Dignity or Disgrace?
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dignity | ˈdiɡnədē | noun (plural dignities) the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect:
disgrace | disˈɡrās | noun loss of reputation or respect as the result of a dishonorable action: he left the army in disgrace
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
And all went to be registered, each to his own town.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
Caesar: Augustus was the one who recieved Rome as a city of mud bricks and turned it into a marble city.
He was the first Caesar to be called “Augustus” when the Roman Senate voted to give him that title. Augustus means “holy” or “revered,” and up to that time the title was reserved exclusively for the gods.1 It was under Augustus’ rule that decisive strides were taken toward making the Caesars gods. In fact, at about the same time Luke was writing these words, some of the Greek cities in Asia Minor adopted Caesar’s birthday, September 23, as the first day of the New Year, hailing him as “savior.” An inscription at Halicarnassus (birthplace of the famous Herodotus) even called him “savior of the whole world.”
Historian John Buchan records that when Caesar Augustus died, men actually “comforted themselves, reflecting that Augustus was a god, and that gods do not die.” So the world had at its helm a self-proclaimed, widely accepted god and savior. Luke, the historian and theologian, wants us to see this as the tableau for understanding the coming of the real Savior. The contrast could not be greater.
Hughes, R. Kent. Luke: That You May Know the Truth. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998. Print. Preaching the Word.
Augustus is celebrated for bringing in the Pax Romana, yet this peace came at the cost of total control and the elimination of all opponents. This peace came only after years of brutal war.
This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
This fact has helped historians narrow down the time of Jesus’ birth.
And all went to be registered, each to his own town.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
80 miles journey
And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
So was there a rude and gruff innkeeper, as many Christmas plays have portrayed? Was he born in a cave, or outside in the open air?
The explanation given for this unusual resting place is cryptic and carries no great weight in the story, κατάλυμα is a flexible word and can denote any kind of place where one might stay, from a primitive inn (Exod 4:27; 1 Kgdms 1:18) to a guest-room of a house (cf. Luke 22:11) to a totally unspecified place where one might stay (Sir 14:25; and cf. Exod 15:13). If we are to understand that Mary and Joseph were excluded from the κατάλυμα, then the definite article favors reference to the public inn at Bethlehem (cf. Jer 41:17), though the guest-room of the family home remains possible (K. E. Bailey, NESTR 2 [1979] 33–44).
Was the coming of Christ a loss of dignity? Or was God disgraced by it?
The Christian believes that all life has dignity, because we believe the Bible, that all humans bear the image of God.
Yet Jesus did willingly endure shame, but shame is not the same as guilt. Jesus felt the shame of being condemned by people, yet he never suffered shame before the Father God, but rather was esteemed.
And the prophet Isaiah had foreseen this shame Jesus would suffer. When did Isaiah prophesy? A day before it happened? A week? no, but over 700 years before Jesus came as Immanuel, God with us, Isaiah foretold of the shame and disresecpect that Jesus would suffer at the hands of people.
Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.
As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Jesus never lost his dignity before God, yet in the sight of people, he was disgraced. His life appeared to begin and end with disgrace, yet he was eternally dignified. But the way he was born was certainly very humble.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
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.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus showed us by example what true humility is. he was in the form of God, and yet, humbled himself to be born in what we would call scandalous circumstances if it were any child of a king or dignitary today. If we were to learn of someone, even today, born in Palm Beach county, who had to give birth outside, or next to a dumpster, we would all shake our heads and say it was horrible. We have been so convinced that the baby is in great danger if it isn’t born in a perfectly sterile room. And yet, Jesus was born in this way: Listen as I read this from Kent Hughes. It is a long quotation, but it was said so much better than I could on my own, so all credit to Mr. Hughes, who God gifted to put it in these words:
Luke, Vol. 1—That You May Know the Truth The Incarnation (vv. 6–7)
Joseph probably wept as much as Mary did. Seeing her pain, the stinking barnyard, their poverty, people’s indifference, the humiliation, and the sense of utter helplessness, feeling shame at not being able to provide for young Mary on the night of her travail—all that would make a man either curse or cry.
If we imagine that Jesus was born in a freshly swept, county fair stable, we miss the whole point. It was wretched—scandalous! There was sweat and pain and blood and cries as Mary reached up to the heavens for help. The earth was cold and hard. The smell of birth mixed with the stench of manure and acrid straw made a contemptible bouquet. Trembling carpenter’s hands, clumsy with fear, grasped God’s Son slippery with blood—the baby’s limbs waving helplessly as if falling through space—his face grimacing as he gasped in the cold and his cry pierced the night.6
My mother groaned, my father wept.
Into the dangerous world I leapt.7
It was clearly a leap down—as if the Son of God rose from his splendor, stood poised at the rim of the universe irradiating light, and dove headlong, speeding through the stars over the Milky Way to earth’s galaxy, finally past Arcturus, where he plunged into a huddle of animals. Nothing could be lower.
