Seeing Christ in Christmas-Matthew 2:1-12
Readings: Matthew 2:1-12, Luke 2: 1-12
We are at that time again. The festive Christmas celebration has begun. Two weeks ago, Christmas music began playing over the radio. Companies are preparing Christmas parties. Retail stores are stocking the shelves for the Christmas sales. Christmas movies are coming out. The commercialization of Christmas is alive and well.
With all the non-stop Christmas festivities, is it possible to miss the meaning of Christmas? Yes. As the slogan says, Jesus is the reason for the season. But we can miss Jesus. In the first Christmas celebration, many also missed the birth of Jesus. The reasons are the same 2000 years ago as they are today. Let’s look at three reasons why Jesus is missed. In addition, practical ways to see God’s greatest gift to humanity.
The first reason is busyness. This was the innkeeper’s mistake at the very first Christmas. (Luke 2) During the last week of her pregnancy, Mary and Joseph had to go to their home town of Bethlehem to register for the census. When they arrive, Mary goes in labor and she’s ready to deliver. Joseph tries to check her in into the local holiday inn. Luke 2:6,7 tells it like this “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.” The innkeeper comes out and says, no vacancies were all sold out there’s no room in the inn. He had no sympathy for a woman in labor. All Joseph and Mary could find was a small barn. Jesus was born in a manger, an animal’s feed box. We can understand from the perspective of the innkeeper. He is running a business. The census was good business. It is a good thing that the rooms were all sold out. Because of his busy-mindedness, he missed the greatest opportunity to witness the birth of the son of God. He ignored a woman in labor for a few dollars. He could have been part of history. He could have experienced a conversion.
Our present age is no different. We are so busy. One thing that has contributed to our busyness is technology. We have become a digital innkeeper. Our phones have become an idol. With a single button, everything is at our disposal. We are so busy looking at our phones, that we miss Jesus who standing in front of us. We are constantly bombarded with social media post, our calendars, advertisements, notifications, likes and dislikes. Silicon Valley scientist and entrepreneur Jason Lanier says in his book, Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, that social media does not only make us busy but leads to unintended consequences. It tends to cultivate the worst of our nature and lead to addiction, short attention spans, we multitask when we should unitask, bullying, disconnects us from people even as we are more “connected” than ever. It even robs us of our free will with relentless ads and pornographic images. Neurobiological research makes clear that lives saturated by distracting technology are less happy. Digital addictions harm your mind, your body, and your soul. Christians are not immune to this false god. I have read of Pastor who ‘troll’ others who they disagree with. Another pastor said there is the ‘god’ of busyness he serves. It has become a form of identity and worth. Busyness isn’t a virtue; it’s often a vice.
The second reason is familiarity. To become familiar with something has positive and negative consequences. To become familiar means it becomes second nature, you don’t have to think much about an activity such as driving or doing your job at work. But there is a negative side, when you become familiar with something, it can become habitual, routine, stale and boring. We can become so familiar with the Christmas story that it doesn’t inspire or amaze you anymore. You’ve heard it all before. You can miss the beauty of Christmas. You can miss the spirit of Christmas. You take it for granted. You have celebrated Christmas your entire life. You know the story of Mary and Joseph, the baby Jesus, the angels, the story of the shepherds and the wise men.
There is a business term that is called the law of diminishing returns. It basically means the value of something diminishing over time. For example, the first time you hear a new Taylor Swift song you are excited. But after the 100th time, you feel like you are being tortured. Therefore, you need something fresh and new. This is the reason why Apple comes out with a new phone every year. This is the reason why some products are advertised as “New and Improved”. In some cases, it is the same thing with a few modifications.
We can see this in two main groups of people. One group marveled at the birth of Jesus, the other was not so excited. Look at Matthew 2:1. The Magi were from the east, they were Gentiles. Some say they came from the far east like China or India. Perhaps they came from the Middle East. The amazing thing is they didn’t have much evidence about the coming of the Christ. They studied the stars and ancient writings. They had very little evidence. Based on inductive reasoning, they believed the messiah would be born somewhere in Israel, but they had no idea which city he would be born. They were so excited to witness the birth, they decided to risk everything to witness such a historical event.
