of what Jesus will do.
 
There is one more person responding to the imminent arrival of Jesus before it happens. Can you guess who that is? In this respect, Matthew’s account focuses exclusively on Joseph. In Matthew 1, Mary is “found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.” Matthew does not mention what she thought of this, but Joseph is about to divorce her, before an angel appears to him in a dream and reassures him to continue with the marriage. In obedience to what the angel commands, Joseph takes Mary home as his wife and calls the baby Jesus, accepting the child as his own. No words of Joseph are recorded, but his actions are consistently submissive and obedient to God. This is seen again in his later taking Mary and Jesus to Egypt in response to another angelic command.
 
Luke 2, as you know, is the main account of the actual birth of Jesus. It’s such a familiar story. Joseph and Mary have gone to Bethlehem to fulfill an official Roman requirement to be registered. It is crowded in the town so there is no space in a proper guest room for them. They are accommodated in an area that might also be occupied by animals, such that when Jesus is born Mary places him in a manger or feeding trough.
 
On the basis of this one statement about the manger, the whole mythology of the traditional nativity scene has arisen: the spacious stable lit by the warm glow of the Christmas star, with the tidy arrangement of animals, shepherds, and wise men surrounding the doting Mary and Joseph and the newborn baby in the manger with straw sticking out evenly around him. Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright. Not to diminish the sacredness of the occasion, but I think the scene was perhaps more rugged and dirty. Perhaps you have seen the way The Chosen depicts the birth of Jesus – much more raw and realistic. Childbirth is a fraught, painful, messy business at the best of times, and these were less than ideal circumstances. However, we are not told how Mary and Joseph handled it.
 
The next recorded response actually comes from the shepherds, here in Luke 2:
 
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. – Luke 2:8-20
 
The shepherds see the angel and the brilliant glory of the Lord lighting up the night, and they are terrified. But the angel brings good news of great joy for all people: the birth of the Messiah. This baby will be the Savior of the shepherds, too, a lowly group on the fringes of society. Who would care about shepherds? But how do these rough guys respond? Let’s go see what God is doing! They went right away to see this baby, and something in that encounter convinced them of the truth of what the angels had said. They began to spread the word and people were amazed, probably as much as by who was telling them as by the message itself. This ordinary child, announced by grubby shepherds, would be the Messiah and Savior of all people? This message of incredible blessing and hope led the ordinary men to give glory and praise to God. They probably didn’t understand it completely, but they knew that they were witnesses to something wonderful that God was doing. They wanted everyone to know about it.
 
Continuing on in Luke 2, we come to the passage that Carl ended with last Sunday:
 
On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.
When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” – Luke 2:21-24
 
We continue to see the obedience of Joseph and Mary. They were careful to do as the law commanded, as well as to obey the angel in giving Jesus his name. Their offering for purification was according to what they could afford. If they had been wealthier, one of the doves or pigeons would have been replaced by a lamb. Since Jesus was their firstborn son, they offered him back to the Lord, setting him apart for whatever God would have him do. Jesus would have been about 6 weeks old at this point.
 
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required,  Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
    which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.” – Luke 2:25-32
 
This is a truly amazing statement from Simeon, who recognized baby Jesus as the promised Messiah, bringing salvation not just to Israel but to the Gentiles as well. This was the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham to bless all the nations through him. Simeon praises God in his sovereignty for bringing this to pass in the form of this baby that he held in his arms. Jesus would be the light by which God would reveal himself to the whole world and glorify himself through his people.
 
The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” – Luke 2:33-35
 
Simeon did not know how Jesus would bring salvation, but he knew that he would be opposed as he upset the existing power structure and exposed hidden thoughts contrary to the ways of God. Did he understand the sacrifice that Jesus would make? The outcome would grieve Mary. Indeed, she must have felt the pain of the cross almost as much as Jesus did.
 
There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, ³⁷ and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. ³⁸ Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. – Luke 2:36-38
 
The very devout Anna reinforces the message of Simeon, at least to the extent that she recognized that Jesus would bring redemption to Jerusalem. The people of Israel had been yearning for the Messiah. It had now been 400 years since a prophet had brought any encouragement to them in their long wait. Beholding the Christ child as the long-expected fulfillment of God’s promise was a tremendous blessing for people like Simeon and Anna. They responded with fervent praise and adoration.
 
