The Characters In Jesus's Birth

This talk follows a children’s presentation of the Nativity story.

You children did a brilliant presentation of what happened at Jesus’s birth. Thank you so much! Let’s spend a few minutes now looking at the people who were part of that first Christmas and thinking what their stories mean for us today.

MARY

We’ll start with Mary. The angel Gabriel told Mary that she would bear a son, and he would be ‘The Son of God’. Wow! That is AMAZING!!!

But Mary knew it wouldn’t be easy. For one thing, she was engaged but not yet married. But she responded to Gabriel by saying, ‘I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be as you have said’ [Luke 1:38]. Mary is a wonderful example of humbly accepting God’s will.

There will be things God calls US to. Will we follow Mary’s example and humbly accept God’s will for our life? Will we respond to God, as Mary did, ‘May your will be done’?

JOSEPH

The next person we meet in our story is Joseph. Like Mary, Joseph humbly accepted God’s will for his life. He was hesitant to take Mary as his wife. But, like Mary, an angel spoke to Joseph. The angel said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife’ [Matthew 1:20]. So, when Joseph woke up, he did just what the angel told him and took Mary as his wife. So, Joseph, like Mary, is a great example of humbly accepting God’s will.

THE INNKEEPER

A third person we meet in the story is an innkeeper. When there was nowhere for Mary and Joseph to stay, the innkeeper offered them his stable. Actually, we don’t know who offered them a stable, but someone did. As far as we know, this person didn’t know Mary and Joseph. He showed kindness to strangers.

Will we be like the innkeeper – or whoever it was? We probably don’t have a stable to offer, but we can open our hearts and our homes to those in need.

JESUS

We mustn’t fail to mention Jesus! He doesn’t say anything in the Nativity story, but he is, of course, the star of the show! I just want to say what the apostle Paul said about Jesus’s birth. He wrote, ‘Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men’ [Philippians 2:5-7]. Mary and Joseph humbly accepted God’s will for them. But Jesus took that to another level. Will we follow his example, in accepting the form of a servant?

MARY AND JOSEPH

I’d like to go back to Mary and Joseph for a moment. We thought about how Mary and Joseph are a great example in the way they accepted God’s will for their lives. But there’s an even greater way that Mary and Joseph are an example to us.

Mary physically bore Jesus, the Son of God. We can’t do that. But Mary and Joseph also welcomed Jesus into their life. We CAN do that! Does Jesus want to come into our lives? Absolutely! There’s no question that Jesus will enter into our lives if we invite him in [Revelation 3:20]. The only question is whether we will do that.

Will we welcome Jesus into our lives as Mary and Joseph did? If you haven’t done that yet, and you’d like to, please come and talk to me after the service.

AN ANGEL

Another person we meet in the story of Jesus’s birth is an angel. The angel in our story speaks to some shepherds and tells them, ‘Good news!’ [Luke 2:10]. In fact, he had AMAZINGLY good news! That day, a saviour had been born.

Will we be like the angel, telling people around us the same amazingly good news as the angel told the shepherd? You don’t have to be an angel to do it! But if you do it, you’ll be like one!

THE SHEPHERDS

We also meet shepherds. They hear the angel’s message and say to one another, ‘Let’s go and see this special baby!’ [Luke 2:15].

People are not always like the shepherds. People sometimes sense God drawing close to them but are afraid to respond to God. There are many people we read about who were like that. The slave trader, John Newton, was one. A Dutchman, Brother Andrew, was another. A Muslim called Nabeel Qureshi was a third. All of them sensed God revealing himself to them but all were initially afraid to follow. But later on, all of them gave their lives to Jesus.

Will we be like the shepherds and go and find Jesus? Will we be like John Newton, Brother Andrew and Nabeel Qureshi and overcome our fears?