What Child Is This? - Christmas Day, 2023

There was nothing about the child that distinguished him from any other newborn—other than his situation, that is.

His mother was a young peasant girl, barely old enough to be married—which, according to the story, she wasn’t. She was engaged to Joseph, but not yet formally married (Luke 2:4-5). That fact—that his mother was pregnant before she was married—was a stigma that followed him like a shadow, even into adulthood. He was not the only person, however, who was the child of an unwed mother.

He was born in a stable—a shelter where the various kinds of livestock were housed to keep them out of the elements. Not many people can boast of being born in a barn. His first bed—his baby bed—was a feed trough lined with straw. These humble circumstances suggest the poverty in which his family lived. He was not the first child—nor will he be the last child—born to a family living in poverty.  

Other than these unusual circumstances, he was like any other newborn. Perhaps that is the point—or a point—of the story. He was just like us. He was one of us. He was as fully human as each of us.

Yet, over two thousand years after he was born, we still remember and celebrate his birth.

What Child is this?

The prophet Isaiah called him Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

The writer of the gospel of Matthew identified him as the Son of David, the Messiah (Matthew 1:1). He was Emmanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23).

The angel who announced his birth to the shepherds said he was the Savior, the Messiah, the Lord (Luke 2:10-11).

The writer of the gospel of John identified him as the Word made flesh, the one who made known to us the heart of God, the one from whom we have received grace upon grace (John 1:14, 18, 16). He was the true light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it (John 1:5, 9).

The writer of Colossians described him as the visible image of the invisible God in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (Colossians 1:15, 19).

The writer of Revelation called him King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16).

What child is this?

This child is Emmanuel—God with us. He is the Son of God who reveals to us the heart of God (John 14:8-10). Through him, we know that God is love. Through him, we are claimed as beloved children of God (1 John 3:1). Through him, we experience God’s grace. Through him, we know God’s forgiveness, God’s acceptance, God’s glad welcome. Through him, our hearts are changed, our lives are transformed, and we are conformed into his image (Romans 8:29). In him, we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:20). Through him, God is establishing God’s reign on earth, creating a new heaven and a new earth that is patterned after God’s own character and follows God’s servant ways of grace. In him, we are God’s partners in this eternal, redemptive enterprise, working and praying for the kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. All of this—and more—is what the angel meant when he proclaimed, “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

No wonder we remember and celebrate his birth. We remember and celebrate his birth because we have opened our hearts, our lives to him and to the God of love he revealed—and in doing so, we have experienced grace upon grace.

What child is this?

His name is Jesus (Matthew 1:25).