Unexpected Guests
An Unexpected Christmas • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro: What About Bob?
Those that came to see and proclaim the birth of Jesus were varied and unexpected.
1. Angels
1. Angels
Angles are supernatural creatures created by God.
They worship him and carry out his will.
His will could include but is not limited to, guardians, warriors, agents of judgment and messengers.
After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
2 Kings 6:15–17 (NIV)
When the servant of the man of God [Elisha] got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
Of course angels were at the tomb when the visitors came the first Easter morning.
Angels were visitors who played an intricate role in the Nativity account.
-In Matthew’s account an angel told Joseph that he should keep Mary as his wife. That this was from God and that he should name the boy Jesus because he would save people from their sins.
They visited both Mary and Joseph.
-Gabriel visits Mary. Essentially with the same message.
Of course we must also remember that the angels met the Shepherds keeping watch over their sheep.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
2. Shepherds
2. Shepherds
Shepherds had an important job but were lowest on the social ladder.
God uses shepherds and relates to them all throughout Scripture.
-Moses at the burning bush
-King David
-The Prophet Amos
-God takes on and is seen as the roll of Shepherd to his peoples lives
When blessing Manasseh and Ephraim
Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice,
And how can forget Psalm 23:1
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
Jesus uses that same language in John
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.
In the Nativity account shepherds become the the first humans to spread the Good News of Jesus.
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
3. Magi
3. Magi
Not much is said in scripture about the identity of theses Magi.
-The Bible give us very little information about them.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
-We assume a lot based on tradition and legend.
+Number:3
+Names: Melchior, Caspar & Balthazar
+Royal Status
+Worshiping at the Manger
-Most scholars classify them as a kind of “religious scientists” (not astrologists)
They have come to inquire about the new king who is born to the Jews, born in Judah.
-I wonder if Matthew includes this to point to irony of the fact that these star gazers from a pagan nations were able to see the significance of Jesus birth while the Jewish people were unable to. Jesus was born right under there nose and they didn’t know or care.
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
-They saw the star, went to Jerusalem (surely that’s where the king wold be born), The scribes seem to know what was going on but don’t seem to care but it was their understanding of the Scripture that got the magi sent it in the correct direction, Bethlehem.
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
One of the things that people like to get hung up on is the star. What I notice that sometimes we focus on the the fantastic detail that actually not the detail God wants us to focus on. (Jonah)
If you are interested there is a very interesting documentary out there called The Star of Bethlehem.
They discovered that Jesus was exactly where the Scriptures said he would be and they worshiped him.
APPLICATION
The unexpected guests, at least those of the human nature, represent the both spectrums of the human existence.
We should be able to find our selves somewhere in between I’m sure.
We should seek out Jesus as they did and worship as they did.
We must also go and tell.