MPC, 25th December 2001.Matt 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-20 - "An Unlikely Story"
Maurie Cropper MPC, 25th December 2001.
Sitting in the doctor's waiting room a couple of weeks ago I picked up one of those weekly magazines where you find some of the most unlikely stories you'll ever read about.
Like the one about a guy called Henry Lizardlover... yep you guessed it... he's obsessed about lizards. Iguana lizards to be exact. His got them everywhere in his home.
He gets them to model for him while he photographs them in various poses. Believe it or not, they apparently sit still for him as he puts them in various poses... like lying back on the lounge, one leg behind the head in a full-belly pose.
Then there was the story about women in the 1800's, who frequently placed round ivory balls in their mouths to fill out their gaunt-like cheeks after teeth were extracted. It was apparently more fashionable to have very rounded cheeks, …or so the story went!
And being a bike rider myself, this next one caught my eye. Roger Ridell is apparently a motor-cross champion of a different kind. He rides every race, sitting backwards on his bike.
And then there was Velez Campos (1933), who could do the splits at the knees.
I'll let you sort that out in your head for yourself.
And if you think those stories are a bit unlikely; what about this one. It's claimed that the black-bellied Texan tree duck WHISTLES instead of QUACKS. Sounds a little quirky to me!
To a lot of people the Christmas story rates up there with every other unlikely story. With such a small percentage of the Australian population having any link with a local church, and an even smaller percentage claiming to be Christian... most Australians, when a push comes to a shove, would consider the Christmas story as very unlikely!
I mean: an unnatural pregnancy; a potential public disgrace; talking angels; shepherds; heaven opening up; a baby in a cow's feed trough... and one who's going to save the world?
The cries of: "Unlikely story" are already ringing in your ears.
So what has made this story of the first Christmas, a story that has been maligned and ridiculed, a story that has been considered unlikely by so many for so long... what made this story so believable to the shepherds referred to in our reading?
Well for one thing they had been waiting for a Messiah, a Saviour to come from God.
Some 800 years earlier the prophet Isaiah had prophesied about his coming. Isaiah had told King Ahaz that the people of Israel would know when the son of God or Immanuel had arrived because God would give them a sign. Listen to what Isaiah said 800 years before that first Christmas.
Isaiah 7:14 "… the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth and will call him Immanuel."
And Isaiah wasn't the only one who made mention of the coming of the one called Immanuel. Another prophet called Micah also made a couple of important points, including the prophecy that for a time, Israel was not going to hear from God until the birth of someone special. Listen to what he said and see if you can pick up the parallels with the other readings.
Micah 5:2-5 "… Bethlehem... although you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, [one] whose origins are of old, from ancient times. Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labour gives birth… He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace."
It's amazing when you think of it.
There were those shepherds. Probably sitting around chatting late into the night as they kept one eye on their sheep. There they were, talking about the latest market price for sheep... or making plans on where they were going to find feed for them the next day, …or maybe they were yarning about their families, or their hopes for a good season. And then in a flash … standing before them is an angel… shining as bright as the noon day's sun!
A terrifying sight at first, and then having consoled them not to be afraid… "that on this day in the town of David a Saviour has been born." They're told: "He's the Christ the Lord."
A Saviour? Wow… this is what we've been waiting years for.
And it wasn't only the shepherds who got excited over the news. So did Joseph. Once he'd got over the news of the pregnancy some months earlier.
Like the shepherds, he too had grown up knowing of Isaiah and Micah's prophecy.
So the coming of a Saviour was no unlikely story to Joseph or the shepherds.
For the doubters I'm wondering if this story is not so much Unlikely, as it is Unsavory.
Unsavory because of what's at the heart of this news breaking story.
Matthew reported in v.21 that the angel told Joseph: "[your wife] will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
And in his report about the shepherds coming face to face with an angel, Luke wrote: "Don't be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David, a Saviour to you has been born; he is Christ the Lord."
I think that people reckon that this is an unlikely story, attacking the reliability and validity of the Christmas story, because it heralds into this world someone who came to save the people of this world.
Those who believe the Christmas story to be unlikely and unsavory do because it is unpalatable to them!
Unpalatable, because all of us are born with a determination to be the boss of our own wash. We are born with an insatiable desire to rule our lives. We don't need and don't want anyone else to tell us what to do, or how to live our lives. And all that business about being saved from something makes us very indignant. Angry feelings of injured innocence means raised hackles.
"I can stand on my own. I don't need the God who created me to interfere in my life."
So why did God give his son as a gift to us? Why did he send Jesus to be born into a world that had rebelled against him?
Well, it's all because God wanted to get us out of some very serious trouble. And as God's son, Jesus was the only one qualified to help us out of the deep trouble we've been in from the start.
The trouble of rebellion is the trouble we've brought on ourselves by reefing the crown of God's head and placing it on our own.
Jesus is God's gift to us, so we can be saved from our sin. And even with the risk of offending you on this Christmas day, we all need to be saved from our sin. Because the word sin doesn't just refer to really bad things like murder and the like. We are all sinners because none of us follow God to the extent he deserves. None of us give God the honour or attention or the obedience we should. Especially since he created us and has given us such a wonderful world to live in.
Instead we basically ignore God.
We get up each day, go about doing our own thing, making our own plans and decisions, rather than submitting to God's plans and decisions. We might even turn out to be nice people. But is it because we have acknowledged and obeyed God's decisions, involving him in our lives?
That dismissive attitude that we have towards God is what sin really is! And because of it, we all deserve to be cut off from God forever. Which places us in a real mess. None of us are good enough to deserve eternal life. That's what makes the Christmas story so incredible.
When we don't deserve it, in fact, even in the face of our rejection of Him, God gave His Son as a present.
Drowning in our own rebellion against God, he throws us a lifeline.
The way that Jesus saves was by taking the punishment that we deserve for our rebellion, upon himself on the Cross. He accepted our punishment so that we wouldn't have to bear it; so that we could be free to enter into a right relationship with God.
That's what Jesus, God's gift to us, did for you and me. That's how those who follow Jesus are saved from their sin.
Trusting in God's gift is the only way we can be saved from being excluded from spending eternity with God and all who submit to Him.
It's a pretty good Christmas present from God isn't it? It's expensive, it's unexpected, it never wears out and anyone can receive it. They just need to accept it. God's gift of sending His Son Jesus to save his people is a great present.
Friends, God's gift is for all-comers. Including those who to this day have thought the Christmas story to be an unlikely one.
Take some time to think about that today.
Christmas is about the coming of a King who has authority over us but who also loves us enough to come among us and set us free from the punishment we deserve. The appropriate response to a gift like Jesus is to gratefully accept him and submit to him. Have you done that? If not, will you do that?
Or will this very special present from God remain an UNWANTED ONE?