Title: Christmas in a Different Light
Text: Luke 1:26-38 and Matthew 1:18-23
Intro
I love this time of year… Anybody else? I love the decorations, the food, the smells, the sounds, I love it all...
I might be wrong… But I think the reason, or at least one of the reasons, some people do not like this season and some love this season is because it's the same every year. For some that brings back good memories and for others you just want to do something different.
We sing the same songs, eat the same food, ignore the same people at dinner, and read the same story from the Bible every year at Christmas. I can't help you with your family dinner, but what we hope to do is help you view the Christmas story differently this year.
Mary’s Part…
We are going to read a passage we’ve all heard every Christmas for probably our whole lives… But try to view this from her perspective.
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
Let’s stop here for a minute. Mary has her life planned out… She knows where she is going and what’s coming next. Then all of a sudden a curve ball is thrown.
28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
Greatly troubled… Mary was greatly troubled… You think? She knows what ever comes out of that angels mouth next probably means her life is going to change forever.
30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid,Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on 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. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.” Luke 1:26-38
What’s Mary thinking in this moment? What’s she feeling? When we read this story we kinda just think about this as common place. And I don’t know if you know this… But people don’t just randomly end up pregnant, especially virgins. She thought she had everything planed out… And then this happen.
Today we view this as good news right? Like the best news ever. But in that moment Mary probably isn’t thinking that. She’s probably scared, fearful, wondering why her, and wondering how in the world am I pregnant? She’s trying to make sense of it all…
I imagine as she’s process those feelings laying for sometime after the angel left, the realization hits her “OH NO. I have to tell my parents… I have to tell Joseph… What are they going to think? I with the Bible recorded that conversation don’t you… Mom dad…. I’m pregnant… But don’t worry, I didn’t do anything wrong. You see there was this angel… Talk about an awkward family dinner.
Joseph’s Part….
I’m not sure why God did it this way… But Mary had to tell Joseph she was pregnant before the angel visit him. We see this story in Matthew 1:18…
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. Matthew 1:18-19
At this point Mary has already had her visit… So she showed up and told Joseph: Guess what?! I’m pregnant. And I know you are thinking how’s this even possible? But don’t worry… It’s from God (say quietly and funny) Now put yourself in Joseph’s shoes… What’s he thinking right now? Yeah sure you are…
Here’s what we learn about Jospeh right off the bat… He’s a good guy, but he’s a normal guy. Joseph doesn’t just shrug it off and ya know what… mistakes happen. That sounds reasonable… No he’s a really human and he reacts as any of us would. Joseph reacts with anger, he’s mad and he wants out of the relationship. But here’s the thing… He reacts with anger, but he responds with grace. He doesn’t want to humiliate her… But he’s running the risk of ruining his own life with Mary being pregnant. And we see he doesn’t want to hurt her or risk her being killed.
Remember at this point Mary has had her visit from an angel so now it’s Jospeh’s turn… Here’s his interaction.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:20-23
Joseph’s world is getting rocked right now… He thought he was about to get married and start happily forever after. Then his fiancé comes up to him and says she’s pregnant… He knows it’s not his and she claims it’s Gods… He quietly tries to back out as you do when you encounter a crazy person, right? And then low and behold an angel comes to him and confirms what she said… What are you thinking right now if you are Joseph? You are probably reaching for a drink right?… He can’t keep his head on straight. His world is spinning.
Both Mary and Joseph just had their world’s flipped… And come on, you’ve been there right?
Sure the circumstances are different. But you’ve been in that place where you’ve thought what am I going to do now? Maybe you’ve been there as a result of following God and you are thinking I thought you were supposed to make my life easier, what the heck? Anybody been there?
Do Not Be Afraid…
Mary and Joseph thought they had their life together… They thought they knew where they were going… This is the Christmas story. What we celebrate as some of the best news in history was the scariest news in these two lives.
There’s an interesting phrase that is said to both Mary and Jospeh… “Do not be afraid”. What’s the first word that you think of when you think of Christmas? It’s probably not fear… But that’s the Christmas story starts, with this phrase…
And think about this.. Put yourself in their shoes… Why would you NOT be afraid? Right? Mary, she should be afraid, her life fell apart. The legal penalty in Jewish culture for having an affair was death… And the defense of God made me pregnant ain’t going to hold up in court… She could now legally be killed. Her husband could leave her.
Joseph has to be thinking what have I done? How do I get out of this mess, that I didn’t create? He very well could have lost his job when people found out Mary was pregnant and he refused to leave her. Because he’s refusal to publicly denounce her would have been seen as him accepting that he had sinned.
On top of their personal struggles the world they live isn’t making things easier… Herod, the king, decrees that everyone has to go take a census. In those days that meant that they would have to travel back to their home town. So not only are they ostracized from their community. But little Miss favored of God, 8 months pregnant has to travel on a donkey a long distance. I’m not sure if you’ve ever travel by donkey with a pregnant wife, but it takes awhile. By the time they get there they are late and there are no rooms left for them to rent.
