The Unexpected Messiah Celebrated

Luke 2:6-7 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

That is all we are told about the actual birth of Jesus. Mary gave birth and laid him in the manger, because there was nowhere else to lay him. The unexpected part of that is that is it so...unexceptional, just so normal. 

Luke 2:8-11 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

Now we’re talking. Finally some respect. An angel makes the big announcement. The unexpected fact is to whom the announcement is made. To shepherds. Not to the priests. Not to the religious leaders or students of the law. Not to teachers. The angel came to shepherds to tell them that the Savior was born. Shepherds were at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. Children did not aspire to be shepherds when they grew up. It was a dirty, demanding difficult.  The shepherds were awake, watching over their flock, watching out for lions and bears who would prey on the sheep, and watching over the sheep who would easily wander away and get lost or hurt.  These are the ones that the angel came to.

Luke 2:13  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

I love this verse. It just seems to me that the angels could not hold back any longer. The chosen angel made the announcement, then all the angels broke through the curtain of heaven and began a chorus of praise to God. 

Who else got to hear about the Saviors birth?

Mat 2:1-2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."

Who are these wise men?  We don’t know much about them, but we do know they are not Jewish. They are from the east, probably from the area that is now Iran. The actual Greek word used to describe them is “magi”, the name given by the Babylonians, Medes, Persians, and others, to the wise men, teachers, priests, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, augers, soothsayers, and sorcerers. These are men who studied the stars, experts on astronomy. God revealed to these gentile men from an idol worshiping nation that a new king was born. God spoke their language. They studied the stars, so God used the stars to tell them about the Messiah. 

Who would have ever guessed that God would tell gentile magi? 

 

They didn’t know exactly where the king was to be born, so they went to the capital to look for him. Herod asked the priests and scribes, and they immediately said that according to the prophecies, he would be born in Bethlehem. The magi went on their way to Bethlehem, where they worshiped this new king and gave him expensive gifts from their treasuries. 

It is interesting that the priests and religious leaders just stayed in Jerusalem. Bethlehem was six miles away. Six miles. The magi travelled about 1000 miles to worship this new king, and he was not even their king. The Jewish leaders would not go SIX MILES to just see if perhaps this was the Messiah they were waiting for.

Matthew 2:11 and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

I like to consider what Mary thought and felt when this caravan of wealthy scientists/astronomers came to her home, fell down before her son and worshiped him, then opened their treasures to offer him gifts of great value. She must have been shocked.

Everything about this Messiah is so unexpected.

Sometimes we forget. We may have heard the story so many times that we have lost the mystery. We know the story. If we can for while forget that we already know what happened and regain the wonder, not just of Jesus birth, but the wonder of everything about Jesus.  Because, it is not just his birth that was so unexpected. Everything about Jesus was unexpected.

The Unexpected Messiah is announced

The first sign that something unexpected was about to happen is seen in Luke 1.

 Zechariah  was serving as priest in the Holy Place when an angel appeared to him. Angel sightings were unusual even then, and Zechariah fell on his face in fear.

Luke 1:13  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.

This was unexpected because both Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were well past child bearing years and had never had children. The angel goes on to tell him that the child will be the one who will prepare the people for the Messiah. This is a good indication that things are not going to happen in an ordinary manner.

Luke 1:26  In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,  to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.  And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!"

Gabriel went on to tell Mary that she would become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit and that she would give birth to the Son of God, the Messiah they were looking for and longing for. Since Mary was a virgin, this was an unexpected turn of events.

It really seems that God likes to do things that we don’t expect. He likes to surprise us.

A surprise that we might miss is the fact that the VERY FIRST HUMAN to know that the Messiah was coming was a young woman, probably just a teenager. God had promised one who would defeat the enemy right after the fall in Genesis 3. The prophets had told of one who was coming for centuries. All Israelites were looking for him. The first person to know was one who would not have been included in any inner circle Jewish study groups. She was no one special in any human eyes, no one to listen to or share important news with. 

After Mary’s discussion with Gabriel, she went to visit Elizabeth, who happened to be a relative. 

What happened next is certainly surprising.

Luke 1:41-44 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!  And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

So, after Mary, the next human to know that the Savior was coming…is…an…embryo! Yes, an unborn baby in his mommy’s tummy. The baby leaped for joy, and somehow communicated to his mom that her relative who just walked in was pregnant, and that the baby was the Lord!  Now, that is pretty spectacular, and pretty unexpected!  

The Unexpected Messiah-His Heritage

The one who announced the coming of the Messiah did not meet anyone’s expectations. Neither did anything about the birth of the Messiah.

First, if you read the record of the ancestry of Jesus, you find some unexpected entries. Especially, if you were living 2000 years ago. If you read through the record in Matthew 1:1-16, you will find five women listed, which may not seem strange to you, but, to a reader of the time, it would have been strange and totally unacceptable. Women were not included in genealogical records of the time. The 

Old Testament has numerous records of families, but only lists the fathers.

Matthew opens the New Testament “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ”, and beginning with Abraham, traces the lineage of Jesus, including the names of five mothers. This would have been quite shocking to his early readers. Even more shocking would be who these women were.

