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Commentary

The Christmas Story—God in Swaddling Clothes

Tue, December 24, 2024   |   Author: Rod Taylor   |   Volume 31    Issue 52 | Share: Gab | Facebook | Twitter   

Rod TaylorAs people go about their business, “running to and fro,” and politicians continue to probe and meddle in other peoples’ business, we come to that interesting and wonderful season where many folks—including self-identified unbelievers—are willing to embrace, for a short time, the Christmas story about the Son of God who lay for a short time in a manger . . . every bit human and every bit Divine.

The folks who still set aside time to honour the Christ-child in His infancy while balking—at the duty of recognizing His sovereignty over His creation or His power to forgive sins and grant eternal life—are playing in the shadows of half-truths. However logical and pragmatic they may be in their careers, however dedicated and caring they may be in their family responsibilities, they cannot logically and responsibly conclude that the birth of a child in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago can have any lasting significance for them today unless that child had accomplished something unique and earth-shattering. Unless that child’s birth had disrupted the established order and made new things possible. And it did.

The folks who lived in Bethlehem at the time of Christ’s birth were also going about their business like so many small-town residents today. They weren’t looking for signs in the sky or for some new movement to join. Aside from the babe’s father and mother, there were no anxious crowds waiting to celebrate the event, no journalists pestering the parents for their comments on the birth of the Son of God. Only the angels, a few shepherds and some wise men following a star. The Creator of the universe came quietly to a small town and lived in relative obscurity for most of his short life.

Even after being launched into ministry, He sometimes told those who received a healing touch or a deliverance from demonic oppression, “Don’t tell anybody.” But they couldn’t keep quiet. And neither should we. Jesus had reasons for speaking in parables and even for allowing Himself to be misunderstood by some during his time on earth. He was determined to fulfill his destiny and would allow no human actions to interfere with the timing of events that might hinder the final outcome: the cross and the empty tomb. But after His resurrection, He spoke clearly to His followers (and that includes us), “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.”

As we celebrate the Incarnation—the life and presence of God coming into our world as a tiny babe . . . in the unique person of Jesus Christ—we ought to be thinking of His second coming, this next time to rule the world in perfect Justice, the King of kings and Lord of lords. The apostle Peter, who sometimes misunderstood his Lord—who sometimes spoke and acted impetuously and who famously gave in to the fear of man on the night of Jesus’s betrayal—told us to be “ready to give an answer to anyone who asks us about the reason for the hope we have within us.” Peter overcame his fears and frustrations, his failures and his follies to become a man of integrity, able to teach others and to “make disciples of all nations.” And so should we.

As we honour the Christ-child this Christmas season, let us resolve to make known, to our friends and neighbours, His power to transform lives. We also believe . . . as lives are changed and as hearts respond in worship and obedience, that our Lord is able to transform nations for His glory!

We at CHP wish each and every one of you a glorious time of rest and rejoicing in the birth of the Christ-child, His finished work on the cross, the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the work—yet unfinished—that He has prepared for us to do.



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