It’s The One You Miss | Luke 2:1-7

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Introduction: We’re going to play a little bit of Samuel Hardy trivia. Anyone that knows him probably knows that he’s a loyal fan of what college?

Oklahoma State

I’m not going to say anything about their football team this year because I’m an Oklahoma fan, and it didn’t go well for the Sooners either.

But I’m going to test his fandom today by asking him about a date in OSU’s history.

Do you remember what happened on November 18, 2011?

OSU ranked no. 2

Undefeated, sizable favorite against Iowa State in Ames, IA

ISU scored 17 unanswered points to tie the game late

OSU had a chance to win it late with a FG

Quinn Sharp, one of best kickers in school history, 85% career success

Missed kick, went to 2OT and OSU lost

Shot at national championship gone

What’s not fair is most people remember that 1 field goal Quinn Sharp missed and forget the 49 others he made in his career.

Sometimes, it’s the one you miss that hurts the most. It’s what you miss that people remember.

History is full of missed opportunities:

*Excite could have bought Google from two Stanford students in 1999 for $750,000, but thought the price tag was too high. Now it’s worth over 2.3 trillion dollars. Excite went bankrupt in 2001.

There have been some big misses in history. And often, you’re not remembered for what you did. People remember the one you missed.

Our text is maybe the biggest miss in history. The birth of Jesus Christ. Almost everybody missed it.

I. The birth of Christ was a significant moment in world history.

Christ’s birth is literally the dividing point in world history. Anything before Christ is labeled B.C. We live in the year 2024 A.D., which means Anno Domini, Latin for "the year of our Lord."

Yet His birth went largely unnoticed.

Even though prophecy foretold of His birth.

Jesus Himself pointed out that He was the fulfillment of prophecies of old. Luke 24:27 “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”

Genesis 3:15 - He’s the Promised Seed

Genesis 12:1-3 - The seed would come through Abram

Genesis 49:10 - The tribe of Judah

Isaiah 11:1 and Isaiah 9:6,7 tell us He would come from the family of David (the son of Jesse).

Isaiah 7:13-14 let us know that a virgin would conceive

Daniel 9:24-25, which we looked at in our series, actually give a time frame of Christ’s birth. 69 weeks (or 483 years) after the command to return and rebuild the Temple (Nehemiah 444 BC) the Messiah would be there. That gave them a range to search in. I think it’s interesting that the wise men from the east knew to look. Some speculate that they were reading Daniel’s writings from when he was a captive in Persia and that’s how they knew.

Micah 5:2-3 tell us that He would be born in Bethlehem

There were signs. There was prophecy. And just remember, this one verse alone in Micah was written about 700 years before Jesus was born.

And even if we had been given no prophecy and no heads up, His birth was significant based on why He came.

The angel of the Lord came to Joseph in Matthew 1:21and prophesied this about Mary, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

“Jesus” means “Savior.” His purpose for coming was to rescue mankind from sin.

Jesus’ birth was historically, prophetically, and spiritually.

And He was born unnoticed. It’s the one you miss that you remember.

Even Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth is only about 150 words.

4 verses. More happens after with the shepherds and such, but the account of Mary and Joseph coming to Bethlehem and Jesus being born is verses 4-7.

I don’t think Luke is minimizing it at all – I just think there’s not much more to tell. It was unnoticed and uncelebrated. The Messiah was right there and they didn’t know.

I saw a front door video of a woman jogging in California, and right behind the bush she runs by is a full size crouching mountain lion. She never even knew it.

Can you imagine being that close to something that significant and not realizing it?

That’s the story of countless people in Bethlehem this night.

Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem

Bethlehem was ninety miles south of Galilee.

Vs. 4 says “And Joseph also went up” from Nazareth because Bethlehem sits at 2,350 feet, which is over 1,000 feet higher than Nazareth.

90 miles uphill, that was the trip. For an expectant mother.

And we know they went to be taxed, which means to register or enroll. It was essentially a census for taxing purposes. Add insult to injury - they were registering so they could give the government more of their money.

I don’t know why Mary had to make the trip.

Maybe they thought they could make it home before the baby.

Maybe she was required to be present.

Maybe Joseph was afraid he’d miss the birth.

