What Mary and Joseph Didn’t Know
The Christmas story is a remarkably well-known one. The majority of those who identify themselves as Christian in any manner are well versed with the story of the birth of Jesus. I also would venture to say that, in the United States at least, a great many of those who identify themselves with another religious grouping, or even those professing no spiritual faith at all, are all likely to be familiar with the most basic elements of the nativity account.
There was a woman named Mary who became pregnant, supposedly without the assistance of a human partner and who gave birth to a baby to whom she gave the name Jesus.
And the story is rather simple and subtle – not in terms of the spiritual wonder and dynamics and theology involved. But it is told in a remarkably humble, innocent, understated, almost naïve manner. Both Luke and Matthew walk through the story without a lot of fanfare or attention thrown around. Oh, there are some amazing things taking place, some wondrous, fantastic moments in human history here. But God seems to go out of his way to attract only a specific amount of attention to specific places and to specific people. He knows he’ll eventually have the attention of the world centering on this story. But while it’s playing out, he almost seems to act surreptitiously.
I’ll give you a small example of what I mean. Look at how God brought his son into this world. He sends Gabriel to speak with a young Jewish girl and inform her about His plans for her. Quickly following Gabriel’s revelation to Mary, she discovers that she is indeed pregnant.
Now when my wife was pregnant with our firstborn child, we were serving in youth ministry in Amarillo with a large program. We knew the changes that were coming would impact the way we ministered to students and families so we decided to tell everyone fairly early in the process. We were greeted with ‘congratulations’ and encouragements’ and great gifts from that church. In fact, one of the deacons, Michael, went well out of his way to affirm and encourage my wife about the miracle God was working in her and affirm the spiritual and physical beauty a woman carries when she carries a child. He’d make a big fuss over her, setting a wonderful example for me on how to confirm my wife’s confidence in her beauty and loveliness.
But you can be quite sure, there was no such fuss being made over Mary in her hometown. This wasn’t a 30-year-old woman walking around with her husband, proudly jutting out her abdomen for everyone to come along and touch.
Girls were betrothed in marriage in their middle teens, 13-17 those days. This was a young, innocent teenager walking around with a mid-section that was about to testify to reality she could hardly explain and that no one would be inclined to believe.
Perhaps this has something to do with why Mary joined Joseph on their pilgrimage to Jerusalem to participate in the census. By law, Mary wasn’t required to go. Because she’s betrothed to Joseph and with child, she can stay home and be cared for by family and friends. But perhaps the grueling hills and pathway and the 80 miles to Jerusalem offer more solace and peace than the short walks around town and around the leering eyes of neighbors and family.
Those had to be difficult days for Mary – Having such a joy growing inside of her, and so limited in whom she could share it with.
And perhaps, limited in what she truly understood. I mean, look at what she knew. She knew she was pregnant, without violating any moral or spiritual standards. She knew the baby would be male; she knew he would be named Jesus. And she knew he would be quite special. But did she know everything?
Hardly. I think there are some compelling and interesting things that Mary and Joseph probably didn’t know. I’d like to take a few minutes to discover a few of those things. Because I think you’ll find that what Mary and Joseph didn’t know about Jesus who would be born to them, offer some inspirational parallels to our lives today – to those of us who would allow Jesus to spiritually be born in us.
What Mary and Joseph didn’t know.
Let’s begin by examining that encounter Mary had with Gabriel. And by the way, when Gabriel does appear he has to calm her down and tell her not to be afraid. Unlike the angels who appear weekly on certain TV shows, seeing an angel in the Bible is often not a good thing. It is at least a frightening moment. In many cases, it is often a cataclysmic moment.
Listen to what Gabriel does tell Mary. We’ll look at Luke’s account:
But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1: 30-37
Listen to the way Gabriel describes this child. He says a lot I guess, but it’s almost enigmatic. “He will be great and called the Son of the Most High.” Son of the Most High? What does that mean? Now the words “Most High” are used 46 times in the Old Testament to refer to God. Okay, a mildly familiar nickname. But the title “son of the Most High” is brand new here. In fact the only other time its used at all is in parallel gospel accounts of Jesus’ confrontation with the man possessed by a legion of demons (see Mk 5 or Lk 8). So Mary probably recognized that Jesus was to be called the Son of God. But what does that mean?
The first thing I want to suggest is that Mary and Joseph didn’t know who Jesus would become. They had some hints, some insights, but I they couldn’t have fully comprehended the reality of the Creator God literally recreating himself in the form of His creation and then becoming this life-transforming redeemer who works from the inside out.
Again, let’s go back to Mary’s encounter with Gabriel. He tells her that God will “give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign… forever; his kingdom will never end.” Reign forever? How is Mary supposed to understand what that means? Oh sure, some of you get it, but you’ve already finished the book. You know how the story ends. Mary doesn’t.
