Celebrating the League of Christians
One past Christmas, our family’s Christmas message was hijacked. Like every Christmas, I write an annual Christmas message and this particular year was no different, but as we began our discussion and time of communion, the conversation shifted to “putting the whole story of Jesus’ birth together.”
I’d like to share this with you because contrary to what you may believe, there are very few people who actually know how all the pieces work together. In fact very few know very many of the pieces at all. To do this, I had to take a look back at an Easter message we published a few years ago, called “Impossible to Ignore.” In this message, we referred to Jesus as a superhero who is impossible to ignore. Today, I wish to continue with this thought of Jesus as a superhero in order to share as many of the pieces of the Christmas story with you as possible in the time we have. Let’s do it.
If Jesus was a present day superhero how would you tell His-story?
Let’s use an example to get our thoughts flowing. Tell me what you know of Superman, the man of steel. What type of powers does Superman possess?
We know that Superman has what we call superhuman (uncommon) abilities like incredible speed, strength, vision, and impervious skin [1], basically waterproof skin. I’m certain you can think of other abilities he possesses.
But what about Jesus? What superhuman abilities does Jesus possess? Join me in naming a few before we continue learning about the superhero, we call “Jesus, The Son of God.”
Jesus can walk on water.
Jesus can cure all sorts of diseases.
Jesus can appear and reappear.
Jesus can rise from the dead.
Jesus possesses supernatural healing abilities.
Jesus fights for those who can’t fight for themselves. [2]
Where do we begin in telling His-story?
Where does one begin when explaining the story and history of “the man of steel?” I can imagine a person beginning would start out with how superman landed on earth. One would open with him (Kal-El) being forced by his parents to leave his home planet of Krypton in order for his life to be spared.
What about Jesus? Where would we start?
What’s interesting, Jesus (known as Immanuel) volunteered to leave His home planet called Heaven to save a world that was being destroyed called Earth. That has some similarities with what we know of Superman. Jesus’ Father sent Him to earth to experience life as one who was born on Earth. But before we get there, let’s go back just a step or two further as it relates to what we think of superheroes.
While superheroes save a lot of lives and impact nations and the world around them for some reason when we tell their stories, we focus mainly on their superhuman abilities, where they come from and even though I hate to bring this up right now, their arch-enemies. So allow me to tackle the latter to get it out of the way.
We know Superman’s arch-enemy is best known as Lex Luthor. As his story goes, Superman had a number of enemies that we could name including other Kryptonians. Stay with me because this brings us back to Jesus. Who is Jesus’ arch-enemy? The Devil, right?! In fact, it’s easy to assume that Jesus had but one arch-enemy and that might not be true. Here’s a question for you, if Jesus had only one enemy, then who was responsible for crucifying Him? I’ll leave you with that question since that’s a lesson for Easter and today our focus is on Christmas.
The Story of the Son of God
Now that we have a little background on where He came from, His powers, and His arch-enemy, we need to talk about the highlights of His-story focused on His arrival on Earth. Side-note: we don’t have time to go into all the details so if you’re interested in one piece over another, message (we can help) or search it out for yourself.
- Prophets foretell His existence. Many years prior to His arrival, there were prophets who foretold of His coming and His existence.
- Three Heavenly beings bring “the good news.”
- Gabriel brings the message to Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus. An angel named “Gabriel” [3], the one who stands before God brings the message of Jesus to a teenager named Mary.
- God’s spirit interacts with Mary. Another Heavenly being delivered this amazing gift of a superhero to Mary. It’s this being that we know as God’s spirit (a.k.a. the Holy Spirit) which implanted Jesus within Mary [4] to be born like any other Earthly inhabitants.
- An unnamed angel reassures Joseph, Jesus’s earthly father. You can only imagine what Joseph was thinking when he realized that Mary was pregnant. His normal instinct was like any other normal person would have thought. Therefore, he would need a reassurance that didn’t come from this world, but from Heaven itself. So an angel, whose name isn’t provided, appears to Joseph in a dream, not the same way Mary Gabriel appeared to Mary. This angel gave Joseph the reassurance that he needed. [5]
- Mary accepts the responsibility of being chosen to mother Jesus. [3] Imagine this for a moment, a teenager who encounters a being from Heaven and who now is the one chosen to give birth to the greatest hero of all times.