1. Matthew 1:3  “and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar,” 

Tamar was a woman who married Judah’s oldest son, an evil man who died unexpectedly. According to the custom, Tamar was then given to Judah’s next son, also an evil man who died soon after. Judah sent Tamar back to live with her parents, which was a socially unacceptable and shameful thing to do. After some years of living as a shamed and childless woman, not free to marry outside of the family of her dead husband, Tamar used deceit and manipulation to become pregnant…by Judah. Ugh. Horrible. But, here she is, listed with her son. (Her story is in Genesis 38)

2. Next woman, Rahab 

Matthew 1:5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab

Rahab, usually called Rahab the Harlot. Rahab was not of the Jewish people. She was a Canaanite who lived in Jericho and helped the Israelites who came as spies to check out the city and its defenses to prepare their attack.  She and her family were saved because believed in the God of the Israelites and helped the spies.  After the victory of Israel, she was allowed to come live with the Israelites, married a good Jewish man, and became an ancestor of Jesus. (Joshua 2 and 6)

3. Another outsider, Ruth

Matthew 1:5 … and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,

Ruth was a good woman, but she was not an Israelite, in fact she was from Moab, one of the sworn enemies of Israel, a people who worshipped idols and practiced child sacrifice.  She married into an Israelite family. After the death of her husband and her father in law, she went to Israel with her mother in law. Because of her faith and her care for her mother in law, she married a respected man of Israel, was the great-grandmother of David, and, eventually, in the lineage of Jesus.  (The whole book of Ruth)

4. Next we have Bathsheba.

Matthew 1:6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. Do you notice something unusual about that sentence? “By the wife of Uriah” The great King David saw a beautiful woman, Bathsheba, who was married to one of his army officers, Uriah, who was away at war. David had Bathsheba brought to him, had sex with her, and, when he found out she was pregnant, had her husband killed in battle so that he could marry her to cover it up. That baby died, but they later had Solomon.  When Matthew wrote the genealogy, he mentioned her as the wife of Uriah. Because of the King’s sinful actions, Bathsheba lost her husband and her child. However, she is honored as an ancestor of Jesus.  (1 kings 11)

5. The final woman in the story, of course, is Mary.

Matthew 1:16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

Mary, the sweet, faithful young woman who became Jesus mother. The only surprising thing about her was that she is mentioned at all.

If we read this list in the context of first century, we would be shocked to see women in the list. To me, that says that this Jesus is starting something very new, and beginning a new day for women in particular.

The Unexpected Messiah

God comes to us in unexpected, sometimes strange ways. The Jewish people who lived 2000 years ago were expecting a Messiah to come, were looking for and longing for the Messiah. They were certainly not expecting the kind of Messiah who came. First, remember the person who came to announce that the Messiah was coming.

“ In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."   For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.'" Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.” Mat 3:1-4 

Those who knew Scripture expected that someone would come before the Messiah who would announce his coming.  But, not someone like this.

In the wilderness, apart from the religious and political center of Israel.

Not in the temple. John was the son of a priest, in the priestly line, expected to be a priest.

Not wearing the commanded priestly clothes. He wore camel’s hair and leather. He probably didn’t smell like a priest, either! And, he ate locusts and honey. Not the diet of an important person such as he.

He was nothing that the people were expecting.

What did he preach? “Repent.”

Repent-literally means to change your mind, change your way of thinking

The Greek word is compounded of the preposition μετά, after, with; and the verb νοέω, to perceive, and to think, as the result of perceiving or observing. In this compound the preposition combines the two meanings of time and change, which may be denoted by after and different; so that the whole compound means to think differently after.

Why?  Because the kingdom of heaven is near

Israel was a great kingdom under the great king David, prosperous, strong, feared. Under his son, Solomon it continued to prosper and grow. After Solomon there was a civil war and the kingdom split. From that time, the nation struggled. Finally, the nation was conquered, and for 600 or more years, was under control by a foreign power.  At the time of John, Rome ruled Israel.

The prophets in the OT spoke many times about a man who would come someday and become king, restore the kingdom.  

The people were looking for, longing for, this man who would come and overthrow the rule of the hated Romans, who would restore the nation of Israel, who would set on the throne of David and make Israel free and great again. John used a unique term. “Kingdom of heaven” is only used in Matthew. Matthew was the gospel written by a Jewish man for the Jewish people more than the other gospels. Jews were looking for the kingdom to come.

John came saying, “You’ve got it wrong. You have got to change your whole way of thinking. Your looking for the wrong kind of king, and the wrong kind of kingdom. This new kingdom is not the earthly kingdom you are expecting, but a heavenly kingdom.”

The Jewish people then, and most people now, are looking for the wrong kind of Messiah, wrong kind of king and wrong kind of kingdom.  We want to see God come and change things here, on earth, now. We want to see political, social, cultural changes so that our lives will be more pleasant and easier. We need to hear John’s voice. We need to repent, to look instead for the king who is “at hand.” Near to us, ready to be King Jesus in our hearts and our lives.