What I Believe About Christmas: Christmas demonstrates the insane love of God

You can imagine the scene. Mary is standing in the living room with concern all over her face. It’s so obvious, Joseph is forced to ask, “Mary, what is going on?” “I have something to tell you.” She says. “It’s going to seem crazy, but I promise you it is the truth. I am pregnant.”

Upon the last the syllable, Jospeh feels his legs get a little weak and his heart begins to race. “What?” He murmurs. She quickly tells him that she has been faithful. “How can you say faithful,” he responds. “Joseph, I one hundred percent promise you. I have not cheated on you.” Mary tearfully explains. “Did someone hurt you? Did a man take advantage of you? Good lord, my wife was assaulted,” he says out loud. No, she assures him. God caused me to be pregnant.

Mary explains, “An angel came to me in the middle of the night and said

Luke 1:30–35 (ESV)

“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 I said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

And the angel answered me, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

The quiet tension is so thick you almost need a knife to cut through it. Joseph just stares at Mary. His face is somber while his mind is racing, drawing the only obvious conclusion he can think of…she’s insane. This whole thing is insane.

Put yourself in Joseph’s shoes at that moment. Imagine your wife or your daughter coming to you and saying, “I’m pregnant. And my baby’s daddy is God.” Your first thought that lands squarely on your tongue is, “She is obviously insane.”

We all know how this works. It takes two human beings to tango. Joseph is a smart man. Hearing Mary explain herself does not line up well with what we know to be a reasonable explanation to her pregnancy. It is out of this world insane.

Just think about it for a minute. Why would God leave heaven to come to earth? Why would he surrender himself to take on flesh? Why would he even consider coming into the world through the womb, and the womb of a teenage girl of all things? Why would he would allow himself to be born into a poor carpenter’s family? Why not a king’s palace? Why would he dare become human? This is pure insanity! And so we see the the way of Christ’s birth.

I can understand why Joseph is unable to wrap his mind around Mary’s explanation. The way of Christ’s birth is a stumbling block to a lot of people. It doesn not make sense in the way the world works. Kings do not bow down to servants. Presidents do not allow themselves to be put in vulnerable positions. And God is not supposed to become a human being. Last week God showed us that his ways are not our ways. He showed us that he takes what is foolish in the world and shames the wise, and takes what is weak to shame the strong. God takes what is low in the world to bring to nothing things that are. And what seems like insanity to us is really God’s sane way of demonstrating his profound love for you and me.

The miraculous way of Christ’s birth demonstrates God’s insane love for you.

This morning, let’s walk through the miraculous way of Christ’s birth and ponder how it demonstrates God’s insane love for you.

The Insanity of the Holy Conception (Matthew 1:17-18)

Mary is pregnant. There is no denying. Joseph did not know his wife. How did she become pregnant. As we have already seen, God sent an angel to tell her

Luke 1:35 ESV

And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

Matthew’s account says

Matthew 1:18 ESV

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Luke obviously helps us know a little more about her conception. First, it is ordained by God. God promised through the prophet Isaiah that a virgin will bare a child (Isaiah 7:14). He sent an angel to tell Mary he is keeping that promise through her womb.

Second, the child will be called holy. He will be without sin. That is the purpose of the Holy Spirit hovering over her. God himself was going to conceive in her a child, not like the first Adam, but a second Adam. Conception and birth is the way human beings enter the world. By doing it this way, God can have two full natures. The child can be fully God and fully man; one nature conceived of the Holy Spirit, and the other nature of Mary. Having God’s nature is what makes him holy, without sin. The Bible describes Jesus’s incarnation in this way

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Taking on flesh he was able to sympathize with us, and yet be holy.

Hebrews 7:26 ESV

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

and John says

1 John 3:5 ESV

You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

His conception by the Holy Spirit ensured Jesus was not born into sin like we are. He was born Holy and remained Holy throughout his life, death, and resurrection.

Norm McDonald, the famous comedian who died recently, had a fondness for Christian doctrine. I’m not sure if was a Christian, but he thought Christianity better explained the paradox of humanity. On the one hand he could see how some would believe we are divine in some ways. He saw the beautiful complexity of human beings. He saw how we love art and aesthetics , and how we build things and reason among ourselves. But he also saw how wicked we can be to each other. He understood that as amazing as human beings can be, we are deeply flawed. He reckoned in his own heart that human beings are both made int he image of God and are sinful. So to say that a human being was sinless, holy, was insane to Norm McDonald, and I would agree with him until we looked at Jesus. Jesus’s life was marked by holiness. Everyone who met him, who really know him, knew he was sinless. Well, he was born that way. The child in Mary’s womb was going to be a special human being. You can see how Joseph could be confused.

