12-27-09

Text: Luke 2:8-20 and Matthew 2:1-12

● As the gospel writers construct their accounts of the birth-narrative, you can sense that they are being careful to portray this not just as some localized announcement to a few unsuspecting characters or a particular ethnicity, but as a global announcement: “this child being born to you is the world’s true King”.

From the outset of the narrative, it becomes clear that this is undeniably a story about “outsiders” becoming “insiders”. People “in the margins” being brought over into the story.

● We see it in the genealogy offered by Matthew which includes (4) women, (3) of whom were non-Jews and (1), presumably, of questionable moral character.

● All “pagans”, if you will. The word ‘pagan’ is actually the word ‘ethnos’, where we get our term “ethnicity”. It’s not always used to describe someone’s character deficiencies, but used in its broader sense to refer to “people outside of the nation of Israel” (‘Gentiles’ is the general term used for them in Scripture).

● Both books and cultures have margins; those spaces on the edge of the story. Those people who remain, for the most part, unnoticed and dispensable, not really essential to the story.

● Some stay there because it feels ‘safe’. Others find it a place to which they have been relegated by the culture.

            The margins are filled with people who silently hold-out-hope that, one day, things will be different. One day, they will be included.

● Interestingly, it’s to those people in the margins that the good news first came. It’s with those people in the margins that Jesus came to live and interact.

● For some, God just seems to ‘take them by surprise’; he just kind of ‘shows up’, when they would admit that they weren’t particularly looking for him.

            And, there are those whose encounter with God is much less sensational. They would describe it as a journey that they have been on for some time, not even sure they are able to articulate what it is they have been searching for.

● First, there are the shepherds--- somewhat disenfranchised from the culture as well as the religious community. They have nothing to contribute to the political discussion, yet they are privy to the news of the new King and involved in ways that completed escaped the Herods and the Caesars and the Temple leaders of the world.

● Shepherds: wouldn’t typically characterize them as “deep-thinkers”; those ‘pullin’ the night shift’, not really expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen, certainly not to experience some ‘God-encounter’.                       

Maybe their biggest concern was not fulfillment of some ‘Messianic’ hope; maybe it was just surviving, making ends meet.

● Probably a lot of banter about empire, complaining about the conditions, decrying the heavy taxes. Never really expecting to be heard; never considering how important their voice will soon become.

 Mostly feeling somewhat disconnected from that world, as well as the world of faith/religion.

● God just ‘shows up’; unannounced and unsolicited. “Let’s go check it out”… their spontaneous response to the revelation of God.

● I’ve heard people tell stories like this. Amidst the ordinary, the extra-ordinary breaks in. They encounter something of God and suddenly they know he is present. They know God is with them. Something in their heart just ‘wakes up’; something inside them just says, “yes”!

They know their story will be accepted by some, but sound too fantastic for others. But, it doesn’t matter because their experience always trumps a good argument, right?

● And then there are the “wise-men”. They are referred to as “magi”

‘Magi’ root word for ‘magician’: not magic in the sense that they did Bar-Mitzvahs and weddings, but those steeped in supernaturalism.  Those who developed the study of the stars because they believed not only that when something significant was happening on earth, it would be reflected in the stars, and vice-versa; but, they believed that the stars predicted the future and outlined your fate. They turned creation into ‘gods’.

● They represent another type. Their nights are spent scouring the heavens for signs. They track, they diagram, they locate, they consider the alignment of the stars.

            They turn to the ancient writings for clues because they are searching to find out what all of this really means. They are involved in a quest for the divine, the other. Is there something, someone out there, and, if so, can they help… will they help?

● They are operating on a hunch or maybe out of sheer frustration. “There’s this sign, and there’s this ancient Hebrew prophecy… maybe there’s something to this?”

● The magi are in the margins, as well: ethnically, physically and spiritually distanced from the story, yet find themselves coming into the story with wonderful clarity.

● What’s striking about the magi is that for all of their profound research and presumed wisdom, they still haven’t found what they are looking for. What they have discovered, to date, has still not satisfied them.

They remind me of a lot of people I encounter: those utilizing an assortment of means in order to satisfy this longing in their heart.

So, for us, maybe instead of immediately decrying their methods or denouncing their ‘sinful practices’, we should be honoring their quest. Maybe amidst all that we would classify as ‘ungodly’ and ‘foolish’, there is a sincere desire/hunger for truth (Acts 17: Paul with the philosophers in Athens).

Did you notice the journey they took in their discovery of God?

● They first encounter the revelation of creation---- something of ‘otherness’ which initiates their quest.

Psalm 19:1-4 “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where there voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world”.

            Upon arriving in Jerusalem, they are exposed to the story of God in the scripture.

            Finally, they arrive at the incarnation; at Jesus.

● Creation and the revelation of God in scriptures are not, in and of themselves, the ‘destination’ (the ‘truth)’; they are merely means to direct us toward the truth… toward Jesus.

● As it turns out, Jesus found himself in the margins as well.

Jesus knew some were more comfortable there; they wouldn’t be exposed for their insecurities and frailties there because even if they didn’t fit anywhere else, they were certainly not alone in the margins.

● He arrives in Nazareth, a rural community not known for producing Ivy-league recruits. Mostly hard-working, blue-collar, peasant-class people [USA Today article about recent archaeological finding of the first dwelling to date to Jesus era. It appeared to be a small hamlet of poor Jewish families].

   “Like all of us”, the author writes, “Jesus was a product of his world,… he grew up as a poor Jew in a poor town”.

● When Nathaniel, a guy who would become a follower of Jesus, first heard about him and where he was from, his response was, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” (John 1:46).

            There was a certain stigma attached to Nazareth, and to Jesus himself. He made the mistake of showing up in the womb of an unwed teenage girl, and… people in a small town don’t miss that kind of thing.

● So, Jesus grows up amidst rumor and scandal. Nazareth is where he has his ‘coming out party’, of sorts. As he reads in the synagogue from Isaiah 61, he seems to identify with this vision of God for him which overcomes the limitations and the labels which marginalized him.

● “In the margins” is the best place to get a glimpse of the glory of God.

            It’s where you find those searching for some good news; those who are “poor”--- with no resource to climb out on their own; those who are “broken-hearted”--- those for whom life has been cruel and unrelenting;  those who were “indebted” and “bound” (literally and figuratively) by their situation. People in the margins.

● Jesus knew the tremendous impact that culture could have on an individual’s life; the feelings of illegitimacy and rejection as well as the limitations and restrictions which diminish one’s prospects for a different future.

● Amidst the backdrop of darkness, light becomes most detectable.

It usually causes us to ‘wince’, at first; it stops us in our tracks. But as our eyes are able to focus, we are offered a vision of what’s been available to us all along; what’s been present, but undetectable in the dark.

● Glory is not confined to a church or a temple.

It’s found in fields amongst livestock, it’s on display through the telescope while peering into the night sky, it shows up in prisons and under bridges; it surprises you in hospitals or while you are chopping wood, or washing dishes.

● Glory doesn’t always come to alter our economic status or elevate our social position. It doesn’t come to secure our favor or take us from the margins and make us feel like we belong with the culture.

            It comes to ensure that the culture will no longer define who we are; that life will no longer be limited by the stigmas attached to us by the culture. That where we’re from and what we’ve done cannot limit the prospects for a more preferred-future… a hope.

● It’s in the margins we find “God with us”… legitimizing us, accepting us, re-naming us, re-orienting us, healing us.

            All that God is; all that we were meant to be beautifully displayed (fulfilled) in Jesus.