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PROGRAM D-7994
Are you ready for Christmas? Most of us are looking forward to special celebrations with friends, family, and food. Got to have good food! But in the midst of it all, let’s not forget it’s all about Jesus who came to save his people from their sins.
I’m taking a closer, fresher look at the Christmas story, looking at it through Middle Eastern eyes. For example, consider the condition of the people of Israel at the time of Jesus’ birth:
- They were occupied and oppressed by the Romans
- Before the Romans, the country had been ruled by the Greeks
- Before the Greeks, it had been ruled by the Persians
At the time of Jesus’ birth, much of the land was owned by foreigners, local farmers were obliged to rent land, and they were treated very unfairly. Naturally they wanted to be saved from the political and economic oppression they were under. They were expecting a Messiah to come and save them from this horrible occupation.
If you were living in an occupied country for many years, had been treated badly, and your people had been abused and misused, your idea of sin would be what the oppressors were doing to you. They were the sinners. Salvation would represent to you being saved from this oppression.
So, when Matthew records that Mary “will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21), it was not a message well-received. They didn’t see that their problem was their sin; their problem was the oppressors who kept them in bondage. This is no doubt an important part of why “he came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:11).
I wonder how many people who will celebrate Christmas this year will have no idea that Jesus came to save people from their sins? That’s what the birth of Jesus is all about! So let’s be sure that as we celebrate the birth, we remember that it’s the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus that saves us from our sins!