CHRISTMAS-2011

CHRISTMAS.

After explaining childbirth the biology teacher asked her 4thgraders to write an essay on "childbirth" in their families. Susan went home and asked her mother how she was born. Her mother, who was busy at the time, said, “A big white swan brought you darling, and left you on our doorstep.” Continuing her research she asked grandma how her parents got her. Being in the middle of something, her grandma similarly deflected the question by saying, “A fairy brought me and my mother found me in our garden in an open box”. Then the girl went and asked her great-grandmother how her parents got her as a baby. “My mother picked me from a box found in the gooseberry bush”, said the surprised great-grandma. With this information the girl wrote her essay. When the teacher asked her later to read it in front of the class, she stood up and began, "I really wonder why there was not even a single natural birth in our family for four generations... Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus. It’s a non-normal birth never before seen or experienced because it is the birth of God as man – Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, as our Savior.

Larry King on CNN was once asked by some one on Christmas Day and told if Jesus were to come now and you are given a chance to ask him one question, just one question, what would that question be ? He said: He would ask: Are you born of a Virgin?. That is the proof that he was God. Is there any thing that God could not perform by human beings? God could give power to human beings and make them do things, even great things. Samson in the O.T. was a great man, man of power. He could kill several lions in just one stroke.

When we make things for our use, we make them useful for our particular purpose, special use. If we make a spade that is meant to make holes in the ground. If we make a ship that is meant to travel in water and so it would be fitted to be able to travel in water. So is with anything we make for our need. If God created every human being in this world through the union of a man and a woman, and make just one man exempt from that order of creation, it is for a purpose. Otherwise he would be irrational God, creating things with no purpose. Why do you think Jesus was to be born of a virgin and not from the cooperation of a man in this process?
If God wanted to come to the earth and save man, he could have come down on Good Friday and do the work of salvation in three days and get back to heaven on the third day. Why did he come down to the earth as a weak human being ? First of all to save human beings from our sins. Sin became part of human nature. It is not something outside of us that we can get rid of it of ourselves. Man could not forgive his sins himself, because it is in himself. He had to be forgiven by God, because it is primarily a sin against God, a separation from God. So someone who is in human nature and at the same time is above human nature and is able to free the sins from the human nature has to be involved in this process. That is why God became man and at the same time he remained God too. Perfectly man and perfectly God. That is why he was born of a virgin. If he was born of a virgin he is surely God. Because no one ever was born that way.

No incarnations in other religions ever claimed that right. The Quran clearly mentions, and even more vehemently defends than the Bible does, that Jesus was born of a virgin. It also admits that no one was ever born that way. If the Quran admits so, that is the clear proof that Quran admits Jesus’ divinity, even though, it tells that Jesus is not God in other places. Why would God let someone be born in a unique way, without a human father and he is just a prophet like any body else ? Are you saying God does things without meaning and purpose ? If you have a Muslim friend and ask him this question and see what he answers.

It is popular nowadays to say that all religions are basically the same. You may have heard the example of people who say that God is like a mountain, and the different religions are the different paths up the mountain. But to say that all religions are the same is neither respectful nor tolerant - it is either arrogant or ignorant. Religions do have some things in common, but they also have substantial differences.

Theologian Karl Barth stood before students and faculty at Princeton in 1963 during his Princeton Lectures. A student asked: "Sir, don't you think that God has revealed himself in other religions and not only Christianity?" Barth stunned many who were present when he thundered, "No, God has not revealed himself in any religion, including Christianity. He has revealed himself in his Son." Christianity is not a religion like all other religions of the world. The Church reveals the truth the Holy Spirit reveals to her. It is a complete manifestation of God for the humanity for the sake of building a living relationship with him.

No other religion can beat Christianity on two grounds both of which tell of Jesus’ divinity. First, is his Virgin birth. Even in the Hindu scriptures mentions are made about a man being born of a virgin bringing salvation for the humanity that prophesy has not been fulfilled in Hinduism yet, but only in Christianity. Secondly his resurrection of which the disciples were witnesses and for which they all died martyrs death. If it were a lie, none of the Apostles would not have given up their lives to defend that lie. You never hear people laying down life to defend lies, but only truth. No other religion can stand against this solid truths of Christianity.

Only we Christians have the privilege of saying, "The Word became flesh, and lived among us." God-with-us is a divine promise first to Israel, and through them to all of us, of God's unilateral faithfulness to humanity and God's eternal initiative toward all that is created. To put it even more plainly, Yahweh says I am going to be with you whether you know it or not, ask for it or not, or enjoy it or not. God is GIVEN once, and for all, and forever, to the human species and to the whole created world! That is the meaning of Incarnation, the meaning of Emmanuel, and the first and final meaning of Christmas. The other day I heard some one preaching on the word Emmanuel. Em-man-u-el- Man who knows you well. Though it is far fetched explanation, it sounds good to me.

The message of Christmas is that we are just travelers through this earthly life, and that God has come to travel with us, and that if we stay by his side, we are guaranteed to arrive safely at our final destination: the everlasting life of heaven, in the Father's house. That's why we can be joyful even in the midst of our tears and difficulties; because we know that our Redeemer lives and weeps at our side, and will never abandon us.

Our preparing for Christ’s rebirth in our daily lives is to cultivate the spirit of sacrifice and humility. It was by sacrifice that the shepherds of Bethlehem and the Magi were able to find the Savior. They were humble enough to see God in the Child in the manger. We too can experience Jesus by sharing Him with others, just as God shared His Son with us. Let us remember that the angels wished peace on earth only to those able to receive that peace, those who possessed the good will and largeness of heart to receive and then to share Jesus our Savior with others in love, kindness, mercy, forgiveness and humble service.

Let’s all the blessings of the Manger Born Baby be yours at this Christmas and through out the New year.