The World Did - Outline
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The World
Scripture: ; ; ; ; Idea: The world did. The whole world would be blessed because the whole world needed blessing; it needed Chag HaMolad.
Scripture: ; ; ; ; Idea: The world did. The whole world would be blessed because the whole world needed blessing; it needed Chag HaMolad.
Introduction
The story of Chag Molad Ha-Mashicah “the Celebration of the Birth of the Messiah” doesn’t begin with two folks who can’t find a place to have their baby. It actually begins with two scandal, intrigue and mystery.It doesn’t begin in Matthew or Luke. It begins in Genesis.In Genesis, we are told that God spoke to Eve and to Abraham 2,000 years before Yeshua and made him an unbelievable promise that he chose to believe.
Many find the Chag HaMolad story unbelievable. It’s a myth to give Yeshua street cred.It is a pagan holiday celebration. I get that.
The Story: Unbelievable
Couple things. If somebody rises from the dead . . . I really do care how he came into this world.
Turns out, what makes the story of Chag MaMolad believable, because the back story is so remarkable.
remarkable.
The Story: Remarkable
Remarkable not just because the story begins with a couple who wasn’t sure how they got pregnant.
But because it begins in Genesis with an unbelievable, inconceivable . . .
But with a couple that was sure they would never have a baby. Doesn’t begin in Matthew or Luke with an announcement by angels.
But because it begins in Genesis with an unbelievable, incoherent . . .
The Story: an unbelievable, inconceivable, impossible promise . . .
A promise made 2,090 years before Chag HaMolad. Genesis: Don’t think BIBLE.
Ancient doc. preserved for 3,000+ years . . . Jewish scriptures. It began like this:
God went to great lengths to ensure his involvement would be preserved throughout history.God spoke to Eve first about a promise to come.
I will put animosity between you and the woman— between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel.
Then to Abraham hd made an unbelievable promise that he chose to believe.
Then Adonai said to Abram, “Get going out from your land, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. My heart’s desire is to make you into a great nation, to bless you, to make your name great so that you may be a blessing. My desire is to bless those who bless you, but whoever curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.
1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your
father’s household to the land I will show you.
[Country: dirt. Territory Region. = Security. Protection. Known! We aren’t told why God chose Abram like we’re not told why Joseph. He had to start somewhere w/someone. Told to leave his security: family, territory.]
2 I will make you into a great nation,
[He’s 75. No kids. Great nation? “I’d be happy with great grandfather.”]
2 and I will bless you; I will make your name great,
[Famous! “But I just left everyone who knows me. It’s more likely I’ll be forgotten.”]
2 and you will be a blessing.
[In a world of violence and corruption. He would be a blessing.]
3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
[I will not be deterred. Then comes the unbelievable, incoherent, impossible-‐to-‐ fulfill part.]
[Made no sense culturally. Just short of a virgin having a baby.]
3 and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” [Every people group, nation will be better off because of you. Peoples didn’t bless peoples. Nations didn’t bless nations. They . . .
play at “Peoples didn’t bless . . .” Blessed? Conquered, enslaved, plundered.]
[Abraham believed the unbelievable. Eventually, he and Sarah had a son, but nobody was all that blessed.]
Graphic: Family Tree (Abraham/Isaac/Jacob/12 Sons/Nation)
[Crazy happened. Abraham lied. Isaac’s younger son stole the older brother’s first-‐born status.]
[Jacob’s sons sold their brother as a slave. The entire family migrates to Egypt where they become a nation of slaves.]
Not feeling blessed. In no position to bless anybody. Then God sent . . . Moses
When Moses was done, nobody in Egypt was feeling blessed. Soon the Canaanites weren’t feeling blessed.
[Lots of killing. Not much blessing. OT Violence isn’t an argument against the existence or goodness of God. It reflected of a culture w/out God; put no value on human life. The violence did not strike the actors as violent. Normal. It strikes us as violent, because we are on the other side of Christmas. More on that later.]
Around 1,000 years after God’s promise to Abraham, his family/nation becomes a kingdom.
The Kingdom of Israel
David: Created peace. Israel was feared and respected.Solomon: Israel was wealthy and influential.
Israel was in a position to bless. David: Warrior King. Solomon: Builder King. Nation: Wealthy/Influential.But instead of blessing the nations, Solomon married their daughters and worshipped their gods.God kept his promise to Solomon and divided the nation and destroyed the temple.
