Christ was born to show solidarity with us: “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.”-Hebrews 2:10-11. To show solidarity is to say someone else’s life matters to me, I choose to be committed to their welfare, I stand with them, etc. As a Pastor, I always hear the criticism about Jesus’ birth that goes about like this: “I like Jesus as a great teacher, but I can’t accept him as God because I have questions about how he was born.” What I always try to tell such people is this: The miracle of Christmas is not only the Virgin Birth, it is also that God showed his commitment to us by becoming like us. This miracle of commitment to you and me from Christ caused the Biblical writers to marvel in worship and amazement: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”-John 1:14. “God demonstratedHis own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”-Romans 5:8. In writing about Jesus, the Apostle Paul’s writes that Jesus “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”-Philippians 2:6-7.

Historically, people have been drawn to Christ’s commitment to them, some have great stories to share about how their commitment to others, because it was a reflection of Jesus committed to them. One of them, comes from a man named Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche, an organization that works with people who have mental disabilities, they have a national office in Portland Oregon. Jean told the story of a man named Eric, who had severe intellectual disabilities and had lived most of his life in institutions. Eric had learned, again and again, that people eventually leave his life. Caregivers changed. Programs ended. Promises that were made, were never kept. When Eric came to live in a L’Arche community, Vanier noticed something unusual: Eric often tested people. He would act out, become angry, or withdraw completely. Vanier realized Eric wasn’t being difficult—he was asking a question with his life: “Will you leave me too?”Vanier realized that through his actions, he had made a commitment to Eric. He showed up every day. He sat with him during meals. He stayed when Eric was upset. He did not rush past the hard moments. Over time—slowly—Eric changed. One day, after a particularly difficult outburst, Eric looked at Vanier and said simply, “You didn’t go away.”Vanier later wrote that this was the moment Eric began to trust—not just him, but God. Eric’s faith deepened because, for the first time, someone reflected the steadfast love of Christ. Through presence, Eric encountered Jesus as the God who stays, who sticks with you. Vanier said:“It is not through power or success that people are healed, but through love through knowing they are not abandoned.”Eric’s faith did not grow because of arguments or sermons, but because Christ’s commitment was embodied—someone stayed for him. Do you feel abandoned today? Has someone let you down this month? Like no one hears what you are going through? Hear the Good News! Christ was born for you! Jesus is not ashamed to stay with you and me. The Prophet prophesied this Jesus who sticks with His redeemed, and with you and me: “But now, thus says the Lord — he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”-Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭1‬.

Jesus was born, not only to show solidarity with us, but also to save us: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”-Hebrews 2:14-15, 18. Biblically, salvation in Christ is a choice we make: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”-2 Corinthians 3:17-18. The promise of Christmas is: Christ was born to save you and make you a new person from the inside out. Many Christians seek to live out the new person they are in Christ in different ways. Consider the 17th century Puritans.

The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th–17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England by shaping worship and daily life strictly according to the Bible, you know some of them as the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims had to give up the vision to purify the church and leave England because they faced increasing religious persecution for their efforts. The Pilgrims believed the church still retained too many Catholic practices and wanted worship and daily life shaped strictly by Scripture. English monarchs, especially James I and Charles I, enforced religious conformity, punishing dissenters with fines, imprisonment, and loss of livelihood. Many Puritans were barred from preaching or gathering freely. Seeking the freedom to worship God according to their convictions and to build communities ordered by biblical faith, some Puritans first fled to Holland and later journeyed to the New World, where they hoped to practice their faith without interference.

What drove their faith? Christ saves us by shaping our desires to be for Him alone. Their prayer book “The Valley of Vision”, a collection of prayers from the 16th-17th century Puritan Christians after they arrived to the New World, designed to help Christians live a faithful life, captures this desire for Jesus alone well. “Thou hast led me to place all my nature and happiness in oneness with Christ, in having heart and mind centered only on him, in being like him in communicating good to others; This is my heaven on earth.” Christ saves us, not just by redeeming our souls, but by changing our hearts, desires, and behaviors to glorify Jesus so we can choose to live more like Him.

Hear the Good News, Christ stands with us, and was born to save us. Since Christ was born to change our behaviors and desires what desire, habit, or fear is He inviting you to surrender so you can live more like Him? Where can you invite Jesus to stand with you and help you be more like Him? Friends, I don’t want to just admire Jesus at His birth. I want to follow Him, allowing His teachings and life to shape how I, and we, love, serve, and stay with others. I don’t want to let Him down. I know you don’t want to let him down either. Come Lord Jesus in 2026, show us your wisdom, might, and love, so we can be more like you. Thank you for choosing us. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.