You see, Mary and Joseph didn’t know who Jesus would become. They couldn’t have.
Mary and Joseph, probably had some inkling of an idea that Jesus would come as messiah. They are never told directly by an angel the word “Christ” or “messiah.” Those words occur only twice, both in the book of Luke, given to outsiders who then come and discover the child. We’ll talk more about them in a second.
But Mary and Joseph had to hear this word “Messiah” from others. And if she heard it, what she had in mind almost certainly couldn’t have been a picture of the Jesus we see in the gospels.
There were three dominant, pre-conceived images of Mary and Joseph’s day of what the Messiah who was coming would look like; three mental images or expectations of who the Messiah would be and how he would go about redeeming Israel.
The first expectation was of a Military Messiah. One who would come and conquer and vanquish all of Israel’s enemies – very much sitting on the throne of His father, David. Those were the good old days when no nation dared stand up against the mighty armies of Israel. Maybe this was the Messiah many were looking for – a military one.
Another common conception of the Messiah was of a political leader – not political like we think of today. But political in the ways that Moses addressed the great Pharaoh and demanded freedom and redemption for the children of Abraham. Perhaps Mary and Joseph were expecting their new son to grow into a leader who would challenge and negotiate a new age of freedom and self-rule for Israel.
A third notion common to the day was of a Prophet Messiah: One who would recall Israel back to the power and prophecy of Jehovah God – One much in the image of Elijah and John the Baptist who would call out the pagan rulers and demand spiritual jurisdiction over Israel.
And while there are some principle truths about each of these views being manifest in Jesus, none of them are even remotely close to the man Jesus will become among His people
Jesus instead becomes a proclaimer of the Kingdom of God that is already ‘at hand,’ already ‘among you.’ He promises and initiates a transformation; a freeing of people that focuses not on military might or political alliances, but instead draws power from the Supernatural presence of God among His people, within His people. Jesus travels the countryside demonstrating a tender compassion, a sweet fragrance of grace and all the while promising a power that can never be quenched; delivering people to become what God has always wanted them to be – Promising them life, true life, lived abundantly and eternally.
Mary and Joseph didn’t know who Jesus would become. Nor could they have.
Secondly, Mary and Joseph didn’t know who was searching for Jesus. They had no idea.
Now, first, you know there were “Magi” from the East who came seeking the newborn King of Isreal. The stories around these Seers or Wisemen are common and fairly well known.
There was a art contest held in a local school one Christmas season a few years ago in East Texas. One of the prize winners was a picture drawn by a nine year old boy showing three men, offering gifts to the baby Jesus in his manger. What made the picture unique is how the three gift presenters arrived – there was fire truck on the side of the picture.
The principle asked the boy about his decision to draw the truck and the boy, in his heavy East-Texas accent, was quick to reply: “Well, the Bible says the wise men came from a-far.”
We’ll talk about those Magi and their gifts a little next week. But definitely, Mary and Joseph weren’t expecting this visit.
Let’s go back to Luke’s account of these events. God sent another audience to receive and welcome the new child. It just wasn’t the audience you would have expected to receive the King of Kings.
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 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 of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” Luke 2:8-20
Shepherds? Know anything about shepherds of those days? Shepherds were commonly hired hands from the lowest ranks of the Jewish community. They spent all their time in the fields and on the mountainside with their flocks. Typically the slept in the pen with their sheep – often laying across the entrance gate at night to keep the sheep in their pen.
They didn’t spend much time around other people. It was a lonely and a lowly station in those days. There were people with some serious personality problems at times, and often viewed as unsavory characters with a reputation for being only a little above a thief or beggar in nature. One historian notes: “As a class shepherds had a bad reputation. More regrettable was their habit of confusing ’mine’ with ’thine’ as they moved about the country. They were considered unreliable and were not allowed to give testimony in the law courts.”
Not the kind of people you would expect to be invited to view and greet the birth of a new king. Yet this is who the angels are ordered to send to Mary and Joseph’s side.
And there are some biblical commentators who suggest, based on details within the gospel narratives that these shepherds were actually tending the Temple flock, so in fact, they were watching over and looking out for the sacrificial lambs of Israel. Appropriate.
It is, after all, these shepherd who are the first people told in the gospel accounts that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Messiah.
In any case it is this class of people who are the first to appear before the new King of Kings. It is those who are lowest in reputation and standing who are given the first audience with the Lord of Lords. How appropriate that God chooses the humble of that day to welcome the proudest of His creation. What a beautiful foreshadowing this is of how radically Jesus himself will invert the expectations and order of things as a man…
Mary and Joseph have no idea who is searching for Jesus. There’s more… Look again in Luke 2:
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: ‘This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.’
