What Child Is This?
Second in the Advent/Christmas series for 2015 called Christ in the Carols of Christmas
Scripture: Isaiah 9:1-7; Luke 7:11-23
Key Thought:
Scripture helps us understand who Jesus is—the key to our faith.
Introduction
A child abandoned in a manger prompts this question today
On November 23 the custodian at Holy Child Jesus Church in Queens, New York returned
from lunch and heard an infant crying. The cry was coming from the area of the Nativity
display. The custodian went over and found that the manger, which had been empty
when he left for lunch, was now occupied by a newborn baby, umbilical cord still
attached. The baby was in good health. The child’s Mom remained a mystery until
police managed to track her down. Every once in a while a child is abandoned, and
authorities are left asking the question, “What child is this?”
But with Jesus it was a little different.
His Mother and Father figures are obvious enough. Though he was born into poverty, he
was being cared for attentively, and by no means abandoned. In Jesus case, it was the
other circumstances of the birth; the angel messengers, the star, the visiting shepherds
and wise men that had people asking the same question, “What child is this?” During his
life, his actions, the miracles he performed, the wisdom of his teaching made people who
watched also ask the same question. After some of his greatest miracles, such as the
coming of the Sea of Galilee, the disciples asked this question out loud, “Who is this?” For
us today, the convergence of Old Testament prophecy upon this one born in a manger,
the way his resurrection from the dead changed the whole course of history– these
things also cause us to ask anew each Christmas, “What child is this?
Asking the question today.
This is not just a question about a past event. It is way more than just such an academic
question. It is not some kind of trivia question, something cute to know but without any
real impact. No, indeed, the question is very personal. It’s not only about knowledge
of the child, the child born in a manger, it’s also about asking and answering the more
personal version of the question, “What child is this to you?”
This morning I would like to help us in answering this question. It is the title question of
the Carol that we are featuring today. The carol “What Child Is This” reminds us of some
of the mysteries that surrounded Jesus - mysteries that might either confuse us or inform
us depending on whether we are listening.
The Mystery of His Common Life
The Jews expected someone obviously regal
The Jews had been expecting a Messiah for centuries. But when Jesus came, he was not
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Messiah that they had been expecting. They expected the Messiah to be a king, yet this
baby is the child of a carpenter, and born in a stable. That’s a long ways from a palace.
This difference was a stumbling block. Even his cousin, John the Baptist, expected Jesus
to come with some kind of visible power manifested against the enemies of Israel, and
when he did not see this happen, perhaps in a moment of doubt while he was in jail, he
sent his disciples to Jesus to ask whether Jesus were in fact the one to come. Jesus
replied with the statement, “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me”
(Matt 11:6 NIV 2011).
Jesus came in a very ordinary way, offensively common.
There were something just too ordinary, too common, too every day about Jesus that
offended people who were expecting something grand, something regal, and something
obviously extraterrestrial. In fact, they had all of that and more, but it did not look it,
especially at first, at the side of a manger.
I’m reminded of what Paul wrote in I Cor. 1:27,28
“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God
chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong; He chose the
lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are
not- to nullify the things that are.”
The ordinariness of Jesus is still a stumbling block today.
Sometimes scholars and common folks alike assume that since he was so ordinary, the
extraordinary things said about him - the miracles, the resurrection must be myth.
Yet --One Solitary Life
(The original version by Dr. James Allan Francis)
Let us turn now to the story. A child is born in an obscure village. He is
brought up in another obscure village. He works in a carpenter shop until
he is thirty, and then for three brief years is an itinerant preacher,
proclaiming a message and living a life. He never writes a book. He never
holds an office. He never raises an army. He never has a family of his
own. He never owns a home. He never goes to college. He never travels
two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He gathers a little
group of friends about him and teaches them his way of life. While still a
young man, the tide of popular feeling turns against him. One denies him;
another betrays him. He is turned over to his enemies. He goes through
the mockery of a trial; he is nailed to a cross between two thieves, and
when dead is laid in a borrowed grave by the kindness of a friend.
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Those are the facts of his human life. He rises from the dead. Today we
look back across nineteen hundred years and ask, “What kind of trail has
he left across the centuries?” When we try to sum up his influence, all the
armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings
that ever reigned are absolutely picayune in their influence on mankind
compared with that of this one solitary life…
(The original essay by Dr James Allan Francis in “The Real Jesus and Other Sermons” ©
1926 by the Judson Press of Philadelphia (pp 123-124 titled “Arise Sir Knight!”).)
The Mystery of His Message.
Jesus in the manger is a silent Word for God
The second verse of the Christmas Carol draws a contrast between this way-too-ordinary
scene of a baby in a manger and the biblical doctrine that Jesus was and is the Word of
God to us. The Carol speaks of the silent word speaking. The Word became flesh, as
John the apostle put it, teaching us about God from a manger.
Examples of non-verbal communication
Now we know a little bit about nonverbal communication. If you attend the funeral of a
friend’s parent, you may not get to speak to your friend, but if they just see you there,
your silent presence will speak a word of love. That’s why you went.
At a gathering of adults and children, if a child is misbehaving, the first thing an
observer might notice is a silent scowl from the parent towards the child. Most people
will not notice, but the child knows from just one look that the parent does not approve,
even though no words are spoken.
What does the Silent Word say?
Similarly, The Word made flesh communicated volumes to us as a human race, even
before the baby in the manger ever spoke.
The baby born in a manger is a gift of love from God to the world.
The Bible says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son …” (John
3:16). The Bible teaches starting in book of Genesis that God set out from the beginning
to have a relationship with the people whom he had created. But in our disobedience, we
did and continually do turn away from him. Every Christmas we are reminded that God
and his love, mercy and forgiveness, would not let the situation rest there. Instead he
took the initiative, at great cost, to send us a gift of love, the gift of his own Son. The
purpose of this gift, is to restore, renew, and revive God’s relationship to his human
creatures. It was an act of love.
