Dec 28 2012
The Conception of Jesus
“You want to feel God? Feel here!”
Luke 1:26-45
Trauma! That’s the only way to describe the Christmas story. You’re in your final year of engagement, the wedding day is in sight, and suddenly you’re pregnant, and the baby doesn’t belong to the man you’re marrying! This is trauma, this is pain! To make it worse; this is a culture where loss of virginity before marriage is not tolerated. Anyone who had sex before marriage had the image of a prostitute. They brought lasting shame on their family, and the guilty parties could face execution by stoning. This was trauma of the highest degree!
For Mary to go through this, she would need an angel, and that is what she got. But no ordinary angel – this was Gabriel; God wasn’t taking this lightly. More
Dec 19 2013
John’s Nativity – The Word became Flesh
John 1:1-18
No baby, no manger, no shepherds, no wise men, no guiding star, not even a virgin! This is John’s nativity – he omits them all. For John Christmas is simply: the Word became flesh. Not as cute as the baby, not the stuff that inspires awesome snow scenes, but it has the same conclusion: Jesus is Emmanuel – God with us. Or put John’s way – the Word become flesh.
John doesn’t tell us why he omits the manger and the virgin birth, but we can make some calculated guesses. Perhaps, unlike Matthew and Luke, he felt he should only testify to what he saw. Or perhaps he was trying to respond to specific questions people had at the time of writing; like how can Jesus be both God and man? Or how can God have a Son? Whatever his motives were we are grateful for the rich insights that accompany his explanation of the origins of Christ. More