“For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Luke 2:11
The inspiration for this article comes from my new grandson, Ezra.
Ezra was born last month in Texas, where I’m currently writing from. I’m fighting every ‘Pop-Pop’ (as my other grandkids have named me) bragging instinct in me not to include a photo of this beautiful little boy in this article. He is beautiful!
By the grace of God, and an amazing medical team, he came into this world healthy and strong. As a family we are still in the ‘gaze-in-wonder’ stages, where every micro development in his tiny little life is cause for much celebration and discussion. As is the case with every newborn child, Ezra’s birth marked the beginning of a long vigil for his mom and dad over his well-being. But with each day our confidence grows a little more as he clears his health-checks and shows every sign of healthy development. Our love for this boy seems to come in ever increasing waves with every passing hour.
While Ezra and his mom were still in the hospital after the birth, I was struck by how incredible the medical care was there. I’m no expert on medicine but I’ve traveled extensively and have been in enough hospitals around the world to appreciate how good the care was they received. I don’t think there was a single detail relating to Ezra’s birth that was overlooked, from pre-natal to post. The doctors, nurses and technicians were highly trained. The hospital is equipped with millions of dollars of the most sophisticated equipment. It felt like there wasn’t any eventuality that they weren’t completely prepared to deal with.
Now, all of that translated into an experience that was as close to stress-free as you could ask for.
I remember thanking God that we were on the receiving end of a long history of medical progress. I was also conscious that most people in the world today have never enjoyed the same assurances that we did.
The genuine weight of gratitude that I experienced during Ezra’s birth was a gracious gift, not a given right.
For many, the joy of childbirth is accompanied by a lot of uncertainty and risk. And the further back you go in history the more those joys were offset by very real dangers. We can still find places today where the words ‘you’re pregnant’ evoke as much fear as they do joy. Because we generally associate childbirth with joy and celebration, we lose sight of how much risk there is, to both mother and child, in the form of countless dangers. Not only physically, but emotionally, mentally and spiritually too.
Even in the very best of circumstances, when considering all the risks involved, choosing to give birth to a child is an incredible act of sacrifice.
“…THE WHOLE OF JESUS’ EARTHLY LIFE, BEGINNING WITH HIS BIRTH, WAS A PRE-CURSOR TO HIS ATONING WORK ON THE CROSS.”
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, Christmas, too often we are presented with a squeaky clean, greeting card version of Jesus’ birth. As if Mary and Jesus got special exemptions from a normal birthing experience. The Bible reads, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman…” One of the principal doctrines of Christianity is that Jesus, the Son of God, while completely God, was completely man as well. This beautiful verse, along with many others, teaches that God is not a remote, apathetic Judge, but an intimate, compassionate God who absolutely identifies with the plight of man, because He drank, to the dregs, the human experience through His Son.
That experience included a literal physical birth in some of the most challenging and dangerous of circumstances.
Christianity gives a lot of attention to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and rightly so. The Bible says the cross is the ultimate demonstration of God’s love (Romans 5:8) for you and me. You will never find a greater example of God’s unconditional love for you then when you see Jesus dying in the sinner’s stead. But His sacrifice didn’t begin there.
Scripture teaches that the whole of Jesus’ earthly life, beginning with his birth, was a pre-cursor to his atoning work on the cross. Jesus’ sacrifice included His incarnation as a helpless, vulnerable baby into this fractured world.
In fact, the birth of Christ set the tone for the humility, grace and love that would define the entirety of His life. His first breath outside the womb was not in a sterilized high-tech birthing chamber at some posh hospital, but in a place straight out of a germaphobe’s nightmare; a dirty stable. There was no team of medical professionals monitoring His arrival, only His inexperienced father and young mother. He was born into obscurity, far from the centers of power, the embodiment of exposure and vulnerability. From cradle to grave Jesus’ life epitomized the cost of our salvation. As it is written, “…He existed in the form of God… but emptied Himself…” (Philippians 2:6). Again, “the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus’ life of unflinching obedience and submission to His Father qualified Him as the sinless substitute necessary for your redemption.
Jesus’ life is one unbroken line that stretches from the poverty of his birth to His humiliating death on the cross, to His triumphant resurrection from the dead and his glorious exaltation at the right hand of God the Father, where He reigns today.
Whether this is the first time you’ve heard these truths, or the millionth, I pray that this Christmas the celebration of Christ’s birth will produce that ‘gaze-in-wonder’ awe in you. I pray that we will understand that God sent Jesus as a gift to be received, not as a right we deserve. I pray that as we reflect upon the baby Jesus in the manger, with all its implications for our lives, our souls will be flooded with ever increasing waves of praise, gratitude and love towards God for His mercy and grace.
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.”
Isaiah 9:6
By Pastor Tim Mattox
Paphos Calvary Chapel
www.calvarycyprus.com
