Who Didn't Make It

Who Didn’t Make it

Matthew 2:1-12

            Last week we discussed who was at the original Nativity scene. Let’s review:

            -What does the word “nativity” mean?

            -Who was there?

            -Who is commonly found in all of the traditional nativity scenes but wasn’t there?

            To re-cap…nativity simply means birth event. The only people we know for sure were there were Mary and Jesus. We can assume that Joseph was there, some shepherds that showed up soon after Jesus was born, some angels, and cattle. Tonight we are going to ask the questions 1) Who wasn’t there? and 2) Why were they not there? 

Let’s go back and read Matthew 2:1-12 to follow the story of the three wise men. Maybe we’ll get at least one of the people groups who was not at the nativity scene.

¹Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem, ²saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose^[b] and have come to worship him." ³When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵They told him,

"In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
 ⁶ "'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.'"

 ⁷Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. ⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him." ⁹After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. ¹²And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

            The wise men were gift intellectually and were probably astrologers. They noticed something different in the sky—a new star and felt compelled to follow it. People have been using stars for navigational purposes since the beginning of travel. There are certain stars that seem to be fixed in the sky, and are therefore, great for navigating year round. Other stars, commonly called “wandering stars” in the Bible were considered useless for navigating. This new star was most likely only seen by this particular group of wise men, but it is possible that they were the only ones who were paying attention to the sky, or the only ones who acted on what they saw. Either way, they saw the star and decided to follow it like the yellow brick road.

            We discussed last week that this star was probably some supernatural phenomenon because a star does not sit directly over a planet, let alone a country, let alone a city, let alone a house. But these wise men followed the star all the way to Jerusalem. When they got to Jerusalem, the star vanished.

            Let’s go back 2,000 years and imagine that you are one of the wise men. You had just walked several hundred miles, following a star that was to lead you to the birth place of the King of the Jews, whom you were interested in worshiping. Once you got into the heart of Israel, the nation’s economic and spiritual capitol, the star disappears, no one else saw it or knows anything about it, and worse yet, no one knows or seems to care about the birth of the new King of the Jews. I mean, this was the heart of the Jewish religion and nobody cared about their own king’s birth while they were foreigners who walked several hundred miles to worship him. What is going on? If you were one of the wise men, you would have been tired, frustrated, and confused. Seeking answers they went to King Herod. We don’t have enough time to get into all of the dysfunction surrounding him and his relatives—but we can say that The Jerry Springer Show has nothing on this family.

            Herod was deeply disturbed by the news of the birth of the King of the Jews for one simple reason—he was already the king of the Jews, appointed by the Roman Emperor. He didn’t want anyone coming along and taking his authority from him, or starting an uprising. So he acted like he was interested in worshiping this King of the Jews like they were, and questioned the wise men about the stars appearance and disappearance. He instructed the wise men to go out and search for the newborn King and when they find Him to come back and tell him where He is so he can go and worship Him, too.

            Once they left his palace the star reappeared and they were able to find the house where Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were staying. An angel instructed the wise men to return home a different way so as not to run into Herod. Meanwhile Herod waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. Then one day Herod said, “Hey! I’ve been tricked!” Still wanting to take out this person he felt was a threat to his kingdom, he ordered all male children two years and younger to be slaughtered. Little did he know, Joseph was acting on a directive from an angel to flee Jerusalem and head to Egypt to preserve the life of the baby boy.

            To answer our questions, Who was not there, and why? We can say confidently that the political leaders were not present at the nativity scene. The simple answer to why, is that they would have misinterpreted Jesus’ role as the King of the Jews, and felt threatened by his presence. Political leaders back then right up until today, in general, seem to be more interested in protecting their job, and keeping the status quo rather than doing what is right. Remember Pontius Pilate? He was the man who sentenced Jesus to death even though he found nothing in which to condemn Him, yet did so anyway. Pilate was not threatened by Jesus’ title of King of the Jews, but he was concerned with job security, and keeping the peace.

            Another group of people mysteriously absent from the Nativity scene was the Jewish religious leaders. These were people who studied the scriptures for a living in order to have a right relationship to God, to teach others to have a right relationship with God, and to recognize the signs of the coming Messiah that had been prophesied about for hundreds of years. But as time passed, these professional religious leaders started to appreciate the status, respect, and money that came with the position, and so they, too, would have been threatened by anyone coming in and upsetting the apple cart, especially one who would later teach that people no longer needed to go through a priest at a Temple to get to God. They would be able to have direct access to God. Remember how Herod assembled his religious experts and asked them where the Messiah was supposed to be born? He was able to get the correct answer—Bethlehem, from the Book of the Prophet Micah. Later in the time line the Jewish leaders said in John 7:27 that Jesus could not have been the Messiah because they knew where He came from and that the real Messiah would just suddenly appear. How is it that the wicked King Herod could get the right answer and not the religious leaders of the day? Perhaps they didn’t want to know the right answer. Following Jesus would cost them everything.

            What about you? What would it cost you if you became a sold out follower of Christ? Would it cost you your job? Probably not. A place to sleep and food to eat? Probably not. Your life? Maybe. Respect among your peers? Probably. You have to count the cost before you make any decision. If I buy this car, what will it do to make bank account? If I date that guy, how will I be perceived amongst my friends? If you count the cost of becoming a sold out follower of Christ and it seems too much for you, then don’t do it. We have to many fake Christians with one foot in and one foot out of the boat as it is. But if you’ve counted the cost and said, “Jesus did all of this for me, losing the friendship of a handful of idiots is the least I can do for Him.” Then climb aboard. We’d love to have you.      