Whatever the reason, she goes into labor while they’re in Bethlehem.

Vs. 6 – This is not ideal. We have friends in Oklahoma who had their baby in the car on the way to the hospital. Fortunately she was a veterinarian so I guess if anyone could figure it out she could, but not ideal. Especially when you consider they had no clean place to stay.

Vs. 7 – She delivered her first child, a son, wrapped him in baby clothes, and laid him in a manger.

That’s an "animal feeding trough." This word helps us conclude they were near a place for the animals.

It could have been a cave, or a barn-like structure, but none of those words are used. We can only make an assumption about the location based on the fact that Christ was placed in a feeding trough.

I know this is what God chose, but it just doesn’t seem right.

God incarnate placed in a feeding trough?

Mary and Joseph traveling so far and no one had a place for them to stay?

No one had enough pity on a young pregnant girl to offer a clean place to deliver her baby.

The only description of how they were received in Bethlehem is “there was no room for them in the inn.”

A historic moment. Fulfillment of thousands of years of prophecy. Spiritually eternity altering moment. And no room?

Almost completely unnoticed.

II. As I read the story this time, I couldn’t help but think about what happened at the inn.

Did the hotel lose the reservation?

Did they double book the room?

Did they give them the wrong key card?

Happened last week with the McLellands. We specifically asked for a room with 2 beds for the kids, but the front desk handed them the wrong key. They got up there with their kids and looked at that one bed and said, “This is going to be a long night.” He called and we fixed it, but that stuff can happen.

But did something like that happen here?

We don’t know much about the inn, but by looking at the word we can draw some conclusions.

The Greek word used for “inn” is kataluma, and can mean guest chamber or lodging place.

It has one of two meanings: if it was a lodging place for travelers, it would have been a large square building with an open first floor. Lodging would have been on the second floor and the first floor would have included stables for the animals. Some assume this was the meaning of the word “inn.”

But there’s another possibility. The only other time this word is used in the New Testament is Mark 14:14-15 when Jesus asks where He and the disciples can eat the Last Supper. He asks, “Where is the guestchamber?...” So the same Greek word is translated there as “guestchamber” which meant a large, upper story room within a private house.

Because it’s translated guest chamber instead of inn, we can assume that it’s likely this “inn” was the guest room of a relative or acquaintance of Joseph, since his family was from Bethlehem.

So, there are many that believe Jesus was probably born at the house of relatives, but the use of the word “manger” means it wasn’t in the family room. Not even in a normal living space or guest quarters.

So try to envision this, and I know there’s some speculation, but the main point is still true, as you’ll see:

Joseph comes to Bethlehem expecting to stay with a relative, friend or acquaintance.

But the place where he seeks shelter is full. If it’s an inn, the rooms are full. If it’s someone’s home all their guest rooms are occupied.

Remember, people had come from all over for the census, so it would have been difficult to find a room anywhere. Like finding a parking spot at the Empire Mall between now and Wednesday.

If this was a home of a relative, we don’t know how well Joseph knew them, but I just want to think about the hosts for a moment.

The owner of the house or inn, have their hands full with guests.

The Jewish culture was a hospitable one, so I think under other circumstances Joseph and Mary would have been taken care of.

But because the hosts are busy with other guests, taking care of meals, cleaning up, trying to be good hosts, along comes this pregnant girl and there’s no room

I’m sure these hosts were good people. We have no reason to doubt that. But they are so preoccupied with their guests that they miss one of history’s greatest moments.

To preoccupied to notice the birth of the Messiah.

Talk about a missed opportunity. Jesus Christ was literally feet away, and they never knew.

Now, I’m not too hard on them. This was an honest mistake. They didn’t know this was the Messiah.

They may have never knew the opportunity they missed.

But let’s suppose that years later they found out that the Messiah was born on their property.

Do you think they would have done anything differently? I would have.

If I had known, I would have done whatever it took to make Jesus the priority when I had the chance.

III. Sometimes, we fill life up to the point that when important opportunities come knocking we are too preoccupied to notice.

It can certainly happen this time of year

Christmas activities

Guests coming over, busy baking

Cleaning, decorating

Busy hosting, taking care of others

Christmas parties

Recitals to go to, work parties to enjoy

Plays and programs

Presents to buy

Has to be the right gift. Every kid has to have the same amount or their self-worth will be damaged.

