Everett Henes: Remembering Christ’s birth

If you’re like me, when you want to remember something you write it down. This is certainly true the older I get. I want to make sure to remember things my kids have said or conversations I’ve had with people. Writing is a wonderful way to work through one’s own thoughts. The Gospels were written so that there would be an accurate record of Jesus’ life.

The early disciples wrote, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, what was necessary for followers of Jesus to believe. Don’t believe anyone who tries to say that the Gospel accounts were written hundreds of years after Christ. The earliest manuscripts that we have date back to within a hundred years of the Gospel accounts!

The point of what was written, though, is so that those who read the Gospels would believe and receive Jesus. We’ve been working through Luke’s Gospel and so this is not a new point for Luke. But the way that it comes about in chapter 11 is a bit interesting. Luke writes, “As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’” (Luke 11:27-28)

At first glance, it seems as though Jesus is contradicting what Mary said earlier in the Gospel. Remember, she declared that “from now on all generations will call me blessed.” Is Jesus saying that this woman ought not to call Mary blessed? Well, first of all, the way that she phrases the praise of Jesus is through his mother. In other words, she is not calling Mary blessed in the same way that Mary declares all generations will call her blessed. This was a common way to praise an individual. So, she is praising Jesus by saying that the one who bore him and nursed him is blessed.

Since parents, even then, derived a great deal of pride and sense of accomplishment from the successes of their children — Jesus’ mother is clearly blessed because of what Jesus can do. When we think of that way, Jesus’ response makes complete sense. He isn’t interested in mere praise. Yes, we do praise Christ as the second person of the Trinity. We praise him for our salvation — he is the one who has saved us from our sins. He is the one who took the wrath of God so that we will not have to suffer in the eternal torments of hell.

We praise Christ because he was present at creation and is the firstborn from the dead, guaranteeing that we too will be taken up in the resurrection. But we do not merely praise Christ. Or, let me say it this way, if all we do is merely praise Christ then we receive this same response from Christ. You see, it has been a very popular and subtle undermining of the faith from the very beginning to extol Christ’s goodness.

You can go back to the early church fathers and read about how there were those who spoke of Jesus very highly — he was a great man, a prophet … maybe even the most influential man that ever lived. But Jesus doesn’t want us to merely extol his goodness as though he is flattered that we would praise him.

Blessed, rather, are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Talk all you want — the question is, what do you do with the word that you hear? Are you actively seeking to be obedient to God’s word, applying it to all areas of your life? This is what it means to ‘receive Christ’.

These things are written so that we can know who Jesus is. We can know of his wonderful birth, but also of his life, death and resurrection. One of my favorite authors, J. Gresham Machen, said it well, “The birth of Jesus was important not in itself but because it made possible his death. Jesus came into this world to die, and it is to his death that the sinner turns when he seeks salvation for his soul.”

As you celebrate the birth of Jesus, this year, it’s OK to pause at the story of the manger. But we can’t stay there. Don’t sentimentalize the birth of Jesus. His birth into his estate of humiliation was so his people could take part in his estate of exaltation.

— Everett Henes, pastor of Hillsdale Orthodox Presbyterian Church, may be reached at pastorhenes@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Everett Henes: Remembering Christ’s birth