Christmas Perfection

It is tempting at Christmas to paste on a smile, fake Christmas cheer, and pretend like everything's perfect. People have even done this with Jesus' family in the near-deification of Mary. In stark contrast, Jesus' family tree is full of every kind of human brokenness, exemplified in characters like: Dave, Abe, Jake and Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, ... all the way down to Mary and Joseph. Jesus brings perfection in the very middle of our brokenness. No matter how messed up you are, no matter how far away, your next step is Christ-mass... your next step is Jesus.

My Crazy Christmas Crew

I have to… I get to hang out with these ridiculous humans for Christmas.

There are some dangers of having a pastor in the family. KK gave me this ornament for the tree this year, and it’s all too true.

So let me summarize my “Christmas Crew” real quick:

KK, who got bit by a zombie raccoon this year.

Or Logan, who beat me on a bicycle across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Arabelle and I ran to Mexico to get an emergency churro.

Drew swam the 50-free against an 8 year old. Just crushed him. So proud.

Dylan, who had his grandparents fly in on the wrong day for his concert.

We ran into Ella’s teacher in France, that was crazy!

Last week, we saw this great Christmas verse:

Matthew 5:48 ESV

48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

How’s your perfection shaping up?

Loving all your enemies yet? Free from all anger, lush, manipulation yet?

Classic Christmas Characters

Abe

Abe. Saw a rich guy hot the hots for his wife, lied and said she was his sister in order to get free stuff.

Except… not totally a lie… Abe had married his half-sister. Yeah. Gross.

Jake and Tamar

Jake and Tamar. Jake was a piece of work, stole from his twin brother, ran away from home when his brother tried to kill him. Had a grip of kids from four different women… but that’s not the weirdest part.

Tamar marries Jake’s kid. He dies. She marries his brother. He dies. She dresses up as a prostitute, has sex with Jake, and… yay, it’s twins.

What is this family???

Rahab

Rahab, SUPER famous for two things. Being a prostitute and being a liar. Add a third, an absolute traitor to her nation who sells them out to an invading army.

Bo and Ruth

Bo’s family was… well, racist might be a strong word. Nationalistic? And SUPER religious. Anyhow, not a fan of mixed marriages. In their country, she was forbidden from going to church, some argued they were legally forbidden from marrying. But for sure, her people were hated enemies of his people. He married her anyhow, props to them, but people were FREAKING out.

Dave

Dave’s a fun guy, musician, bit of a hot-head in his youth but heck of an athlete. Ultimately he went in to politics… but power goes to the head, you know?

He ends up having an affair, kills the husband to cover it up when she gets pregnant. Messed up.

Saul

Turns out that kid dies, Saul is his next kid. That kid grows up and gets into politics too. Goes the polygamy route. 7 wives. Oh wait, check that… 700 hundred wives.

His dad had 8, so maybe he had to set a record? Gross. Bad idea. Not so wise.

Who are we talking about here?

The Genealogy of Jesus

Matthew 1:1–16 (ESV)

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

Oh look, it’s Abe… and that’s Jake!

And we skipped Isaac!

Born to a 100 year old man… went hiking with his Dad for his 13th birthday and things got REAL weird.

3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,

Who are the parents of Perez and Zerah? Judah and Tamar.

4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon,

5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,

There’s our friends Boaz and Ruth.

6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,

There’s Dave (aka David). And Saul (aka Solomon). If it wasn’t clear what Matthew was emphasizing here, Bathsheba doesn’t even get a name. “The wife of Uriah.”

7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,

Asaph, aka Asa, went evil at the end of his life died of gangrene to the foot. Gross.

8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah,

9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

Good bad and ugly here, Uzziah, did real good, got real proud, struck down by leprosy.

10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah,

King at 8 years old, one of the best kings. They found the book of the law, kept the Passover for the first time in hundreds of years! So good!

11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

Maybe you remember Zerubbabel from the prophecies of Zechariah. I mean this guy was a STRONG candidate for being the Messiah way back when. Governor of Judah, rebuilt the temple, awesome dude!