However, they lost their way near Jerusalem. They decided to visit Herod. Look at Matthew 2: 2-4 “and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.” Herod gathered all the religious leaders and scholars of Jerusalem. The religious leaders and scholars knew exactly what the Magi were talking about. With pinpoint accuracy, they quoted Micah. Look at Matthew 2: 5,6. The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
The second group were the religious leaders. The tragedy of the religious leaders was they were unimpressed and unconcerned about the birth of Christ. They have been waiting hundreds of years for the birth of the King. They didn’t even bother to check it out. The astonishing thing is the Magi traveled thousands of miles, overcoming dangerous terrain, bandits, robbers, discrimination, to see the birth of the king. While the religious leaders didn’t bother to honor the king. Do you know how far Jerusalem was from Bethlehem? 5 miles! It is from West Loop to Lincoln Park. Not one religious’ leader, chief priest or scribe attended the birth of Jesus. Their lack of interest was truly stunning.
To the religious leaders, their studies became a religion. They were trained at an early age to know the laws of Moses and other teachings. It was about following rules, regulations, rituals and restrictions. Jesus said in John 5:39-40, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” There is a big difference knowing God and knowing ABOUT God. They missed the spirit of the law, they missed the love of God. They missed Jesus!
The question is, can this happen to us? Can we miss Jesus because of familiarity? It can happen when you have grown up in the church. The Christmas story doesn’t excite you. The Chicago Bears possibly making it to the playoffs is more exciting than the birth of Jesus. Christianity is not about religion, it is a relationship. Your belief in God is not transactional like a vending machine. It is about a friendship with God. That is the reason why God became flesh and lived among us. He is the Immanuel God (Matthew 1:23).
The third reason most people miss Christmas is fear. They are afraid of the baby Jesus. It is extremely rare to see a poster of Jesus during the Christmas holidays. Putting a nativity scene over a public place can be a potential lawsuit. You will not see a big banner of Jesus over Macy’s or Target. Santa Claus, the reindeers, Christmas trees, the Grinch are less threatening.
When Herod heard that a king would be born. He became fearful and psychotic. Herod was a Roman puppet to suppress the Jews. He felt the baby Jesus might threaten his reign and depose him as King of the Jews. He was so paranoid about losing his position, that he had people close to him killed. He had his wife, his mother, his sons and brother in law killed. Five days before his death, he signed an edict to kill all possible successors and jail prominent Jews. He was so paranoid about Jesus birth that he killed every 2-year-old boy and under. Blood flowed on the streets of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16-18). The wailing of mothers could not be silenced. This was known as the massacre of the innocents.
Honestly, there is a little Herod in each of us. We have a fear that if we accept Jesus, we might lose something. The devil manipulates our fears to his advantage. Satan attacks people with a logical fallacy called the slippery slope. This was the trap he placed before Herod. If I accept Jesus, I will lose my freedoms. I will lose fun. I must wear a tie and polyester pants. One of my close friends left Bible study saying he felt Christian life was too inhibitive. He wanted to enjoy sex, drugs and rock n roll. Perhaps when he is in his 90s, he might consider becoming a Christian. But for now, he wants to enjoy as much ‘fun’ as possible.
Why are we so fearful of Jesus? It is because he challenges our hidden idols. John Stott says, “The Word of God confronts us, it disturbs our security, it undermines our complacency and overthrows our patterns of thought and behavior.” Jesus is not only our friend, but he is the king of kings and lord of lords. We have hidden idols that takes the place of Lord and King in our hearts. We don’t realize that those idols are deaf, dumb and blind. How can you determine an idol? If taken from you, you become depressed and angry. In some extreme cases, leads to violence and murder like Herod. Even good things can become idols such as family, children and the church. Unless, Jesus is the king in our hearts, we will not be truly free. We will constantly be enslaved by idols.