So little Miss favored… Miss carrying the son of God cannot even get a room for the night. And we know this part of the story don’t… They cant’ get a room so Jesus, the son of God, is born in a manger. Which we have a glorified view of what this was. This is more than likely a small, smelly, and dark cave. It was clean, there wouldn’t have been nice furniture, or medical equipment. And this is where the son of God enters the world.
At this point Mary has got to be thinking… The worst is surely over. But the story is still deteriorating, things will still get worse… After the census, after Jesus is born, Herod finds out that a king has been born. Being a jealous king that wants to protect his throne decides to take action… So he goes to kill EVERY baby 2 and under. Causing Mary and Joseph to flee to Egypt.
This is the Christmas story… But we often don’t like to look at it from this perspective. Because it’s not as nice and neat… It’s messy, it’s scary, and it’s in some of the worst and most difficult moments in Mary and Joseph’s life that Jesus entered the picture. And listen we read the whole story in just a few moments, but this story lasted years.
Do you think during this time that Mary every questioned what God was doing? Do you have think she thought God you are saving this child, but what about all the other babies? Do you think she ever said “God you got me pregnant, now man up!” Take care of me, I need a nice safe home, why are we running when this is the king of the world. God why me? God why is this happening? God when will you rescue us? God I don’t know if I can do this…
This is the Christmas story… Sounds more like a horror story for this family doesn’t it? It’s not a nice and neat as we tell around the fire place every year. It’s messy, it’s scary, and Mary and Joseph have every reason to be afraid.
This is how Jesus enters this world… And this is how he enters many of our lives. It’s in our mess, our scariest moments. You see I don’t think we are so different then these two… When Jesus enters the picture things change. But it’s in these moments that we are told to not be afraid.
Let’s think about that… How can God expect Mary and Joseph to not be afraid? They have every right to be afraid? How can Mary and Joseph move past their fear and trust and follow God?
How can we be expected to not be afraid? When cancer comes, threats of war, mass shootings, disease, when death is around every corner. When marriages fail, when kids leave, when your fired, when your lost, when your evicted… When things seem so hard, how can we NOT be afraid?
Mary has to be afraid… But in her fear she was still able to say… Luke 1:38… I am the Lord’s Servant may it be to me as you have said.
Wait… How can she say THAT? Mary knows what’s coming next… She knows that people in her community will probably never accept her again. She knows her life will never be the same. She knows her life is about to get a lot tougher. But she still says… May it be as you have said…
Response to Fear
Sometimes we are called to be faithful despite our fear… There’s this lie that goes around that if you follow God he calms the storms in your life. And sometimes he does. But I’ve found in my life that most of the time, God doesn’t calm the storms, but he always brings me through them. That’s the Christian faith. It’s believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse. And that’s exactly what Mary and Jospeh do. They trust that even though things don’t make sense, they trust that’s God in control.
Here’s what I think we can learn from this story.
In your life don’t look at your circumstances, look at the one who has power over your circumstances.
Here’s what I mean…
Mary knows by doing this it’s going to cost her a lot… That’s why when she gets visited by the angel she says what kind of greeting is this. Mary knows that when you get visited by an angel your life is about to change a lot. Your life is about to get tough. She was able to say this because she saw God as the lord of her life.
She might know now all the reasons why things are happening. But she also knows God does, she’s finite, but God is infinite.
She doesn’t have to sweat the small stuff because God’s in control.
That’s tough to live that way isn’t it? I even struggle to live that way in the small things… I don’t know how you are with your alls cars… But with mine I notice the second something starts handling differently or sounding off. I know some of you that’s foreign… You’ve been driving around on 3 wheels and are like what? what’s wrong with that? But I notice. But the problem is we have two older cars one is 6 years and the other is 12 years old. And as cars age they are known to make different noise. And when a new one comes I can’t focus on anything else until I fix it or figure out what it is. And the whole time I’m thinking… This is NOT good. This is going to cost me $1k guaranteed. I’m surely going to be stranded… I can’t focus on anything else going on around me.
A couple years back I was driving and my car started making a new sound and I started down that same path of thinking. And I had this thought… What am I really worried about?
Now I know what you are thinking… But that’s such a small problem… In my life the issues are much greater… I get it i’ve been there too. I’ve gotten the phone call at 3 in the morning that someone you love has minutes to live and you have to say goodbye. I’ve had relationships end. I’ve had medical bills stack up. I’ve had jobs not work out. And those are just the issues caused by outside forces, we’d be here all day if I listed the ways I’ve screwed up things.
This passed summer my wife and I found out we were pregnant, only to be followed a few weeks later with that news that nothing can prepare you for… We lost our baby. I thought I had my life all planned out… And then a curve ball. And I share this because I know someone of you have been there. Maybe not that, but something else. And for those of you that haven’t had that kind of news delivered yet, you will. This is important because it’s in those moments that God says do not be afraid…
In that moment I had fear. And God wasn’t calling me to abandon my fear. Nor does he tell any of us not to be afraid. But he calls us to not let our fear stop us from trusting him.