- Mary and Joseph become Jesus’ adoptive parents. Like Jonathan and Martha Kent who adopted Superman (Clark Joseph Kent), Mary and Joseph accept the responsibility to raise Jesus of Heaven.
- Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem. We hear this quite often, which contradicts Jesus being from Nazareth. Just before Mary goes into labor, she and Joseph must travel to Bethlehem for a census that was taken. [6] While in Bethlehem, she gives birth to Jesus in a stable’s manager as there was no other lodging available to them at this time. This became a spectacular moment as nearby shepherds see an angel along with a host of angels appear from Heaven proclaiming what just happened in the city of Bethlehem: The Messiah, the Lord has been born today. [7]
- The wisest men in the land seek to find Jesus. We call these men wise men or Magi. They had a sign that we all acknowledge at Christmas as the symbol of where Jesus would be born. Atop each Christmas tree we place a star that represents the star that was given to the wise men to locate Jesus: The Son of God. As this part of the story goes, Jesus was around two years of age when they found Him and presented those famous gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. [8]
- Jesus’ family relocates. As we know Jesus was born in the city of David, called Bethlehem of Judea. Unfortunately it would be a while before, this family could return to their hometown of Nazareth in Galilee. For they were on the run from one of Jesus’s first arch-enemies, King Herod who’d heard of the child’s coming. Herod decided to kill all the children under the age of around two in his cities to ensure that Jesus would not survive. [8] So, an angel from God appeared to Joseph to have him relocate his family to Egypt. [9] After Herod, Jesus’ arch-enemy died, the angel again appeared to Joseph in the same manner (via dream) with directions to return to Nazareth. [10]
- Jesus prepares to use His powers and fulfill His mission. Now back in Nazareth, Jesus grew up healthy, strong, full of wisdom, had God’s favor on Him and began teaching others about His home (Heaven) at age twelve. [11]
As you know, there seems to be no ending to the story of Superman. In the same way, there’s no end to the story of Jesus. However, for this message, we will end here. Before age twelve, the miracles, signs, messages and superhuman feats followed as we know. We can focus on this amazing arrival to earth, the signs that accompanied, the powers that He possesses, and the enemies that He faces, but He would rather you and me tell our story.
While we would love to share more of this amazing story of Jesus, Jesus would rather have us tell our own amazing stories. The story of Jesus, The Son of God is one of making superheroes of all of those who connect with Him. Like Superman and his superhero friends formed the justice league, we as students of Jesus have our own league of extraordinary individuals, we call them Christians. It’s this league we celebrate this Christmas.
Questions: what will you contribute to the league of Christians?
From my family of exceptional human-beings to yours, Merry Christmas!
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Reference #1: Wikipedia. Superman. Accessed December 23, 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman
Reference #2: Kerry A. Clark. Impossible to Ignore. Accessed December 23, 2021, https://www.nolongercommon.com/impossible-to-ignore
Reference #3: Luke 1:28-32 NLT, Bible.com, accessed December 23, 2021, https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.1.28-32.NLT
Reference #4: Matthew 1:18 NLT, Bible.com, accessed December 23, 2021, https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.1.18.NLT
Reference #5: Matthew 1:20 NLT, Bible.com, accessed December 23, 2021, https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.1.20.NLT
Reference #6: Luke 2:1, 3-5 NLT, Bible.com, accessed December 23, 2021, https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.2.1-5.NLT
Reference #7: Luke 2:7-18 NLT, Bible.com, accessed December 23, 2021, https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.2.7-18.NLT
Reference #8: Matthew 2:2-12 NLT, Bible.com, accessed December 23, 2021, https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.2.2-12.NLT
Reference #9: Matthew 2:13 NLT, Bible.com, accessed December 23, 2021, https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.2.13.NLT
Reference #10: Matthew 2:19-23 NLT, Bible.com, accessed December 23, 2021, https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.2.19-23.NLT
Reference #11: Luke 2:39-40 NLT, Bible.com, accessed December 23, 2021, https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.2.39-40.NLT
All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.
