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.