For a few weeks now at CCC we’ve been looking at different pictures of Jesus – not on FB or Snapchat, but places in the OT where God is giving a glimpse of Jesus, hundreds of years before He was born.
Now comes Christmas! Finally, as the NT opens up, we see the very familiar picture of the promised Son of God being born as a baby in Bethlehem. And there, in the NT, it’s like God takes out his smartphone and out come the pictures. “Have you seen My Son?”– not just one picture. In fact, He uses 4 different writers to tell the story of Jesus’ birth and life.
Whether you know much about the Bible or not, here’s something to keep in mind that will help you.
There are 4 different views of Jesus here. They’re all correct, all about the same Jesus, but 4 different peoples’ accounts. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew is a former tax collector. Mark, well, he’s on caffeine! Luke is a physician, and John, he was following his father’s footsteps to be a fisherman, until he left it to follow Jesus.
All 4 are different pictures; different enough that, if you’re trying to look up the Christmas story this year, you have to know which part of it you’re looking for and then which of the 4 gospels that’s in. So what’s the point of 4 different pictures of the life of Jesus? Let’s go there…
They help me see Who Jesus is
Having more than just one picture of anyone helps you understand that person better. That’s one reason we usually take more than one picture of someone! When I apply that to Jesus, I can answer some important questions about Him. For instance, What’s the big deal?
People make a big deal out of Christmas. Why not the same over George Washington’s birthday? The baby pictures in the gospels show me.
1. Jesus was a King
Matthew starts with the genealogy of Jesus.
Matthew 1:1 A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:…
And from there you read on and among other things you get names like Amminadab Jehoshaphat, Jeconiah, and Zerubbabel, all in the family line of Joseph, and then you get
Matthew 1:17 - Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
Matthew especially shows us that Jesus is a King and a descendant of a king, because when a King is born, that’s a big deal!
It’s Matthew who records the visit of the Magi – we even have a song that calls them “kings,” though it’s unlikely they were kings. But…
Matthew 2:1b-2 …Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
This news bothers King Herod. He doesn’t want to hear about another king stealing his thunder. The news stirred up the whole city of Jerusalem. Well, that’s Who Jesus is – a king. And Matthew shows how Jesus is the King simply taking His place.
2. Jesus was an important visitor
Whenever someone important enters a room, they get announced. When someone important is coming to a city, that city gets ready.
Kids, you better watch out, you’d better not cry, you better not pout, I’m tellin’ you why: Santa Claus is coming to town!
That’s what happens when someone important is coming. He gets announced. Mark’s picture of Jesus includes some words about the way Jesus’ entrance was announced and prepared. That’s what you do for someone important.
3. Jesus was a Miracle
Luke 1:31-34 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
Leave it to Luke the physician to get into the medical aspects of this! Jesus’ birth was a miracle! We misuse that word, “miracle.” Jesus’ birth was God, setting aside the natural order, setting aside the laws of physics, going outside of natural law, and causing a baby to be born to a woman.
Just to drive home the point that Jesus was a miracle, Luke also shows us the way God used angels to announce His birth – to Mary, and then to shepherds - because the arrival of Jesus on earth wasn’t normal. It was a miracle, and Luke, who is very much into details and facts, wants you to appreciate the wonder of what he writes.
4. Jesus was God in flesh
John doesn’t give us a picture of Jesus’ birth. He starts telling the story of Jesus before that!
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The story of creation begins with Jesus, because everything was made through Him. I can’t consider this picture of Jesus and then not consider that His birth involves me. What’s the big deal? The big deal is Who Jesus is!
Joke - Fran McMahon, Rochester, WA – During the Christmas season they displayed a lighted nativity scene in their large picture window. One day Mrs. McMahon overheard 2 small boys discussing it. One boy was looking at it and said, "I don't think these guys believe in Santa Claus." "No, I guess not," the other one said, then he added, "but they're nice people anyway."
The mall isn’t going to help me understand why the birth of Jesus is a big deal, because it’s not going to help me understand who Jesus is. I have to look at these pictures from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
The reason the Bible gives so much attention to this first point is simple: There’s no question more important than this ONE: Who is Jesus Christ. When Jesus asked His disciples, “And who do you think that I am?” He wasn’t playing games with them. He was inviting them to search deep inside and measure their faith. As you read through John’s gospel and he records how people ask, “Who is this man?” he’s really asking that question to you.