I wrote this article about what I was feeling during my miscarriage. And it ended up being a little too personal so it’s just sat on my computer. a little too raw, a few too many bad words… But I was thinking about it as I was writing this and went back and reread it and I noticed this theme in there. I want to read a quote:
My faith isn’t based on my feelings. Daily I have to remind myself of the truth of the Gospel. Daily I have to preach to myself. I trust that God is good, not because my circumstance, but because that’s all He can be.
What I was saying was a reminder for me to not fixate on my circumstances, rather to fixate on God who’s in control. And it’s so easy in this moments to get fixated on what’s right in front of us. It’s so easy to let the fear the worry, the stress, the loss, drown us.
The reason Mary was able to say what she said was because she wasn’t focus on what was about to come… She was focus on the God that was over the things that were about to come.
In your life don’t look at your circumstances, look at the one who has power over your circumstances.
Too often we focus on the wrong thing… We focus on our fear. But look at what Mary does. She gives us a healthy response to the fear in our life. If you look back you will see her start her concerns to God, she doesn’t ignore them. And then she decides she’d going to trust God anyway.
I don’t know what exactly is going on in your life right now… But what I do know is God is bigger than whatever that is. Don’t ignore your fear, express it, show it, share it, just like Mary did. But don’t focus on it.
I know, I know… Your thinking but how can I not focus on this? My marriage is in shambles. That collector keeps calling… That news from the doctor isn’t good. I lost that friendship. I get it, life’s tough. I’m not trying to downplay the difficulty that we find ourselves in. However, Christmas puts our temporary trails in perspective. Don’t focus on your circumstances, focus on God.
Here’s what this might mean for you… When that worry starts welling up in you. Stop what you are doing. And start praying. I heard a counselor once say that when you have a situation arise stop and write down the facts. And then write down God’s promises. This puts things back in perspective because typically in our heads we blow everything out of proportion. don’t look at your circumstances, look at the one who has power over your circumstances.
So the next time you get the worry, that fear, that uncertainty that is building up in you.. Don’t ignore, express it, share it, let it out. But don’t let it be your focus. Stop what you are doing and pray. Write down your fears and write down what God says is true. Focus on God and not your fears.
That’s exactly what Mary and Joseph did. That’s what the Christmas story is all about. Listen if God cares enough about us to send his son, to live among us, to experience what we did, and ultimately pay the price for our mistakes. Don’t you think he can take care of your problem?
That doesn’t mean life will be easy… Mary and Joseph’s life were blown up. But they found peace in the midst of that because they knew that God was in control. They kept that in perspective.
I can’t prove this… But I have to believe that on some of the worst and hardest days in Mary’s life, when she felt like giving up she had to look at Jesus and think if God can do all this… Surely he can work this out too… Mary’s focus wasn’t on her problems and what was in front of her. It’s was on Jesus. And that’s what we need to do in our lives.
You see the Christmas story is less about a nice and neat little story. And more about God coming and into our mess and bring peace in the midst of a storm. It’s a reminder that in the most difficult moments of our life we should focus on the one who’s experienced the storms and overcome them.
On April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (Ga Gar in) became the first human to travel into space and orbit the earth. The blow to the American psyche at losing this leg of the Space Race was deepened when reports began to circulate that, during his flight, Gagarin had commented: “I don’t see any God up here. In response C.S. Lewis wrote a work called the seeing eye…
In that it says this. “If there is a God that created us, we could not discover him by going up into the air. God does not relate to us the way a man on the 2nd floor would relate to a man on the first floor. He would relate to us the way Shakespeare relates to Hamlet. Shakespeare is the creator of Hamlet’s world and of Hamlet himself. Hamlet can know about Shakespeare only if the author reveals information about himself in the play. So too the only way to know about God is if God has revealed himself.
Here’s why the Christmas story is the best news… God has actually revealed himself in the play, in the scriptures but he goes far beyond that he actually writes himself into the story of humanity… Because he was willing to do something that no one else was willing to do for you. That means that nothing you are suffering now, have suffered in the past, or will suffer in the future that he has not already suffered. Listen…. God can relate to what you are going through because he’s experienced that.
The Christmas story is God coming to earth as the most fragile and vulnerable way possible. Why? So he can relate to us.
Conclusion
I don’t know what you are going through this holiday season… You probably got some good and you got some bad… Maybe you are afraid of something, unsure of how this thing is going to play out in your life. Maybe your just sad…
Here’s what you need to be reminded of this Christmas season… Jesus gets it. He’s right there beside you. He’s walked on this earth. He’s experienced what you are going through. He gets it.
The reason I can go on in my life is because Jesus is the Lord over your life and nothing ever catches him by surprise. I don’t know all the reasons why things are happening. But I know God does, I’m finite, but God is infinite. Because of what happened 2,000 years ago you and I have hope, you and I can have peace. I don’t have to let me fear control.
And when it does… I pause. I reflect on what I know is true. And I put things back in perspective. I focus on God and not on my circumstances.
The story of Mary and Joseph reminds us of that… It reminds us that we are not alone, God is with us. And when we focus on that, our fears will dissipate.
