The BIRTH of the MESSIAH

John Aitken reflects on the stories of the Birth of Jesus.

Once again it is Christmas and we remember the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. We will see children acting in nativity plays, taking the parts of shepherds and “wise men” visiting the baby lying in a manger. The story that is told is drawn from the birth narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke supplemented by traditions relating to the Jewish Messiah. It is correct to teach children in this simplified way, but too often sentimentality can obscure the theology and spiritual significance of this event of cosmic importance. The purpose of the narratives was not only to record the historical fact of the Incarnation of God’s Son, but to present us with insight into the nature of Christ. The stories of the birth of Jesus help to shape a central doctrine of the Christian faith – that the baby born in Bethlehem was both man and God.

Both Matthew and Luke present us with genealogies, although they are different. because these records are written with a theological purpose and are not meant to be a complete naming of Jesus’ ancestors. Matthew’s genealogy makes it clear that Jesus was the Son of David, the Davidic Messiah, and goes back to Abraham to indicate that Jesus fulfils God’s promise to Abraham to bless all the families of earth through him. Luke traces Jesus’ ancestry back from Joseph to Adam, the “son of God”, drawing attention to his dual nature, both God and Man. Both Matthew and Luke indicate that Joseph was not the natural father of Jesus. Whereas Old Testament genealogies list descendants, these genealogies give the ancestors of Jesus, because saving history has reached its goal and there can be no descendants of Jesus. Matthew further emphasises the descent from Abraham with his account of the Magi paying homage to the new born King of the Jews. The Magi were Gentiles and the event anticipates Jesus’ promise: Many will come from the east and west and sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. In antiquity special stars were thought to shine at the birth of kings and famous men, and the star in Matthew’s narrative is a sign of kingship and authority.

Luke’s first homage payers are shepherds, and the primary symbolism is to be found in a Jewish background. The animals for temple sacrifice were bred near Bethlehem, and it has been suggested that the shepherds of the temple sacrificial lambs were the ones who worshipped the Lamb of God. Shepherds are also symbolical in that they were ostracised by strict Jews, since their occupation prevented them from fulfilling the hygiene rules of Judaism. Hence the symbolism of the outcasts and unclean of society being among the first to welcome the Son of God.

The words used by the angels to announce to the Shepherds carry the connation of divinity. They announce peace on earth, while when Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday his followers proclaim peace in heaven. The Messiahship of Jesus recognised by the angels at his birth is recognised by his disciples only at the end of his life.

The stories of Jesus’ birth are a theological bridge between the Old and the New Testaments, presenting the whole of salvation history in a condensed form. The Incarnation puts the seal of God’s approval on His creation – no longer can it be thought that only spirit is good and all material things are bad. In Jesus there is a human nature and a divine nature, not a blending of the two. Jesus is not the visible appearance of God in human form. His deity is hidden in his humanity, and can only be comprehended by faith, not by historical investigation.

How one regards the person of Jesus Christ determines every other facet of theology and belief. May this God-Man, the Messiah, Son of the Virgin Mary, the only begotten Son of the Father from all eternity be a reality to us this Christmastide.

John Aitken

December 2005