This has been a tough year for many of us. Christmas is the story of God sending his Son into the world where he would take on our humanity, and as the perfect man, suffer and die for our sake.
Christmas is merry because the end is victorious: “For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” (1 Thessalonians 4:14).
The birth of Jesus happened as foretold in the Jewish scriptures: The sign was that he would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14); he would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2); violence would be inflicted following his birth (Jeremiah 31:15).
After Jesus’ birth, the Magi, wise men from the East, came to Jerusalem looking for the one who had been born “the king of the Jews” that they might worship him. The ruler, King Herod, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, were disturbed by such news — could this mean the end of the reign of Herod, they wondered.
Not allowing for such a possibility, Herod gave orders to kill all the boys aged two and under in Bethlehem, in accordance with the timing he had learnt of the Messiah’s birth. Having been warned in a dream that Herod’s men were coming to search for the child to kill him, Joseph took the baby Jesus and his mother and escaped to Egypt.
Jesus would live in relative obscurity for some 30 years, before making his public appearance. John the Baptist, a fiery preacher, was baptising people in the Jordan — so effective was his preaching about the kingdom of God that many including the Jewish religious leaders came to be baptised by him.
When Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptised, John tried to deter Jesus, saying that he (John) ought to be baptised by Jesus instead. But Jesus insisted on being baptised by John, and as Jesus rose from the waters, a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11)
For 3 years, Jesus led a small band of disciples and preached about the kingdom of God in Judea and Samaria. Signs and wonders (miracles) accompanied him, attesting his message.
On one occasion, a Jewish ruler named Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, and said, “We know you have come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus said to Nicodemus that those who would see the kingdom of God must be born again. Referring to the way he would die, and what it would accomplish, Jesus told Nicodemus: “The Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world thru him.” (John chapter 3)
On another occasion, when Jesus was in the temple courts in Jerusalem, the religious leaders and lawyers brought before him a woman whom they had caught committing adultery. They told Jesus that the Law of Moses required such women to be stoned, and asked him, “What say you?” They kept questioning him, trying to force an answer that they could then use to accuse him of wrong teaching. Jesus’ reply was, “Whoever amongst you who is without sin may cast the first stone.” One by one, the men left until all left.
Jesus said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” The woman replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.” (John chapter 8)
At another time, a village of the Samaritans refused to welcome Jesus as he was headed to Jerusalem. Two of his disciples were furious with the rejection and told Jesus, “Shall we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?” Jesus rebuked the disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” (Luke 9:51–55)
Jesus had come not to condemn or to destroy, but to save.
It was into a world of sin and false righteousness that Jesus was born. He came to save people not only from the problems of this present world, but of the judgment that awaits every person. It is written in the book of Hebrews: “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:27–28)
He was given to the world so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. This is the purpose of Christmas, and why we can have a Merry Christmas.