Flocksmen and Wise Guys

Flocksmen and Wise Guys

Matthew 2:1-12, Luke 2:8-20

            Picture in your mind a Nativity scene. Who and what is there?

-Have students go up on stage one at a time to be a member of the nativity scene. They must stand still and portray what they suggested.

-Cows, camels, angels, Mary, Joseph, Jesus, wise men, shepherds…

            There many different types of Nativity scenes. I’ve seen the really pretty Willow Tree one, a Charlie Brown one, a Veggie Tale one, and a Precious Moments one. It seems like there is just about one for every brand out there. I haven’t seen a G.I. Joe Nativity scene though but that would be awesome. I can imagine Sgt. Slaughter looking over at the new born babe with Cobra Commander in the background wringing his hands like Satan.

            But have you ever wondered who was actually at the Nativity scene? Or even what does the word nativity mean? That’s what we are going to look at today. We have about four more weeks until Christmas so we are going to take a break from James until after the New Year and then get back into it.

            Well, the word Nativity simply means the event of being born. So, just real quickly who do we know for sure was at the event of Jesus being born? You can give the Sunday school answer for this one—Jesus, and Mary. Joseph could have been pacing up and down the hallway. But before we get into all of that, let’s begin by figuring out where Jesus was born and why He was born there.

            Joseph and Mary were engaged to be married when one day Mary approached Joseph and said, “Joseph, remember how we never had sex?”

            “Yes.”

            “Well…I’m pregnant. But don’t freak out. It was God who impregnated me and I’m carrying His child.”

            If you were in his shoes what would you have done? What would you have said? What would you have been thinking? My first thought would be that she had been cheating on me, that she thinks I’m completely stupid, and if she believes this to be true, she is completely nuts. Joseph knew that if his fiancé was pregnant before they were married it would be very shameful for him and for her. On top of that if the child was not his it would be doubly embarrassing, and he would have the legal right to have her, and the baby with her, stoned to death for adultery. But the Bible says that Joseph was a good man and decided to divorce her quietly. (In those days engagement was as binding as marriage) It was at this time an angel appeared to Joseph and told him not to put her away, and that everything she had told him was indeed true.

            Joseph was from Nazareth, which is about 100 miles north of Bethlehem. The Roman Emperor at the time demanded that a census be taken and that every needed to return to their home towns to be counted. Joseph was from the lineage of David which meant that he and his soon to be wife were to travel to Bethlehem, no matter how pregnant she was. Remember Daniel Johnson, the guy who walked across the United States? He said he walked about three miles an hour and tried to walk about twelve hours a day. He was not nine months pregnant though.

            We celebrate Jesus’ birth in the month of December, but I personally believe that Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles, which falls somewhere in late September to late October each year. When Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem there was no room for them in the inn so they had to stay where they kept the livestock. If it was during one of the Jewish holy festivals, and there was a massive amount of people in town, it would explain why there was no room for them. I always pictured that Mary and Joseph stayed in a barn with sectioned off stalls and plenty of hay, but it was more like a dark, cold, damp system of caves carved out of a hill side where livestock was kept. It was probably very dirty, and smelled like “hoodunnit.”

That is the Nativity scene. That is where God in the flesh chose to be born. Now who was there, and why? To answer that question we need to look at Luke 2:8-20.

⁸And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. ¹⁰And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
 ¹⁴ "Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"^[a]

¹⁵When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." ¹⁶And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. ¹⁷And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. ¹⁸And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

            In our little Nativity scene inside a cave cut out of a side of a hill, we find Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and some shepherds—we don’t know how many. Why shepherds? Why did God choose to send the angelic hosts to proclaim the Good News of the Saviour’s birth to shepherds. Shepherds were poor, uneducated, and probably someone most people wouldn’t want to hang out with. They probably smelled and were dirty all the time. The gospel was presented first to these bottom of the totem pole people because if it was presented first to the elite or noble class it never would have been given to the poor and lowly. The elite class would have thought the gift of salvation was to great to share with people of such low class. But the gospel is for everyone. By making it first available to the lowest of the low, God was making it available for everyone.

            Who else was at the Nativity scene? Maybe some onlookers, and people who had compassion on a young girl who was giving birth in an animal stall. That’s probably all there was. “But what about the three wise men?” I hear you ask. We’ll have to take a look at Matthew 2:1-12.

¹Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem, ²saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose^[b] and have come to worship him." ³When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
 ⁶ "'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.'"

 ⁷Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. ⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him." ⁹After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. ¹²And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

            There is a key word verse 11. It is the word “house.” Where was Jesus born? In a cave. Some time has passed between the birth and when the Wise Guys showed up. By the way, how many wise men were there? Tradition says three, but that is based on the gifts that they brought—gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It is assumed that there was one present from each. The Bible simply says that there were wise men—no number is given.

            Even though they were not at the Nativity scene, we can still ask why they were there. The gifts they brought were symbolic. Gold represented royalty. Frankincense was an expensive fragrance. And myrrh was a death ointment, a symbol of the new born baby’s future death. Incidentally, Joseph and Mary sold these gifts and used the money to fund their flight into Egypt to escape King Herod’s massacre of the infants.

            But why wise men? Why not three average people with gold, frankincense, and myrrh? If the shepherds represented the lowest of the low, the wise men represented the highest of the high—like Ivy League professors. God revealed his plan of salvation to the lowest of the low and the highest of the high. Grace is available to everyone. It is not limited by social status, or economic levels.