For You.
The beautiful verses found in the Luke 2 Christmas account still ring felicity in our hearts and minds today. This child nestled in the manger, the babe fresh from Mary’s womb, is heaven-sent to bear our burdens and shape our destiny. This child is more than a child; this newborn is the eternal Son of God.
Luke 2:11 says, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” This child is born for you (“for unto you is born”). The personal pronoun which God chose is “for you” (ὑμῖν in Greek). To say that this young tyke is “for you” means that he came for your good. His birth is for your happiness, your future, your forgiveness. He is “for you” so that you would never have to worry again. He is “for you” so that His death would cripple eternal death. Many faces have crossed the landscape of this world’s theater but none has made an appearance with such impact. His place in history is “for you.” As you peer into the various accounts of his birth, let this personal connection bud and bloom and grow.
Notice the places where this matters. “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21 EHV). The burden should have been ours to bear but the eternal Son of God made our safety His concern. He did this “for us.”
Christmas is ripe with clues to the significance of these two words. The Shepherds heard the gospel from the angels and were drawn to the manger. The Wise Men had ancient insight that was aroused by the star; and they traveled to see the King who was born for them. Our journey may not be as long. But it comes fraught with as many obstacles and challenges as the Magi faced or the shepherds endured.
This Christmas season, let your heart be drawn by the excitement of two simple words, “for you.” Once again we will make the ancient journey to the crude box filled with coarse straw and a divine child. I love how Jaroslav Vajda pronounced the personal nature of Christ’s arrival:
“Where shepherds lately knelt and kept the angel's word,
I come in half belief, a pilgrim strangely stirred,
but there is room and welcome there for me,
but there is room and welcome there for me.
In that unlikely place I find him as they said:
sweet newborn babe, how frail! and in a manger bed,
a still, small voice to cry one day for me,
a still, small voice to cry one day for me.
How should I not have known Isaiah would be there,
his prophecies fulfilled? With pounding heart I stare:
a child, a son, the Prince of Peace for me,
a child, a son, the Prince of Peace for me.
Can I, will I forget how Love was born, and burned
Its way into my heart unasked, unforced, unearned,
To die, to live, and not alone for me,
To die, to live, and not alone for me.”
(Text: Jaroslav J. Vajda, b.1919, © 1986 Tune: MANGER SONG, 12 12 10 10; Carl F. Schalk, b.1929, © 1986, GIA Publications, Inc. One License account #A-721092.)
He came for you! AMEN!