It’s just about here! Most Christians around the world are eagerly anticipating the celebration of Jesus’ birth on Christmas Day! Special services, family feasts, and other festivities are planned to mark the holy time when God came to earth in the form of Baby Jesus.
It’s always adorable to listen as little children sing Away In A Manger. There’s something special about seeing them rock the imaginary baby and think what it might have been like in Bethlehem that night.
If Jesus had stayed in His manger and out of the Temple how different His life and ours both would be. If He had stayed in Bethlehem and out of Jerusalem, He would never have faced a cruel cross of execution. If He had cried and cooed and not preached and taught, His life would have been much safer. But He was not born for that.
The reality is that Jesus was born to preach, teach, heal, and forgive and ultimately to die and rise again. Many who welcome Him in a manger and sing carols heralding His birth want nothing to do with His call to leave their sin.
Jesus’ Beatitudes are beautiful indeed, and very popular, but His invitation to take up our crosses and follow Him is much less popular. Too often we cherish the warm candle glows and nativity scenes but want nothing to do with the message of the One whose birth they commemorate.
Jesus was not born to stay in a manger nor in Bethlehem. In fact, Herod recognized the threat He posed to powers and world systems and tried to eliminate Him. Even after Jesus returned and grew up in Nazareth, His own hometown crowd tried to push Him over the cliff since He was too controversial. Many today continue to try to cancel the Christ child.
Various times throughout His ministry, the Jewish leaders sought to kill Him. They plotted and planned and schemed. Jesus could have avoided all of that if He had just kept His head down, gone with the flow, and made no waves.
But He was not born for that. Jesus preached God’s truth everywhere He went. He shared God’s love and compassion. He encouraged the downhearted and lifted the fallen. But He also opposed all sin as well as unjust rulers who distorted truth and withheld grace.
While He never wavered on God’s laws, He also offered forgiveness and restoration to those who would repent and turn to Him. It seemed He offended everyone at some point in His ministry. And He still does. He did not come to please princes, presidents, people, or us. He came to do the will of His Father and He did it perfectly from beginning to end.
Even though we might like to keep Jesus in His cozy little manger, we must recognize that He did not stay there! He came to show us how to obey God and get along with each other. He came to teach the way, show the way, and go the way.
Ultimately, He came to die for the sins of all people. From before Bethlehem, from before He was conceived, from before the world began, His purpose was to be the perfect sacrifice to take away the sin of the world that we human beings might be reconciled to our Creator! And this too He accomplished.
He also defeated death by rising from His grave triumphing over the darkness that imprisoned all humanity. And He lives today to provide that same victory to all who will receive Him.
As we marvel at the Babe in the manger, let’s remember that He didn’t stay there; that He grew up to teach, love, and guide us and most importantly to save us. If you never have, admit your sin and ask God to save you through the blood of the One who laid in the manger that first Christmas night.
Merry Christmas,
George
