6. Christmas Rags

Welcome to the Prodcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf. This is episode 6

Christmas Rags Introduction When our

Lord came to visit the earth, he didn't ride in fast and furious on a celestial chariot for everyone to see

He didn't topple the world's great empires with a legion of heaven's special forces And he didn't sit down upon his rightful throne to reign.

Well, at least not at first He came to the warm quiet darkness of a poor young virgin's womb that's where he went first just as he promised in Genesis 3 15 and So doing our

Lord submitted himself to the same human gestation that he joyfully designed He was fed from the umbilical cord that he artfully fashioned and he became dependent upon the very mother

That he wove together in his grandmother's womb. The artist truly did paint himself into his own masterpiece

Upon his birth the king of glory was not welcomed in with festivals Celebrations or the kind of feasting that was befitting his majesty.

No heralds were sent off singing into the night There was no governmental holidays or observances that were put into place

Just the humble cry of a newborn baby wrapped in common rags But why?

It's here. We must lift our gaze above the hallmark card and Christmas carol exegesis That's so common this time of year to see the point of what was happening

Jesus was not Loosely covered with warm soft linens like a cuddly blanket on a kicking screaming newborn

He wasn't wrapped in those loose -fitting onesies, you know, because aunt Elizabeth bought him the wrong size

He was bound and wrapped with tight strips of linen making him look more like a miniature mummy than a precious moments model

But again, why? well culturally speaking the point of such a tight and restrictive linen binding was clear it was to Simulate a mother's womb a newborn child and most recently spent nine months cramped into an ever -tightening uterus

So they would be most comfortable in these kinds of bindings While they learned how to live in a wide -open world

But for Jesus the symbolism of the rags goes far deeper and gets right at the heart of the gospel

We need to explore So first we know from scripture that the angels directed a group of herdsmen to go and to find the child

He was he also told them to view these linen rags wrapped around the body of Jesus as a great sign unto them

Convincing them of who he is the rags are a sign of who Jesus is and what he had come to do

That's what it says in Luke chapter 2 Says in verses 8 through 14 in the same region there were some shepherds staying out on the fields and keeping watch over their flocks by night and An angel the

Lord suddenly stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terribly frightened

But the angel said to them do not be afraid for behold. I bring you good news of great joy

Which will be for all the people? For today in the city of David has been born for you a

Savior who is Christ the Lord and this will be a sign for you that you will find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger and There suddenly with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts were praising

God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth Peace among whom he is well pleased

The rags upon Jesus's body were a sign a sign that was meant to be looked at a sign that was meant to be noticed and A sign that these men were to ponder in such a way that they would come to believe three very specific truths that he was born for their good news that he was born for the world's great joy and Three that he was born to be the

Savior Christ and Lord born for their good news

When the shepherds viewed those shabby rags it was meant to be a sign to them of a very specific kind of message a good message a joyful message a message that communicated good news

But there's more for us to consider there You see the word used in the text by the angelic fleet is the

Greek word euangelito Which is where we get our verb in English to evangelize but more accurately to proclaim the gospel

But in those days unlike today that word did not have a religious or even a

Christian connotation instead the word was a very political word a

Gospel quote -unquote message was a good news report about things like a victory in battle or a

Call to celebrate an Emperor's birthday or possibly even a declaration that a new child had been born into the royal family

When these good news events occurred singing heralds would be commissioned and sent out all throughout the

Empire to Announce and alert the people that this wonderful thing has happened so that they could celebrate it together

But just because something was good news in Rome did not necessarily make it good news worth celebrating in Judah We get that point fairly clearly today when we're thinking about our nation's capital that signs all kinds of abominable things into law

And then calls upon the people to herald that accomplishment Roe v. Wade and others Oftentimes the things that our capital is celebrating are either repugnant or irrelevant to its people that was true back then and it's true today

So when the angels alerted the shepherds of God's very good news It wasn't an irrelevant gospel that happened to faraway people in faraway halls of power.

It was a sign to them It was a relevant sign that was happening in the next town over from where they were staying

It was a sign that a better king than Caesar had been born unto them born from their own people born into their royal city of David Born to reclaim a world that had been lost to them born to set up a throne right in their backyard

Born to establish his kingdom that would never end The good news that these rags symbolized is that God brought his kingdom and his king down low

Low enough to be a blessing to his people. No matter how low that they were and You can't get much lower than Bethlehem mangers and animal stalls in the first century for the beginning of your new world empire

But it was in the humility of all of this where the good news is truly found by going to the lowest region

Born in the lowest possible scenario Christ can be a relevant Savior to all of his people

Not just to the high and mighty but to all of us He went down low to where we are to save us from who we are and that is very good news

Born for their great joy When the shepherds saw the shabby rags wrapped around the newborn

King they were also to have great joy Which was a commodity in short supply in the shepherding industry,

I might add Shepherds worked long grueling smelly hours

They tended nature's dumbest animals and were constantly on guard for both animal and human attack

