As we tell the Christmas story this
year, I hope we might ponder on the significance of this event. This was not just any baby laid in the
manger, this was the King of Heaven and earth, the Creator of worlds, Jehovah
of the Old Testament, and the Savior of all mankind who would accomplish the
atonement and resurrection to save the world from sin and death. As President Gordon B. Hinckley so perfectly
put it, “There would be no Christmas if there had not been Easter. The babe
Jesus of Bethlehem would be but another baby without the redeeming Christ of
Calvary and the triumphant fact of the Resurrection.” The birth of Christ is the centerpiece of the
earth’s existence, and a story worth telling, retelling, and pondering all the
year through. In the end, we know that
the Risen Lord will come again, to rule on this earth as the Promised
Messiah. So let us consider the story of
Christmas with the beginning, the middle, and the end in mind.
THE BEGINNING:
In 1 Nephi 11, Nephi is shown in vision
Mary, the mother of the Son of God, “a virgin, most beautiful and fair above
all other virgins,” and then he sees her “bearing a child in her arms.” The
angel asks him, “Knowest thou the condescension of God?” To condescend is to lower oneself or humble
oneself unnecessarily. This is a key in
the story of the birth of Jesus. To
Nephi, it is revealed that the fruit on the Tree of Life represented, “the love of
God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men.” The condescension is a gift of love from the
Son of God, and because of that gift, Nephi “saw many fall down at his feet and
worship him.”
Knowing the reason for the
condescension is to understand beginning of the story. Jesus Christ was already God, one with the Father. In the beginning, He was the creator of this
world. His word caused the galaxies, our
beautiful earth in all its splendor, and every plant and animal here to come
into being. When baby Jesus was born, a
God in every sense of the word “condescended,” lowered Himself or humbled
himself out of love to come to this world as a tiny, helpless baby.
And when he came to the earth, where
was he born? We read that Mary “brought
forth her firstborn son… and laid him in a manger; because there was no room
for them in the inns” (JST Luke 2:7). Mary was taken to a stable to have her baby. In that part of the world, it was a cave
where the animals were kept. It was away
from the brashness and noise of the crowds, and seems the perfect Christmas
story now, but it makes me sad to think that when the God who created this
world came to the earth, there was no room for Him. He should have been born in a glorious
palace, but in His meekness, he chose these quiet, humble circumstances for His
coming. It helps us understand His love,
His meekness, and His condescension even better.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell has written,
“Jesus, the God of the whole earth, the very God who created ‘the heavens and
the earth and all that in them are’ was born in a cave. The executor of the Father’s word who created
worlds without number and brought myriads of planets whirling into
existence—born in a cave. The Mighty
Jehovah, by whom the suns and planets course through the heavens and are sustained
in orbit by His power, the divine source and redeemer of all life teeming on
worlds innumerable to man—born in a cave.
He was in a sense, cradled by His own creations.”
Indeed, it was the shepherds, so
close to nature and his creations, who were first made aware of his birth. They were on the hills near Bethlehem,
keeping watch over the Passover lambs, destined for sacrifice as a type of
Christ. Under the night sky, the angel
proclaimed to the shepherds, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of
great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is
Christ the Lord. And this is the way you
shall find the babe, he is wrapped in swaddling clothes, and is lying in a
manger. And suddenly there was with the
angel, a multitude of heavenly host, praising God” (JST, Luke 2:9-13).
When the angel departed, “the
shepherds said to one another, Let us now go, even unto Bethlehem, and see this
thing which is come to pass, which the Lord has made known unto us. And they came with haste.” The shepherds came unto Him with haste. Do we respond so quickly to the invitation to
come unto Him? I can see them run in
haste to find Him, and then arriving at the stable, halt suddenly, struck with
awe at the sight before them. The
shepherds “found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.” I can see them come slowly, hesitantly closer
to the manger to see the promised Savior for themselves, and then- one by one-
bow in reverence and adoration in worship before Him. I’m sure they were changed by this
experience. Knowing who this baby was
and where He had just been, how could they ever be the same? What they did then is very telling. “And when they had seen, they made known
abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. All they who heard it, wondered at those
things which were told them by the shepherds” (JST, Luke 2:15-18). The shepherds, having known and seen for
themselves, became witnesses to bring others to Christ.
THE MIDDLE:
Elder Neal A. Maxwell has said that
“Christ’s birth is the centerpiece of Christmas.” But it is also the centerpiece of the
Father’s plan, the centerpiece all of history as he came in the Meridian of
time, and in fact all of the world’s time is measured after this one
event. So should His teachings be the
centerpiece of our lives.
We know how the child Jesus grew
“grace by grace,” and ministered to His people one by one, healing, loving,
teaching, and giving every hour of His life in their service. He lived a perfect life, experiencing the temptation,
sadness, fatigue of mortality, but never succumbing to sin and always doing the
will of His Father. We look to Him as
our exemplar, and pattern our lives after His.
And as the Christmas and Easter
story are so intertwined, let us remember the last days of the Savior’s
life. In His sinless and perfect state,
Jesus Christ went into a garden and experienced our sins, pain, and agony in
our place, wrestled with everything Satan could throw at Him, and emerged the
victor. He conquered Satan, not just for
Himself, but for all of us who would be lost if facing this test on our
own. Will we accept this gift –the opportunity
to repent and return to live with God again, as well as the enabling power of
His grace to get through each day—the gift of the Atonement?
He submitted Himself to the Father’s
will and plan, and then submitted Himself to the rulers of the day to be beaten
and humiliated and eventually crucified.
With power over death as the Father’s literal Son, He allowed His life
to be taken from Him, and then reclaimed it when he arose with a resurrected
body three days later. He gives this
gift of resurrection to every soul to have ever lived.
THE END:
At the time of Christ’s birth,
righteous men, who knew the prophecies of the birth of the Christ, were able to
discern the sign, a new star in the heavens.
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the
king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is
the child that is born, the Messiah of the Jews? For we have seen his star in
the east, and have come to worship him” (JST, Matthew 3:1-2). They recognized the signs, knew the King of
the Jews had been born, and came to kneel and bow before this infant king, present
Him gifts, and left as witnesses of His divinity. “And when they were come into the house, they
saw the young child, with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshiped
him. And when they had opened their treasures,
they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh” (JST, Matthew
3:11).
Living in these last days, we can
recognize the signs of the times that will precede the Second Coming of our
Lord and Savior. With living prophets to
guide us, like the star guided the wise men, our eyes can be pointed to watch
for the Savior.
Just as Mary bid the wise men to
come into the house, the Savior Himself ever calls to us, “Come unto me”
(Matthew 11:28). After His resurrection,
the Savior of the World descended from heaven clothed in a pure white robe and
walked among the Nephites, who fell to the earth in His presence. He told them, “arise and come forth unto me,
that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the
prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the
God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins
of the world” (3 Nephi 11:14).
His intimate invitation to come one
by one unto Him echoes today, and will be repeated when He comes again in all
His glory. We may not have seen the baby
Jesus, and knelt before Him in worship as the shepherds and wise men did. However, we know that He will come again, and
that “every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess,” that He is the
risen Lord of heaven and earth. (D&C 88:104) The Savior’s welcoming arms are open to all,
but we must put forth the effort to come unto Him to be cleansed and healed,
witness for ourselves, and be saved, ever after offering our own lives in
service in His Kingdom.
The Savior has made me whole, and I
kneel before Him in worship and gratitude, offering a gift of my own broken
heart and my own stubborn will as my offering.
This Christmas, I hope we can all ponder the Christmas story—with the
beginning, middle, and end in mind.