Chronologically, then, we have to turn to Matthew’s narrative to find the next people who came to behold Jesus. The Magi from the east were not there at the stable in Bethlehem next to shepherds. We can assume that it took them several months to reach the land of Israel. They are commonly called wise men, but they may have been astrologers observing the stars to make predictions about future events. In any case they had some kind of faith in the true God and presumably had some familiarity with the prophecies concerning the Jewish Messiah. Therefore, when they saw the star they associated it with the birth of a divine king, and their faith compelled them to make the long journey to honor him.
 
However, as you know, their knowledge was limited as to what the coming of the Messiah would be like. Their initial inquiries in Jerusalem about a newborn king stirred up the whole city and were especially threatening to King Herod, who directed them to Bethlehem to find the child. Herod said that he would also come to worship him, but we know that he had something more sinister in mind. We can pick up the story in Matthew 2 to see the response of the Magi:
 
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.  On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. – Matthew 2:9-12
 
The wise men were overjoyed to reach the end of their quest. When they saw Jesus they bowed down and worshiped him, offering him gifts befitting a king. Their desire was to honor him and acknowledge his royal position. However, we also know the sad ending of the story, as Joseph, Mary, and Jesus had to flee to Egypt and the jealous Herod killed all the boys in the vicinity of Bethlehem who were two years old and under. He could not accept any potential threat to his political power.
 
We are not told much else about the childhood of Jesus. We know that after Herod died he returned from Egypt with his parents and settled in the town of Nazareth. Luke records his visit to the temple in Jerusalem when he was 12 years old, a time when he amazed the teachers of the law with his understanding. He was moving toward his ministry as an adult, and there will be a great deal more to say about that next time, as we wrap up this series.
 
For now, let’s review the responses of these first recorded beholders of the Christ child: Mary, John, Elizabeth, Zechariah (to some degree), Joseph, the shepherds, Simeon, Anna, and the Magi. In a way, Herod also beheld Jesus from a distance and reacted with fear, anger, and violence. The others responded with some combination of bewilderment, submission, joy, faith, evangelistic zeal, worship, and praise.
 
How do you behold the Christ child again this Christmas season? Are we too familiar with the story to be amazed by the incredible, audacious miracle that it was? When we behold the Christ child we are faced squarely with the mystery of the incarnation. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. Almighty God took on human flesh, coming in the form of an ordinary baby in a middleclass family.
 
I really like the carol “Mary Did You Know?” because it makes me feel slightly uncomfortable. Some people don’t like this song because they hear condescension or even “theological mansplaining,” as one article put it. Of course Mary knew who Jesus was! But that’s not what makes me squirm just a bit. It’s a line like “When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God.” Kissing the face of God? It just seems too intimate, too outrageous somehow. But that’s how discomfiting the incarnation is supposed to be. God comes to us in the most vulnerable, innocent way imaginable. God would need his diaper changed. You can’t get much more humble than that. How would the Creator of the universe lower himself to that extent to meet us where we are? That’s the kind of access that Jesus has opened to us.
 
As we behold the Christ child today, may the mystery and wonder of the incarnation strike us anew. We will never fully comprehend it. In one way Mary knew. But in a real way no one can really know what it meant for God to come as a baby. We need the faith of Mary and the shepherds and Simeon to accept it with humility and joy. What we can be certain of is the purpose and outcome of the incarnation. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. A way for forgiveness and salvation has been opened, for all people and for all time.
 
In closing, I would like to focus on another profound line from a Christmas carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” This also references the everlasting light: “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” Hopes and fears. Beholding the Christ child not only allows us to face our hopes and fears, Jesus also is the ultimate fulfillment of those hopes and a steadfast companion in our fears. May the love revealed in Jesus at Christmas dispel the darkness of fear in our lives and in our world! As it says in 1 John, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear – whatever its source. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
 
Now as we move into a time of communion we remember in a tangible way the reason for the incarnation, the purpose of the Christ child being born. People face the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus with some of the same emotions that we have seen surrounding his birth: bewilderment, fear, dismissal, but also wonder, humility, thankfulness, and joy. We kneel at the manger, and we kneel at the cross, acknowledging who Jesus is and submitting ourselves to him. As people in the Old Testament awaited the coming of the Messiah we long for his second coming to bring everlasting justice and righteousness. In the meantime we have confidence to approach his throne of grace in praise and worship since Jesus has forgiven our sins through his body broken for us and his blood poured out.
 
The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. – 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
 
We are also commanded to examine ourselves to avoid eating the bread and drinking the cup in an unworthy manner. So I will pray and then let’s spend some time in quiet reflection and confession, telling God that we desire to receive his grace and forgiveness again today and committing ourselves to him once again, before we come to take the bread and the cup.