Christmas was Monday, yet Hallmark has kept playing Christmas movies all week long. So, I thought, why not take our Unexpected series all the way to the end of December? This morning I want us to reflect on the unexpected way God works out his plan of salvation for humankind.
There are differences in the way the different gospels portray Jesus. The gospel of Matthew was written with a primary Jewish audience in mind. So, for example, Matthew is concerned to link Jesus’ genealogy back to Abraham (the father of Israel). That’s the primary connection a Jewish reader would have been concerned about. Matthew extensively quotes the Old Testament Scriptures as well, to show how Jesus fulfilled all the Law and the Prophets.
The gospel of Luke was written with a Gentile audience primarily in mind. Luke has the larger socio-political context of the Roman Empire in view. He is concerned to show Jesus to be Savior and King of all humankind—all people everywhere—so Luke’s gospel links Jesus all way back to Adam (the father of all humanity). Luke takes us from the humble circumstances of Jesus’ birth to the cross in Jerusalem, but in the book of Acts… takes us all the way to Rome, to the throne of Caesar Augustus. As Mary so eloquently sings in Luke 1:52, Luke’s Jesus has come to “topple the mighty from their thrones!” Luke’s Jesus is certainly the King of the Jews, but also the King of all Kings!
Listen to how Luke uses Zechariah’s prophecy to introduce us to Jesus. Luke 1:68-69, “Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited us and provided redemption for his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. . .” Many of us have read over the gospels our whole life, so nothing jolts us. What should jolt us is the idea of God “visiting” us. If you learned space aliens were going to visit the earth this afternoon, that would be some jolting news! But it’s not just that God is going to “visit us” he’s going to raise up a horn of salvation, of the lineage of God’s servant David. Whenever you see the word “horn” in Scripture it’s a reference to power and authority. So, in Daniel and in Revelation you have all these “horns.” One horn gives way to another horn of power, or one horn may give way to four horns of power, etc. etc. This is what freaked Herod out. Here he is tooting his little horn, thinking he’s something big, yet God is raising up a horn of salvation—a King of his own—who will topple even the mightiest of horns!
Luke 1:78-79, “Because of God’s merciful compassion, the dawn from on high will visit us to shine on those who live in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Don’t read that too quickly. Notice Luke’s phraseology…. God’s King will “guide our feet” into “the way of peace.” Luke is giving us peculiar insight into the character and nature of God’s redemption. God’s reign will be infinitely more “invitational” than “coercive.” Luke’s invitation is that we’d count the costs and, forsaking all else, willingly follow in Jesus’ footsteps showing ourselves to be his disciples—subjects of his Kingdom—leading to peace.
Luke is just getting warmed up however. In Luke 2:6-7 we read of the high profile, Kingdom-shaking, throne-toppling birth of God’s mighty King! Mary and Joseph go down from Nazareth to Judea, to Bethlehem to register their family in Caesar Augustus’ empire-wide census. “While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.”
If the New York Times were writing Christmas headlines they would print: “LOL—God’s King/Kingdom Put Out Into the Cold.” Or “LOL—God’s Supposed King Born in a Trough of Hay.” There is nothing about Luke’s introduction of Jesus that would have been taken seriously here.
But maybe the real kicker is what we read next in Luke 2:8-20, “8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: 14 Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors! 15 When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. 17 After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.”
Everything Luke is telling us about Jesus is antithetical (contrary) to the way power/authority is supposed to work! Kings aren’t laid in mangers, mangers are for sheep and barnyard animals. Upon birth, any King worth his salt would be surrounded by an entourage of the rich and powerful—not an entourage of lowly shepherds. He’d be born in a palace, not some field or obscure locale. And what King would ever attempt to invitationally “guide the feet” of willing subjects? Power is about the raw exercise of coercive power. Power and fear. Carrots and sticks. Obey or be crucified. What does Luke mean? God’s king would “lead and guide.” Shepherds welcomed his arrival?
