Hope Found in the Manger, the Cross, and the Crown. Titus 2:11-14

From the Anchor Christmas Eve communion message "Someday at Christmas."

What makes this passage so fitting for Christmas Eve is that the three main points of the Gospel are clearly seen:

The Manger (v. 11). For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 
The Cross (v. 14). Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us.
The Crown (v. 13). Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

With the Gospel, it’s Jesus’ death on the cross that gives meaning to his birth in a manger, and it’s the life that Jesus lived and his victory over sin and death that redeems us with new life, and gives us a blessed hope.  

When you fully understand this Gospel story, you can’t help but see parallels and foreshadowing of the cross in the Christmas story.

As tragic as it sounds, you begin seeing clues in the nativity scene of Jesus essentially being “born crucified.” 

• Jesus was laid in a manger in Bethlehem. Likewise, he was laid in a tomb outside of Jerusalem.
• At the manger, Jesus is pictured with Joseph and Mary on each side. At the cross, Jesus is also flanked by two people, but they’re thieves. In both scenes, Mary looks upon Jesus.
• At the manger, baby Jesus is swaddled in a cloth, perhaps by Joseph. After Jesus’ death on the cross, his body is wrapped in a linen burial cloth by Joseph of Arimathea.  
• And the course wood of the manger and its placement outside, points to Jesus’ death on a wooden cross, which takes place outside where he was naked and exposed to the elements.

Yet, there’s more to this story than a baby being born to die. It’s only a 6 mile journey between the manger and the cross. This journey, is the story of Jesus’ incarnation. The journey of his obedient life is what brings salvation to all men, and his resurrection brings redemption to the world. 

David Henson, an Episcopal priest, says, "But it wasn’t his death and crucifixion that set things right in the world. Rather it was his incarnated life that shows us what a world set right might look like. It looks like the kingdom of God — the hungry fed, the wealthy and powerful doing violence for their own sake toppled with nonviolence and solidarity, the oppressed raised up, the outsider welcomed, the end of condemnation and guilt pressed upon us by religious elites, the end of a life absent of hope, full of death. It looks like shalom. Like Jubilee. Like life lived eternally."

I believe that this, is what blessed hope looks like (the crown). 

Therefore, when you come to this table, you are declaring that your expectation and your hope are found in the the coming of Jesus Christ.

In the same way that a royal visit by a king means that everything gets cleaned and decorated, having this blessed hope means living a life that’s pure and marked by good works, so that you are always prepared for the coming of the King of Kings.  

So tonight, may your journey from your seat to the table, be symbolic of your journey from the manger, to the cross, to your crown, and from death to new life. And may partaking in the juice and bread be a declaration that your hope is found in Jesus Christ.