The Birth of Christ

Cold Open

What is up Dublin Powell youth it’s great to be back with you again. This week we are continuing our kinda mini series discussing the incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ, and this week, we will discuss the birth event itself. Today is Sunday, December 12th, 2020. Let’s get into it.

Intro

So, like we discussed last week, even though it’s very likely Jesus wasn’t born in December, and our church doesn’t recognize December 25th as a holy day or relate many of the Christmas traditions many of us enjoy with our families to any religious meaning, this is a time of the year where a lot of people tend to talk more about the birth of Jesus! Therefore, we’re covering some facts about that event in order to be better prepared to be messengers of the Gospel during this time of the year.

Last week, we discussed the incarnation of Jesus, which basically refers to how the Word of God, or Logos of God, became flesh and became a human child named Jesus. Jesus is fully man and fully God, 1 person with 2 natures.

This week, we’re going to talk about the actual event of His birth, because if we look at Scripture, it’s a bit different than the “nativity scene” story we’re used to.

Joseph and Mary Told

So we covered last week that Mary conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, but she was also informed by the angel Gabriel. We are told in Luke that

Luke 1:26–33 ESV

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

And it’s actually from this scripture that we have our best guess for when Jesus was actually born. Gabriel came to Mary in the 6th month, or Elul in the Hebrew calendar, which corresponds roughly with the end of August/beginning of September. If we assume that when he says that she “will conceive” to mean in the near future, that puts the pregnancy coming to full term in the months of Sivan or Tammuz, about the June or July timeframe.

So, we have Mary, who is betrothed to Joseph. Now, in ancient Israel a betrothal isn’t quite like our engagements today, it included both families negotiating a nuptial agreement that was binding to both the man and the woman. Basically, they were married in every legal sense, but weren’t yet living together as husband and wife. What’s important about this though is that they were legally husband and wife, meaning that if Mary got pregnant by another man, that would be adultery, which under Jewish law is punishable by death.

So when Mary goes to Joseph and tells him what God has revealed to her through the angel, he at this point can have her put to death as an adulteress if he doesn’t believe her. Now, Joseph really doesn’t believe Mary at first, but he decides to quietly divorce her instead.

But shortly after an angel appears to Joseph, telling him that the child she is carrying is in fact conceived by the Holy Spirit, and that he should take her as his wife.

Bethlehem

Then of course we all know that sometime shortly before Jesus is born, Mary and Joseph have to return to Joseph’s ancestral home of Bethlehem, the city of David, due to a census being carried out by the governing authorities.

And we know that shortly after they arrived in Bethlehem, before they’d even really found a place to stay, Jesus was born.

Luke 2:6–7 ESV

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Now, we know what happened next right? The shepherds and the 3 wise men came and say Jesus laying in a little pile of straw with like, 1 cute little lamb and 1 little cow and a beaming Mary and Joseph, right? But that’s not exactly how it went down.

Shepherds Visit

The shepherds actually do visit the night of Jesus’ birth, for scripture tells us

Luke 2:8–14 ESV

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

And the shepherds go to see this child that the Lord had revealed to them, and went and found Mary and Joseph and told them all about the angel that they had seen. Some people didn’t quite catch on, it says that all who heard it wondered about what the shepherds were saying, but Mary treasured what the shepherds had said.

And then the shepherds left to go back to their fields, glorifying and praising God as they went, telling all those they came across what they had heard and scene, that the Christ had been born in Bethlehem.

Magi

Some time later, there came some wise men, likely officials from Babylon or the surrounding region who came investigating some kind of heavenly phenomenon. They went first to Jerusalem and asked Herod, the Roman-appointed king of Judea, asking about “he who has been born king of the Jews”. Herod consulted the experts of the prophetic writings, the chief priests and scribes, and asked them where the Christ would be born, and they quote Micah 5:2 which says

Micah 5:2 ESV

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

And so Herod sent the wise men on to Bethlehem to search for the Christ there, and asked them to come back after they’d found him to tell Herod where he too may go worship him.

Now, anyone familiar with the line of Herods and their performance as Roman puppet kings in Judea knows exactly what Herod really wanted, he wanted to kill the child that would threaten his power in the region. Luckily, our wise men are indeed wise, and they never return to Herod.

So they go on to Bethlehem, and we should note here that the “three wise men” shown all alone in the standard nativity scene do not match what scripture tells us. First of all, we are not told anywhere how many there are! Tradition gets the “3 wise men” idea from the three gifts that were brought to Jesus: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold, of course, having obvious value. Frankincense is one of the four essential spices that makes up the incense used in the Jewish temple, and myrrh a very valuable perfume component.

Also, for foreign officials carrying gifts such as these to present to a newborn king, they would very likely not have traveled alone, but in a caravan of attendants and guards!

But, anyway, they came to see Mary and Joseph and Jesus in a house (they had now found some place to stay in Bethlehem so we know it is some time after the birth) and fell down and worshipped Jesus. Then they returned to where they’d come from, avoiding Jerusalem and Herod.

Flee to Egypt

Soon after they left, an angel appears to Joseph, warning him to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt, because Herod was about to come looking for Jesus, killing many young Jewish children in an attempt to kill the Christ. So Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt until Herod died.

Conclusion

So that’s the birth of Jesus, some of it we covered recently in our study of the Story, but some of it was new this week as well. But what’s important about this? Why is it so important to know these things if we don’t connect Christmas to the birth of Christ? Well, we, as Christians, have a mission. Our mission is to be messengers of the Gospel, of the story of Jesus, born, crucified, risen and alive today. Part of that means being prepared to engage with the world when they have questions, and more people than usual have questions around Christmastime! Being prepared to have these conversations is one way that we can help fulfill that mission!

So if anyone asks you why Mary and Joseph and shepherds and 3 random king looking dudes were all hanging out in a barn in December? You can confidently say that there’s SO much more to the story, and that you’d love to talk with them about it sometime.

So let’s pray for these conversations before we go.