Luke 1:30-34, Hebrews 4:15-16, Luke 2:7, Ephesians 1:1

Glyn Barrett considers Jesus' birth and what we can learn from it.

Glyn Barrett
Glyn Barrett

'But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"' Luke 1:30-34

The more I think about the circumstances of how God sent His Son, the more I realise that how He acted was truly shocking. The more I get to know God the more I realise that He doesn't act in the ways we would expect Him to. There is often something going on that we cannot perceive, or something too marvellous for us to understand. But when I think about the circumstances surrounding Jesus coming to earth, I am struck by His desire to be able to empathise with us. Three things in particular highlight this:

1. He was born into a dysfunctional family

When Mary became pregnant she was not married! Now we know this was the result of God, but the shock of a teenager, (at this time), being pregnant outside of marriage was nothing short of horrific for a young Jewish girl. Get this: God was born into a dysfunctional family! No-one had had sex, she was a virgin, but she was a pregnant unmarried teenager. This was the ultimate in dysfunctionality.

Every single one of us have some level of dysfunctionality in our lives. In some way, all of our families are weird, whether they are biological, blended or adopted. In some way all of us have had glitches in our personal lives that we would rather forget, or at least not like to dwell on. Why would Jesus come in such a dramatic fashion? One answer is so that we could know that whatever our dysfunction, even God has been there too.

In all likelihood, Joseph and Mary would have got married somewhere in the process, but interesting that the Bible never mentions when. The Bible says that Joseph was pledged to be married to Mary. This engagement was a formal covenant/contract and much more official than today, but they weren't formally married. Think about it this way: all of Nazareth knew that He was born of an unmarried woman and people can be cruel.

The Bible says 'For we do not have a high priest (JESUS) who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.' (Hebrews 4:15-16)

This is a perfect example of this verse in action. God did this so we can know that whatever we feel, or have been through, He's been there too. We may be sold the lie that God is far away, but He desires to be able to empathise with us right in the middle of any situation. In order to do this He was prepared to be put in a place where He could experience what we have to experience.

2. He became an average human being

'...and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.' Luke 2:7

God becomes man! Let that sink in for a moment. God clothes himself with humanity! He was in every way a human and yet He was also God. Theologians call this the 'Hypostatic Union'. In other words, fully God and fully man. The fact that He was fully God, I can almost get my head around. However the fact that He was fully man, blows my mind! He became like the very ones He created. Another god would never have come so low, but our God did.

The God/man was pushed through the birth canal the day Mary gave birth. The God/man cried. The God/man learned to walk by falling over. The God/man learnt to speak. The God/man became a builder and had the scars of the trade to prove it. The God/man loved, hurt, laughed, hoped and wondered. Everything we feel, He has felt. Too many Christians I know place Jesus on the non-human pedestal. They cannot imagine that He walked through what we walk through, but that is what the fuss is about.

Next time you see a baby, remember He did that for you. Crazy! Inconceivable! So crazy and inconceivable that the Jews struggled to accept it and the Greeks tried to dismiss it. They could not answer the question "Why would God go to all that fuss for me?" The answer was so that He could empathise with you in the midst of every situation possible.

3. He was born homeless and undignified