The Bible Binge: The King Nobody Wants: The Mother (Matthew 1:16-19)

Christmas Expectations

What are you expecting this Christmas? Do you expect to have time with family and friends? Good food? A fun outing with the family? Something that will give you the warm fuzzies? Every year, we watch Christmas Vacation, along with Elf and Home Alone and other Christmas movies. At one point, the wife cautions her husband, who plans to have the big family Christmas he has always wanted, and she says, “I know how you build things up in your mind...You set standards that no family event can ever live up to.” We’ve all done this. But especially at Christmas. When this happens it is good for us to come back to this story of Jesus and his birth because the original Christmas is all about shattering expectations.

It also shatters our misconceptions about what we think we know about the Christmas story. We’re in the book of Matthew during Advent as we continue our Bible Binge… reading through the whole Bible this year. And Matthew is shattering our expectations. Matthew, begins his story about the life of Jesus with Jesus’ family tree. Matthew wants his audience to see that this expected King, this expected Messiah is God among us. God has become human. He has a human ancestry. He has made his entry into this world through a certain family of Bethlehem whose ancestors include David and Judah. And this Messiah has come to save sinners as one of us.

Saving sinners is what Jesus does. That’s his mission. That’s Jesus’ purpose. We saw this last week in looking at Jesus’ family tree. While God is working in history to bring about His descent into our world, he is using sinners and giving grace to sinners. And Matthew’s family tree has these women whose lives are anything but what you’d want in your family tree. They all share one thing in common: scandal. Sexual scandal. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba show up in the stories of the Old Testament and all of them involve some sort of scandal from relations that people just don’t talk about at the dinner table or if they do, it sounds like TMZ or the National Enquirer. When we do talk about them, we talk about them in hushed tones.

The 5th Woman in the genealogy

But there’s a 5th woman here. And it’s this 5th woman that simply jolts us. We’ve recounted the story of the four women we talked about last week. And those stories we don’t think about much. But this fifth woman..we all know her story. We see her face, and likeness, and statues and pictures all over the RGV. But her inclusion in this makes us uncomfortable.

The 5th woman is the one we mentioned just moments ago.

Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah. (Matthew 1:16)

There’s not much about Mary in the Gospel of Matthew. However, this first chapter presents Mary in a way that the other biographers of Jesus have not. She is the fifth woman in the genealogy. Mary is the 5th woman in Jesus’ family tree. She’s the most famous of all of these women. She is the stuff of headlines. She is certainly one of the greatest women who ever lived. Yet she, too, had to deal with scandal. Sexual scandal. Not of her own doing, but scandalous regardless.

It’s easy to miss the scandal. Matthew doesn’t. Unlike Dr. Luke’s biography of Jesus, Matthew isn’t subtle, he puts it right up front. Front and center. Remember… Matthew is answering the question… is Jesus really “The Guy”? Is he really the Messiah of the Old Testament? Should we really be putting our confidence in Him. We’ve heard stuff. We’re not sure. And Matthew is going to say… about what you’ve heard.

We miss the scandal because we are too busy paying attention to other things, even in Matthew’s biography. For one thing, even though she shows up in the family tree, she doesn’t seem to be the main character here. Joseph is in the spotlight. But Mary is a main character here. And here is what we are being told about Mary:

Mary is the mother of the Messiah

Matthew 1:16 Mary..gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah.

Mary is the mother of The Messiah. That is no small deal. There is a reason why Mary is held in high esteem and as Dr. Luke tells us… why we regard her as “Blessed” among all women. Throughout the Old Testament, we find women being highlighted in the developing story of the coming Messiah because they give birth to babies who grow up to be great. Mary belongs in that company, and is the last in that line… the greatest in that line.

Mary is engaged to Joseph

The we are told that Mary is engaged to Joseph. Here’s how the story begins:

Matthew 1:18 The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph,

We’ve been introduced to Joseph in the genealogy, but now the story begins and the first thing that we’re told is that Mary is engaged to Joseph. Engagements in those days were a bit more formal in those days, involving both sets of families. Not quite marriage, but still involving a contract. Mary and Joseph are bound in an engagement during which time they still live apart.

But that tidbit that Mary is engaged, not married to Joseph, sets us up for the unexpected:

Matthew 1:18 The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit.

Now Matthew clues his audience in right away that that this pregnancy is God’s doing. We get to see what is going on behind the scenes. Being pregnant by the Holy Spirit is everything that verse looks like. Mary is pregnant. Joseph is not the father. The Holy Spirit has produced this pregnancy. Does that seem far-fetched? Of course it does. It’s unbelievable! In fact, it’s not believable. The Virgin Birth. It has always been hard for us to wrap our heads around. But Matthew pulls back the curtain for us so that we can see that this pregnancy is one of a kind. And he adds this “from the Holy Spirit” almost matter-of-factly.

But.. If you’re Mary’s family, if you’re Mary’s neighbors, her friends, her bffs, her classmates… you want to know where that verse stops?

Matthew 1:18 The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant.

She was pregnant. That’s all her family and friends see. That’s all they hear. There is no “from the Holy Spirit” in their thinking. She’s not married and she’s pregnant. Mary is going to have to live with that the rest of her life. And further… Mary has no PR team. You have something you can’t explain? You hire a team to let out small details here and there and then when the news arrives, we have a way to explain the unexplainable. There’s none of that happening for Mary.

