18 Now the
birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been
betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child
from the Holy Spirit. 19 And
her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame,
resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But
as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in
a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife,
for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and
you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took
place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a
son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which
means, God with us). 24 When
Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took
his wife, 25 but
knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
Matthew
1:18-25
The entire world was in chaos. No salvation at the horizon. All attempts to try to get to heaven failed
miserably. No religion might save anyone
from the eternal punishment. The
intricate system of animal sacrifice that the Jews were doing for many centuries
had become corrupt. Even when it was not
corrupt, the ritual could not save anyone from the eternal fire. For ages Israel had hoped for salvation. They called out to the God of their
ancestors. So Yahweh showed Himself holy
to them. Then He set the type of what
was to come. The ritual Israel’s priests
were to conduct was a type of the ultimate sacrifice to be done by the
Messiah. People’s faith was supposed to
be on God alone, not on the animal being sacrificed, and certainly not on the
ritual. But the human heart could not
keep the faith in God. They switched
allegiance to the tradition of man. The
ritual at the temple did not bring any more meaning. People did not feel that the animal sacrifice
was bearing any hope for salvation anymore. Its practice had been corrupted to the
core. God’s temple had become “a den of
robbers” and not “a house of prayer.”
Salvation was a transaction. People
bought their salvation every year. The
priests ran their business there to enrich themselves, exploiting the need of
the people’s heart for the assurance of salvation.
People grew weary. It had been a long time since God sent His
prophets. For nearly 400 years they had
not heard God’s words anymore. Under the
slavery of sin they groaned. They wanted
true salvation. They looked at their
religious leaders, and all they got was more rules and regulations. The empty heart was filled with religious
burdens of what was lawful and what was not.
Their heart became emptier. They
longed for salvation from eternal salvation, but their leaders led them to hope
for the freedom from Roman occupation. 1500
years ago a similar situation haunted Israel.
It was the time when Egypt enslaved Israel. For 400 years God did not do anything to save
Israel from Egyptian slavery. Until
Moses. Then when Moses came, God freed
Israel from their misery. But now,
nothing. Both the hands of the Romans
and the hands of the Priests were heavy upon them. They had to pay taxes to Caesar, and they
also still had to pay tithe to the Priests.
Double pressures. Not to mention
that their hearts were so dry. “Oh when
would the Messiah come?” so they might have thought.
And so we think the same thing. In the most advanced era of the history of
the world, every human soul is also still searching for salvation. Even though the Messiah had already come 2000
years ago, our souls are still floating in the air needing consolation. We live surrounded with advanced technology
to help us with living a better life.
Yet we live almost as desperately as many people lived 2000 years
ago. The oppression of our soul by sin
is no more fading than what people felt in the time of Jesus. The advanced technology we have does not help
us. Cutting edge psychology does not
ease our suffering that is caused by our heart accusing us of our sins. The oppression of the reality of life also
burdens us even more. Cancer, AIDS,
Ebola, TB, Malaria, and many other scary diseases keep haunting us and our
technology can’t make us live better or longer.
So we despair even at the outset of many scientific breakthroughs. We are troubled with the prospect of our
meaningless life right at the dawn of the discovery of the new space science
and Nano technology. Any hint of hope
would intensify our search for salvation.
We resort to the ancient knowledge of spirituality.
When Michael Glatze felt in his body
that he might have his father’s heart disease, he took a drastic turn on his
life. Michael had been living a gay
lifestyle to the fullest. He did not
care whether God exists or not. He was
one of the strongest proponent of LGBT.
But he realized that nothing could help him overcome death. He felt it deep down in his soul that he was
on the wrong track. He felt it in his
spirit that he would be condemned in hell.
So he searched intensively of what could save his pity soul. He abandoned all his fame as gay and gay
activist. He even broke up with his
boyfriend, whom he called his soul-mate.
No technology, no psychology, no philosophy, nothing could satisfy his
craving for salvation. He knew all those
could not save him.
Any rumor of hope would be
welcome. Any slight of hint of the
coming of the promised Messiah would be refreshing to the weary soul. And voila, suddenly a new spark began to
light up. A lowly maiden was visited by
an angel of heaven. A lowly carpenter
bound to be married to the maiden was also visited by the same angel. The message was unmistakably the message
every soul on earth had been waiting for.
The Messiah will come. Salvation
will be realized. Not a type, but the
true one. Not temporary, but the
permanent one. Not the mortal one, but
the eternal salvation. The whole world
rejoiced at the prospect of the eternal salvation. From the lowest caste in the society to the
honorable foreigners of the east, all celebrated the joy of salvation. The little baby born on the day that we now
celebrate as the Christmas day was everyone’s hope. Gabriel told Joseph that he should “call his name Jesus, for he will save
his people from their sins.” Yes that baby in his fiancée’s womb was the
savior of the world. The virgin would
give birth to Immanuel.
Oh the hint of hope. On that day Jesus was born, a group of
shepherds suddenly came to visit them and worshiped the baby. They spoke of the extraordinary things that
lighted up their souls. Yes they might
have been so disappointed because they had been refused any decent room in the
town of their ancestor. At the height of
the birth pain, all Joseph and Mary could find was a place for animals. Perhaps they wondered how could this baby be
savior of the world, for his birth was not spectacular. From human perspective it was very likely
that He was condemned right from the start.
