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Introduction
If you were not with us last Sunday we looked at the Promise of Christmas and this Sunday we are talking about the Fulfillment of Christmas.
And our goal is to get a better grasp on all that is happening in the Christmas story.
To appreciate more fully what the incarnation of Jesus actually means for us.
Because we get used to amazing things all the time and regard them as ordinary and we don’t want to do this with Christmas.
Let me ask you a question.
Do you guys like Christmas sweaters?
My favorite Christmas sweater of all time is a riff off of Home Alone and it says, “Merry Christmas you filthy animal.”
The line comes from a movie within a movie.
In Home Alone they filmed a gangster movie scene called Angels with Filthy Souls.
In the gangster movie Johnny pumps Snakes “full of lead” when Snakes asks him for 10% of some haul of money.
And afterward Johnny delivers the line
“Keep the change you filthy animal.”
And then some genius adapted for a Christmas sweater.
I love it because it hits all the marks for me: macabre sense of humor, 90’s nostalgia, and just an upgrade on the greeting Merry Christmas.
And I’m not just trying to be funny here.
I really think that the “filthy animal” addition is an improvement on the seasons greetings.
Because it acknowledges a truth of the Christmas story that we often don’t focus on.
We like Christmas to be polished and clean.
But the fact is that there is a reason for Christmas.
A reason that the Son of God took on flesh.
A reason that he died on the cross.
And friends the reason is that the human race is in rebellion against God and dead in their sins—metaphorically “we’re a bunch of filthy animals” in regards to our sin and death.
And in preparation for Christmas Day I want us to dwell here for a little while.
You may have heard me say, that the good news of the gospel is not good news unless you are aware of the bad news first.
Last Sunday we traced the glorious promise of the incarnation from Genesis 3:15 to the manger.
And this morning I want us to think through two key moments in the life of Christ and see what they say about our need and about Christ’s glory.
The Manger of Jesus
Last week we ended gazing into the manger where we laid our eyes on the Lord.
On the long awaited promise—the wounded victor who would come and crush the serpent and his work.
And we rejoiced in the glory of God.
But I don’t want us to miss what our Lord is lying in.
The focus certainly is Jesus but the manager does comunicate something to us.
Look with me at Luke 2:6-7
Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem because Caesar Augustus ordered an empire wide census requiring everyone to return to their hometown to be counted.
And sovereignly while they were there Mary went into labor.
And if we look at what Micah prophesied we see that this was no coincidence.
Micah 5:2 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”
Even though Josepth and Mary lived in Nazareth—the sovereignty of God made sure that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
And John Piper points out that if God moves an empire so that His Son would be born in the place that was prophesied then the manger that he was laid in was no mistake.
So what does the manger communicate to us?
What is God saying by placing the perfect Son in a feeding trough for animals?
The Necessity of the Manger Highlights the Sinfulness of Man.
Why were Joseph and Mary in a barn?
Why was Jesus laid in a manger in the first place?
Our text says because “there was no place for them in the inn”.
And here is where a little biblical study is helpful in seeing exactly what is happening here.
Hospitality has always been a hallmark of the Jewish faith.
The Talmud—a Jewish commentary on the scriptures—says things like, “welcoming guests is greater than welcoming the Divine Presence”
In commenting on Abraham’s hospitality to the visitors in Genesis 18 the point is made that Abraham is standing in the middle opening of his tent in the hot part of the day because he was looking for travelers to bless.
In speaking about Jerusalem and the hospitatlity of the Jews there, it is quoted saying, “No person ever remarked to another, ‘Jerusalem is too crowded for me to be able to stay over there.”
As Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus approach Bethlehem they find no hospitality.
There is no one welcoming them.
And our text uses the word “Inn” and a slew of Christmas plays and movies depict Joseph and Mary being turned away from the local hotel after hotel frantically searching for a place to stay.
But in reality it’s doubtful there was an Inn at all.
Bethlehem was a small town and was not a destination.
But the best piece of evidence pointing to this fact is the use of the Greek word elsewhere in the Bible.
The Greek Word for Inn in Luke 2:7 is (kataluma).
This word is used in Luke 22:11 and Mark 14:14.
Let’s look at those texts:
Luke 22:11 “and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’”
Mark 14:14 “and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’”
Kataluma is best understood as “guest room”.
A room within someone’s home.
And with this the picture of what is happening in Bethlehem is fleshed out even more.
Joseph and Mary head back to Joseph’s hometown.
Where all his family is from.
Many of his relatives would be living in Bethlehem still.
And in Joseph’s hometown—a place filled with the houses of his people— there is no guest room that will receive them.
Even as an infant the words of Jesus were true.
“Foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
And we might be generous and assume that there was no room: but friends I have housed 20 people in my house before and I can tell you there is always a space of floor, couch or closet to stick someone in.
Especially if they are pregnant.
It wasn’t that there was no room, it’s that there was no room for them.
There was no room for foolish Joseph and his adulterous wife.
The depravity of humanity is on display in Bethlehem in the Christmas Story.
A pregnant woman is in need.
A family needs a place to stay and to birth their child.
But they are turned away by the pride and judgment of sinful humanity.
The savior is already experiencing the brokenness that he came to redeem us from.
Here in Bethlehem is the savior of the world—the long awaited messiah—he left the throne room of Heaven and was received in an animal barn.
He was worshipped by Shepherds and angels as he lay in a dirty feeding trough made for slobbering animals.
The very people he came to save turned him away.
Something he would experience again and again on his way to the cross.
And this morning a week away from Christmas let you and I understand the the wickedness displayed in Bethlehem has lived in you and I as well.
We have all fallen short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23 says so.
And the testimony of our lives proves it.
Just like those in Bethlehem you and I are in desperate need of a savior—someone to redeem us from our sin and brokeness.
The birth of Jesus in the manger is a clarion call that humanity needs redemption.
And this is still true today.
And this shows us the second thing the manger communicates to us as well.
The manger communicates to us...
2. The Humility of Christ.
It communicates to us the beauty of our savior.
It communicates the love he has for His people.
Because Jesus—God the Son—lowered himself to save us.
Look with me at Philippians 2:6-8
Philippians 2:6-8 “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
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