A Different Look at Christmas

Not Another Christmas Story

Christmas is later this week.

As I was looking for another Christmas message, I thought about the usual things.

Joseph & Mary,

The babe in the manger,

The Magi,

Mostly the stories in Luke Chapter 2.

But God kept drawing me to a different story in Luke chapter 2.

And by now, you should be used to me looking at things differently.

Jesus at the Temple

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Luke 2:41–44 NKJV

His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances.

Every year, Jesus’ family went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.

See, family travel is nothing new.

When Jesus was 12, after the days of the feast, everyone started home,

Everyone except Jesus.

Sounds like a 12 year old boy, doesn’t it.

Jesus parents thought he was with someone else in their group.

This was not just a family trip, apparent a whole company of people traveled from Nazareth to Jerusalem for the Passover.

Have you have had you child slip away without you knowing?

There is a special type of fear there, isn’t it.

Luke 2:45–46 NKJV

So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.

lk 2 45-

Can you imagine, three days searching for your lost child.

And not just any lost child, but the Messiah!

If Adam and Eve were afraid after they ate the fruit, imagine Joseph and Mary explaining to God they had lost His Son!

After three days they find Him in the temple.

But Jesus is not just hanging around,

He is sitting with the teachers.

He’s listening to them and asking questions.

Pretty bold for a 12 year old boy.

I remember when a friend of mine and I attended a mens prayer breakfast.

Our thoughts and questions were often poo-poo’ed because we had not gone to seminary.

And here is a 12 year old boy talking with the teachers of the law.

Not just Sunday School teachers,

This was more like wandering into a prestigious seminary and sitting down with the PhDs!

Luke 2:47 NKJV

And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.

lk 47-

They were astonished at his understand!

Here was a 12 year old boy giving the most learned men in the nation a run for their theological money.

How could a 12 year old boy know so much?

How could His understanding be so developed?

This was not the only time people would be astonished.

Mark 1:21–22 NKJV

Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

How could He speak with such authority?

The answer came from a story later in the life of Jesus, recorded in John chapter 8:

John 8:57–58 NKJV

Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

Before Abraham was, I AM!

This statement I AM is a REALLY big deal.

Exodus 3:13–14 NKJV

Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

ex 3 13-

I AM hayah /haw·yaw/ is the name of God!

But it’s more than that.

John 18:4–6 NKJV

Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am He.” And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. Now when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

When Jesus said “I am He”, those who came to arrest Him drew back and fell to the ground.

hayah /haw·yaw/

Yes, the name I AM has power, but there is more to it than that.

Revelation 1:8 NKJV

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Jesus is the Beginning and the End, but of what?

John 17:5 NKJV

And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

John 17:24 NKJV

“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

Before Abraham was, before the world was, Jesus IS.

This is not just a smart 12 year old boy.

Jesus existed before the world, before the universe, before even time and space.

Colossians 1:17 NKJV

And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

John 1:3 NKJV

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

jn 1

Jesus is not only before all things, they all exist in Him.

Jesus is not only before all things, they all exist in Him.

This 12 year old boy created those teachers he was talking with.

And the air they used to speak.

And the gravity that keeps them from floating away.

Even the time they experience exists because of this 12 year old boy.

This is the 12 year old boy asking questions of the teachers.

This is the babe who was born in a manger.

The Babe in the Manger

We all celebrate the babe in the manger, and that’s a good thing.

We even refer to Him being the new born King.

But have you really thought about Him being God?

John 1:1 NKJV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Words are funny things,

They aren’t just sounds or characters on paper.

They communicate thoughts ideas.

John 1:3–4 NKJV

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

This Word, this Logos, made EVERYTHING!

Nothing was made without this Word.

Life itself was in Him.

John 1:14 NKJV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

This Word,

God Himself.

The very thoughts and ideas of God.

Compressed into a tiny little baby human.

Born in the most humble of circumstances.

To a poor family, from a back-water little town.

Born in barn, because there was no place else that would make room for him.

The song “Mary Did You Know” ends with the line:

The sleeping Child you’e holding is the Great, I Am.

The babe we celebrate doesn’t just grow up to be our saviour,

He was our saviour then,

and He is still the babe in the manger now.

Before Abraham, before Adam, before creation itself, this babe not only existed, but exists now.

I know, quite a mind bender.

Creator enters creation

So why would the creator enter His creation?

Especially in such a humble fashion?

Yes, we know that Christ was born to save the lost.

But that is merely the Cliff Notes version.

We experience creation only through our senses.

We treat what we see and hear as normal, and we assume is the way things should be.

We assume the world should be right and just, because what God created is good.

God created light, and it was good.

God created the land and the sea, and it was good.

God created the plants and the trees and it was good.

God made the sun, the moon, and the stars, and it was good.

God created the fish and the birds, and every animal, and it was good.

Then God made mankind, and it was very good.

We forget that after God created everything good, we messed everything up.

And there is only one way to fix it.

Destroy it and start over again,

This is what happens in the book of Revelation.

New Heaven and New Earth.

But what about these creatures that God has called very good?

There is only one way to save them, God must suffer their punishment.

God is the only one who can take their punishment and survive.

And He knows it.

In fact, He knew it when He created us in the first place.

So God, the Great I AM, shrunk Himself into the body of a little baby.

Endured being born in a manger.

Lived as a normal boy, even though His deity would occasionally peek out.

Preached the Good News of God, only to suffer and die for it.

Just to give those who ruined His creation a chance to have eternal life with Him.

So the he next time things aren’t going right and you’re ready to blame God.

The next time things aren’t going right and you’re ready to blame God.

The next time you see strife in the world and you’re tempted to ask God why he didn’t make the world better.

Remember, He did.

We messed it up.

And He entered this creation that we have warped and twisted, as a tiny little baby.

And He did so, that we may have a chance to be with him.

And as you open your presents Christmas morning, enjoy your feast with your family, maybe even read the Christmas story in ,

Remember that little child you are celebrating, is the great I AM!