A couple thousand years ago, a heavenly warrior stepped into a field full of shepherds to announce good news of cosmic proportions—news of great joy! The birth of Jesus, who is Christ the Lord, is the real answer that we, who are bone-weary, are waiting for. Pastor Barnabas Piper helps us cut through the tinsel and sparkle of Christmas to find the real Christ, who alone can give rest and joy to people like us.

Simeon shows us that those who wait for the Lord never wait in vain; active, hopeful waiting positions us to see Christ, and when the Spirit opens our eyes to behold Him as the Christ, the Savior, and the Light, we discover that He is the satisfaction of all our deepest longings.

Mary’s song shows that God delights to lift the lowly and confront the self-exalted, and that his mercy is received only with empty hands. She praises God because he has looked on her nothingness, filled the hungry, and scattered the proud—revealing the very shape of the gospel. Our problem is that we choke on this good news, grasping for our own glory instead of receiving it from God. Yet in the incarnation, the Lord of Glory goes down into our lowliness so that he might raise us up. The call is simple: stop striving, stop grasping, come hungry and lowly like Mary, and receive the mercy God loves to give.