In fact, Matthew says this here.. note those words, “It was discovered.” Mary’s pregnant. Matthew doesn’t say “it was declared” or “Mary announced” or “Mary broke the news”. It was discovered. There’s no Mary getting out in front of this thing to try and get her narrative out there first. It was discovered. This is the language of TMZ. This is the language of scandal. This is the way tabloid talk. It was discovered that Mary was pregnant.

And there’s no “from the Holy Spirit” that will convince them otherwise. In fact, we know this is how they are hearing it because that’s how Joseph hears it.

Matthew 1:19 So her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.

Joseph isn’t hearing the Holy Spirit part either. Mary is not married. Mary is pregnant. Mary is facing a divorce. Put yourself in her shoes at this point. A pregnant teenager. She knows the true, but no one believes her. Her life is now scandal. And that’s why Matthew places her in the genealogy. He could’ve waited until he is telling the story, but she is inserted into the genealogy. She’s the fifth woman, the last… the last scandal. She has commonality with all the other women in the family tree. Jesus’ birth story begins in stress and anxiety over just how he came into the world.

Her scandal is a virgin birth. And that virgin birth is baked into the family tree. Let’s read that again:

Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah. (Matthew 1:16)

This is the only line in the entire chronology of the family tree that has no father. Joseph doesn’t father Jesus. We are simply told Mary gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah. When the doctor and nurses show up at the manger ready to give their shots and take the temperature and put the picture of little Jesus on the internet and have that birth certificate ready to be signed and stamped… the father’s name is blank. Not because the mother doesn’t want to name the father. This baby has no human father. The only parent on that certificate is Mary.

Mary is the greatest of these 5 women. We don’t worship Mary or pray to Mary, but Mary is to be honored. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba are shadows of what is to come in Mary. They all embrace the Promise in faith, the Promise that there is coming a Messiah who will be the savior of the world. They all play a role and embrace their roles in faith in the Messianic line throughout history. They died with unmet expectations. The baby being carried by Mary is the fulfillment of those unmet expectations.

Mary embraces the promise

Mary herself embraces the promise. The angel tells Joseph that Mary’s child is God becoming man and that his mission is to save His people from their sins. Mary embraces that Promise. Mary herself is unlikely and unexpected. She’s poor. She’s lowly. She’s not a queen. She’s not nobility. She’s unknown. She’s not a Kardashian with millions of followers and a lot of influence. And if this is anybody else, she goes into this saddled with the Scarlet A. The subject of scandal.

But she embraces it all. She embraces the unbelievable. In faith. A popular song asks the question, “Mary did you know?” I’m all for poetic license. Mary does know. But there is a lot of pain and suffering she will endure because she embraces the promise. Whatever expectations she had going into this marriage with Joseph get shattered. They are blown up by the baby she carries. And she embraces it in faith becoming the mother of Emmanuel, God with us, the One who saves her and the others in the family tree from their sins.

Back to the question:

What are your expectations this Christmas?

Our expectations are being completely upended. We get a king born into a family that doesn’t seem to have its act together, and we don’t want that. We don’t want a king born in scandal. Our king wouldn’t be born in hushed tones. We want the birth reveal with blue balloons and blue smoke and lots of happy people. We want the hallmark card pictures.

But that’s not the king we get. We get the king we need. You know what we learn from Mary and her inclusion in Jesus’ family tree? Jesus is enough. Whatever the unmet expectations are… Jesus is enough. We are in the middle of a holiday season in which we are reminded over and over and over that we don’t have enough. And we look at all those pictures of all of our friends on Instagram and Facebook and we begin to think, wow… I’m not enough. We don’t measure up to those impossible standards of pictures that aren’t telling us the whole story. We’re not enough. We’re never enough. We never have enough. And we’ll figure out real quick that those Christmas presents we will unwrap on Christmas day won’t be enough. We’re going into family get togethers and we know that we will be around people who still aren’t getting along. There’s going to be an empty seat at the table and we can’t fix it. We’re not enough.

Take it from Mary. Take it from Tamar. Take it from Rahab. Take it from Ruth. Take it from Bathsheba. Jesus is enough. The only thing you will never need. The only King you will ever need. The only Person you will ever need. That’s unbelievable! The greatest need of all 5 women is our greatest need. Forgiveness. And it’s at the heart of the Christmas story. It’s the Promise all these women were hanging on to. This is what the angel tells Joseph:

You are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)

It’s the only thing we’ve ever needed: salvation from our sins. And that baby in the manger delivers. Years later, Mary’s son will go to the cross and save his people from their sins. The unlovely. The unlikely. The unexpected. The unworthy. The unbelievable. All of us. Mary gives birth to the savior of the world. Mary gives birth to The Promise. Mary gives birth to Grace. Jesus is enough.

Let’s Pray

The Table

Jesus is enough at this Table. Mary’s hope is here. All five women… their hope is here. At the Table. In Christ’s broken body and shed blood. This is where there is life and grace and the forgiveness of sins. This is where Jesus is enough for you and for me.

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26

May the Lord bless you and protect you;

may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.