There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
Luke 2: 25-38
There are couple of Simeon’s remarks I’d like to spend a moment on. Look again at what Simon says to Mary and Joseph – verses 34 and 35:
“Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: ‘This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.’” Luke 2:34-35
There’s a whole lot going on in those verses. “This child is destined to be the falling and rising of many in Israel.” Falling in rising?
- Falling like Pharisees will fall with they fail to recognize the divinity and truth of Jesus.
- Rising like the poor, the desperate, the troubled and the forgotten masses will rise as they receive the hope and grace of the living God.
- Falling as Judas will fall for 30 pieces of silver
- Rising as Peter will get back up after betraying the Lord he loves
- Falling as the simple minded thief who is crucified on one side of Jesus and out of his misery and agony insults and disparages the name and nature of our Lord.
- And rising as the simple, honest, heart-felt plea of the other thief falls on the tender ears and heart of the crucified Lord.
Falling and rising of many indeed.
And there’s much more there. Look at the last, almost forgotten comment at the end: “And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Foreshadowing of how the Centurion will verify the death of Jesus after the ordeal of the cross, thrusting a sword into his heart – and certainly a comment of the burden and ache that Mary will bear as she watches her son be first ignored by the religious community, then mocked, then scandalized, then scorned, then condemned, and then killed.
Amazing isn’t it. Quite a lot in those two verses. There’s more there, but we’ll keep moving.
These two people – Simeon and Anna are given an incredible blessing. They have spent the majority of their lives holding on to a faith that the majority of their people have abandoned.
“My eyes have seen your salvation,” Simeon says. How many people longed to open their eyes and see salvation?
Then Anna comes up as Simeon is holding the Christ child and praying and begins to break into praise herself. Mary and Joseph weren’t looking for this. But these two were searching for Jesus. They had been on a life-long pilgrimage searching for the salvation of humanity. God worked within them as individuals to bring them to this moment and to Jesus.
Each of these people we’ve talked about were looking for Jesus because of what God had initiated in their lives – behind the scenes without Mary or Joseph ever knowing about it.
Mary and Joseph had no idea who was searching for Jesus. Nor did they know who Jesus would become.
And for those of you who have a life-changing encounter with Jesus, you know just how true that is. You’ve met him and you know how powerful of a moment that is.
There’s a saying I read somewhere – Wise men still seek him. I’m going to be honest; I’m not a fan of that bumper sticker. Oh, its really okay. But I have a couple frustrations with it. First of all, there’s a little bit of exclusive language there – wise ‘men.’ More importantly, I’m struck by a small seed of arrogance in that statement – that those of us who are really wise, really smart, have found Jesus. No doubt, searching for Jesus is a very smart thing to do. But perhaps we’d be better off saying, the desperate still seek him, those hungering and thirsting for something more than the empty promises of this broken world still seek him.
You see, this is why the church exists – because God is still at work today, calling on the hearts of men and women everywhere to draw them to His son. And we exist to make Jesus known and real in our community. We exist to testify to his birth, to his death, to his resurrection and to his presence today. We exist to give him flesh again – this time our own flesh – as Jesus has been reborn through our rebirth in Him. We exist to help these people whom God is drawing back to himself on their journey home. We are to be lights for them, showing them the pathway to God’s heart – markers on the horizon to help them navigate their journey – teachers and aides to help them become disciples.
God is still working in people’s lives, behind the scenes to draw them into a personal pilgrimage to discover His son. Each of us have been created in God’s own image and in our heart of hearts, in the very core of our being, there is a cry and need that can only be answered by discovering God’s salvation and meeting this Jesus ourselves. People are still searching for Jesus, whether they understand it or not.
And if you are on just such a search, let me promise you, Jesus is still to be found. He makes his presence known in our lives in incredible ways. He dwells on earth today in the hearts of those who have searched for him and made themselves available to His life-changing power; to those who have given their lives over to him – joining him in His death on the cross and His resurrection from tomb through the union that comes through baptism.
And we want to do anything we can to help you on that journey. We are here to serve our Father in any means necessary. We are evidence of what God can do – not by our greatness or perfection – but in our sinfulness God has touched us, claimed us, cleansed us and loved us.
All made possible by the mysterious, amazing birth of a child some 2000 years ago whose first visitors were a handful of seers, a band of rag-tag, outcast, un-reputable shepherds, and an old righteous man preparing for the end of his life and a widowed prophetess.
Kyle Meador
New Heights Church of Christ
106 N. Main
Owasso, OK 74055
newheightschurch@yahoo.com
www.newheightsfamily.org