Whenever I read the Christmas story, and see that Jesus’ adoptive earthly father is “Joseph,” I wonder if that is providential or coincidental. The Joseph of the Gospels was a lowly carpenter. For all practical purposes, he’s a nameless nobody. We don’t know or learn anything about him. But the Joseph of Genesis, is one of the greatest heroes of Scripture. You may well recall how God’s promise to Abraham extended out from Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, then unto to Jacob’s Twelve Sons, who became the Twelve Tribes, the Nation of Israel. Joseph was one of Jacob’s sons. Not just Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—but the whole family for generations were lowly shepherds! Day after day they kept watch over their flocks.
But as we know, Jacob’s favoritism stirs Joseph’s brothers toward murderous jealously and resentment. One day they hatch an evil plot to do away with Joseph. They fake his death, lie to their father Jacob, sell Joseph into slavery. But as we know what they intend for evil, God uses for good. Joseph didn’t just have Jacob’s favor, he had God’s favor, and he earned the favor of everyone who encountered him. By the end of Genesis, Joseph finds himself governing all of Egypt, second in power, only to Pharoah. I don’t know if you’ve ever read Genesis, but Joseph instituted draconian measures (taxes, laws) to save Egypt from famine. By the end of Genesis, Pharoah literally ends up owning about everything!
Joseph was an incredible leader, who truly had the people’s best interests at heart. In the end, after the crisis of famine ends, he quickly and graciously restores wealth and fields and properties to the people. No leader would do that today! So is the name of Mary’s husband, Joseph, Jesus’ adoptive father, … is it coincidental or providential? I don’t ever want to go too far thinking about this… but neither did I want to ignore it. But clearly a contrast is being drawn—between the kind of servant, shepherding King God might raise up…. And the kind of power-intoxicated, self-serving, coercive variety of kings the world raises up. . .
I’ve been thinking about this all month long… but then just week, providentially, a gift arrived on my Twitter feed! Russell Moore wrote this beautiful Christmas piece, of Christianity Today Magazine titled “Pharoah, Did You Know?” In the article he reflects on how, in Genesis, God unexpectedly uses a family of shepherds to upend Egyptian power!
Russell Moore suggests news of Joseph, his father, and his brother’s true identity as shepherds would have rattled Pharoah’s pyramids. You might recall how in Genesis 46 Joseph coaches his brothers, to prepare them should they be examined by King Pharoah. If Pharoah asks your occupation… Joseph coaches them… you shall say, “Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers. . .” What Joseph did NOT want them to say is that they were a bunch of lowly shepherds! And the Bible tells us exactly why… Genesis 46:34, “Every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”
It would have been repulsive that God would raise up a yuck shepherd to be some kind of horn of salvation not just to save Israel, but Egypt. Hey, wait a minute. Maybe that’s the connection. In the days of Joseph, God is raising up a king, a horn, a shepherd not just to save a nation (Israel) but to save empires or nations (Egypt). In the days of Joseph, God is again raising up a king or horn or shepherd, not just to save God’s people (Israel), but to save an Empire!
Interesting enough. God uses Joseph, a shepherd as his servant in Genesis. In Exodus, God uses his servant Moses, who coincidentally was a shepherd. You may recall Moses was keeping his flocks before God spoke to him in that burning bush. And how did God use Moses? Moses “guided” God’s people like sheep out of Egypt, through the wilderness, into their deliverance. And then God uses his servant David, a young bear-wrestling, lion-slaying shepherd boy, to topple not only Goliath but Kings and Kingdoms.
So now we come to the Christmas story. God is going to visit his people. God is about to install his servant king, and his Kingdom! Should we be surprised that God’s King would come to us, smelling of sheep? Born in a sheep’s manger. First welcomed, worshipped, and received by a rag-tag band of unsuspecting shepherds keeping watch over their flocks?
Russell Moore’s keen observation is that from Genesis to Revelation, God chooses what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing thing that are. 1 Corinthians 1:28! God is going to take this infant, born out of a womb, born in a manger, nursed at his mother’s breast, to be God and King!
Moore concludes, “What lasts far beyond human power is the power those “abominable” shepherds heard about as God’s glory shone around them: “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” (Luke 2:10–11). What lasts is not the wrappings of mummies but the one who was wrapped in swaddling clothes. Pyramids and colosseums crumble. What the shepherds saw in the manger—that abides. The shepherds knew a better Shepherd’s voice when they heard it, not just in the angels’ song but in a baby’s cry.”