There’s an old children’s story called “The Prince and the Pauper.” In the Mark Twain story, a prince meets a pauper that shares an uncanny resemblance with him. After sharing a bit about their lives with each other, the prince suggests swapping places. He wants to experience the life of a pauper for himself. He does, and that experience influences his eventual rule. For some, the Christmas story seems like a prince and the pauper tale. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Before we completely leave the Prince and the Pauper metaphor, there is this. The writer of Hebrews says, “So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:14–15, NLT) Jesus does understand our weaknesses because He experienced them as well. But, while the Prince intended to learn about the world, Jesus intended to save it.
Jesus explained it best to Nicodemus, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16–17, NLT)
And Jesus’ own statement of mission spoken in Nazareth’s synagogue gives us even more insight. “When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”(Luke 4:16–21, NLT)
Jesus came at Christmas with a purpose and a mission. Not to start a new religion or to fix an old one. He didn’t come to find out what life on earth is really like. Jesus didn’t come to judge and condemn. Jesus came to save us. To offer forgiveness for our sins, to heal our brokenness, and restore what the enemy has stolen. Christ’s purpose and mission remain and are carried by His followers over 2000 years later.
Christmas itself is a celebration of the Word made flesh. Of God entering into the world and walking among His creation. But without an understanding of Jesus’ ultimate purpose, the story itself is a meaningless fable in a stable. But with an eye to the cross, Christmas is one of the most poignant and powerful events of all mankind. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, ESV)
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