The Kingdom of Israel was divided.
God promised Solomon that if he worshipped other gods, he would destroy the temple: “I’ll tear it down. Don’t need it. I’m up to something bigger anyway.”Best opportunity lost. Opportunity lost. Divided economy, military. Fast-‐forward 300 years: 700 BC.N. Kingdom is lost. S. Kingdom (Judah) on the verge of implosion/invasion.Israel can’t even bless herself much less anybody else. God speaks to the prophet Isaiah. He writes and it’s preserved: Twelve hundred years later (8th century BC), things weren’t going well for Israel. Northern Kingdom had abandoned God altogether. The Southern Kingdom was on the verge of going the same way. The Assyrian King Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem and King Hezekiah surrendered the nation as a vassal state.
“I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
[Light? They were a joke. Salvation? Israel couldn’t even save herself.]
[After this prophecy they, lost their independence to Assyria. Next 300 years were chaotic. Babylonians invade.]
[City sacked. Temple destroyed. Best and brightest exiled. Economy in shambles. Military decimated.]
[God sends another prophet, Malachi (436). His words were impossible. Unbelievable.]
Four hundred years later (400 BC), the nation is reestablishing itself. But things aren’t going great. Malachi, the final voice at a time when Israel couldn’t bless itself, insisted . . .
11 My name will be great among the nations,
[No it won’t. Your name is mocked among the nations. Your nation is pathetic. Can’t feed/protect itself. It’s over. Stop with all the empty promises and hype. Zeus’ name will be great. Buckle up. Alexander the Great is about to take the throne of Greece; his name will be great among nations.]
11 from where the sun rises to where it sets.
11 In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because
my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.
[Nobody listened. Why would they? They had already been overrun by Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and now the Greeks were coming.]
Israel was overrun by the Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks. Insult to injury, 63 BC Pompey took Jerusalem and annexed it into the Republic of Rome.
Rome/Pompey the Great/63 BC
Pompey rode his horse into the temple. Walked into the god vault to see this Jewish God. It was empty.Jews had no image. What a pathetic religion. So began Roman occupation of Israel.The descendants of Abraham had become a nation. But the unbelievable, inconceivable, impossible promise ended there.
All the nations would not be blessed through Abraham. Israel would not be a light to the Gentiles.
The Jewish God would not be worshipped throughout the world.
Maybe Jupiter. But not ADONAI. Nobody was interested in a god who could not protect his own people.
[A people known only for their stubborn loyalty to their invisible, inactive God.]
When things were as hopeless as they had ever been.
When God’s promise to Abraham was as out of reach as it could possibly be . . .
4 When the set time had fully come . . .
[When God had everything just the way he wanted it. An expanding empire, exporting a common Greek/Roman culture and language; a highway and seaport system that connected the major population hubs of the civilized
world. The Pax Romana. Peace between the civilized, conquered nations. When at last there was a mechanism through which to get the world’s attention . . .]
26 God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.
Then in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by Adonai into a town in the Galilee named Natzeret and to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Miriam. And coming to her, the angel said, “Shalom, favored one! Adonai is with you.” But at the message, she was perplexed and kept wondering what kind of greeting this might be. The angel spoke to her, “Do not be afraid, Miriam, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you shall call His name Yeshua. He will be great and will be called Ben-Elyon. Adonai Elohim will give Him the throne of David, His father. He shall reign over the house of Jacob for all eternity, and His kingdom will be without end.”
27 The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
30 You have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. [Lit: Yeshua. Joshua. The deliverer. Savior.]
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever;
In the end, God kept his unbelievable, inconceivable, seemingly impossible promise to Abraham.
33 . . . his kingdom will never end.”
In the end, God kept his unbelievable, incoherent, seemingly impossible promise to Abraham. [The events surrounding the first Christmas are not so difficult to believe after all.]
The Chag HaMolad Story
All the nations would be blessed through Abraham. Israel would be a light to the Gentiles.
The Jewish God would be worshipped throughout the world.
The thing that makes the Messiah’s birth story so believable is that it is so unbelievable and so remarkable.
Who needs Chag HaMolad?
The world did. Through Messiah’s Chag HaMolad, we are reminded in the most remarkable way imaginable God is active.
God is interested. And even when circumstances argue to the contrary, God can be trusted.
PAUSE
But, as it turns out, it wasn’t just the world that needed Chag HaMolad. God did as well. We will pick it up there next week.