A savior? Immanuel? Not a chance!
But all of those were challenged just when the first shepherd rushed in
to bow down to the baby laid in a manger.
Yes, and eight days later, when they brought Him into the temple to
circumcise Him, a prophet approached them to prophesy of the how extraordinary
the baby would become. Not just one
prophet but another prophetess also said the same thing. Joseph and Mary were lifted up. Almost two years passed, and nothing
spectacular happened. But another
unexpected thing happened, a group of Magi came from the east, finding them in
their humble hut, and worshiped the toddler, bringing frankincense, gold, and
myrrh. They said that they were guided
by a star. And so the hope was
confirmed.
But many did not know that this
extraordinary baby would suffer greatly in order to save the world. The imagination of the people was lost in the
hype for exuberant and jubilant celebration.
They thought that the Messiah would be riding a mighty horse, wielding a
sword, leading a mighty army, and kicking the Romans out of Israel’s
territory. They thought that the Messiah
would establish the glory of the Davidic kingdom on earth once more. They thought that the Messiah would stay
forever with them in that present bodily form and kept diseases at bay,
prevented death from creeping in, casted out demons into oblivion, and supplied
them with food in abundance. They were
thinking in terms of the worldly imagination.
The earthly desire dominated their heart that they were forcing the
Messiah to serve their demand.
But this Messiah refused to be made
king by the people. That’s not why He
came into the world. His incarnation was
not meant to establish His kingdom in the earthly manner. He is King alright, but not like what people
perceived. He came to be the ultimate
sacrifice for the atonement of sin. His
path was not a happy path. His path was
a suffering path. He was born into the
world to be nailed to the cross. He knew
it even before He was born. Yet He
came. He did not have to come. Yet He came.
The mind of Jesus Christ, who can fathom? Paul wrote in Philippians 2:5-8:
Christ Jesus, 6 who,
though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be
grasped, 7 but
emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of
men. 8 And being
found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of
death, even death on a cross.
The
pain of being slandered, the pain of being rejected, the pain of being treated
unjustly, the pain of being flogged even though He committed no sin, the pain
of being given a death sentence without any legitimate reason, the pain of
being deserted and betrayed by His disciples, the pain of being mocked by those
He healed, and the pain of being forsaken by the Father, all of those He had to
bear for the sake of saving His people.
Yes He knew it even before the world began. Yet He did not cancel His coming. He could refuse to come. He also could call 12 legion of angels to
defend Him. He could send the entire
world into oblivion with a single command.
He could come down from that cursed cross and showed the world that He
was the Son of God. He did not do any of
those things. All for the sake of saving
those He loved. He endured them
patiently in complete obedience to the Father.
Brothers and sisters, this is the
meaning of incarnation. Christmas is
meaningless without the sacrifice of the Messiah. The birth of an extraordinary baby is useless
without the anointed Jesus sacrifices His life on that cross. For without His ultimate sacrifice, the whole
world is condemned eternally. No
salvation can be granted without the suffering and death of Christ.
Michael Glatze found Christ. He left his sinful life. He gave his life for the sake of Christ soon
afterwards, knowing that Christ has saved his soul from the eternal damnation. When he renounced his old gay life, he
received tons of condemning messages. He
went through the pain of rejection from the community he was a part of. He pressed on. He went through the suffering of leaving his
old lifestyle. But he did not give
up. He did not go back to his old
life. He finally got married to his
girlfriend. And he became a pastor in a
very conservative church.
As you are anticipating Christmas, have
you ever thought that His coming into the world means pain and suffering? The way the world celebrates Christmas today
is devoid of any theme of suffering and pain.
The “Christmas” of the world is the celebration of human
indulgence. The “Christmas” of the world
desires not suffering and pain. But the
true Christmas is loaded with the theme of suffering and pain. Right from the beginning, Christ was
rejected. Only animals received
Him. That’s the true Christmas. How are we then identifying our Christmas? Is it a suffering-less Christmas? Christ’s Christmas was full of
suffering. His entire life was full of
suffering. Even His death was a painful
death. Not only physically, but also
spiritually.
What is the point of knowing all
this, my brothers and sisters? If not to
join in His suffering? 1 Peter 4:13-16
encourages us:
12 Beloved,
do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as
though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s
sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted
for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God
rests upon you. 15 But
let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.
16 Yet if anyone
suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that
name.
In
Philippians 3:10 Paul says:
10 that I may
know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death.
We
too are given an opportunity to share in the suffering of Christ. In sharing His suffering, we too may share in
his glory. When we live in this world as
followers of Christ, we too will suffer.
To avoid the suffering because of Christ may only mean that we do not
partake in His salvation. The law of the
world tries to persuade us to avoid suffering at all cost. What will you choose? To embrace Christ at all cost, even though it
means suffering for His name? Or to
avoid suffering at all cost, even though it means rejecting Christ? I sincerely hope you choose to embrace Christ
at all cost. In that spirit, we may
anticipate Christmas in clearer understanding of what it cost Jesus to come to
earth 2000 years ago. Amen!
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