The Insanity of Shameful Confusion (Matthew 1:18-19)

Some of you may be confused by some of the language in verses 18-19. Matthew says that Mary was betrothed to Joseph, that is engaged to be his wife. In verse 19, Joesph is described as her husband. What exactly is the dynamic of Mary and Joseph’s relationship? How can Jospeh divorce her if they are not technically married?

Betrothal in Jesus’s day was considered more binding than what engagements are in American culture. The groom paid a bride price, which could be a large sum of money. Once the couple was betrothed to each other, they were officially pledged to one another as a husband and wife without actually consummating the marriage. That is why Jospeh is called Mary’s husband and why he is shocked that she is pregnant. The kid is not his son.

What makes this significant is that the penalty for adultery under the Old Testament law would have been stoning, which would apply to the betrothal period as well (Deuteronomy 22:23-24). By the time you reach Jospeh and Mary’s, most husbands simply divorced their soon to be wife and exposed her adultery to the community who would in turn sham her.

Joseph was obviously broken by Mary’s pregnancy. He was not in the know of God’s plans for her. In Joseph’s mind, Mary had been at the very least, been taken advantage of and at the worst unfaithful to him. The confusion brought scandal and shame to both people.

In the eyes of the community, if Joseph married her, then he admits the child is his out of wedlock, and bares the shame. If he divorces her, the child is an illegitimate son who bears the shame of his mother. Scandal and shame is the context God is allowing himself to be born, and to us God’s plans look insane. Who would purposely do this? Who would deliberately step into just messiness and brokenness? God knows what he is doing and who he is working with.

Joseph was a good man. The text describes him as just and merciful. He felt like he needed to obey the law and break off the marriage. He loved Mary, though, and he did not want to bring unnecessary shame on her. So he would divorce her quietly with just a judge and two witnesses present.

Joseph’s confusion of this matter strikes an interesting question for you and I? If God sent an angel to tell Mary that she would miraculously conceive the Messiah, why not include her future husband on the matter? Why allow Joseph to walk through such grief and anxiety?

I would note first of all, what is confusing to Joseph is exceptionally clear to God. God’s wisdom is too high for you and me. You know this is true even in our text. He sends angels to explain what is going on and what will happen. Who can understand it.

Second, God exposed the heart of the earthly man who would care for his son. Through this ordeal, Jospeh did what was right according to the law. To divorce Mary was just according to Deuteronomy 22:23-24. His mercy on Mary was even more telling. God revealed that Joseph did love the Lord his God with all of his mind, heart, soul, and strength; and that he loved his neighbor as himself-which sums up the entire law. The way he mercifully handled Mary with wisdom and care showed Joseph to be a worthy earthly father to Jesus.

Finally I would reiterate what Jon Bloom says about the matter:

“God will not spare us from all awkward and painful decisions. Neither does he spare us from all wrong decisions resulting from our fallen finiteness, even if they are made in the integrity of our hearts. God has his purposes in all of these. But what we can trust him to do is faithfully give us the correction and guidance we need at the time he deems right.” Jon Bloom

Though Jospeh made a good decision, he did not make the right one according to God’s plan. To ensure that Messiah would be born into a home with both the mother and father, God would sovereignly and miraculously intervene in Joseph’s life. God would clarify Joseph’s confusion with a divine conversation.

The Insanity of a Divine Conversation (Matthew 1:20-23)

Jospeh goes to bed with his head spinning about his wife’s story. Matthew records “As he considered these things he had a dream.” Another way to say it is, Joseph went to bed thinking about Mary’s explanation of why she is pregnant and why he can’t find it in himself to believe her.”

He falls asleep and God sends an angel to correct Joseph’s understanding of things. The insanity of this conversion is that God will reveal his plan to save the world through a special child.

Matthew 1:21–23 ESV

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

The angel reveals to Joseph that Marry is carrying a very special child. From the conversation, the angel reveals three truths about this child.

He will be a son of her flesh.

The angel says Mary will give birth to a son. He is conceived in her uterus. He will grow in her womb. And he will be born into the world naturally. The Christ will be human in every respect, meaning he will be fully human. He will have a human nature. That is, he will be emotional, feel pain, become tired, be tempted, enjoy food, laugh uncontrollably, and weep in misery. He will know every bit of what it means to be like us.

The writer of Hebrews says

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus represents perfect humanity in a broken world. He is able to sympathize with sinners without being sinful. This is what it means for God to unite himself to the human race. But he did’n t just do it too sympathize with us. He did it to give us hope.

