Christmas / The Incarnation: The apparent weakness of the birth of Jesus is triumphant

Christmas / The Incarnation: The apparent weakness of the birth of Jesus is triumphant

The nature of Jesus is central to the cross

A touching birth?

Touching moment in the manger, the little child is born.

Yes, but is He so small?

Yet the announcements speak of greatness: from angels to shepherds, from Gabriel to Mary.

Gabriel to Mary:

Luke 1

30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 Behold, you will be pregnant. You will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus.

32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his ancestor. 33 He will reign over the family of Jacob forever, his reign will have no end.”

Angels to Shepherds:
Luke 2

6 While they were there, the time came when Mary was to give birth, 7 and she gave birth to her first-born son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the guest room.

8 There were shepherds in the same region who spent the night in the fields to tend their flock.

9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. They were seized with great fear. 10 But the angel said to them:

“Do not be afraid, for I bring you good news which will bring great joy to all the people: 11 today in the city of David,

you have been born a Savior who is the Messiah, the Lord.

12 This is the sign by which you will recognize him: you will find a newborn baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

13 And suddenly a crowd of angels of the heavenly host joined the angel. They praised God and said, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and goodwill among men!”

15 When the angels had left them to return to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see what has happened, what the Lord has made known to us.”

16 They hurried there and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger. 17When they saw him, they told what had been told them about this little child.

18All who heard the shepherds were amazed at what they said to them. 19Mary remembered all this and pondered it in her heart.

20Then the shepherds departed, praising the glory of God and giving him praise because of all that they had heard and seen, and which was just as it had been told them.

The Apparent Weakness of Jesus’ Birth Is Triumphant

What the birth of Jesus inspires

The nature of Jesus is central to the cross.
Is this nature really real?
This nature reflects the continuous love of God.

The capital birth for the cross

There is in the birth of Jesus an aspect as decisive as that of the cross, of His death and His resurrection.

And when we sing:

“Eternal King, lifted above all,

Your glory shines in the sky.

You came humbly to this earth,

You gave yourself out of love.

And I couldn’t imagine

The price paid for my sin.

No I couldn’t imagine

The price paid for my sin. »

Song; Light of the World (JEM788)

The price of the cross involves birth

The price paid is certainly on the cross but also, the moment of His incarnation, of His birth contributes to it.

divine humiliation

When Jesus was born, God humbled himself by also being a man.

Humbling himself does not mean that he is no longer God, he remains so, but by also taking on the human condition, he suffers the consequences of the human condition.

100% God and 100% perfect man

The birth of Jesus is a real mystery

Because, uniquely, Jesus is

100% God
and 100% man.
These two aspects, fully coexisting, make Jesus perfect.

If Jesus is not only human,

the forgiveness of our sins would have been worthless.

If Jesus was just a simple man, because a sinner from birth at that time, He would therefore be inadmissible as a perfect sacrifice for sin.

If Jesus is only God,

the forgiveness of our sins would have been worthless.

If Jesus was only God, because human reality would not have been lived perfectly, it would not have been represented.

So the Messiah, Jesus in the manger, had to be completely God and completely man!

A super angel? (theology of Jehovah’s Witnesses)

Jesus is not a super angel!

For angels are created:

and therefore God would not have been involved,
distance,
God’s love would not have been complete.
And moreover, the angels are not human, the cross would have been without value because the men would not have been represented.

A virtual representation

Jesus is not some kind of divine hologram: it would have been a vast deception and those who lived with Him would necessarily have seen it.

In particular, Mary, in this moment of early childhood, realized when she was breastfeeding Him that Jesus was not virtual!

These last two outlandish proposals have always been popular, even in major religious movements.

The power of the cross depends on the fact that God the Son became man

A unique fact

There is a unique fact in the history of humanity: Jesus is both a perfect man and fully God!

Never again will it be. It is also one of the aspects that makes there are no other means of salvation.

When we quote Acts 4.12

There is no salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men,

by which we must be saved.

If there is no other name, because there is none of this nature: perfect humanity of Jesus and His divinity.

But since it’s out of the ordinary, don’t we tell each other stories?

Is this nature really real?
God in the nativity texts

Lots of biblical or extra-biblical facts show us that He really is God!
But let us pay attention only to the texts read today:

Luke 1

A Marie Gabriel emphasizes 2 aspects

32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High ,

and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his ancestor.

33 He will reign over the family of Jacob forever; his reign will have no end. »

Luke 2. 11

you have been born a Savior who is the Messiah, the Lord .

Term reserved for God,

Kurios (here in Greek),
Adonai (in Hebrew not to say YHWH)
In these few texts, His divine connection with God the Father is emphasized and also His eternity (specific to God) and His name (reserved to God).

If the divine aspect is clearly underlined, we can also note:

The man in the nativity

God, through Jesus, takes the usual way of humans.