What are some practical things can we do to overcome our busyness, familiarity and fear? When crossing a busy street, we were instructed as children to ‘stop, look and listen’. We need to stop, look both ways and listen. We need to listen especially if we are near a railroad crossing. Life is filled with distractions, cacophony of lies, half-truths and temptations. If we are not careful, we will be hit by a passing vehicle. It is easy to lose our life and soul on this highway of life.
We need to stop. We can overcome busyness, by slowing down to a stop. This stop is often called meditation, solitude or prayer time. Times of meditation and solitude was practiced by people in the Bible. David practiced set times of prayer seven times a day (Psalm 119:164). Daniel prayed three times a day (Daniel 6:10). Devout Jews in Jesus’ time prayed two to three times a day. Dallas Willard has called silence and solitude the two most radical disciplines of the Christian life. It is so radical because we are so use to being busy and distracted. Psalm 46:10a reads “He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;” Silence is the practice of quieting every inner and outer voice to attend to God. It is a quiet time to surrender to God in trust. Solitude is the practice of being absent from people and things to attend to God. Henri Nouwen said that “without solitude it is almost impossible to live a spiritual life.”
We need to look. We can overcome familiarity by looking into the meaning of Jesus’ birth. We need to look why Jesus came. Look at Luke 2:11, 12 “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Many expected the sign of the coming of the messiah to be like King David who would free them from their oppressors. But Jesus came as a baby in a manger. Why? God came in such a lowly way to become vulnerable and approachable. He came to be with us. God becoming flesh is like us becoming a savior to cockroaches. Do you want to live among dirty cockroaches? I don’t think so. Yet, God came to be with sinful and depraved people. What a marvelous revelation of love and humility!
Jesus also came as our savior. He saved us by dying on the cross. If we could save ourselves by our ‘niceness’ then there is no need for Jesus as our savior. But we are not perfect. Jesus lived a life we could not live (a sinless life), He died a death we should have died (a sinner’s death), He rose to give us a life we could never have otherwise (resurrected life), and He alone is the way, the truth and the life. Even though Jesus lived a sinless life, he willingly went to the cross to die a sinner’s death, and in doing so substituted Himself for us, the sinless One for the sinful ones. Lamentations 3:22-23 reads, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” I pray God’s mercies may excite you every morning and you proclaim great is your faithfulness!
We need to Listen. We can overcome our fear, but listening to what Jesus brings to all people. God did not come to give us instructions how to live. He didn’t come with a list of do’s and don’ts. Rather, our God gave us good news through the angel. Christians are those who listen and respond to the good news. When you receive good news such as the birth of a child, win the lottery or a promotion at work, you are full of joy! You want to tell others of this good news, you respond with charity because of the good news. Luke 2:10 says, “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Jesus declares, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Jesus is not a killjoy, rather he kills the thing that kills our joy. The Westminster Shorter Catechism has it right in its very first answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” John Piper encourages us to be Christian hedonist. Instead of fear, we have trust. Then trust begets Joy.
I pray God may bless us to stop, look and listen to the Christmas message. May the Christmas message renew your spirit this season and years to come.
ReferencesWarren, Rick, Learn How To Not Miss Christmas with Rick Warren, 23 Dec 2014https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avdCJ3DLuOI&t=1205sMoore, Russell, Can Your Soul Really Survive Social Media? 27 July 2018https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/can-soul-survive-social-media/Mabry, Adam, Stop Bowing to the God of Busyness 7 May 2018https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/have-you-fallen-prey-to-the-god-of-busyness/Bellezza, Silvia, Neeru Paharia and Anat Keinan , Conspicuous Consumption of Time: When Busyness and Lack of Leisure Time Become a Status Symbol, 27 Dec 2016https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article/44/1/118/2736404Gotquestion.org, Is God a cosmic killjoy? https://www.gotquestions.org/cosmic-killjoy.htmlReinke, Tony, Six Ways Your Phone Is Changing You, 19 July 2014https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/six-ways-your-phone-is-changing-you