Luke finishes the picture in verse 7: “She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Mary counted his fingers, and the couple wiped him clean as best they could by firelight. Mary wrapped each of his little arms and legs with strips of cloth—mummy-like. No one helped her. She laid him in a feeding trough.
No child born into the world that day seemed to have lower prospects. The Son of God was born into the world not as a prince but as a pauper. We must never forget that this is where Christianity began, and where it always begins—with a sense of need, a graced sense of one’s insufficiency. Christ, himself setting the example, comes to the needy. He is born only in those who are “poor in spirit.”
The Incarnation provides a marvelous paradigm for Christ’s work in our lives. Every Advent season, and hopefully at other times as well, we are brought again to the wonder of the Incarnation. See the swaddled Jesus, lying in the feeding trough in the stable, the birthplace of common livestock. Look long and hard with all your mind and all your heart. From early times the paradox of the Incarnation has given birth to mind-boggling expressions. St. Augustine said of the infant Jesus:
Unspeakably wise,
He is wisely speechless.8
Lancelot Andrewes, who crafted much of the beautiful English of the Old Testament in the King James Version, preaching before King James on Christmas Day 1608, picked up on Augustine’s idea and described Christ in the manger as:
the word without a word.9
He is in his person the Word of God!
Luci Shaw, in her beautiful poem “Mary’s Song,” says:
Quiet he lies
whose vigor hurled
a universe. He sleeps
whose eyelids have not closed before.10
The one who asked Job, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand … when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness” (Job 38:4, 9) now himself lay wrapped in swaddling clothes.
The wonder of the Incarnation! The omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God became a baby!
Jesus suffered from apparent indignity throughout his ministry. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. So when you pray to him, when you feel rejected, when you feel despised, when you are grieving, know that Jesus the Savior has experienced these emotions as well, and he knows what pain is, both emotional and physical pain.
and he bore our griefs, he carried our sorrows. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Do you see, my friends? This is a sum of all the gospel, and it was told by Isaiah over 700 years before it happened: Is53.5
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
This verse speaks of transgressions and iniquities. Transgression means crime. Violating God’s law is a crime, as RC Sproul often said, Cosmic Treason. The word could also be translated evildoing. Jesus was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. This word means sin. So for our crimes, our sins, our evildoing, Jesus was crushed, was pierced. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. Chastisement means discipline. The heavy discipline we deserve for our sins against God was received by Jesus for those who put faith in him.
And with his wounds we are healed. Now, many have ripped this phrase out all by itself and said it is talking about physical healing from the sick. And we are taught to pray for the sick with faith in Jesus name, but how could we conclude that this is simply about healing from sickness? In this verse we see the suffering servant pierced for transgressions, or iniquities, in other words, our crimes agains God, our evildoing, our sins. So our main problem is not physical sickness, although Christ cares about this as well. But our main problem is the sin that separates us from God, and causes us to be under his wrath.
This is why Paul was not ashamed of the gospel, not because the gospel was all about physical healing, but because it was effective to those listeners who respond in faith to turn the wrath of God away from those who are guilty: Rom1.16-18
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
So with his wounds we are healed? What is healed? Does this guarantee perfect health to every believer? Certainly not! It does point to a healed relationship with God for every believer.
A very important concept in bible Study is that we let scripture interpret scripture. So in this case, what does other scripture say about Isaiah53.5? Does other scripture say it is about physical healing? Well, we don’t have to wonder, since Peter quoted this passage and applied it for us, and when Peter quoted “by his wounds you have been healed”, he does not quote it to support a healing ministry, he tells us that Christ suffered for us, to leave us an example. he was reviled, he suffered, and he bore our sins so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
Peter is not talking about healing from cancer or stomachaches. He is talking about the great sickness of all mankind, the sickness of sin. sin is the problem, and Peter says that when he quotes Isaiah and says “by his wounds you have been healed”
For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
The example goes back to the manger, continued through the life of Jesus, again and again Jesus modeled for us humility, so that his followers will know what to expect, since the servant is not treated better than the master.
So does it really matter if Jesus was born in a house with the stable attached, or in a detached stable, or in a cave, or outside in the barnyard? Really, this is not the point. The God of all the universe, the one with all power, and all majesty and all glory, the one who is eternal, condescended to be God with us. He never lost his dignity in the Father’s sight, but to everyone who witnessed his death, it certainly would have seemed undignified. it would have seemed shameful, disgraceful.
Knowing that Jesus’ ultimate dignity was not in his humiliation on the cross, may we live with the ability to suffer indignity for His sake. May we be satisfied in him when we are in humbling situations. If we are called to suffer, let us do so knowing in our own hearts that there is dignity we carry, even if not according to the world, according to Christ, for it is in him that we live and move and have our being. Phil2.7-9
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.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
Why did Jesus do this? For love. Perhaps one of the most well known verses in scripture is John 3.16. Let’s close with that passage in context.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”