The Mean Estate of Jesus the Savior

The great Christmas carol, "What Child is This?" asks the question about the baby Jesus in verse two:

"Why lies He in such mean estate, where ox and ass are feeding?"

Jesus the Commoner: "Mean estate" is a reference to the undistinguished, modest, common circumstances into which Jesus was born.  His first bed was a feed trough.  This doesn't necessarily mean Jesus' family was poor; the house they gathered in when they were required to return to their home town for the Roman census was likely crowded with extended family.

But it does show that the Son of God was a commoner in the days of his flesh.  That's mind-blowing when you consider he was the Creator of the universe who existed from all eternity and sustains all things by his powerful word.  And that kings should be born in palaces.

Why are we talking about a Christmas carol in January?

The story of Jesus' becoming a man is not merely a Christmas story, it's the cosmic story of redemption.  The incarnation of Christ means the life of Christ as human--and ultimately the death of Christ as our substitute.

His Real Mean Estate: We shouldn't place too much emphasis on Jesus' socio-political status.  That wasn't the point of the story.  What was humbling about his becoming man was not that he was middle class or something worse, but that he was the very Son of God now with flesh and bones and blood pumping through his veins and facial hair and muscles.

It was humbling for the perfect, eternal Son to take the form of sinful humanity.  Then it got worse: he submitted to the punishment of crucifixion for our sake.  He was humbled by becoming a human and then humbled by humans.

He took our form, grew, learned, walked among us, worked a job, felt our pain, and bore our sins.  Our God became one with us; he condescended to our low estate to rescue us from our sin, to offer an eternal hope of personal renovation and ultimately cosmic renewal.

The gospel of Jesus' death on the cross and salvation through faith in him not only redeems a people for himself, but is preparing a universe for liberation from the effects of sin and wickedness.  So the Christmas Carol continues:

"Good Christian, fear: for sinners here

The silent Word is pleading

Nails, spear shall pierce him through

The Cross be borne for me, for you

Hail, hail the Word Made Flesh

The babe, the son of Mary!"

 

Brilliant!