For too many people, Christmas simply means the baby Jesus in a manger. This same Jesus, however, is known by numerous other titles, some of which are the following, Jesus is: Shiloh, Passover Lamb, Captain of the Lord’s Host, Kinsman Redeemer (pictured by Boaz in the book of Ruth), Seed of David (typified by Solomon), Wonderful, Counselor, Prince of Peace, the Everlasting One, the Desire of all Nations, King of the Jews, the Word, God of all comfort, Savior, Chief Shepherd, Beloved Son, Lion of Judah. It is this Jesus that makes every day special!
As you can see, Jesus Christ is more than a baby, “away in a manger”. To truly celebrate Christmas a person must know Christ. Without Christ, any day of the year is hopeless and just a frustrating exercise of existence. Of course, Jesus did come to this earth.
Interestingly, some of the first people to see the One who is our Great Shepherd were lowly shepherds themselves. An angel of the Lord had declared that the arrival of this Baby was a message of great joy! The joyful message is that through Him we would receive forgiveness of sins. Now, the door of salvation is opened to those who confess Him as Lord.
Indeed, the gift we receive through Christ is eternal life. To miss out on this gift is to miss the greatest gift that a person could imagine. My prayer is that whatever veil that is over your heart today would be removed so that you might come to know the One who loves you and laid down His life for you.
Jesus is the Father’s gift to the world. If you open your heart to Him today, with true repentance, you will never be the same … and neither will Christmas, or any other day.
Pastor Ray,
Great reminder of the truth about Jesus, our Savior, Son of Man, who was born of a virgin 2000 years ago. He was born Lord even as baby in a manger.
The Pope apparently does not take this as the truth given his comments on December 27 2015. In his “homily”, he refers to Jesus as a young boy staying behind at the temple in Jerusalem:
“For this little ‘escapade,’ Jesus probably had to beg forgiveness of his parents. The Gospel doesn’t say this, but I believe that we can presume it.”
Hmm… young Jesus did an “escapade”. A definition of that word is: “adventurous action that runs counter to approved or conventional conduct”, implying Jesus was a bad boy. Consequently, Jesus the boy had to “beg for forgiveness”. Sounds like our Savior repented. Of what? Sin?
The quote was translated by the Vatican and now they are rationalizing that it was inaccurate or that the words used in Italian mean something different. Must give the Pope the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t really mean what he said or said what he meant, implying perfection. On the flip side even though the “Gospel does not say this” according to the Pope, we can still “presume” Jesus begged for forgiveness. Someone else needs to beg for forgiveness in this case.
Given today’s world and what some people hear on Sundays, the common perception is one of only a baby away in a manger. Better than Frosty or Rudolph I guess. Some people actually refer to the holidays as “Xmas”, detaching all that has meaning from that word. It is substituted by X which in algebra symbolizes an unknown or a variable. Rebuttal: He is known as Son of God and never changes or varies.
Your devotional has made me think of capitalizing the word Baby when referring to Jesus in a manger. He was since the beginning, is, and will always be the sinless Líon of Judah. The Alpha the Omega. Our Savior was King, even as a Baby. Praise the newborn Baby King!
God bless!
JoseM