Hebrews 12

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

When Mary and Joseph are traveling to Bethlehem, there would be a sense of shame they left back home, as they are not married and Mary is pregnant. Actually Mary may have been as young as 14, with Joseph, we assume is an older man.

They know there is no shame, however, as Jesus is conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit. And an angel told Mary this is God’s plan, and the same angel tells Joseph not to worry, but take Mary as his bride. Both Mary and Joseph are faithful to God, in spite of the apparent shame it will bring.

When they arrived in Jerusalem, it is possible they got married right away with all the priests there for the passover, but we don’t know this for sure. Either way, Jesus enters into our world in a cloud of shame.

Now consider when Jesus is crucified, there is a sense of shame again, as dying on the cross is considered a shaming death. A shadow of shame both at his birth and at his death, even though none of this shame is his fault.

Jesus takes this shame that’s not his fault, so that we can be saved from our sin, which is our fault.

At Christmas, we thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for breaking into our world. He lives a life we are called to model, teaches us wisdom we are called to follow, and he dies for us, a death we are called to trust brings us new life through him.

Thank you Jesus.

ME

What is your favorite part of Christmas?

Mark 16

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.

Jesus, the savior of the world is born in a cave and placed in a stone fee box, just outside of Jerusalem.

Years later, when Jesus is crucified, he is put in a cave and placed on a slab by a stone box, just outside Jerusalem. I took a picture of a tomb dated from the first century just outside Jerusalem. Notice tombs are carved out into caves.

Those stone boxes there that look like feed troughs? Those are boxes where the bones of a dead person are placed after one year when the body has decomposed. The tombs are caves the whole family would be buried in, and then placed in those stone boxes, ossuaries they are called.

So, the Savior is born in a cave and put in a feed box. Then when Jesus is resurrected, he is the first born of the new creation, and he comes out of the cave. There will be no need to place his bones in the box in the tomb because the tomb has become the womb for the newborn King.

Oh, and we are also reminded of the angel at Christmas telling the shepherds they will find Jesus in a feed box, in other words, in a cave. Then when Jesus raises from the dead, an angel tells Mary Magdalene Jesus is not in the cave, he is risen.

In the cave. Out of the cave.

ME

What is significant to you that Jesus is born the way he is?

Exodus 3

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey…”

There is the connection between the birth of Jesus and his resurrection, which the Bible says is a new birth. Jesus is called the “firstborn of the new creation.” Christmas is a study in contrasts between Christmas and the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Let’s take a look.

In Exodus 3, the angel of the lord tells Moses, a shepherd, that God is delivering his people, the Hebrews, out of slavery into the promised land.

At Christmas, the angel of the Lord tells the shepherds,  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

So, a shepherd receives the news that the Jewish people will be saved

and at Christmas, shepherds receive the news that all people will be saved.

While we are on the shepherds, why are they in the hills outside of Jerusalem?

December 25 was chosen as the date for Christmas in the 4th century. Prior to that there wasn’t a particular day celebrated. so why December 25th? Well there were two extremely popular Roman festivals at this time, so when the Romans became Christian by the 4th century, it would be an easy transition to transform those celebrations to Christmas.

So, when was Jesus really born? We don’t know the date for sure. But it may have been at Passover time in the spring. This is the major Jewish festival of the year when all the rooms in Jerusalem and the surrounding area, including Bethlehem, would be booked. In other words, no room in the inns. Estimates vary from several hundred thousand people to as many as 2 million visiting Jerusalem at the time.

The main ritual during passover is slaughtering the passover lambs. They needed 250,000 during the time of the festival according to ancient sources. That’s a lot of sheep and would explain the hills outside of Jerusalem being full of sheep and shepherd.

So, we have the passover lambs being slaughtered as a sign of God forgiving the sins of the Jews for another year. Fast forward to Good Friday while those passover lambs are being slaughtered, the lamb of God is being crucified on the cross forgiving the sins of all people for all time. No more sacrifices are necessary.

ME

What Christmas customs do celebrate from different cultures?