The Birth of Jesus Christ - Matthew 1:18

What a powerful statement God makes through Matthew when recording the birth event of Jesus. He quite literally became ‘Emmanuel’, God with us [Mt.1:23]: the moment God took on human form, clothed in human flesh, knowing our every weakness… yet without sin [He.4:15].  

As a baby, He experienced the human weakness of total dependency upon the care by others.Though He was fully God and fully man [He.2:5-18], He subjected Himself to the entire human experience [Php.2:6&7], learning physical coordination skills with His eyes, hands, legs, mouth; learning to speak and developing the language skills. 

As a child, Jesus saw in others the human weakness of discord. He probably felt the pain of scraped knees, the competition of childhood games, the social interaction of all other children – yet without disfavor. [Lk.2:52] Imagine how small children squabble over toys; not so with Jesus – He shared from His supply, even as a child. Think of the childhood squabbles that arise, not so with the King of Kings Who never fell into disfavor with anyone in those years. He was willing to defer and to share with all. 

As an older child Christ experienced the corrective practice of discipline. When His parents discovered that He was missing from the caravan that had left Jerusalem a day earlier, they had to return to retrieve their son Who was teaching in the synagogue. It took them three days to find Him, but there He was with the teachers of God’s Word both giving and asking questions. You can be sure that Joseph and Mary acted as any concerned parent would and gave Him proper discipline, and Jesus followed it completely. [Lk.2:41-51] 

As a man Jesus experienced the human weakness of despair. In the garden He prayed to be spared the brutality of the cross with the commitment to overcome His humanity of “…but not my will…” [Lk.22:42] If He had not become fully human, He would never have experienced the torture, ridicule, and death upon a cross. He had to become as one of His own creation in order to exhibit His perfect eternal love to the world. His birth brought to fulfillment that which had been planned and promised so many years before.  

Through this powerful testimony of Christ’s humanity, we can see how much love is expressed to mankind through His experience of dependency, discord, discipline, and despair, a journey that began with His birth in a stable and led to His sacrificial death upon a cross.