God and Sinners Reconciled

"Hark, the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn king! Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled."

We often sing this without thinking, and when we do pause to consider the words, their impact is softened by familiarity. Due to our frequent exposure to this truth, it can seem perfectly natural that "God sent his son to die on a cross to pay for our sins so that we could have eternal life," but it wasn't natural or expected. God had promised to redeem his people, but their expectations were much lower. They wanted an earthly king to save them from tyranny, and awaited an earthly reign where everything would be put right. Even after the Christchild was born, grown, and in the midst of his earthly ministry, people still expected their Messiah to save them from earthly problems and unjust government, but what God had in mind was astonishing: redeeming men from their sins and reestablishing relationship with them.

Christ did not come to earth in order to teach nice things or give us a good example of a selfless life. He came to earth as the suffering servant described in Isaiah, who came not to be served, but to make Himself lowly, showing gentleness, mercy, and a grace like no one imagined. He took on the burden of our sin and shame, paying for all our iniquity and making it possible for sinful people to be whole again and have relationship with God.

This all sounds familiar to us, but it should shock us that the Creator of the universe, who set into motion galaxies far beyond our reach or comprehension, should desire to pardon to our sins and have a relationship with us. We are small and insignificant in the scheme of both the cosmos and human history, yet God cares about us individually. The message of Christmas is not merely one of hope for better days or appreciation of loved ones, but God and sinners reconciled. This was the new stage in his unfolding plan, and although Christmas would mean little without the cross and resurrection, the full story commands wonder and rejoicing.

It is easy for people to have cultural blind spots to the truth, and just as the Jews of Jesus's day saw the Messiah as an earthly king who would deliver them from oppression, people in modern day America often view him as a figure for social justice. Jesus's moral dictums and holy life lead us to concern for the poor and the downtrodden, and such activism rightly accomplished is consistent with a Christian worldview, but that is not the ultimate point of the redemptive story. Jesus did not come to earth and give His life so that we would act morally and show justice, but so that we could be saved from our inability to live that ideal life.

When someone reduces Christ to a historical figure with a challenging, admirable legacy, they are exchanging immortal God and life-transforming justice for an image to support their own views, and no matter how good or proper those views are, that is dangerous. We need a Savior, not divine argument back-up, and this applies to many more misuses of Christ's image and legacy. People tend to have their "own personal Jesus" to support them, uphold their values, and make them feel comfortable, but the God of the universe did not take on human form so that we could feel validated in our beliefs and feelings.

He came to reconcile sinners to God. The gospel can be presented in a manipulative way, and it can be watered down, but it can never lose is fundamental power. In Christ, we are new creations, and when we are born again, it changes our status before God and transforms our hearts. Peace on earth comes not through social or moral reform of any kind, because humans are not inherently good creatures who just need some time to be enlightened or to clean up our act. We are sinful, dead in our transgressions, and cut off from God. That is why the Messiah came, and our only hope for mercy, wholeness, and justice lies in Christ, who took God's wrath on our behalf and satisfied divine justice. When our sin is paid for, we can know true peace, assured that we are fully loved and forgiven. The news the angels sang should resonate deeply in our hearts, and instead of blithely singing through this carol without a second thought, let us consider the truth it proclaims.