Tommy Mann

Although we don’t know the date that Jesus was born, December 25 th is when we celebrate the event, where God came near in order to make salvation available. In Matthew 1:21 an angel visited Joseph and told him, “[Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Christmas is a big deal. Without it there would be no Calvary, no empty tomb, and no hope of heaven. It is great news for us. We have everything to gain because of Christmas. It is the celebration of the incarnation—where God put on flesh and made His dwelling among us. It is Immanuel—God with us. Salvation is a free gift to us, but it cost Jesus tremendously. Think about the cost of Christmas, what Jesus gave up in order to come save His people from their sins.   He traded the comfort of angels for the company of animals He traded the dignity of heaven for the drabness of earth He traded splendor for squalor   He went from adore to abhor He went from being served...

  The birth of Jesus is a story of paradox, where the incarnation demonstrates the humiliation of the greatest person in history. This is where Jesus “humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8).”  The God from eternity past was born. In that moment Immanuel became an infant. The Creator was crying. The Savior was swaddled. The Messiah was in a manger. The Healer was helpless. The Divine was dependent.  The God from eternity past was born. The Omnipotent One who spoke the universe into existence would not say His first word for another year. He would nurse from the breast of a woman He made. Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emanuel.    Jesus was exactly what the world needed. If the world needed a soldier, God would have sent a five-star general.  If the world needed a monarch, God would have sent a dynastic king. If the world needed a fighter, God would have sent a heavyweight champion.  If...

In the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel we are introduced to three important people. They each have a great story, but their names tell an even better story. The three people are John the Baptist, and his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth. All three of their names appear together in one verse: “But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John (v.13).”     Zechariah (or Zacharias in some translations) means “Yahweh has remembered;” Elizabeth means “God has promised;” John, or Yochanan in their language, means “Yahweh is gracious.”    Their names tell a great story because they come on the scene at the end of the Silent Era, the 400 year span where God did not speak through angels or prophets. The last time an angel was sent with a message from God was to a minor prophet named Zechariah, and now, 500 years later, God sent Gabriel to speak to another Zechari...

It’s almost time for Christmas! As a kid that was the greatest feeling. The buildup and anticipation of Christmas culminated with a state of euphoria, the realization that soon I would know exactly what was wrapped up in those packages, and those toys would be mine to enjoy.    Knowing that Christmas was coming also meant that someone was coming. We would sing that song Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and on the evening of the 24 th  we knew that his sleigh was loaded, and along with his team of reindeer, Santa was coming. He would even be coming down the chimney, despite the fact that we didn’t have chimneys in Orlando.   There is excitement knowing Christmas is coming. Even as an adult I still get a sense of that childlike wonder as Christmas day creeps ever closer. But for most of us, Christmas is not as exciting as it used to be. Maybe you are more like Faith Hill, singing “Where are You Christmas?” Or maybe you are more like the Grinch, who “hated Christmas, the ...

  After the angel told Mary she had been chosen to carry the Son of God into the world, she went to visit her relative Elizabeth, who herself was experiencing a miraculous conception with John the Baptist. After the two ladies shared their experiences with one another, Mary burst forth in a song of praise. This hymn is known as The Magnificat, taken from the Latin rendering of the opening phrase, “my soul magnifies [the Lord].”    In Luke 1:46-55 we read her words, saturated with Old Testament language, intended to demonstrate how good God was to her, and to her people Israel. One phrase from the Magnificat says, “for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name (v.49).” I love that Mary introduces this song with the word magnifies; she used her words as a magnifying glass to help us get a better picture of her God.    Did you ever play with a magnifying glass when you were little? Like Sherlock Holmes, I pretended to be a detective on the...

  One of the often overlooked characters in the cast of Christmas is Simeon. Mentioned only in Luke’s Gospel, this man somehow recognized the baby Jesus as the promised Messiah. Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple to be presented to the Lord; this was in accordance with the Mosaic law’s requirement concerning firstborn sons. It was while they were at the temple that Simeon perceived that Jesus is the Christ.    From his statement we learn that the Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he had the opportunity to see the Messiah with his own eyes. Having now held Jesus in his arms, Simeon said he could die in peace because he had seen God’s salvation. Although we do not know much about Simeon outside of this passage, I love the way Luke describes him: “And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him (2:25).”   Wh...

One of the most common facts about the Christmas story and the birth of the baby Jesus is the miraculous nature in which He was born—to a virgin. In both Testaments of the Bible the virgin birth is mentioned; it is prophesied in Isaiah 7:14, then fulfilled in Matthew 1:23. The word virgin is peppered throughout Matthew and Luke’s account of the birth, as well as in Isaiah’s prophecy. Some like to point out that the word virgin doesn’t just refer to a person who has never had intercourse, but that it can also simply mean a young girl or bride. Does this present a problem to the biblical account? If Mary was not a virgin then the birth of Jesus doesn’t involve the supernatural elements of divinity. But the truth is that it really doesn’t matter what the word virgin means. Consider a few things. First, since it was against the law for any unmarried people to engage in intercourse, all young girls were virgins. The terms were interchangeable, and Mary would have been b...

In 1863 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem he called “Christmas Bells.” The poem was written on Christmas Day and was a reflection of the emotion that Longfellow was feeling at the time. The poem was shortened considerably and made into a Christmas carol in 1872, and it has been a favorite of many ever since. Here is the original poem in its entirety: I heard the bells on Christmas Day,
their old, familiar carols play,                                       and wild and sweet the words repeat of peace on earth, good-will to men! And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom                           Had rolled along the unbroken song of peace on earth, ...

You may have heard the popular story of the origin of the candy cane. It’s a great story about a candy maker from Indiana who set out to create a piece of candy that would tell the true meaning of Christmas. As the story goes, this man called his creation the Christmas Candy Cane, but unfortunately the name was later reduced and the word Christmas was left out. The story includes all of the ideas that went into the finished product. The cane is shaped like a shepherd’s staff, which symbolizes the shepherds who visited the baby Jesus on the first Christmas; it also symbolizes that Jesus became our Good Shepherd. And if you turn the cane upside down, the staff becomes the letter J, which stands for Jesus. The candy is very hard, reminding us that Jesus is the rock of our salvation. The candy was originally pure white, just as the Christ Child lived a pure life. But the candy maker was not satisfied with a simple white cane, so he added the color red. Red was cho...