He Is The Messiah

Usually when we tell the Christmas story we include the shepherds and wise men, but there are other important characters in the story that we too often forget about. But the gospel writers must have thought they were important because unlike the shepherds and wise men we know these people by name; Simeon and Anna.

Simeon was “just and devout” and had been “waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was upon him” (Luke 2:25). The Spirit had revealed to Simeon that he would not die before he had seen the Messiah and on the day that Joseph and Mary came to present Jesus, Simeon was led by the Spirit to go to the temple. As he beheld the child, he took him into his arms and joyfully cried, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).

Luke tells us that these words caused Mary and Joseph to marvel. We can imagine how much joy and comfort this must have given them after all the gossip and persecution they had experienced to encounter someone who believed and shared in their secret.

But the comfort was short lived as Simeon turned to Mary and prophesied, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35).

Also in the temple that day was the prophetess Anna who had been a widow for eighty-four years and who lived at the temple serving “God with fastings and prayers night and day”(Luke 2:37). When she heard Simeon proclaim the Messiah, the Spirit also bore witness to her of the divinity of the child and she gave thanks to the Lord that at last the long awaited Redeemer of Israel had been born.

Both Simeon and Anna were ready and waiting so that they recognized their Messiah when he came into their lives. Likewise the promise to all of us is that if we are ready and waiting, Jesus Christ will come into our lives and we will know Him.

Shepherds And Saviors

The night of the birth of the Savior shepherds worked hard on the outskirts of Bethlehem tending their flocks. The fact that there were shepherds rather than a single shepherd leads some to believe that the birth of Christ took place in the springtime when the new lambs were being born. Usually only one shepherd was required to stay the night with the sheep. But lambing season meant every available shepherd would be needed to help in the birthing process.

In the social structure of Jewish life, shepherds were on the bottom. Deemed by the upper classes as men of no consequence and as unclean under the law of Moses, the shepherds were nevertheless saviors to the sheep. Besides assisting in the births, they nourished, gathered, comforted, and protected their flocks, sometimes risking their own lives to defend the sheep. Thus Jesus became known as The Good Shepherd. But besides being a beautiful metaphor it points out the deep irony that the Good Shepherd was considered by the Pharisees and Sadducees as a man of no consequence while in the very act of protecting and saving them.



Gerard (Gerrit) van Honthorst (1590�1656), Adoration of the Shepherds
 (Die Anbetung der Hirten, Adorazione dei Pastori, 1622). 164 x 190 cm, 
 Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne.

But there is more to this symbolism of shepherd and sheep. One scholar notes that a tower called Migdal Eder–the watchtower of the flock–was situated on the road between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The sheep gathered at Migdal Eder were raised to be sacrificed at the temple during the Passover and other ritual celebrations. It was tradition among some of the Jews, that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem and revealed at Migdal Eder (Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, 1:269). In addition the shepherds were protecting and nurturing the sheep through the night waiting for the dawn and new light.

How fitting that the angelic announcement, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11), was made that natal night to humble men serving the needs of sheep that would be sacrificed in similitude of the Lamb of God.

But that has not changed. It is still to those who are feeding His sheep that He reveals Himself. It is to those who serve his flock that the testimony is revealed—the testimony that all who are unclean have a Savior and can come forth from the darkness of their tombs into the Light of Life.

Angels We May Be On High



"Heavenly Hands" by Greg Olsen (click here)



There is one thread that weaves through the entire Nativity story—the angels. The English word angel comes from the Greek word angelos which means “messenger.” A messenger is someone who carries a message from one person to another and these messengers carried the Glad Tidings or Good News from God to man.

First the angel Gabriel delivered the message to Mary that she would be the mother of the long awaited child. Next Joseph received a visit from Gabriel and was told to “fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 1:20).

But when we think of angels at Christmas time, we usually think of the angel who appeared to the shepherds tending their sheep in fields near Bethlehem. He delivers his message, “Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10-12).

As soon as he made the announcement the heavens opened—as if the joy was more than heaven could contain any longer—and suddenly a great multitude of angels burst forth in song.

For a moment imagine with me that you were one of those angels—a messenger. You knew that your Savior had been born. You knew that because of that birth the misery, depravity, abuse, and horrors of a mortal world now had a cure. The Light of the world had been born to put all things right and the joy of that knowledge filled you until like an erupting volcano the joy spewed forth. Imagine how you felt. This wasn’t just good news; this was the greatest news of all time. And you couldn’t contain the happiness you felt. As the heavens opened you sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). 

What a choir that must have been—the sound of heaven rejoicing!

But you don’t have to imagine. The same thread that ties the Nativity story together, ties you to the story. You are the angel--the messenger! Christmas is the opportunity for you to sing, or pray, or shout your praises or in any way you can to convey the Good News to all those around you that a Savior has come to save the world.