By birth, He did not arrive “ready-made”;

Luke 1

31 Behold, you will be pregnant . You will give birth to a son

Luke 2

6 the time came when Mary was to give birth , 7 and she gave birth to her first-born son . She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger

Like all births

The sign. Luke 2

12 This is the sign by which you will recognize him: you will find a newborn baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger

Finding Luke 2

16 They hurried there and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger . 17When they saw him , they related what had been told them about this little child.

18 All who heard the shepherds were amazed at what they said to them. 19 Mary remembered all this and pondered it in her heart.

20 Then the shepherds departed, celebrating the glory of God and giving him praise because of all that they had heard and seen, and which was in conformity with what had been announced to them.

Jesus is fully God and His love led him to humble himself through human birth. Then afterwards, by suffering, by death, by His burial. However, He remains God

Philippians 2

he (Jesus) who is of divine condition, he did not regard his equality with God as a spoil to be preserved,

7 but he emptied himself by taking on the condition of a servant,

by becoming like human beings.

Recognized as a simple man,

8 he humbled himself by showing obedience unto death, even death on the cross.

This nature reflects God’s continued love

The Incarnation Shows God’s Real Understanding of Our Condition

In the story that humans live

Jesus is part of the story:

Edict of Caesar Augustus Luke 2.1 , for example, Jesus saw the history of men.

The incarnation shows the pedagogy of God

Our language

God speaks our language, He seeks to be understood by men.

He did not seek to impose a celestial language.

Shows us the person of God

No one can stand before God.

Through Jesus, God makes himself known: Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

God demonstrates His love

The incarnation, with all that flows from it for God, is a demonstration of God’s love.

Not a benefit

We have seen that the incarnation is real, but the Son of God did not just come to perform and afterwards, He regains his former life…

When we evoke the ascension of Jesus, it is the resurrected Jesus who ascended to the Father. He did not reject the perfect human part of the resurrected, as if his humanity were a mantle that He would have left on earth.

Lamb is the risen Jesus

When we read about the greatness of Jesus Christ, the “lamb” in Revelation, it is Christ, in the body of the risen Jesus Christ, who is being referred to.

Consequence: He intercedes with knowledge

The dual nature of Jesus has many consequences: when He intercedes with the Father for us, He is not distant from men. He understands them best having lived their lives too:

Who will condemn them? [Jesus-]Christ is dead, much more, he is risen, he is at the right hand of God and he intercedes for us! Romans 8:34

Consequence: His mission to sinners is real

Indeed, we do not have a high priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses; on the contrary, he was tempted in every way like us, but without committing any sin. Hebrews 4.15

Consequence (divine aspect): the world is in His hands

All was created by him and for him.

17 He exists before all things and everything subsists in him. Colossians 1. 16-17

His nature determines His life, His mission

Everything is already present in the nursery

By the nature of Jesus in the manger, there is already all that.

It is not surprising that this is expressed in the sequel.

It is the child of this manger who will say to the impure spirits: “Shut up and get out of this man.” ( Mark 1. 25 ), and He will do the same to many demons.
It is the child of this manger who will heal the blind, the paralytic, the lepers.
It is the child of this manger who, from almost nothing, will feed thousands of people ( Mark 6 , 8), by multiplying bread and fish (bones included).
It is the child of this nursery who will say, faced with the death of a little girl, “Do not be afraid, only believe.” ( Mark 5. 36 ), and who will resuscitate her, just like her friend Lazarus.
It is the same child of the crib who will be the same with strangers, outcasts of society, emanating people, opponents, children, ladies, important people and with everyone!
It is the child of this crib who will subdue the fury of a storm by saying to it: “Silence! Shut up!” ( Mark 4.38 ). And a little later will walk on it with ease ( Mark 6. 48 ).
It is the child in this crèche who will say: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. ( Mark 2:17 ) and who, through His teachings and parables, will show the way to eternal healing.
He is the same child in the manger who knew exactly what the thoughts and thoughts of those around Him were.
It is the same child in the manger who will normally speak with Moses and Elijah.
This same child in the manger will be hungry and thirsty and will cry.
He is the same child in the manger who knew exactly why He was there on earth and will experience the anguish at the end of His earthly mission.
It is the same child of the crib who will say: “everything is accomplished”.
It is the same child of the manger who will pulverize the limitation of death by rising again.
It is the same child of the manger who will join His Father, specifying that He will return!
No surprise because He is God and man

There is nothing surprising: He is perfect man and God!

His nature dictated what would happen later.

Ditto for his final victory

Just as we saw in Revelation 1 , Christ is victorious, so the sequel is certain. This child, it is He who will have the last word on everything we know!

Acknowledgement

Worship

Let’s rejoice!

Take refuge in Him!

Indeed, we do not have a high priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses;

on the contrary,

he was tempted in every way like us, but without committing any sin.

Let us therefore approach boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain compassion and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4.15-16

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