And at Christmas we hear again the age-old Christmas story of the birth of Jesus, Immanuel, our loving Saviour. We heard from the prophets and the gospels: the prophecy and how the prophecy unfolded. But what does it all mean for us today?
The prophet Elijah said that he was to be called Immanuel. This literally means ‘with us – God’. The gospels gives the literal account of how God came and was born and lived among us live with us. This means that when God makes a promise to send a saviour, someone who was going to deliver not just his people but all people from eternal death into eternal life, he doesn’t muck around. He gets on with it and does what he has said he is going to do. He sends a Saviour to be ‘with us’ in every aspect of our lives: from birth to death. He sends him to us at a stable, an ordinary grubby stable. And that stable and it’s contents are open to the world, to you and to me, forever.
At Jesus’ birth God plants himself among us. As a result, there’s no way now that any human can claim that God does not understand how things are for us human beings. The word says that: We do not have a high priest (Jesus) who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
The Gospel puts it this way:
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Jesus always was the living word of God, and when that living Word was born as a human being, he put on human flesh and became as fully human as you or me. He had to face life as we face it. He had to be tempted like us, and like us he had to resist. And ultimately, he had to die for us.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)
Or in modernised language of the Contemporary English Version:
Christ never sinned! But God treated him as a sinner, so Christ could make us acceptable to God.
The book of Romans makes it clear that the punishment for sin is death – there is no alternative. (The wages of sin is death. Romans 6:23a) We see that happening all around us in the world – death and hurt and brokenness. As human beings we are not immune to the consequences of sin. Even as Christians. However, on the other hand, because of Jesus’ sinless life and sacrifice for us, everyone who believes and trusts in him receives the gift of eternal life. But God’s gift is eternal life given by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23b)
You know how your life is. I know how my life is. We all know the secrets of our lives that are not on show for all to see. The muck in our lives is not visible to the world – unlike the muck in that stable where Jesus was born. In truth we must all confess the sin in us to the Lord. We do that in Jesus’ name and claim his sacrifice for us. By God’s grace through Jesus’ sacrifice, we become acceptable to God.
As baptised people of God we stand always at the open stable where God stepped into our world; where in Jesus, our sin is washed away. Our sins are forgiven. Life with the Lord in his kingdom forever. That’s what this all means. We can live in confidence, even as we continue deal with temptation and sin. We are safe and saved because of the birth of Jesus. God is with us.
Welcome home dear people. Amen.
Now may the peace of God that is deeper than our human understanding keep all our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Saviour. Amen.
