FROM NEHEMIAH TO THE MANGER: A CHRISTMAS REFLECTION ON TRUE NOBILITY

Nehemiah 3 is not your typical Christmas Bible reference, but I was reading it this week and I kept coming back to verse 5:

And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.

What the heck does that mean? A little context.

Under the leadership of Nehemiah, all of the Jews — small, big, rich, poor, men, women — were doing physical labor to rebuild their city’s wall that had laid in ruins for decades.

All except the Tekoite nobles. The work was beneath them. They were unwilling to stoop to that level. Never mind that everyone else contributed. No one else thought the job was too menial.

The Tekoites were on the wall, but their leaders were not.

I couldn’t help but think of the intersection of this story and the work of Christ at Christmas. Imagine Jesus the Son telling God the Father, “Coming as a baby, born in a manger, among the poor? No thanks. I’m equal to you, after all...becoming one of Our creation is beneath Me.”  What would Christmas be?  I’m sure “they” (i.e., the Father and Son) could’ve brought in the Holy Spirit and worked out another deal…but then Jesus would be just another Tekoite noble.  He wouldn’t be the God who was willing to not only save the world but model the epitome of humility for us.

The question is a good one — are we more like Christ or the Tekoite nobles? This Christmas season, my prayer for each of us is that we might truly recognize the importance of the King of kings stepping down from His throne to become one of us. That is true nobility — may we do the same for others.

From all of us here at Man Up, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!