The baby in the manger was a silent word about God’s commitment to understanding us fully.
He [Jesus] had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order
that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God,
and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because
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he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are
being tempted. Heb 2:17-18 NIV 2011
Jesus, coming to be himself human, is a word to us that God will understand and
empathize with us even more than ever. He already understood us because he created
us. But now, because Jesus came as a human being, God has mysteriously also
experienced what it means to be human. That is part of the great mystery of the silent
Word that we celebrate at Christmas.
Illustration
Let’s suppose that I desire to understand the US military. Now I can read about it. I can
look up its weapons online. I might even do a PhD on military weapons procurement.
But the only way to truly understand the military is to join and experience the military
from inside, and especially to be part of the military when it is on active missions in the
world.
Jesus entered our race to assure us that God understands us completely.
The baby in the manger is a silent Word about value of humanity to God
I was reading an interview with Rabbi Zacharias, Christian apologist, author and host of
the let my people think radio and television programs. The interview was published in
December issue of decision magazine (p. 15). He was talking about this idea that one of
the things we learn from Christmas is how much God values humanity. Here’s a quote
from the interview.
I think the very definition of what it means to be human is up in the air
right now. If you ask an average academic or if you ask a person coming
from a different philosophy of life what it means to be human, you’re
liable to get as many different answers as people you talk to. And yet in
the Christian narrative, the fact that the human being was given intrinsic
worth and a reflective splendor is God’s original intent for us. But we’ve
lost both of those. We do not even know what we are supposed to reflect
other than making our own choices. For the word to have become flesh
and “dwelt among us, full of grace and truth, and we beheld his glory”
(John 1:14) puts into perspective what the value of the flesh is intended to
be. This house, this body, was meant to be the temple of the living God…
A very babe, a human life, is of essential worth to God. This is the only
place he chooses to make his real home, not a building. So, God taking the
form of man is the ultimate compliment to you and to me. Christmas is
the reminder that we were made to be creatures of worth and of value.
So Christmas is a message of worth to every member of Adam’s race.
I don’t really think we understand who the Christ child really is until we have a sense that
God loves even me. You, put your name in the verse…”For God so loved Kelvin ...” We
don’t really understand who Jesus was until the peace of God comes into our lives
because our sins are confessed and forgiven. Don’t really know who the Child in the
manger is until the joy of the Lord is our strength. Then we know how much God cares
about us personally—enough to send his Son as a gift to our race.
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The Mystery of His Destiny
His lifespan is not the normal one
Part of the mystery of Jesus life, was that the manger was not the beginning. It was the
beginning of his human life; but Scripture makes clear that this human beginning, was
simply a new chapter in the continuing existence of the second person of the Trinity.
Peter says that the Son of God had been chosen before time began for this.
He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these
last times for your sake. 1 Peter 1:20 NIV 2011
But if the beginning was mysterious, even more amazing was the fact that his death was
not the end either. This baby in the manger would rise again after he was killed. And
Jesus told us that he was returning to his Father in heaven.
Three gifts of the Magi mentioned in verse three of the Carol are a mystery too, speaking of his
earthly destiny
But even his human destiny was a mystery at the time of his birth. The Christmas Carol
mentions three gifts that were given to them by the Wiseman. Interpreters of always
seeing symbolism of his human destiny in these three gifts.
Myrrh
Myrrh which was used for burials speaks of his suffering and death for us.
The prophet Isaiah says that he was, “a man of sorrows familiar with suffering . . . . “but
he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities and the
punishment that brought us peace was upon him” (Isa. 53:3, 5).
Gold - His Kingship
Gold is a gift appropriate for kings. At no time in his life did Jesus appeared to be a king.
Pilate found his kingship a mystery too. In Jesus discussion with Pilate at his trial (John
18:33-37) Pilate discerns that Jesus is indeed a king, but that his kingdom is not of this
world. One day that mystery will be completely solved. The book of Revelation says he is
the coming King of Kings and Paul tells us that one day every knee shall bow before our
exalted King of Kings. That’s the high destiny of this baby in the manger.
Frankincense – His priestly duties
Incense was used in Jewish worship. The frankincense given to Jesus at his birth speaks
of his priestly duties. It was his destiny to become our high priest. In fact, Paul tells us
in Romans that Jesus is at the right hand of the heavenly Father interceding for us even
now (Rom. 8:34).
Conclusion
Well, it’s up to us to ask the question for ourselves, “What Child is this?”
like to give what I would call wimpy answers. They want to say that Jesus
teacher, or a good moral example, or a good founder of a great religion.
that he was those, but if that’s all he was, they’ve at the least missed the
Many people
was a good
Well it’s true
point.
C. S. Lewis, one of the great 20th century apologists for the Christian faith, helped us to
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see that when we evaluate who Jesus was, we really only have three choices. He was
either a liar, badly deceiving people about him being from heaven etc. or he was a lunatic
who went around saying off-the-wall things like “I am the light of the world” or “my body
is real food,” or he actually was who he said he was, the Son of God, the one who came
down from heaven, the source of eternal life, the Lord of heaven and earth who will
someday return to claim his own.
Alison answered the question: - Alison’s Message (1980 Guidepost Card)
Now, how will you and I answer the question posed by the Christmas Carol, “What Child
is this? Will we just go on with our lives, keep shopping and decorating and partying?
Or will we take time to bow our hearts at the manger and come apart to worship the
infant King of Kings? It all depends upon our answer to that haunting question. Doesn’t
it? “What Child is this?”
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