Because these men were shepherds in Bethlehem, which was a suburb of Jerusalem they were also more than likely responsible to care for the lambs that were going to get purchased in Jerusalem and sacrificed at the temple

Men and women would travel to the temple from all over Israel and Even the Roman Empire unable to bring their own animals who would become too sick or injured in the travel to be sacrificed with the high exacting standards of their

Jewish religious priest So when they arrived in Jerusalem They could pay for these animals from the priest and they could sacrifice them in the temple and remain in good standing

According to the law of God It was a wonderful blessing for all the people to be able to purchase their animals in Jerusalem Unless you were a shepherd

To be a shepherd meant that you lived alongside of the animals you lived with them you slept with them you probably stepped in countless mounds of sheep dung as you were caring for them or loving on them or even carrying them some of them and According to the law at the time you would have been in a perpetual state of uncleanliness because of them

Think about this you could raise the animals that would be sacrificed for other people's sins

But you were too filthy and unclean Yourself to even enter the gates of the temple not alone have any hope at all of sacrificing an animal for your sins

But as those shepherds saw the rags on this tiny baby

King They were pointed to the hope that they would soon have great joy their uncleanness would soon be healed a

True and better sacrifice would be offered for them on their behalf So that they would no longer be on the outside looking in with God or his people this

Jesus came to heal them and All his unclean people all over the world then and after and that fact made them exceedingly

Joyful born to be Savior Christ and Lord While no one would ever think to look for a

Messiah quite like this the angels told them to look at the rags wrapped around His body as a definite sign that he was

Savior Christ and Lord He's the Savior because he's gonna save his people from their sins

He would stand in their place as the perfect man and spotless sacrifice. He would be their

Savior He's the Christ the anointed one who would sit on the throne of his father David and he would reign forever

The one who would with kingly wisdom and with a kingly mission would stop at nothing until he saw his kingdom

Inaugurated right there in Jerusalem He is the Lord Because this man was not just a man who could stand in our place

He is the one true God who alone had the power to forgive us of our sins He is the maker of heaven and earth who condescended into human flesh in order to save his people

He is the eternal Logos who dwelt in eternal joy with the Spirit and with the Father who was born into his creation to bring that triune relationship to men and This has become relevant to us not simply because of his birth

We are not just a Christmas people But we're also an Easter people and this has become relevant to us not just because of his birth but because of his death

Born to die The question that maybe you're asking throughout this entire episode is why did the angels make such a big deal?

To point out Jesus's swaddling clothes as a newborn. Why did he make that aside?

Why were the shepherds supposed to look for that? Well, perhaps it's because that would not be the only time that our

Lord was bound in linen strips According to the gospel He was most definitely bound with those linen strips in his birth, but he was also bound when he died

He was wrapped with the same kinds of cloths once more. It says so in John 19 39 through 40 and The same angels who who lit up the sky that night who heralded these clothes as a sign of who he is now sat in Dazzling clothes beside his folded rags in that empty garden tomb

John 20 11 through 12 His birth rags were a sign of who he is

Christ Savior and Lord His grave clothes are signed to all of us who who he will be forevermore

Christ Savior and Lord to us He was born that he may die and he died so that we might live and We live now so that we can live for him this

Christ Savior and Lord born for us

In his birth. He has shown his great love for you and I No matter where you came from or what status you might currently occupy he can empathize with you

He left the splendor of heaven to recline in a feeding trough made for animals. Why? So that you and I would never have to wonder if God was too busy to notice us

Too high and lofty to care for us or unconcerned to reach down to where we are

He proved that when he left the highest place in heaven to dwell in the very lowest parts of earth to rescue us

He loves you and that is good news In the grave, he took our place

That's another thing that I want you to understand about this Christmas story and especially about the rags that are assigned to you and I of his gospel

Our sin condemned us before a holy God But Jesus willingly allowed himself to be bound by the rags of death in order to give you and I the new life that can

Only be found in him. He has done the work of redemption He has been bound in order to set you free.

All you have to do is believe and it will be for your great joy Finally, I want you to understand that Jesus did not stay bound

While I began and ended his life bound in rags He did not come to remain that way He broke out of those linen cloths to signal victory and freedom for the people of God this

Christmas I want you to remember why Jesus came if You're not feeling loved right now

I want you to look back on those Christmas rags as a sign of his great love for you If you're feeling separated from God or distant or from him and all alone in the world

Then I want you to look to his humble grave clothes that were lying there in the empty tomb And I want you to remember that he has taken your place

He came down to where you are He went where you should have went which is death for your sins

And he brought you out of the tomb to a place that you could never have imagined to be with him

If you're feeling bound by your life and your sin and your circumstances your emotions or anything else

I want you to look to the heaping pile of rags that Jesus left lying in an empty tomb

And I want you to remember that Christ has set you free You can experience that freedom today in this season

But you can only experience it in Christ if you look to him. I want to say as we close out this episode a very

Merry Christmas to you Thanks for subscribing to the podcast and for listening as we begin this brand new adventure together.

This is only our sixth episode So I'm really thankful that you're here a Merry Christmas to you, and I'll see you in the new year.