Christ’s Humility

“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

“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 emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).

The account of Christ’s birth is not meant to make us sentimental. Instead we are meant to marvel at the purpose of God and how He works everything together to serve His plan. We know that God is sovereign and was guiding all of the events, even the smallest details, surrounding the birth of His Son in Bethlehem. It had to be in Bethlehem, King David’s city, in order to fulfill a prophecy (See Micah 5.2). The journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, their inability to find a regular room at the inn in Bethlehem, and the exact timing of Christ’s birth, is more than a romantic drama. These events did not just happen but were set in motion and orchestrated by the God of Heaven. God does everything for a reason. And what God does is almost always in opposition to the thoughts and desires of man.

Jesus was born to be the King and to establish a Kingdom. But Jesus was not born like any of the kings of men. Born during a time when the powerful Roman Caesars ruled the civilized world, Caesar Augustus declaring himself to be the savior of the world, Jesus, the real ruler and savior of mankind, stands in sharp contrast to Caesar’s arrogant self-promotion.

The way Christ came into the world is meant to show us something about the nature of salvation. Mankind usually looks for salvation in the wrong places. Most of the people in the ancient world were looking to Rome to provide and maintain the famous Pax Romana, or Peace of Rome, that had united the civilized world at the time of Christ’s birth.

But no one, not even the Jews, paid any attention to the birth of a child to a peasant girl from an insignificant town. Neither Nazareth nor Bethlehem was to be compared to the city of Jerusalem, not to mention the glory of Rome. But Jesus was not born in Rome or even in Jerusalem.

The house and lineage of David had been relegated to relative obscurity. And Israel was a conquered and subjugated people and had been so for many years. Though they were known for their unique religion and laws, the Jews were not considered to be major players on the world’s stage. There was nothing from an earthly or human perspective that would prove or even suggest that Jesus was the Savior and Ruler of the world. And this is exactly how God planned the birth of Christ.

Salvation would come from God and not from Caesar.

The birth of Christ happened as it did to show that our salvation required the humility of the Son of God. Luke’s account of Christ’s birth shows us how humble He was. He was born in obscurity to poor parents who could not even find room in an inn. Mary had to make do with what she had, and so the Savior’s first bed was a feeding trough used for cattle! Lowly shepherds were the only people who got the birth announcement from heaven. The only gifts for the infant Jesus were brought later by some foreigners – Gentiles who followed a star. God did all of this for the purpose of showing the humility of His Son.

Perhaps no one saw it at that time, though Mary pondered it all in her heart. But later it was the Apostle Paul who captured the meaning behind Christ’s humble birth. The Savior had to humble Himself to save us – a fact made all the more amazing because He had been equal with God. But He let it all go, Paul tells us, emptying Himself of His former glory. The Apostle John also hints at Christ’s humility in His Gospel:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God (John 1:1-2).

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

The Son of God is not some lesser, inferior deity or demigod. The Son of God is the Word of God, eternally existing alongside God the Father. This makes His humility and incarnation an infinitely greater condescension that is unparalleled by anything in this world. The Son and eternal Word of God was born a helpless baby to a poor peasant girl and placed in a manger! This humility is what we call incarnation – God becoming one of us so that He could save us.

But Christ’s humble birth was just a prelude to His humiliating death. If Christ’s birth was not humble enough, Jesus would soon descend to an even lower level!

Christ’s birth is not what saved us. We often forget this when celebrating Christmas today. The baby Jesus laying in a manger could not save us simply by being here with us, even though He was “Emmanuel” – which means “God with us.” No, something else had to happen before Jesus could actually save us from our sins.

The angel told Joseph to name Him “Jesus” which is actually the Hebrew name “Joshua” and means “the Lord saves.” He was to have this name because He would save His people from their sins (See Matthew 1.21).

But when would He do this? It was not when He was born in Bethlehem, though this had to happen first. He had to be one of us in order to save us because He was going to become the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

He had already humbled Himself by becoming one of us. Now His humility would include dying a sacrificial death on the cross – substituting Himself for guilty sinners.

There has perhaps never been a more humiliating form of torturous death as crucifixion and this was the form of humiliating death chosen for the Son of God. A body was prepared for Him so that He could bear our sins in His body on the tree, hanging there exposed as one cursed of God. The blood running in His veins flowed down as He hung there because without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

He did not die as a hero on the field of battle. He died as a criminal. Not only was there the wracking pain in His body, there was also the darkness in His own soul as He became sin for us and was subsequently forsaken by God the Father. There has never been greater humility than the death of the cross.

So now Christ’s humility judges all of our pride and self-exaltation. How can we be proud at the manger, not to mention at the foot of the cross? If He let go of heavenly glory, and equality with God, then what is there in ourselves that we cannot forsake and abandon? How can we exalt ourselves when He humbled Himself?

So we must come to God as He came to us – in humility. He had to come down because we could not get up to Him. And so every sinner who comes to God in Christ must come humbly confessing that he cannot save Himself. We do not meet God halfway. He came the entire way from heaven to earth because we could do nothing for ourselves.

Christ’s humble birth and even more humiliating death pours contempt on all our pride. If we could save ourselves then why did Jesus have to come down? If the power of Caesar and the glory of Rome could have been our salvation, then there would have been no need for a Bethlehem and certainly no need for a Calvary.

But Bethlehem and Calvary, with all of the dusty miles in-between, show us that our salvation had to come from God. And since we could not get to God, He came down for us.