Who do you say that Jesus is?
Whether you’re going to be a follower of Jesus or not, whether you’re going to make right choices or not, and whether you’re going to go to heaven or not, comes down to that question: Who do you think Jesus is? Thank God for the baby pictures, because they make it clear: Jesus is the Son of God.
They help me see who Jesus is for
Jesus’ birth is more than the arrival of a baby. It’s the end of the world as we know it, up to that point, and the beginning of a world movement.
Matthew 4:16 “…the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
Wow! so, who gets to be “in on this” thing? Once again, the pictures of the Baby help us understand. Not only do they show us Who He is, they also let us know Who He’s for.
1. He’s for the Jews…and non-Jews
Matthew records how Magi came from the East. They weren’t Jews, but they were coming to worship a Jewish baby, in a Jewish household. They went to the Jewish capital, and received directions from the Jewish leaders who quoted to them from the Jewish prophets. Jesus grew up a Jew and spent His ministry with Jewish followers, and was crucified with a sign over His head that said, “This is the King of the Jews.”
If you have any Jewish friends – people who don’t realize that Jesus is their promised Messiah – share that message with them this Hanukkah – Jesus came for Jews!
The story of Jesus is wonderful because it fulfills God’s promise to the Jewish people, but also because then it tells how God’s plan is also to include everyone else too.
2. He’s for common people and outcasts
There were thousands of people to whom God may have announced the birth of Jesus. I would have had a press conference. I would have had all the religious dignitaries and some important local figures around me, and I would have had the camera show all of them applauding and nodding their heads about how important this Boy’s birth was.
That’s not what God does. Luke shows us this:
Luke 2:8 - And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
They weren’t the heroes of their day. They weren’t held in high regard. Many sources tag shepherds as outcasts. At best, they’re just common folks. When we look at God telling them first, what does that tell us about the birth of His Son? That Jesus is for outcast people and common people too. In fact, that’s John’s picture of Jesus…
3. He’s for anyone who receives Him (Jn 1:12)
John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…
Jesus didn’t come for just some select few. He came for all who receive Him, who believe in His name. Jesus came for anyone who receives Him. And that’s exactly what we want to encourage you to do…receive Him, if you haven’t. He came for you.
Quote - J. Sidlow Baxter in Awake, My Heart -
Separate Christmas Day from Good Friday, and Christmas is doomed--doomed to decay into a merely sentimental or superstitious or sensuous "eat-drink-and-be-merry" festivity of December. Bethlehem and Golgotha, the Manger and the Cross, the birth and the death, must always be seen together, if the real Christmas is to survive with all its profound inspirations; for "the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister; and to give His life a ransom for many."
Tonight, surrounded by the trappings of Christmas, we’re going to take in our hands and into ourselves reminders of Christ’s death. Jesus faced the prospect of dying on the cross and announced, “…it was for this very reason I came to this hour…”
This season, and every other, the cross and the crèche, the manger scene and the bread and cup all fit together. For this very reason Jesus came.
What could be a greater celebration of the birth of Jesus than to recognize the whole reason He came to earth?
________________________________________
Conclusion:
Jesus Christ was born in a borrowed room, was homeless most of his life, and was buried in a borrowed grave. Like ½ of the babies born in the world, Jesus was Asian-born. Like millions born today, Jesus was a refugee on the African continent, before age 2. Tell the whole story of Jesus, and it has incredible power for every person in the world – when we show the picture for how it really looks.
Someone else has suggested this picture…
One may think of a diver first reducing himself to nakedness, then glancing in mid-air, then gone with a splash, vanished, rushing down through green and warm water into black and cold water, down through the increasing pressure into the deathlike region of ooze and slime and old decay, and then back up again, back to color and light, his lungs almost bursting until suddenly he breaks the surface again, holding in his hand the dripping, precious thing he went down to recover. That dripping, precious thing is you and I, and Advent is when we celebrate his coming down to us. - C. S. Lewis
Praise God! He came down to us, and that dripping precious thing He sought to recover is us. Have you been recovered? Does He have you now? That’s up to you…
