Christmas Eve Meditation
January 8, 2010
This Christmas is special for our family because it is the first year that our children have been able to understand the story of Jesus’ birth. We have been adding pieces to an Advent Calendar each evening after dinner, so that the animals in stable, the shepherds in the field, and the wise men traveling from far away have become quite familiar. So at the risk of being less sophisticated in how we wrap up our church’s advent study on Jesus as prophet, priest, and king, I thought we might recap what we have learned about our Messiah through the eyes of this nativity scene. In each case, I would like to ask, “What do the shepherds, the animals, and the wise men remind us about Jesus as prophet, priest, and king?”
First, what do the shepherds remind us about Jesus as God’s prophet? They remind us that we should listen to what God says to us through Jesus. The shepherds modeled this on a very simple level in that the angels announced to them that God’s Messiah had been born in Bethlehem, and the shepherds listened to that message and responded by leaving their sheep and going to see the baby. And because they listened to what God was saying, they left the manger scene “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them” (Luke 2:20).
But God’s communication to us through his son only began with Jesus’ birth announcement. In fact, as Jesus grew and began his ministry, it became evident that God was communicating to us through the very words of Jesus, the mighty deeds of Jesus, and the tenderness, the faithfulness, the sufferings, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus. Through Jesus’ entire life God was speaking to us his final, full word, telling us “This is who I am! This is how I have come to save you!” If we will hear and believe what God is saying to us through Jesus we, like the shepherds, will be filled with great joy.
Second, what do the animals remind us about Jesus as God’s priest? Perhaps we could start by asking why the animals were there in the first place? Why did families in Israel keep animals? Certainly for food and transportation and labor, but there was another reason. Animals also served as sacrifices to God that could cover the sins of God’s people. Lambs and bulls and goats and even birds were sacrificed so that God’s people could be made clean when they broke his law.
These animals in the stable remind us that Jesus came as a priest to offer his own body as a sacrifice for our sins. It was never enough that the blood of animals were shed for our sins; only the blood of God’s perfect Son could forever remove our guilt before God and make us right with him.
Third, what do the wise men remind us about Jesus as God’s king? They remind us that, as a king, Jesus is to be worshipped. When the wise men finally arrived to see the child Jesus, their purpose was clear. They asked around Jerusalem, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2). When they finally found Jesus, Matthew writes, “they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11).
What we learn from these wise men is reverence. They had a deep enough reverence for this child king that they travelled for many months, brought valuable gifts, and bowed before Jesus the king. Jesus is not only a word to be listened to and a sacrifice to be trusted in, he is a king to be reverenced. So come let us adore this Jesus and give to him afresh all that is most valuable to us, even our entire lives.
Pastor Chris