(adapted from my Christmas Eve Sermon notes, please excuse typos and grammatical errors)
If I told you the real story of how Jesus came into this world, the reality is more searing and dramatic than any Netflix series.
The biblical account starts with his lineage from Abraham to Joseph. The family had a history. These four women alone are noteworthy:
- Tamar was known for her act of seducing her own father in law.
- Rahab was a prostitute.
- Ruth seduced a man just to get in the family.
- And finally yet another committed adultery with king David, gave birth to a son who would die because of David’s sin (Bathsheba, wife of Uriah).
These names you find in Matthew’s genealogy introducing the Christmas Story, on purpose.
I used to skip the list of names Matthew and Luke detail regarding the birth of Christ! Matthew gives 41 names, 14 generations. Luke gives 77 names. All breathed out through men by the Holy Ghost because God is all about the finer details to prove all that He spoke through the prophets would be fulfilled!
If you keep diving into more of those names, you’ll find even more of a mess!
The reality of the Christmas story is that Jesus who was born of a virgin as fully God and fully human, came into this world in messy circumstances, was surrounded by scandals, turmoil, and even death from years past in the royal family bloodline. There was nothing silent about the night he was born, and there would be a lot of ugly for the remainder of his earthly life. Despite what children story books portray, there was real danger in the manger!
Yet this is what and who we celebrate:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
Join me as I share the Gift of Jesus: Based on The True Story.
All who were present at the world’s most amazing present were in awe at how God came! Are you?
The story starts with Gabriel, the super angel of the Lord, who suddenly appears to Zechariah, an old priest in the temple who’s honorably selected to light incense. Scares the daylights out of him. Don’t be afraid. Your prayers have been answered. Your wife will bear a son (John the Baptist).
Luke 1:16 “And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
Zechariah doubts. Gabriel makes him mute.
Elizabeth, Zechariah’s wife, was advanced in her years. She was barren-can’t have kids. She, against all odds, conceives John the Baptist -the forerunner to the messiah. Her cousin is Mary.
Mary is a teenager, as young as 13-16yrs old. She would look more like Elizabeth’s granddaughter than a cousin. Within her womb was the Savior Jesus. The Holy Spirit came upon her, and the power of the Most-High overshadowed her. “And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
- Later in verse 35 Gabriel says “therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”
- He also tells Mary about Elizabeth and now Mary goes to visit Elizabeth.
John the Baptist leaps in his mom’s belly when Mary visits.
Elizabeth, filled by the Spirit, provides validation for Mary when she says, “And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Luke 1:43
Mary will sing her song of praise (The Magnificat).
- “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,”
John the Baptist is born and Zechariah gets his voice back and is now filled with the Holy Ghost. He prophesies over John the Baptist and calls Jesus the horn of salvation.
The story continues in Matthew 1 where we find Joseph. More than a carpenter, a stone mason or handyman of some sort, who gets perhaps the smallest write up in the Christmas story. No words from his mouth scribed. *Not mentioned in any Christmas songs either!
- Mary has been gone for three months. She comes back. Does he now just find out that his fiancé is pregnant?
He is humble, just, and obedient to following God. We know he loves Mary because upon the scandalous news he has every right according to the law (Levitcus 12) to divorce her publicly. He decides to do so quietly. Thankfully, before doing so, he fell asleep.
“But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). Matthew 1:20-23
Joseph listens and becomes Jesus’ earthly, adoptive father. He takes his pregnant fiance Mary on an 85 mile trek to Bethlehem to fulfill prophecy. The Bible tells us Joseph did not have sexual relations with Mary in order to safeguard the validity of the virgin birth.
Bethlehem-You know The Setting.
Imagine both Mary and Joseph’s feelings when they arrive. No place to stay. They find an inn, most likely an additional upstairs room where it was common for animals also to stay. The inn keeper was not necessarily a villain, but offered what he had. Humble setting still, this is the way the Messiah comes into the world. Perhaps the treasured couple still has doubts about this situation.
Validation comes, however, when the Shepherds visit. Lowly yet possible chance they were taking care of special sacrificial sheep for the temple. An angel appears to them in the fields. Fear happens once again.
“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.”
A heavenly host, multitude of angels praise “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.” The Shepherds in the first Christmas rush arrive on the scene at the manger to find the baby Christ wrapped in swaddling cloths. They relay the good news they just heard from the angels. All are amazed. Mary ponders. The first evangelists leave that stable and cannot contain themselves from proclaiming the good news.
40 days after Jeus is born, young, new parents Joseph & Mary follow the law of Moses and bring Him to the temple for His purification ceremony, along with their two turtle doves. Those in better circumstances were commanded to bring a lamb . Interestingly, they actually brought The Lamb.
And now we meet Simeon, a righteous man of the law. He is wise and experienced. He sees this baby is the messiah. He is so content, he could now die. He doesn’t need anything else in life. His salvation is what he longed for. Filled by the Holy Spirit, he exclaims,
- “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.“
Simeon then looked at Mary and made this often overlooked statement…“a sword will pierce through your own soul.” This word sword here is more like a javelin stabbed right into your heart.
Why? Because your baby, the seed of the womb, the one who would crush the head of the serpent, on his journey from the cradle to the cross, will be crushed by whips and lashings at the hands of his own people. And Mary did you know, you’ll be crushed watching. It wasn’t pretty, but Mary did you know…it had to happen this way. Your baby boy is Lord of all creation. Did you know? Your baby boy will one day rule the nations. Did you know? Your baby boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb. This sleeping child you’re holding is the Great I Am!
(Just in the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke we see 13 names or references of Jesus (total of about 200 in entire bible).
A year later it’s the Magi’s turn. They traveled far and wide, perhaps hundreds of miles to follow the star they studied in Astrology and the Old Testament. They were not kings, but well-known advisors to kings. They knew this king was the king of kings and asked Herod, Matthew 2:2 “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?
- All the chief priests and scribes of the people are summoned. They know the location ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
- The leaders knew where to direct the Magi but they didn’t pursue, and Herod wanted to kill. The Magi responded appropriately. They showed up to Mary and Joseph’s house with gifts and properly WORSHIPED.
“And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.”
Joseph also warned: “an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Verse 16: “Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.”
Most scholars approximate that twenty-four innocent babies died. There was lamenting and there was weeping.
Herod was insane. Killed even his flesh and blood for power, including his own son. He was ruthless and could kill anyone.
Except for Jesus.
God’s plan for redeeming humanity couldn’t be thwarted by any human means. A carpenter mason worker and his teenage wife carrying the baby king of kings narrowly escape an evil king who sends out his army of soldiers to find them. How? Against all odds but with God, nothing is impossible.
Even if Joseph had plans in life, they were uprooted again by God’s. An angel appears in another dream to tell him to get out of town, using supernatural means once again to protect the Rescuer.
“But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.” Matthew 2:20-23
“And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.” Luke 2:40
This is the real Christmas Story. From rejection to rejoicing; wandering to worship, Jesus came to die, so that we may live. He is the light, so that we may shine. 2,000 years later we halt this Christmas to remind ourselves of the reason for the season, to celebrate the everlasting gifts of hope, love, joy, and peace that only He can bring.
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