Matthew 1:21 (NASB) She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will
save His people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:23 (KJV) Behold, a virgin
shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us.
Luke
1:46-52 (NIV) 46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my
spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his
name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has
performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has
scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has
brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted
up the humble.
Who would have dreamed
that the child lying on coarse straw would cause such trouble for the luxury
loving Herod? Who would have believed that One born in obscurity would confront
Pontius Pilate with the most important decision of his career? Who would have
guessed that a baby’s low cry was the trumpet sound of One who would confront
and destroy the power of sin and death over our lives? Even the wildest dreams
of Mary and Joseph for their son were not big enough or wild enough to comprehend
what the birth of Jesus would mean to our world. All they knew is that they
were to name Him Jesus, because He would save His people from their sins, and
in Mary’s Great Magnificat we hear that one of those sins is pride … he has scattered those who are proud in their
inmost thoughts. Pride literally
means high minded. Pride is putting our will above, before, and beyond the will
of God. Pride is tricky and difficult to deal with.
Pride
is what we see in Caesar Augustus. If the angelic host had appeared to him with
the announcement, for today in the
city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord
(Luke
2:11), what would have been his response? Indeed,
there were already people proclaiming him savior of the world for he had
delivered the people from what they considered their two worst enemies: war and
poverty. The pride of Caesar is still with us. Pride not only denies that we
need saving, it also distorts its damaging effects by sometimes cloaking itself
in humility. Christmas celebrates the coming of One who would defeat and
deliver us from our pride. God delivers us by being Emmanuel, God with us, not
a distant deity that stands in heaven and strikes down the proud with
misfortune. God comes to be with us in the day to day activities of our life.
I do not think we are ever entirely free of pride, but neither are
we entirely free of Christ, and that is our hope and confidence. This is part
of the hope we celebrate at Christmas. God is with us.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
No comments:
Post a Comment