Christmas Uncut: Why Christ is good news

An extract from Scene Two: the angel—"Christ the Lord"…

Christ: not just a surname

What job had this royal baby come to do?

“Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”

God had given his Son Jesus two jobs. He was (still is, in fact) Christ.

For years, I thought “Christ” was Jesus’ surname. I assumed that Joseph and Mary were Mr and Mrs Christ, and so Jesus’ full name was Jesus Christ.

But actually, “Christ” is a title, not a name.

Those shepherds probably hadn’t spent much time in the town’s school or the local Jewish synagogue. But they would have known just how significant the arrival of God’s Christ was. Christ was a title which meant God’s promised King.

For centuries, God had been promising to send his King into the world. Not just any king, but the King. A King who would rule perfectly. A King who would rule selflessly. A King who would rule for ever.

A King whose rule would guarantee security for life, and bring satisfaction to life.

A King who would rule not only Israel, as David had, but the whole world. A King who would restore the world to how God intended, to be the perfect place he’d created.

Some King!

Over the centuries, God had given clues so that people could recognise the Christ when he finally appeared. He’d spoken through his messengers, prophets, and told his people that the Christ would be one of David’s descendants. He’d told them that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem.

And now, on a hillside outside Bethlehem, he announced that, at last, the Christ had been born.

The end of disappointment

We’re used to rulers disappointing us.

Think of Barack Obama storming to the American Presidency in 2008. To millions, he was the one who was going to change things. He was going to turn it all around. He was going to deliver. He was going to give the American people the life they wanted, the life they dreamed of.

Hope soon became tinged with disappointment; of course it did! How could one man change so much, do so much, achieve so much? He couldn’t.

He’d been asked to do too much.

Rewind eleven years to 1997 and the British elections. Tony Blair had been elected Prime Minister. He was going to change things, turn it around, deliver, give the British people the life they wanted.

Unpopularity eventually arrived; of course it did! How could one imperfect man carry so many hopes? He couldn’t.

He’d been asked to do too much.

And yet still we sense that we need good leadership. If only we could find someone good enough at ruling our country to give us and everyone else the security and satisfaction we want. Someone who was able to know what the right thing to do was, and then was unselfish enough to do it.

Some of us are still looking for a leader like that. Some of us have given up, deciding none of them will be good enough. Actually we’re both right! Leadership can sort it out; but no leader we can find is the leader who will sort it out.

The people who lived in first-century Israel were much the same. They’d put their hopes in judges, kings, warriors, homegrown rulers and foreign emperors; none of them had delivered. They’d learned to be just as cynical about leaders’ promises as most of us are.

They still wanted a ruler; it was just that they had learned through experience that only a perfect man could be a perfect ruler. And they hadn’t found one.

Until now. Until God’s angel said to some very ordinary people “He’s here”. The Christ, God’s promised King, who could actually deliver on his promises, had arrived.

That was great news for those shepherds then, and it’s great news for us today. There is a ruler who offers to rule us, perfectly, selflessly, for ever, giving us security throughout life and satisfaction in life. There’s a ruler who can get rid of the things which stop our lives being as we’d like them to be: who can get rid of suffering, frustration, fear, even death.

There is a King who can establish endless perfection on earth. He’s God’s Christ, and he’s the leader we’re all looking for.

A strange addition

But that’s not all. The angel didn’t only say the Christ had been born—he added that a “Saviour” had been born. The baby’s job wasn’t only to be a ruler, but also to be a rescuer.

Why did the people need rescuing? The answer to that question would be as shocking as the way Jesus was born; but the shepherds, and everyone else, would have to wait to find it out. For now, they started to come to terms with what had just happened out on their hillside…

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