The Stable

A stable cave

We all know that Jesus was born in a stable, but the facts about that stable, about how they got there and what it is, are not so well understood. The word the King James translators choose to translate as inn, kataluma, is the same word that Mark and Luke later use for the Upper Room in which the Last Supper is held. In both Luke 22:11 and Mark 14:14 the same Greek word, katalum, is translated as guestchamber, and in the story of the Good Samaritan the word translated as inn is not kataluma, but pandeion.
What most scholars now believe is that Mary and Joseph went to stay with relatives in Bethlemem (which makes sense also because Bethlehem was such a small town it would be unlikely to have enough business to support an inn), but by the time they arrived their relatives' guestrooms were already taken and so they stayed in the stable. This makes sense because many homes in that day were built in front of a cave and used the cave to stable animals and supplies.
But where the stable is isn’t the important thing. The stable is still a stable filled with animals and the filth and stink that go along with a stable. I can imagine how Joseph and the relatives worked to make the cave as comfortable as possible as Mary stove against the pains that would bring our Savior into the world.
Again the symbolism is astonishing. Caves are under ground, and from this underground stable-cave Mary brought Jesus forth and gave Him mortal life. This foreshadows the event three decades later when, from an underground sepulcher-cave, Jesus would come forth to give Mary and all of us immortal life.
Both caves remind us that Jesus descended “below all things” (see 1 Nephi 11:16; D & C 88:6). Theologians call this the condescension of God, and Paul describes it like this: He was God “but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7). The King James translators chose to translate the Greek word used in this verse as reputation, but a more accurate translation is that Jesus “emptied himself.” He was God, yet He emptied himself of power to begin anew, growing from grace to grace.

He is the Word, and yet He came as a wordless infant.

The church built over the traditional manger cave in Bethlehem

He is the Almighty One, and yet helplessly

He took nourishment at Mary’s breast.

He is King of kings,

and yet He came as the servant of man.

He, the great I Am, condescended

below all things

to be the beast upon which all burdens would fall.

 

Salted and Swaddled

During Biblical times babies were  swaddled, that doesn't mean they were simply wrapped in a blanket. Swaddling was a ritual done for all legitimate babies born to married parents and included several steps including the salting of the baby. An illegitimate baby could not be salted or swaddled.

The swaddling was done by first placing the washed baby diagonally on a swaddle cloth. The infant was then rubbed with a small amount of finely powdered salt mixed with olive oil. The cloth was then brought up and over the baby’s arms, legs, and torso. Next the end of the swaddle band, made by tying together strips of linen cloth about four or five inches wide and up to six yards long, was held under the baby’s chin, then wrapped up over the forehead and then around and around the infant all the way down to the feet keeping the limbs straight.

 

During their betrothal time women made the swaddle bands out of fine linen and embroidered them with emblems of the tribe of Israel they belonged to. After the baby was salted and swaddled the parents would pray that the child would grow to be upright and righteous and that he or she would never walk in crooked paths, but would serve God. There is some debate about the reason swaddling was done, but according to the law of Moses all sacrifices were accompanied by salt and therefore salt is a symbol of covenants. The explanation I like best for swaddling is that the baby was salted and swaddled as a reminder that the child was a covenant child born into the House of Israel.

Whatever the reason in another place in the Bible a swaddled baby is a metaphor for a legitimate child that is loved and properly cared for. Ezekiel says, when chastising Israel, “Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee: thou was not salted at all, nor swaddled at all” (Ezekiel 16:4). 

In other words, Israel is so wicked they have become illegitimate children. They have chosen to be children of the Hittites and the Amorites (children of the world) rather than be legitimate children of their God who would have swaddled and loved and cared for them.

 I love this small detail about Mary swaddling her baby because it tells us so much. First of all it gives us a glimpse into the heart of Mary who cared for her child in the best possible way. To us Jesus Christ is our Master, our Savior, our Protector, but for a time to Mary He was a dependent child. That is a relationship no one else will ever share with Him.

But there is something else. Of all people, Mary and Joseph knew the significance of this child and the circumstances concerning His conception. They knew that despite the rumors and hatemongers this child was legitimate and so by swaddling Him they proclaim to the entire world that this baby is God’s legitimate Son.

One can only imagine what Mary thought as she wrapped Him. From the moment of the miraculous conception, if not before, Mary must have sought for any information about the fate of this child. There were many prophecies, and Mary must have hung on every word the rabbis and others said about the coming Messiah. She must have asked questions and in the answers would have discovered the terrible fate that awaited her son. 

 

Therefore, as she salted the baby did she think of the fact that this child would be the sacrifice for all sin? Did seeing him wrapped tightly in the bands of birth make her think of the shroud of death that would some day cover Him? 

Whether she thought about any of these things or not, the bands Mary swaddled her Son in remind us of the day He was wrapped in burial linens and placed in a tomb. He was born to die for us, and by so doing He “swaddled” us, proclaiming us His legitimate children and providing a way to take away our “crookedness.” But most important, Jesus Christ has changed our burial linens into the swaddling bands of new birth.