Jesus’ comments on Christmas

Jesus didn’t actually refer to his birthday, but he did make several comments on why he was born. Let’s look at them.

“For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth” (John 18.37). Here was a man who knew his purpose in life! And he knew “the truth”. This statement of Jesus is as vital as it is radical. Don’t we need to know the truth? Isn’t God the only One who knows the truth and the true answers to our existential questions? Jesus was born into the world to make that truth accessible. 

“I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (John 12.46). Jesus sees the world of human being enshrouded in the darkness of sin and ignorance, needing light from beyond this world – divine light. He also said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8.12). I wonder if you are “walking in darkness”; here is hope for you.

“I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6.38). Jesus saw his primary aim in life was to obey His Father’s will and fulfil the plan for which he was sent. He lived and died in complete accord with the will of God his Father: “I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me” (John 5.30).

He said he “came to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19.10). The New Testament explains: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1.15). Jesus taught that we are lost when we are far from God, indifferent to his love, living in disobedience to his will, and careless of loving and pleasing him. Multitudes living like that are lost, they have no idea where they are going, but they are on their way to a lost eternity. Jesus came to seek such people, and to save them both from a life of sin and from an eternity in hell. 

He explained how he would do this, when he said he had come “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10.45). It’s as if lost sinners are held captive to evil habits and evil powers, subject to righteous judgment. A ransom price would “redeem” or deliver them; that price was Jesus’ own death. Sinless himself, he chose to bear our penalty on the cross, dying to redeem us. Such is his compassion for us in our bondage and our lost state.

 “I have come in my Father’s name” he declared, often alluding to “the Father who sent me” (John 5.43, 36, 37). He so represents God his Father that he says, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me” (John 12.44-45). 

Jesus sums up the ultimate aim of his coming: “I came that they might have life and have it abundantly” (John 10.10). His coming was in order to give abundant life (“eternal life” – true human fulfilment) to people who trust in him. God loved us so much “that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3.16)

That’s why Jesus came at that first Christmas. We all need him.

Clive Every-Clayton