1. Jesus is the reason for the season. The primary purpose for observing Christmas is remembering Jesus’s birth. At Christmas, we celebrate Jesus’s birthday, not the little drummer boy or Santa Claus! 2. Jesus preexisted with God in the beginning before the world began. Jesus’s birth as a baby in a Bethlehem manger doesn’t mark… Read More
The Scandal of Christmas
The infancy narratives in the Gospels proclaim Jesus as the fulfillment of messianic hopes and expectations. God, however, didn’t do things the way most people expected. Our familiarity with the Christmas story may cause us to miss the unexpected wonder, shock, and newness accompanying these events. In our book The First Days of Jesus, Alexander… Read More
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: A Case of Confounded Expectations
This Christmas provides yet another opportunity to read the biblical accounts of Jesus’s birth and to reflect on their significance for our lives. As Charles Wesley wrote well over two centuries ago, “Come, Thou long-expected Jesus, …, Hope of all the earth Thou art, Dear desire of every nation, Joy of every longing heart.” While… Read More
Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven, and heaven and nature sing!” (Isaac Watts) The hymn writer’s words, of course, echo Luke’s ominous remarks that at the birth of Jesus, there… Read More
The Story of the Magi (Matthew 2:1–12)
“Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?” the Magi asked, as they searched intently for Jesus. Which prophecy or event did they base their pursuit on? Was it the prediction of a messianic “star” arising out of Jacob (Numbers 24:17)? Did they fulfill Isaiah’s vision that “A multitude of camels …… Read More