Robert Letham, in his book, “The Work of Christ,” beautifully ties the the ideas of unity and hope together in Christ’s incarnation. He says,

“In becoming man, Christ united himself with the human race. This follows from his sharing flesh and blood, experiencing human life from embryo through infancy and childhood to maturity. If he was truly human he was also part of the human race. At the same time, he marked a new beginning for the race. His unique conception by the Holy Spirit set him apart as the inaugurator of a new humanity of which he, as the second Adam, was head.” Robert Letham

This child who is in Mary will be the promised Christ. He will not just come into humanity as if he were separate or entirely different. He will be fully human. He will unite himself to the human race. God unties himself tot he human race he created. That is insane!Even more so, being human is not enough for the Messiah to offer hope. This child will also be divine.

He will be the Son of God

His name is Emmanuel, God with us. Being conceived by the Holy Spirit, he will be divine in nature. John Frame wisely notes that a nature is a collection of attributes. For example, the ability to heal the broken, control creation, cast out demons, raise the dead is flows from a divine nature. Jesus is a person who did miraculous things because of his God nature. He was fully God. He stilled the storm on the Sea of Galilee because he was fully God. He fed five thousand people because he was fully God. He raised Lazarus from the dead because Jesus was fully God.

The miraculousness of this is in Christ you have presence of two uniques natures, one human and one divine. You cannot confuse the two natures nor separate them. Both natures make up the person. Inside of Jesus, you have both Creator and creature. His divine nature is Creator. He is able to control creation-like clam the sea and multiply bread. On the other hand, his human nature is creature. He sleeps when he is tired, eats when he is hungry, weeps when he is sad, and laughs when he is happy. The child in her womb was both her son and the Son of God, both the delivered and the deliverer.

He will be the Savior of the World

The angel reveals to Jospeh that the child in Mary’s womb is the promised Messiah. The angels commands Joseph to call the child Jesus-for he will save his people from their sins. How will this child save his people from their sins? He will be an atoning sacrifice.

The atonement is as Gregg Allison defines it

“ is the death of the God-man, Jesus Christ, on the cross and what it accomplished. Because of human sinfulness, a sacrifice for sin is necessary to avert condemnation and restore people to God. Old covenant sacrifices made provisional atonement, looking forward to the work of Christ to accomplish atonement fully and forever.” Gregg Allison

The Bible says

Hebrews 9:22 ESV

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

In the Old Testament God required animals to be slaughtered on the alter for atonement. However, their sacrifice was never enough to completely satisfy God’s holy justice. The penalty for sin needed to be paid in full if God was going to save His people and live with them forever.

For the penalty to be paid in full, God would have to do something radical and special. No sacrifice on earth was perfect enough to satisfy his holiness and remove his wrath. All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). Perfect holiness can only come from heaven. That being said, blood must be shed to atone for sin. The sacrifice must come from earth. Man is doomed if he is left to solve this problem form himself!

Now we see how the way of the birth of Christ is necessary. Jesus must be fully human if he is going to shed his blood to purify your sin. God must take on flesh and unite himself to the human race if he is going to save his people.

At the same time, he cannot be merely human. He needs to be divine in order to be the righteous sacrifice that is able to: remove the wrath of God from sinners: remove our guilt by cleansing us from sin and giving us complete forgiveness, redeem us from the power of sin, reconcile us to God so that we are now sons and daughters and not his enemies, and provide cosmic victory over sin and death so as to restore all of creation so that we can live with God forever. The sacrifice must be both human and divine.

The child in Mary’s womb is Jesus, the incarnate God, the Savior of the world. This child is a human being with blood flowing through his veins. He is also God, fully divine, holy, and without sin. Because of his two natures, the child will one day grow up and offer himself as the atoning sacrifice on a cross. He will take the place of sinners and receive the wrath he does not deserve and die. God will accept his sacrifice as perfect and will raise him from the dead and seat him at his right hand. He will take the sins of nay sinner who will confess their sin, repent, and put their eternal hope in him. That is how Jesus will save his people from their sins.

Without the incarnation you have no salvation. Jesus must be fully God and fully man if he is going to be the Savior of the world.

Do you see the insanity of God’s love? Love is what compelled him to take such crazy drastic measures to save sinners.

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Pure insanity in the yes of humanity, but in the eyes of God perfect love.

The Immediate Compliance (Matthew 1:24-25)

The angel convinced Joseph that the child in her womb was the promised Messiah. You can tell by his obedience.

Matthew 1:24–25 ESV

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Belief always manifests itself in obedience. Joseph took Mary to be his wife. He accepted God’s plan for his marriage and the child. He did not consummate the marriage until after Jesus was born. He allowed no discrepancy to creep into the child’s testimony, nor Mary’s for that matter. Finally, he obeyed God by naming the child Jesus. As the man of the house, Joseph had the authority to name the child whatever he pleased. Joseph surrendered that authority to the Lord’s will and named the child what God commanded his name to be.