A few years ago Minnesota Public Radio ran a NCAA-style bracket in which TV characters competed for the title of the most beloved television character of all time. Lucy Ricardo from I Love Lucy was in there; so was Michael Scott from The Office. Kermit the Frog was competing; so was Cosmo Kramer and Barney Fife. Any guesses about who won?
Let’s see the picture of the winner: Lt. Commander Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation. As you can see in this next picture, Data isn’t a human. He is an android. He is a robot designed to look human. He’s a glorified version of your smart phone.
The hosts of the radio show were quite surprised that a robot beat Lucy, Kermit, and Kramer so they tried to figure out why this android won. They found that he won because he wanted to be human. The character of Data gave the writers a chance to explore what it means, and doesn’t mean, to be human by showing someone who wishes he was.
For example, there was an episode in which a little boy loses his mother in a terrible accident. Data was present at the accident and the boy begins to bond with Data. As the weeks go by, the boy wants to become like Data—styling his hair like Data, speaking like Data. The boy wants to be like Data. The boy reasons that if he were an android too, wouldn’t have to feel any emotions—such as sadness. Data lets the boy know that he would give anything to have emotions even though it involves pain.
Data wants to be human and so often we, like that little boy who lost his mother, do not. We don’t want the pain. We don’t want the vulnerability. We would rather be immune to it all; yet there is this character who wants to become who human, who says, “if being human is not simply a matter of being born flesh and blood, if it is instead a way of thinking, acting, and… feeling, then I am hopeful that one day I will discover my humanity. Until then, I will continue learning, changing, and growing, and trying to become more than what I am.” That’s why Data won that bracket—he actually wants to be us
Now if that winsomeness was enough to help Data win a public radio NCAA-style bracket for television characters, try to imagine the attraction of the God who created everything and who upholds it moment by moment actually deciding to become fully human. That should be winsome to everyone. Imagine God becoming like us: acting, thinking, feeling. That would change the way we think of God. That would change the way we think of ourselves. That’s the attraction of the virgin birth. It tells us that God became fully human, and that’s the claim of this sermon: the virgin birth tells us that God became fully human.
We will study this in three points. First: the full humanity of the Christ child. Second: the humanity of Christ on display. Third: becoming fully human. We will work our way through the Scriptures on your sheet.
First: the full humanity of the Christ child. Do you think that, while nursing, Jesus ever burped up his milk? Do you think he ever wet his pants after he was potty trained? Do you think there were certain foods he preferred to others? Do you think that he enjoyed playing some games and didn’t really enjoy others all that much? Just how human do you think Jesus was? The Bible gives a clear answer, “[Jesus] had to be made like [the children of Abraham], fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.” He is like to a much greater degree than any of us understand.
We tend to minimize that. We tend to minimize the full humanity of Jesus. Our tendency comes out in lines like, “The cattle are lowing the baby awakes, but little Lord Jesus no crying he makes.” Why not? Why wouldn’t he cry? Is it by nature sinful for a baby to cry? Is wanting food sinful? Is being uncomfortable sinful? No. There is a good deal of what it means to be human that has nothing to do with sin. We need to affirm that if we are to understand Christmas.
Think about the Christmas story. Luke 2:6, “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths.” How do you think Mary knew it was time for the baby to born? Any guesses? Contractions, right. Now you said contractions because that’s what happens when humans are born. We didn’t read, “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and there was a cloud and a light and then poof there was baby Jesus.” No, you get contractions. That’s how flesh and blood babies tell you the time has come.
Why clarify that this baby was a son? Because humans come in two genders—male and female—and this was a male child. You could tell by his anatomy which is how you tell in delivery rooms today.
Why mention that this child was the firstborn? Certainly the purpose here is to serve as a reference to the virgin birth, but as the gospels go on it becomes clear that Jesus was the oldest child in his family. Any firstborns here? So was Jesus. Any dynamics that you experienced as part of being the firstborn? Jesus knew those too.
