Admittedly, the title of this post might be one of my least creative yet. It’s the equivalent of calling a plumbing company to fix a leaky toilet and asking if their plumbers have any plumbing experience, or asking an electrician if he’s ever worked with the electrical in a house. Duh. So I get that the title would appear to be stating the obvious.
But the Savior’s role also happens to be only the most important detail about Christmas that we absolutely must get straight. Since Christmas has been celebrated for generations and generations, that means centuries of people attaching their own meaning and significance to it. While it’s one thing to have our personal traditions and fond memories tied to Christmas, it’s another to redefine Christmas altogether. Christmas first began to be observed for a reason; it was first about something notable. And perhaps because that reason is so easily lost in our world today, it’s always the right time for the simple reminder of what Christmas is really all about: the Savior who saves.
So what exactly does it mean that we call Jesus “Savior?” Over time, the meaning of words can change or be lost. Certain words that were spoken regularly in the past would cause great offense today. Words that used to carry a certain weight or significance don’t pack the same punch today. Other times the meaning of the word is simply lost over time.
“Savior” might be one of those words, if we aren’t careful. If you asked someone outside of Christianity if they’ve heard the word “Savior,” if they’ve heard it applied to Jesus, or if they understood what Christians mean when they refer to Jesus as their Savior, I imagine you’d hear a number of uncertain responses. And even though we may see the word “Savior” more frequently around the holidays, that “overexposure” can also sometimes lead people to tune it out.
It’s like one of our local Mexican places that offers new menudo. If you live nearby you may not even realize they had new menudo? Why? Because they’ve had the words “new menudo” on their sign for at least the past ten years. You see it every time you drive by, nothing changes about the sign, and so you tune it out. And since you tune it out, it doesn’t even matter if you know what menudo is or not, because you never notice it on the sign!
That is the last thing we’d ever want to happen with the word Savior, and not just the word Savior, but the Savior himself, Jesus Christ. Perhaps more than any other church services of the year, Christmas services will have the widest variety of attendees. The makeup of guests, friends, and extended family attending hold to numerous backgrounds and beliefs, which means different experiences and understandings about religion, church, and most importantly, Jesus. Here are a few of the more common views people hold to about the Savior.
People view Jesus as a wise teacher. Anyone with a little bit of knowledge of Jesus’ teachings would be right to conclude that he was indeed wise. The way he wove parables into his teaching helped enlighten his listeners. He had a knack for simplifying some difficult concepts with relatable parables.
On more than one occasion, Jesus outsmarted those trying to trap him between a rock and a hard place with their trick questions or hypothetical scenarios pitting one answer against another. They attempted to frame him so that no matter how he answered, he could not avoid giving his enemies ample ammunition. Each time, though, he turned the tables and displayed profound wisdom – so much so that still today people view him primarily as a wise teacher, and perhaps nothing more.
Many also see Jesus as a good person, a moral example to follow. Regardless of what religion a person is or isn’t, there is a certain level of respect that people have for Jesus. He was someone who lived an upright life and encouraged others to do the same. He not only taught with wisdom, but also walked the walk. He practiced what he preached and treated people the way we would like to see everybody treat others. His encouragement to love and forgive others has great appeal in an often loveless and unforgiving world. We look at how he lived his life and we want our children to learn to follow in his footsteps.
This view of Jesus as an example or guide for good living became quite a trend years ago when the letters “WWJD” found their way onto wristbands, accessories, and apparel. In a bind? Stuck in a tough situation? Unsure of how to decide to move forward? Just let the letters serve as a reminder to guide you by asking “What Would Jesus Do?”
A third popular view of Jesus is to see him as a finish carpenter of sorts. This view is a little bit more of a religious take, holding to the idea that Jesus is for those who do their best in life, who try their hardest, who are mostly pretty good people. Jesus is the guy to fill in whatever gaps our lives leave (after all, nobody’s perfect, right?). So long as we’ve completed most of the work in our lives, we have him on standby to come in and finish everything so that our lives are satisfactory before God.
While these views – and many others like them – are not uncommon, they miss the mark on Jesus’ role as Savior, and end up stealing the real joy of Christmas, and ultimately compromise a person’s eternity.
So who is Jesus, really? The angels announced in clearly in Luke 2. “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord’” (Luke 2:9-11). You heard it from the angels. They didn’t tell the shepherds that Mary had just given birth to a wise teacher. It wasn’t a good example who was born. It was “a Savior” that had been born.
They announced the source of good news for all people: a Savior for everyone all over the world at that time and everyone all over the world today. That, dear friends, includes everyone. That includes you. Regardless of past behaviors or beliefs, that Savior came to save you.
The verses from Titus 3 reinforce this. “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 4:4-5). What drove him to save us? His kindness and love. What described the actions he took to save us? His mercy. Not our righteous works or best efforts or good intentions. These amount to nothing before him. We cannot do a single thing to save ourselves.
You may have heard some version of the story about a boy and his mother at the beach. When he asked if he could go into the water to swim, he had to agree to remain close enough so that his mother could keep an eye on him. After some time had passed, the mother looked up to spot him, as she had been doing, but this time she couldn’t spot him. She started scanning back and forth through the waves and eventually found him, but she noticed he was clearly struggling in the water. She immediately ran to the nearby lifeguard station to get help for her son.
The lifeguard grabbed his binoculars and peered through them until he spotted the boy, and kept an eye on him. The mother pleaded for him to go into the water to rescue her son, but he didn’t move. She looked out again at her son and could tell that he was starting to have a hard time staying above the water. The lifeguard looked through his binoculars again but remained right where he was. Again the mother looked at her son, who was now really struggling, waving his arms and doing his best to keep from sinking.
“Why are you just standing there?” she asked the lifeguard, “Please swim out and rescue my son!” The lifeguard looked one more time, left the tower, and swam in to successfully rescue the boy. While the mother was grateful, she resented that the lifeguard had waited so long to come to his rescue. At that point he explained that any attempt to rescue the boy while he was still frantically kicking his legs and swinging his arms could have put both of them at risk of drowning. Only after the boy had given up and was no longer putting up a fight could the lifeguard safely rescue him.
I don’t know whether the account is based on a true story or not, but it illustrates the truth about our salvation: we can do nothing to save ourselves. In fact, if we want to take it a step further to speak the way the Bible does about us on our own, we aren’t just drowning on our own, but are actually dead to begin with (see Ephesians 2). That’s how we come into the world ever since the fall into sin, and that is how we would remain, spiritually speaking, unless someone saves us.
That someone is Jesus Christ our Savior. He came to save. Christmas is proof, and it fills us with newfound joy when we know and celebrate what it’s all about: the Savior who saves.
As our verses clearly state, God’s mercy alone saves. His mercy moved him to live the required sinless life in our place so that his holy obedience could attain the perfection we need for heaven. His mercy moved him to meet his fate as our Substitute when he was sacrificed for us on the cross. His mercy alone made the final judgment on all people: because of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who came to save by paying for our sins, we are not guilty (“justified”). It is only the grace of God, his undeserved love for drowning sinners, that makes this so.
The result of his work on our behalf – all of which began on Christmas, is that we are heirs of eternal life. So Christmas means that death isn’t the end. Christmas means that condemnation is not a legitimate fear. Christmas means that joy endures. Christmas means that peace is real. And all of this is true because of the Savior who saves.