The chapel service for the 1st semester of the academic year 2024-2025 of PTSCAS just concluded. Since we are now celebrating the Christmas season, it is proper for our school president to deliver a Christmas message.
His message is based on Matthew 1:21-23:
21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”(which means “God with us”).
Based on the above text, he wanted to answer the question, Why was Jesus born?
The message is simple and easy to understand. He connected the reason for Jesus' birth to the two names given in the text: Jesus and Immanuel. However, though simple, I think the implications for our time are profound.
To save us from our sins
The name Jesus means "Yahweh saves" or "the Lord is salvation." It is the reason why Jesus received that name. His name speaks of his mission to earth: "He will save his people from their sins."
Someone wrote:
If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. Our greatest need is forgiveness, so God sent us a savior (Source).
Speaking of man's greatest need, the idea of forgiveness will only make sense if the reality of sin is accepted. Living in a therapeutic age, sin is the farthest thing in the mind of the modern man. We can accept anything except the fact that man is a sinner. Since this is the case, we also don't see that our greatest need is one of forgiveness.
To acknowledge forgiveness as our greatest need is very humbling for a modern man who glories in many things—in reason, science, power, education, technology, and others. To escape the reality of sin, we find "sickness" as a replacement. Hence, the reason for the popularity of mental health illnesses.
If the mind of the modern man is sick, to obtain wholeness and healing, he needs a psychologist or a psychiatrist; he doesn't need a savior. If that is the case, then the meaning of Jesus' birth to save his people from their sins will be void of meaning. There is no sense in celebrating the Christmas season if we fail to understand and appreciate the very purpose of Jesus' birth.
To be with us
In my post two days ago, loneliness was identified as one of the societal challenges that contribute to the bullishness of cryptocurrency, particularly the meme tokens. This is the reason why people find the digital communities attractive. They find in it a sense of belongingness and acceptance. This tells us that despite advancements in technology and our boast of greater interconnectedness, we still cannot escape the reality of loneliness.
If we accept the Genesis narrative about the doctrine of the human fall theologically, we could say that all forms of alienation that we see today, such as racial, socio-economic, gender-related, and environmental, are just products of man's broken relationship with God. Hence, the quote above about man's greatest need, that of forgiveness, will restore this broken relationship. Considering this insight, the birth of Jesus finds its meaning in the restoration of man's relationship with God so that man will no longer feel lonely. Hence, the name Immanuel directs our mind to the reality that with the birth of Jesus, God is with us.
A simple Christmas message like this appears to be anomalous in an empirical-scientific worldview that confines its perspective only to the things visible and rejects reality beyond and above nature. Nevertheless, in a post-modern era, the supranatural worldview has been reopened, and all perspectives, no matter how absurd, are given the chance to be heard once again. In such a worldview, religion finds its place.
If the foregoing observation is correct, then we have to question the idea of the diminishing influence of religion in society. Marx's utopian vision of a future of a fully evolved man where religion has no place will be considered incorrect. Herman Bavinck's observation remains relevant. He asserts that modern civilization—including its art, science, ethics, and politics—is deeply influenced by a supranatural worldview. Contrary to Marx's prediction, he is confident that the empirical-scientific worldview will never fully replace the theistic one.
Responding to the question of why Jesus was born, the message of Matthew 1:21-23 is clear. It emphasized that the purpose of Jesus' birth was to save humanity from sin and to restore God's presence with us, addressing humanity's greatest need for forgiveness and belonging.