“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for
all the people. Today in the town of
For many of us, the Book of Luke gives our favorite account of Jesus’ birth. And if you’ve ever watched “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” you probably remember that it’s Linus’s favorite too.
One of the reasons that we love Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth is because he
documents many extraordinary details that no other gospel writer includes. Only
Luke mentions the Angel Gabriel announcing Jesus’ birth to Mary; the decree
from Caesar Augustus; and all of those classic images of the manger and the
shepherds and the angels in the fields. And no matter how many times we hear
it, it never gets old.
Now, there are many reasons why I love Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth. But one of the best is that it reveals that Jesus didn’t come for the wealthy or the famous or the most talented people of the world. He came first and foremost for the forgotten, for the helpless and for the nobodies. And that brings me hope that Jesus came for me too.
1. Jesus came for the old and washed-up.
Unlike Matthew, Mark and John, Luke records the details of John the
Baptist’s birth (Luke 1:5-25). And since God sent John to prepare the way for
Jesus’ coming, these details are an important part of Luke’s Christmas story. But
when you get down to it, John was basically born to a pair of old fogeys:
Zechariah and Elizabeth. The Bible tells us in verse 7, “They had no children,
because
In first century
2. Jesus came for the young and
unimportant. Now,
let’s look at Mary: a young girl who was single, had no kids—and worse still,
she lived in the podunk little town of
Jesus came for the young and for the unimportant. That’s just as true today as it was back then. If you are a teenager or a young adult, Jesus came for you. You’re never too young or unimportant for Jesus to care about. And you’re never too young or unimportant for God to use in wonderful ways for His glory. Now don’t you forget it, you young whipper snappers!
3. Jesus came for the dirty and despised. Think about it: Of all the people on Planet Earth
that God could have announced Jesus’ birth to, He announced it first to
shepherds. What a weird thing for God to do! Sheep are very dirty animals, so
shepherds were considered ceremonially unclean. They weren’t allowed to be a
part of any Jewish synagogue. They weren’t even counted in the census. It’s as
if they weren’t even viewed as fully human. Yet God sent His angels to announce
Jesus’ birth to a group of these smelly, dirty, despised shepherds. Why would God do that?
Well, the
messenger angel answers that question in verses 10 and 11: “Do not be afraid. I
bring you good news of great joy that will be for ALL the people. Today in the
town of
Luke wanted the message of Christmas to be loud and clear: Jesus Christ came for those who are at the bottom of the social pecking order. Jesus came for the nobodies. He didn’t come for those who are on mountaintops but instead for those who are in the valleys, those who are ignored, those who are overlooked, those who are broken, those who are dirty, and those who are despised. And that includes you and me. Jesus came for you and me.
That’s why we celebrate His birth. In the words of Linus: “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”
Dane Davis is the pastor
of Impact Christian Church in Victorville. His new book, “Buoyed Up: Jesus’ 8
Steps to an Unsinkable Life,” is available on Amazon in paperback, e-book and
audiobook. Join us at Impact for Sunday services: in person at 9 a.m., or
online at 10 a.m. on Facebook Live or YouTube. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.