And the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings consisting of great joy which shall be to all the people. Because born to you this day is a savior who is the anointed Lord in the city of David. And this is the sign for you: You shall find a baby snugly wrapped and lying in an animal’s feed box” (Luke 2:10-12; translation ours).
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It is the redeeming contrast of Christmas that people find difficult to handle, if they see it. The contrast between who Jesus is and how He appeared in Bethlehem of Judea.
Heralded to watching shepherds by heaven’s angelic host, this baby is a savior who, finally, will deliver Israel from her sin and guilt. This savior has been anointed (christos) as Lord in David’s city, whereby God is fulfilling the promises He had made long ago to David’s house. This is who He is.
But how does He appear in Bethlehem?
To the shepherds was given the sign of Israel’s coming salvation from sin and guilt through this savior and this Lord in David’s line. “You shall find a baby snugly wrapped and lying in an animal’s feed box.” Put simply, His appearance clashes severely with His identity.
And that is both the redemption and the offense of Christmas.
For, you see, it is a sign of ordinariness and impoverishment. Like every baby, this Jesus is wrapped tightly, for warmth and security, in strips of cloth that serve as His receiving blanket. Likely because the place where Joseph and Mary had been living for some time now was overcrowded, the only place to lay this royal child was a feed box. That’s all they could afford, so poor they were.
Precisely in this contrast between the glory of this savior’s birth-announcement and the cold indigence of His birth lies the secret of Israel’s joy and ours. Because the fact that a baby thus heralded by angels lay in such impoverished circumstances is presented as the sign of His work as redeemer. Born a King, without a crown. Anointed a Lord, without subjects. Who ever heard of a savior from sin having a feed box as his crib? For His life’s work, He would earn His crown and gather His subjects, as He grew up, moving from His feed box to His cross. That work is our redemption!
Again, here is both the redemption and the offense: His feed box and His cross were, so to speak, made of the same wood!
During Jesus’ life, the Jewish leaders simply couldn’t put it together, His identity and His appearance. Among their favorite weapons was the genetic fallacy: “We know where this fellow grew up, his background and family pedigree. He cannot be the Son of God.” Their escalating unbelief drove them, finally, to remodel His crib into a cross, fit just for Him. The same wood, mind you, because it was the same redeeming, offensive contrast that joined Good Friday to Christmas! Jesus’ appearance and “background” simply didn’t match His claims.
So the meaning of the Christmas sign, given to the shepherds, proclaimed to us, is this: to understand our Savior’s crown, you must know His cross, following Him believingly along His costly route from Bethlehem to Calvary.
Are you satisfied with the redeeming contrast of Christmas between Jesus’ appearance and His identity? Are you satisfied enough not to soften the edges, not to air-brush the portrait of “baby Jesus” so He looks cute and cuddly enough for people without faith to like Him? Do you believe that your salvation rests squarely upon the fact that His ordinary birth in circumstances of stark poverty was truly and exactly like any other human birth?
If so, then move beyond the satisfaction born of faith, to rejoicing with the angels and the shepherds, with Mary and the wise men. For this savior is truly Israel’s only Savior from sin and guilt, and David’s Lord of glory and triumph. This Jesus is our Savior and Lord!
(This meditation appeared originally in the Mid-America Messenger, newsletter of Mid-America Reformed Seminary, Dyer, Indiana)
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