As noted in the first essay of advent, when the Christmas season arrives it normally comes in a flurry of evergreen, peppermint, and presents. This holiday is a marked celebration of Christ’s birth, a birthday party. We sing songs like “What child is this?” and “Come all ye faithful,” to shout to the rooftops the good news of the birth of the Christ. This is an incredible time of hope for us. Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and the warrior King that Israel longed for. When Jesus is born, so is his identity as the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, our High Priest. From the outset, Jesus’s birth on earth is directly tied to his purpose to die and be a sacrifice for it. The Christmas season is not really just the story of Jesus’s birth; it is a part of the most grand and glorious story ever told.

The child that was born in a mere manger grew to be a man. A man who experienced the vulnerability of infancy and childhood, the joy and trial of family dynamics, the rough, physical work of carpentry, and the love and loss of close family and friends. In Jesus we see the person we were meant to be but never could achieve ourselves.

His humanity is on full display in the gospel accounts of his final days. When Jesus is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, the reality of the cross looms over him. Matthew notes that Jesus is sorrowful and troubled, and Jesus tells his disciples that his “soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” (Matt. 26:38; Mark 13:34). When praying by himself he even asks God to “Take this cup from [him],” if possible, and Luke notes that the prayer is so earnest and anguished that “his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground,” (Matt. 26:29; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42,44).

In Hebrew scripture, “cup” is used as a metaphor for God’s just judgment against evil.1 In this case, the cup that Jesus holds means that God’s righteous judgment for the sin and brokenness of the world- for us- will instead fall on Jesus. Jesus is being completely honest in these last moments with his disciples, his friends. He is about to experience not only extreme physical pain, but also the pain of being separated from the love of the Father and it is scary.

Jesus’s response to this enormous task is not to run. He is resolved in his prayer to the Father, saying, “yet not my will, but yours be done,” (Luke 22:42). The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus also took the time to pray for his disciples and future believers. In his final hours before his arrest and sham of a trial, when he is already feeling the weight of the cross on his back, Christ is praying for us.

The gospel accounts of the crucifixion are heavy with irony. Jesus is mocked, flogged, spit upon, and his clothing is divided among the soldiers. A flyer above his head mockingly calls him the King of the Jews. When on the cross, the witnesses hurl insults at him, saying “Save yourself!” “Come down from the cross if you are the Son of God!” (Matt. 27:40). In his last moments, Jesus says, “It is finished,” (John 19:30). The original word for this phrase is tetelestai, a financial and accounting term that means “paid in full.” Jesus stares down at those mocking him, his accusers, and simply says, “your debt has been paid.” It is exactly because Jesus is the Son of God that he did not come down from that cross.

It is not a matter of his ability. In the garden of Gethsemane, when Peter cuts off the ear of one of the High Priest’s servants, he says, “Do you not think I can call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 26:53). This is Jesus who has performed miracle after miracle, who literally demonstrated his dominion over creation by instantly quieting the winds and causing the sea to be as still as glass, just by his words.

Jesus also turns down the offer of gall (in Mark it’s myrrh) mixed with wine before being nailed to the cross. Gall in this case is a bitter addition to the wine that would make it more like a narcotic. Yet Jesus refuses the wine when he realizes what is in it. Jesus does not want to be drugged. He feels every ounce of pain possible for the human body to experience.
What is even more astounding is why Jesus does this. N.T. Wright says, “On the cross, Jesus is lifted up as the true revelation of God, lifted up in the supreme work of love, of gentle and heartfelt compassion, the place and posture which now symbolize the yearning love of the creator for his lost and self-destructive world.”2 As Jesus commits his spirit to the Lord and breathes his last, the curtain of the temple is torn in two. The curtain that separated Israel, us, from the presence of God is eradicated. Sin and death are defeated so that we might be in close, intimate relationship with God. Jesus himself sacrifices this relationship for a time so that we might have it eternally.

The story still does not stop here. Sometimes we focus so strongly on the crucifixion, we forget to talk about the resurrection. Friday afternoon, before the Sabbath, Jesus is placed in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea. When the women come Sunday morning to finish anointing the body, they find it empty. An angel tells them that Jesus of Nazareth has risen. Did you hear that? Jesus’s resurrection means that he is alive. Jesus is alive! We can hold fast to the knowledge that God is sovereign over everything- even death (Acts 2:24).

Jesus entered and lived in the world with quiet strength and utmost humility- completely opposite of what the Jews had thought their avenging, warrior King would be. In fact, when he appears to his disciples (they are kept from recognizing him) after his death they lament saying, “we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel,” (Luke 24:21). Hope-d. Past tense. To them, “a crucified messiah is by definition a failed Messiah.”3 He did not come as expected: guns blazing, ready to overthrow the Romans. They failed to understand that He fought a greater enemy than one the passing of time could cure: death.

The resurrection is fundamental to our faith. Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:13-14 that, “if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” In John 11:25-26, Jesus himself says, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Through Christ’s death and resurrection we are given the amazing, precious gift of eternal life in the presence of God.
So in this holiday season, whether things get easy, tough, tearful, or joyous, turn your eyes to Christ with great hope and humility. Your God knows your suffering and your joy. He has explored every inch of pain in the human experience. He endured not only the physical pain of death but also the heart wrenching, horrifying reality of being separated from the Father so that we may never be separated from Him. Jesus’s death and resurrection ushered in a new covenant between God and his people. It is where sin and death have been utterly and wholly defeated by the blood sacrifice of the most perfect, spotless lamb. He tells us in John 16:33b, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Our God is sovereign over all things. So carry this like a banner into the Christmas season: The child who was born is the Son of God who has overcome the world.

Discussion Questions

  • How might Jesus’s humanity be a comfort during difficult circumstances?
  • Why was it so important that Jesus be clear headed during the crucifixion (in turning down the gall)?
  • Why might we need to experience suffering in full?
  • Jesus says that our debt is paid in full. If one truly believes that their debt is satisfied, what does their life look like? How might people use works as a way to appease guilt for sin that is already been paid?
  • In his book, Jesus the King, Tim Keller says: “Live in the light of the resurrection and renewal of this world and of yourself.” How are you living in the light of the resurrection?

Endnotes

  1. Tim Keller, Jesus the King: Understanding the Life and Death of the Son of God (New York: Penguin, 2011), 159-160.
  2. N.T. Wright, Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Leadership (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 37.
  3. Wright, Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Leadership, 48.

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