And from there, into obscurity. Mostly folks we’ve never heard of:

13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor,

14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud,

15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob,

16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

Note that Luke’s genealogy is a bit different, but meets up with Zerubabbel. Maybe Luke is telling Mary’s line and Matthew is telling Joseph’s line. Don’t know for sure.

But here’s what we do know:

Jesus’ Family: Good, Bad, and Ugly

Matthew 1:18–25 ESV

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Cleaning up Christmas

Immaculate conception.

Not only was Jesus perfect and born of a virgin…

But sin is like cooties, right? And so if Jesus was to be without sin… maybe Mary was without sin too?

But then what about original sin??? Well, maybe Mary was born of a virgin too!

All of these ideas, even the earliest, they come from folks 100-200 years later, people who have never met Mary.

This wasn’t “official Catholic doctrine” from the Pope until 1854.

My favorite argument for it, because this was a debate for 100s of years, was a guy near the turn of the millennia:

Potuit, decuit, fecit,

"it was possible, it was fitting, therefore it was done".

- Eadmer (c. 1060 – c. 1126)

Silent night, holy night

My favorite to pick on! And look, I love the song too! Maybe it talks about a moment of miraculous momentary supernatural peace...

But mostly: the baby was screaming as baby’s do. And the cattle are lowing their faces off. And the goats are screaming back at the baby.

Messy and crazy and fully and completely HUMAN!

And this is what I see Matthew pointing out here. He is writing primarily to a Jewish audience. So he is stressing Jesus as Jewish, in the line of Abraham, in the line of kings, a descendant of David, part of Messianic prophecy.

Many may even read and connect with the Messianic promise of Zerubbabel. But then he goes and names 5 women, which would have been scandalous. And he calls out sin and mess, and the women he chooses to emphasize are adulterers, prostitutes, FOREIGNERS!

And now Jesus is born to a teenage Mom out of wedlock. Even if Joseph believes because an angel told him… who else is going to? The whole things is an absolutely beautiful mess.

Kind of like my family.

Kind of like me.

Maybe that’s like you too?

Next Step: Jesus

Next step. That’s our name.

Here’s the thing about “cleaning up Christmas.” Here’s what I don’t like about it.

If Church is all cleaned up and perfect, you kind of feel like you have to be all cleaned up and perfect to go. Right? That’s a barrier, it’s real, many of you felt that this morning.

Ooooh, I should direct that at the live stream to all the folks who DIDN’T make it this morning exactly because they “didn’t feel cleaned up enough.”

No shame, that’s real. It’s sad, let’s work together to break that stronghold, but it’s real.

If Christmas is all cleaned up, white as snow, twinkling lights, it’s all perfect and untouchable and unachievable.

That isn’t what Jesus did. He entered in to the mess. And he brought healing with him. He brought cleansing with him. He took on all the sin and the gross and the crazy and the ugly… no steps in between, no cleanup first needed.

That’s important. Because it matters to you.

No matter how broken you are… your first step is Jesus, your next step is Jesus. No prior steps needed. No preconditions. No cleanup.

No matter your sin or addiction, no matter your secret. Jesus is ready for it. He has seen crazier. He has seen worse. Just ask about his family tree. It’s a mess.

Matthew 5:48 ESV

48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

But he brings perfection in the midst of that. He shows us it is possible to be fully human in the midst of all the mess and challenges and temptations we actually face. He faced it all, he walked in it all, and he showed us what “perfection,” what “completion,” what getting to the goal and winning the prize looks like.

And he supernaturally empowered you and I to do the same. He gave us his righteousness, you don’t have to earn it. Free gift. Forgiveness and grace and mercy, all of it. He gives it. Merry Christmas.

He gives us His Spirit. Free gift, no batteries required, Merry Christmas.

He shows us what righteousness looks like and empowers us to live freely in it, truly in it, abundantly in it, Merry Christmas.

And all that is required to open that Christmas gift is to say “Yes” to Jesus. Lord and Savior. He saved me. He’s the boss of me, now and forever. Yes, Lord.