Why mention that Mary wrapped the baby in cloths? Well, it’s probably a reference to Mary and Joseph making do with what they had, but it also implies that they clothed the kid because he was just a little guy who would get cold otherwise.
Think about the shepherds. What was the sign given to them? “This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” They weren’t told to find a baby with a halo around his head. They were told that the identifying feature of this baby would be the fact that he was lying in a food trough—typical looking baby in a peculiar bed.
Think about what happened a week later. Luke 1:21, “On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.” How do you think baby Jesus responded to being circumcised—“little Lord Jesus no crying he makes”? I’d be happy to bet good money that he was crying until his face was red especially considering they didn’t have any real anesthetic in that day.
This childhood is worth considering. Cecil Frances Alexander considered it. She was a hymn writer. She wrote “All Things Bright and Beautiful.” She also wrote a Christmas carol and published it in her hymnbook Hymns for Little Children. She wrote this song because she wanted children like those who were part of the Christmas program last week to understand that Jesus knows what it is like to be in their shoes. Here’s what she wrote, “For he is our childhood’s pattern; day by day, like us he grew; he was little, weak and helpless; tears and smiles like us he knew, and he feels for our sadness, and he shares in our gladness.” If you’ve got children, teach them that. Teach them that Jesus knows what it’s like to be little; everyone else is big and gets to do grown up jobs; Jesus gets that; he feels for your child’s sadness and he shares in their gladness. How do you know that? Because “Jesus was made like [the children of Abraham], fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God.”
If you have children or grandchildren or love a child, cherish the doctrine of the virgin birth. It tells you that Jesus was just as much of a little child as the child you love and that he became just as much as a child to save that child.
That’s our first point which is closely connected to Christmas. Now we turn our attention to Jesus’ humanity throughout the gospels. That’s our second point: the humanity of Christ on display. In our second study of this Advent series, we looked all too briefly at the name Immanuel, which means, “God with us.” Jesus isn’t like Superman choosing to stand with us mere mortals. He is as human as us. You couldn’t drive nails into Superman’s hands. They drove them into Jesus’ hands.
It might help you to survey the gospels to see how Jesus is like you. Have you ever been utterly exhausted from being on your feet all day? John 4:6, “Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well.” Have you ever felt frustrated by others limiting your identity to your profession or thinking that they truly know you because they knew just a few facts about your life? Mark 6:3, the crowds listening in the synagogue said, ‘“Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.’ Have you ever bumped up against one of your parents’ expectations? John 2:1, “On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Why do you involve me?” Jesus replied.’ Has your heart ever gone out to someone in trouble because you’ve been exactly in the same situation in which they find themselves? Hebrews 4:15, “we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are.” Have you ever learned something new? Luke 2:52, “Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Have you ever learned something in suffering that you couldn’t have learned in any other way? Hebrews 5:8, “Although [Jesus] was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”
I placed those last two at the end because they highlight Jesus’ humanity in a way that raises some eyebrows. We know that humans learn, but what does it mean to say that someone who is fully God learned? It means that Jesus’ divine nature didn’t always exert itself. Calvin explains, “the divine nature was in a state of repose, and did not at all exert itself, whenever it was necessary that the human nature should act separately, according to what was peculiar to itself, in discharging the office of mediator.” That means that it was sometimes necessary for Jesus’ divine nature to stop expressing itself so that Jesus could experience something peculiar to humanity—experiences like learning. For him to be fully like us, his divine nature would have to, at times, hide itself.
