Chaplain's Corner

Who is this Jesus, born in Bethlehem? Who is this one called Emmanuel? Who is this One that has captivated history even though so many distain him? What has he done to be adored by many, treated with indifference by most and hated by others? What does it mean that he bears the title “Christ”? What does that mean anyway? What has he done? What has he accomplished for others? Why is the mark he left on our world so deep and pervasive, but so contrary, blessing some and cursed by others? Who is this Jesus, born in Bethlehem?

Why does it matter to you or to me? Why is it something a hospital chaplain should even contemplate? Why should I pray for the sick and the dying in His name? Why not some other name? Why at all? Why all the fuss around the date set centuries ago to commemorate his birth? Why all the songs written for the occasion? Why has commerce hung its annual well being on sales generated by the birth of this Jesus, born in Bethlehem?

What are we to make to the tens of thousands recreations of that stable scene? What are we to make of little boys dressed in bathrobes and head coverings reenacting a scene months after the birth when as we are told Magi from the East came to worship this Jesus? What are we to say to the critics who deny his claims and call Him a fraud? To those who claim that the biographical sketches of his life (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are no more actual events than one’s favorite fairy tale? What are we to conclude when we see gaudy images of this Jesus and his parents adorning everything from T-shirts to greeting cards; postage stamps to images printed on balloons?

Little wonder Christmas time has become little more than a hodge-podge of unrelated sentimentality, a Hallmark holiday that generates billions of dollars in sales, untold emotional turmoil and some of the deepest disappointment in the hearts of millions year after year. Little wonder that this sentimentality, pushed by corporate greed and individual obligation or guilt results in people going into debt each year to pay for things that generate little more than polite gratitude and short-lived satisfaction. Little wonder that there is so much confusion surrounding this Jesus, born in Bethlehem.

Even so many who embrace the Christian Faith have such a poor understanding of who this Jesus is and why his birth generates such a cacophony of opinions and reactions. For many who give some allegiance to the traditions of Christianity; this Jesus, born in Bethlehem, gets them out to church for the obligatory Christmas Eve service. Even so many who are attached to this, one of the four most embraced religious traditions on earth; there is little substantive understanding of who this Jesus, born in Bethlehem claimed to be.

So who is this Jesus or at least who does the Bible, the Holy Book of the Christian Faith claim him to be: The claims are many, the claims are grandiose, and the claims must either be embraced fully or rejected out of hand. Anyone who has examined with any thoughtfulness the claims the Bible makes as to the identity of Jesus can not sit on the fence and remain indifferent or casual towards Him. The claims made of this Jesus, born in Bethlehem; demand either wholehearted embrace and faith or outright rejection.

The Bible teaches that this Jesus, born in Bethlehem, is in fact the incarnation of God. Bethlehem was not his “beginning” for the God of the Bible is an eternal being who has existed always, with no cause, or in need of nothing outside of himself to exist. He is the self-existent one. This Jesus, born in Bethlehem is the creator of all that exists; every speck of matter in the expanse of the universe came into being by the power of his word. He spoke and all that we know, all that we will ever be able to know, exists because he created it. All the complexity and interrelation, all the simplicity and beauty is his design.

The Bible teaches that this Jesus, born in Bethlehem, is in fact the one who maintains the order of the universe, who ordains the natural forces that order all that we know from the rotations of our solar systems planets around our sun to the rotation of the electrons around the protons and neutrons of each an every atom. This Jesus, born of Bethlehem, is not only the creator and but the sovereign Lord, King of kings and Lord of lords – the ultimate and unchallengeable ruler of the universe.

The Bible teaches that this Jesus, born in Bethlehem, chose, as the grandest and most profound act of love ever to be conceived, to condescend to be born as a baby, to take on a human body and the limitations of human existence, laying aside the independent use of his divine powers for a season so that he might “save his people from their sins”; this was what the angel told Joseph.

The Bible teaches us that this Jesus, born in Bethlehem, grew up in a family, with Mary and Joseph parenting him and with brothers and sister. That for the first 30 years of his earthly life he lived in obscurity, learning carpentry, then at about 30 years of age, he launched out in three years of very public and generally controversial public exposure. As a traveling rabbi (teacher) he gathered disciples (followers) crowds followed him, miracles happened and his popularity soared. But at a crucial juncture, many of his followers turned away because his teaching became difficult to accept.

The Bible teaches that this Jesus, born in Bethlehem, knew his destiny, death on a cross, and marched toward that destiny for it was the apex of a divine plan that had been determined even before He created the earth. That plan: to make it possible for people who had been separated from God by rebellion and sin to be forgiven and reunited with God.

The Bible teaches that this Jesus, born in Bethlehem, did indeed die on a cross but that his death was much more than a physical one, he died spiritually, experiencing being separated from God the Father for the first and only time in eternity past and future as he bore the penalty, guilt and shame on humanities sin. He offers forgiveness and reconciliation with God to any one who will believe that he is God come in the flesh and that his death accomplished the satisfaction of God’s holy justice and opens the way to restoration to fellowship with God.

The Bible teaches that this Jesus, born in Bethlehem, then died and three days later rose from the dead, victor over sin, death and Satan himself and securing for those who would believe forgiveness and life everlasting and the guarantee of a place in the eternal Kingdom over which He will rule.

So, if you are remembering this Jesus, born in Bethlehem for who the Bible teaches Him to be, Christmas becomes a most holy time, a humbling time, a time when reverence is drawn from our hearts in worship of His love and grace. But if this Jesus, born in Bethlehem is not the center piece of your holiday, then the holiday is what it is and is of little more significance than any other commercially driven celebration that punctuates our calendars.