Shopping at Christmas isn’t something I enjoy. It’s crowded, busy, and people lose their minds to get the best deal for something they don’t even need.

I don’t want to get beat up over a toy, so I shop Amazon. Gas is cheaper.

Trips to make

If you’re traveling, you’ve got to make plans.

Around here, you need to watch the weather to make sure it’s safe to go.

And it’s possible to get through this next week and forget that our focus is supposed to be the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Here’s the point: It’s easy to be so occupied with the peripheral that we miss the principal.

By principal I mean most important. By peripheral I mean less important. Peripheral things can be important, but not as important as the principal thing.

I just wonder, how many of our inns are full? How many of our hearts’ guest chambers are occupied?

I know this is a season for family. It’s good to enjoy giving. Have some fun. Make some memories. Enjoy the season as a holiday. But the holiday stuff is peripheral stuff. Jesus Christ Himself is principal.

Yet we get so focused on the peripherals that we fail to make Jesus principal. If that’s true, are we really any better than the people in Luke 2?

And it’s not just this time of year.

The rooms in our lives, the guest chambers of our souls can be so full of the peripherals all year long that we miss what’s principal.

Work, school, deadlines, errands, bills, hobbies, projects - these things matter.

But when compared to what matters most, they are peripheral.

There’s only one principal - Jesus Christ.

But it’s possible to get so occupied with the peripherals that we no longer have room for the principal.

I wonder if Jesus Christ stands outside the doors of our hearts. Knocking to see if we have any room.

He wants to fellowship, so much so that we’re reading the story today of the lengths He’ll go to do have a relationship with people.

He wants to bless and fill and strengthen our lives. He deserves our attention and a relationship.

But we’re too busy. The peripherals have removed Him from the center of our hearts.

Our walk with Him gives way to schedules and task lists.

Friends, this season and every season, let’s not be so preoccupied with the peripherals that we miss what’s principal.

It happens to families. The peripherals displace the principal.

Husbands and wives – It’s easy to drift because you both have long to-do lists. To feel like you live two different lives. But don’t forget that you are one. And your relationship with each other shouldn’t be traded for trivial matters.

Parents with children – Those early years are so important in forming character and discipline. Not to mention moments you can’t get back. They grow fast. That time is limited. Take some time to live in that moment, especially while they’re young. Stop what you’re doing and give them some face time. Turn off technology and embrace those opportunities to invest in their lives. Your work projects and portfolio don’t carry into eternity.

This applies to serving others as well. The peripherals displace the principal.

Witnessing - How many times do we go somewhere in public and miss an opportunity to speak with someone about Jesus Christ? Too preoccupied. That soul is much more significant than whatever I’m shopping for.

Church - It’s easy to run from one responsibility to the next, but it could make a difference just to stop and focus on someone. Be observant of their spirit instead of absorbed with your task. Be willing to set down your busyness and take an opportunity to bear a burden.

Souls last forever. Measure that truth against what you’re presently doing and it becomes pretty clear what’s peripheral and what’s principal.

Salvation – If you’ve never been saved, eternity is principal. It’s what matters. Don’t put it off for peripherals:

Pride, Fear, Procrastination

IV. Sometimes, it’s the opportunities we miss that hurt the most.

You don’t remember all the successes. What hurts the most is the failure.

“It’s The One You Miss”

What’s ironic is, less than two months after the missed FG against Iowa State, OSU played Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl and won in OT because Quinn Sharp hit the game winning FG

But I guarantee that more people remember the one he missed, because of all the opportunities OSU lost in that moment.

You can’t go back and undo a missed opportunity, but you can learn from the misses.

Ask the Lord to help you not be indifferent or preoccupied with the meaningless and miss what matters.

Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first…” . If we make the important things our priority, we won’t regret so many misses.

Don’t miss the kick this Christmas. In the middle of peripherals, remember the principal. Don’t leave Jesus out in the cold to find a different place to rest.

Then apply this all the time. Make Jesus Christ and His kingdom work the principal thing.

When it comes down to it, It will likely be what you miss that you remember the most. And regret the most.