For him to be fully like us, his divine nature would have to, at one particular moment in time, remove itself from the experience. You see this at the death of Christ. Jesus of Nazareth died. That’s Mark 15:37, “Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.” That’s Matthew 27:50, “Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.” Jesus wasn’t comatose in that tomb in need of resuscitation. There was no resuscitating him anymore than there will be any resuscitating you when you die. The same Mary who was there when Jesus opened his eyes was there when death shut them. In that moment she knew what Simeon meant when he told her, “A sword will cut through your soul.” Some of you mothers have known something of that pain. Mary’s son died, but his divine nature didn’t. You run into all sorts of logical difficulties if you say that God has died, which is why the church has said that is a heresy. They say it not to limit thought but to safeguard truth.
That might seem a bit abstract, but it is necessary to think it through if you want a sense of your true solidarity with Jesus. It’s necessary to think that through if you want to understand how Jesus truly is as human as you. Jesus learned life lessons just as you do. He died just as you will. The word really did become flesh.
He did all of this not in some android-like desire to be human. He did it all for your salvation. As Paul put it, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” He became like us in all the ways he could so that we might become like him in all the ways we can.
That’s why he entered as fully as his divinity would allow into our experiences. Look again at his experiences. Have you ever been so troubled that you wanted your friends to come over? Matthew 26:38, ‘Then [Jesus] said to them, “my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”’ Have you ever been hurt by your friends? Matthew 26:40, ‘he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter.’ Have you ever cried because something was so wrong even though it was the way God wanted it to be? John 11:33, ‘When Jesus saw [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.’ That final verse—John 11:35—is the shortest verse in the Bible. It shows you what it meant for Jesus to become like you in all the ways he could so that you might become like him in all the ways you can.
We’ve been studying Jesus becoming human like us. Let’s close this sermon by thinking about how we can become human like him. That’s our final point: becoming fully human. Jesus is the pattern of what we are to become. We seem to assume that he was less human than ourselves. We seem to want him to prove his humanity to us when in reality he is more human than any of us. It is actually we who are like Data and Jesus who is human. What I mean is that while both we and Jesus are human, we are not what humans should be while Jesus was and is. That’s why he wept over Jerusalem’s coming destruction while we often find ourselves bewilderingly numb to the suffering of others. That’s why when followers were abandoning Jesus left and right, he turned to the disciples and asked the vulnerable question, “Do you want to go away as well?” while you and I tend to avoid asking questions we are afraid to have answered. Jesus isn’t simply more righteous than us. In a very real way, he is more human than us.
As we become like him, we become more human. Think about Paul. When we first meet Paul, he is watching his collogues’ coast while they stone Stephen to death. When we last see Paul, he is writing a letter from prison to encourage a young man to love others. Which one of those two seems like more of what a human was meant to be? What accounted for the change? Paul could tell you. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Paul became more human as he became more like Christ.
The Son of God became fully human so that we might become fully human. So it isn’t Jesus’ full humanity that’s in question today. It is yours. Are you becoming fully human? Are you becoming what a human was meant to be? Are you losing the inhumane scales, claws, and venom of sin? Are you becoming like the Son of God who became like you? That’s what it is to be born again, to be born of God.
The virgin birth not only made Jesus’ humanity possible, it made your full humanity possible. It made it possible for you to become fully human. It made it possible for you to become like Jesus. Amen.
“The Virgin Birth (fully human)
(Scriptures for further study)
12/25/20
Hebrews 2:17, “For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God…”
Luke 2:6, “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths.”
Luke 2:12, “This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Luke 1:21, “On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.”
John 4:6, “Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well.”
Mark 6:3, ‘“Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?”
John 2:1-4, ‘On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied.’
Hebrews 4:15, “we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are.”
Luke 2:52, “Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”
Hebrews 5:8, “Although [Jesus] was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”
Mark 15:37, “Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.”
Matthew 27:50, “Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.”
Luke 2:35, “A sword will cut through your soul.”
Galatians 4:4, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
Matthew 26:38, ‘Then [Jesus] said to them, “my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”’
Matthew 26:40, ‘he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter.’
John 11:33-35, ‘When Jesus saw [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.’
John 6:66-67, ‘From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.’
Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.””