By Pastor Jon
It is such a special season when those in close vicinity have a baby born into their world, especially when this child will be their first.
If you have real relational proximity, you may have journeyed through the various levels of conversation about what to expect-when-you-can-not-really-expect. As the days begin to both lengthen and shorten until the official arrival, the anticipation and excitement only grows.
When a child finally, and entirely, enters this world, it is normative to have abundant conceptions about what they could become. It seems there is a future of unlimited potential in that bundle of small person. All the great names of history have passed through this stage. This communal pathway affirms the consensus of humanity’s genesis. However, historically, this pathway has not necessarily been such a clean metaphor for birthed hope, as the mortality rate has been real, and medical science is more recent.
In other words, our journey today is not-at-all normative, while life’s conclusion is exactly as before.
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As you will know, it is advent season; nearing Christmas day, when we celebrate the Incarnation; the arrival of the God-Man, Jesus Christ; the 2nd Person of the Trinity into the suit of human history.
If you know the historical detail, you will understand the eccentric small-print surrounding His birth. Although certain scenic representations used on this occasion give the impression Jesus was born in a nice European stable, in first-century Judea, this would have been more like a cave. Now I like caves, and as Jesus is a man, maybe this is more personally applicable than I have ever considered – Mancave! I will have to tell the wife. Buuuuutttt, not really my point.
The text in Luke 2:7 affirms baby Jesus was wrapped in “swaddling cloths and laid in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” Interesting historical insight, but much more emphatic than we may have previously considered. Not only can we more entirely capture a sense of real fulfilment of His earthly humility through these surrounds, we also gain providential insight into His future.
Unlike every other child who is born to live, Jesus was born to die!
Of course, we know Isaiah 53, so this is not a prophetic surprise. But, we gain a more mundane picture of this future in what may be described as more incidental. While we-in-the-more-prosperous-West do our utmost to put our bundles-of-joy into a varied assortment of specifically appointed layers for such a time as this, Jesus was in a cave, lying in a feeding trough, wrapped in burial cloth. Yes, burial cloth. We probably do not see this through our English translations. “Swaddling” reads more like something out of Mother Goose. And I have to thank “the Frucht” for this insight.
While this is foreign to our natural birth, this is fundamental to our most significant required birth. The new birth. The you-must-be-born-again of John 3. And this is the apparent paradox of present life. To get life demands death. Jesus led the charge as our substitute for sin, and in doing so, also becoming our example for imitation. There is comprehensive application.
I have been reminded of this design today upon the news my Uncle has gone to be with Jesus. This is with the One who declared, “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43) to another who was bearing his just punishment. With this sudden death that becomes sudden glory, I have been reminded of both the precarious nature of this life, but also the assured Christian future in death. “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15). While my family news has been deeply saddening, which can leave a ghastly hollow as death is indeed a violator, it is also entirely normative in our human pursuit.
We do so much to paper-over this into life; to remove this truth from our view; that when it arrives-like-taxes, we are not really prepared. And the only way to be entirely prepared, according to the Bible, is to be in Christ; to be a Christian; to have Jesus as your sin-bearer, as you become completely clothed with the righteousness of Christ, which is the only style for the justified. Thankfully, my Uncle is born of God (John 1:12-13), which changes everything.
On that note, I direct the reader to THIS CHAPTER, and encourage you to read-on.
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Now that we have entered this season where we celebrate the life of Jesus, we also remember the purpose of His coming; to save sinners like Me; like my Uncle. To save us from the living of death, so that in our dying to live, we may truly gain the life that counts.
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,” the writer of the Book of Hebrews begins verse 27 of chapter 9, “so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” the writer concludes in verse 28. This is our hope. He is our hope. We must have His life inside. And we must remember this truth for every other enfleshed; no matter how recent the day of hopeful arrival.
As I remember the life of my Uncle, I am thankful to God for all the special memories, which have reminded of my now faded youth. However, his future is as bright as mine, as he has followed the Christ. if I really believe that, the-canvas-of-existence-that-counts, can never reach corruption.
Therefore, Jesus is the best Christmas gift, as He truly keeps giving; maybe most proven when we consider the consequence of death without Him. At this time, when geographically disparate family come together and share the love, consider how you can give what really matters.
This is what family need most as they unwrap on the 25th. Maybe a simple gift in old newspaper declaring hope about the One in unimpressive swaddling clothes.
My Uncle practically knows this better than most.
For the Fame of His Name