Christmas and Connecticut
This week, I was meditating on the account in Matthew of the angel's visit to Joseph to tell him of the pregnancy of Mary and the coming birth of God's Son. In particular, I was considering the two names that are given to the Messiah in this account. The angel told Joseph that the baby would be called "Immanuel" meaning "God with us," a name indicating who the child is. Then, Matthew tells us that when the child was born, they gave him the name "Jesus" meaning "He saves," a name pointing to what he will do.
I was thinking on these two names and, in particular, what they tell us about the incarnation, Jesus' coming to earth and taking on flesh to become a human being, in preparation for my message this week. You see, Christmas is about way more than a baby in a manger, surrounded by his mother and father, cute sheep, a lowing cow, some shepherds, and a few kings bringing gifts, while angels sing, and a star overhead serves as a spotlight to illuminate the whole thing. The biblical message of Christmas is much grittier, much more real, and in many ways, much uglier than our traditional images of the nativity.
So, as I was nailing down some of the applications of the biblical message, the message struck home in a very real sense today as I received word of the Connecticut school shooting. Already questions are coming in like, "How could someone do that to little children? What kind of monster must this guy have been? What is our world coming to?" And it is precisely those questions that the Christmas story answers.
So, as you deal with the horror of yet another school shooting and process it all in your mind, let me give you a few of the thoughts from the Bible's message about Christmas.
1. Human sin is a really big deal. It is such a big deal that God came to earth in the flesh to deal with it. He didn't whitewash it, overlook it, or just sweep it under the rug. He came to a broken, messed up, hurting world to deal with our sin.
2. God takes the brokenness of the world personally. The incarnation is about God coming in person to fix what we have broken. He came to earth, became one of us, lived our life, and died our death to pay the price for sin. The author of Hebrews says that we have a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses, who understands our hurts and pains and sufferings. God takes the hurt of our world personally.
3. We are incapable of fixing what is broken in our world and our own lives. God had to come to earth to save us because we could not save ourselves. There is no government program, no human initiative, no amount of moralizing, no new set of rules, no social strategy that can fix sinful condition of our world. We cannot fix ourselves. Only Jesus can save.
4. There is a penalty for sin. Don't forget, Jesus was born to die. From the moment he came to earth, he was destined for a cross, because sin must be atoned for. There has to be a sacrifice for sin to be forgiven. God does not just overlook sin. He deals with it. He pays for it. He dies in our place.
5. God is merciful. In situations like this school shooting, we are all quick to line up to say how despicable such an action is and how the shooter deserves to suffer the judgment of God. I do not for a minute deny that is true. But what we sometimes lose in offering those verdicts is the fact that we all deserve God's judgment. None of us are righteous, not even one. None of us do what is right. None of us seek after God. We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way. Our righteous acts are like filthy rags before God. The only hope for any of us is not that I am any better than the guy who pointed a gun at innocent children and took their lives, as if my horrible, wretched sin were a little bit better in God's eyes than his. The only hope for any of us is that God has mercifully and graciously provided a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And only through him can I be forgiven. And only through him can our world be fixed.
We need a Savior. We need God with us. We need Jesus. We need Christmas.
