Merry Christmas! This Advent at Saint Luke, we have lifted our eyes to the stars and have been contemplating the names used in the Bible for Jesus. As we gazed upon the texts and shared our insights about what we saw with one another, constellations formed. Our shared reflections, questions, encouragement, and hope connected us. Together, we journeyed in a new & growing light, shining brighter and revealing things we never would have seen had we journeyed alone. Faith grows best in community after all. To all who wrote and all who read, thank you for being a part of our Advent journey to Christmas.
Today’s final reflection is from Pastor Matt Staniz, our lead pastor at Saint Luke.
SAVIOR
“To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior.” -Luke 2:11
We have reached the culmination of the Christmas good news that Christians around the world sing together by candlelight: “Christ, our savior is born; Christ our savior is born!” This name for Jesus—savior—is the brightest star among the constellations of wonder that have accompanied us through the Advent season of anticipation and waiting for the arrival of God in this world.
This name for Jesus reaches beyond worship, honor, and describing who Jesus is to proclaim that you have a relationship with Jesus. Christmas proclaims the good news that, in the person of Jesus, God’s desire to save this world—and to save you—has been accomplished. To you is born this day a savior.
The Christmas gospel also meets us with a surprise. The one we call “savior” arrives in the most unexpected—perhaps even unbecoming—way: as a baby born in to a young woman displaced from family and community and forced to take refuge in a barn. The smell of a newborn baby’s head overpowered by the odor of cattle stalls. The first sounds to come from your savior’s mouth drowned out by a cacophony of sheep, goats, donkeys, pigs, and cattle. Jesus is not the savior that we might imagine: coming in to world with displays of power and control.
Instead, Jesus is the savior that we need. In Jesus, God comes down into the realities of human life. God takes on human flesh and human experience: even the parts that are difficult, sad, or broken. In Jesus, God meets you in every part of your life so that every part of your life can experience amazing grace. God chooses to save you, and God knows exactly who you are. On this Christmas day, may the story of Jesus enter the reality of your life to surprise and uplift you with the good news that Christ, your savior, is born.
Almighty God, you gave us your only Son to take on our human nature and to brighten this world with your light. By your grace adopt us as your children and enlighten us with your Spirit, through Jesus Christ, our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.