Luke 1:8-20; I Corinthians 1:18-23
Last Sunday, we talked about the simplicity surrounding the birth of Christ. It didn’t take place in Jerusalem, the logical place. His birth announcement didn’t hit the newsstands the next morning. Heads of state did not visit. The Magi, or wise men found in a little village in plain surroundings, and they worshiped Him simply and with lack of adornment. Here is an important principle…the simpler and less cluttered our approach to God the more likely we are to be enthralled with His power and majesty rather than distracted by man’s inventiveness. But man’s tendency is to move from the simple to the complex, not from the complex to the simple. Man only moves from the complex to the simple by intention, forethought and discipline.
The great mystics of the Middle Ages spent hours contemplating the power and majesty of God be revisiting Biblical scenes and reliving them as if they were participants. But this kind of worship was also coupled with intentionally uncomplicated, simple lifestyles. We, however, tend to worship on the run. We try to carve worship time out of our cluttered lifestyles. We are the megabyte, sound clip generation of worshipers. If it doesn’t happen within an hour, it won’t happen. We have drive-in churches and virtual on-line churches that worship through networking and churches that meet in theaters via the big screen, etc. Pastors and their staffs are working to cut services down to 40 minutes with a more compact, direct approach. We’re always in a hurry, and finding time for God takes creativity in our world.
The Magi had definite expectations about what they would find when they arrived in Jerusalem and about who Christ would be and how His coming would be packaged or presented. I think they arrived with incredible anticipation thinking they would undoubtedly find something that far surpassed the greatness of and splendor of Solomon. Hadn’t God altered the stars to announce His birth? It was so spectacular that it moved them from their comfort zone of ease and position to take a long, hard, and extremely dangerous journey. And they headed straight for the palace in Jerusalem. Where else would a King be born? The three-mile ride from Jerusalem to Bethlehem must have been gut-wrenching. Had they made a gigantic mistake? Were they fools instead of wisemen? Had they given up their lives for nothing? What kind of a king would be born in a shepherd’s town and be housed on the wrong side of the tracks? Their entourage and gifts were a little out of place in Bethlehem. They were as out of place as Queen Elizabeth dining in the projects of East Philly or the Watts area of L.A. It isn’t going to happen.
Bethlehem was known as the village of shepherds because it was in the heart of the sheep-raising area of the country. Historians agree that Bethlehem shepherds were a special class of people. They were uneducated, simple people who spent most of their time with sheep which are not too bright, even in the animal realm.
At this time, Bethlehem was an unwalled city, which meant that they had no common sheepfold inside the city like walled cities afforded. The shepherds were out for long periods of time without seeing anyone but themselves and their sheep. The town sits almost 4,000 feet directly above the Dead Sea near the top of a hilly, rocky mountain ridge. The shepherds were a tough bunch who formed their own protection from wild animals and bands of armed marauders, who existed by plundering and overcoming those who could not stand against them. It was not uncommon to have a whole flock of sheep driven off by bands of marauding Bedouins.
In every way, the shepherds were at the bottom of the socio-economic rung of the ladder. They were often men without families who were unskilled, uneducated and often crude. They were men of no pretense who called it like they saw it. They were not known to be particularly religious or people who entertained discussions of theological significance.
As the shepherds tended their flocks one night, an angel appeared to them and announced the birth of Jesus. They were terrified! Then a great company of heavenly beings filled the sky around them. What a display from heaven! The paraphrase describes it as a “vast host—the armies of heaven.” This was perhaps the greatest singular visitation of angelic beings the earth has ever witnessed.
But why was it “wasted” on a few illiterate shepherds? Why didn’t they appear in Jerusalem square in front of Herod’s palace or at the University of Jerusalem to the professors of biblical prophecy or at the mansion of Abraham Ariens, the mayor of Jerusalem? Why waste such a spectacular display on a place and people so insignificant> What was in God’s mind? “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly and despised and things that are empty to nullify the things man has established so that no one may boast” (I Corinthians 1:27-30).
The shepherds left at once to find the baby lying in a manger or a barn or shelter. Immediately they began to tell everyone what had happened, and everyone was amazed.
God’s choice in announcing the birth of Jesus boggles our sensibilities. WHY? Why did He choose some “pagan” Magi from far off Persia who had no connection to the process and then some shepherds at the bottom rung of the social ladder who were likely illiterate and irreverent? Why die He not announce it to the high priest and to the religious community? What is there in this that makes sense to our human minds?
It’s important to once again remember that “God’s ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts like our thoughts.” God chooses the simple of the world to confound the wise. He had to find someone who would see it and tell it like it was and who had faith to believe that a baby born in a manger, surrounding by animals, could become the Savior of the world. He had to find someone whose expectations would not stand in the way of trusting God to do things His way.
So it was a little boy with some loaves and fish who could visualize the possibilities of feeding a crowd of 5,000 because he recognized a great God and could see beyond the limitations of man. And it was a Roman centurion, not a Jewish priest, to whom Jesus said, “I have not found such faith, even in Israel.” It was a Canaanite woman, outside the Jewish faith, to whom Jesus said, “Your faith is great and your request has been granted.” It was a hated Samaritan woman of ill repute to whom God entrusted His sacred message of living water and who became the first real missionary of the new faith. And the list goes on and on. It was Rahab the Harlot in the Old Testament and Mary Magdalene in the New Testament who had faith to see what others missed. That’s why the angels appeared to shepherds. They knew what to do with the message. They could look at the baby Jesus and see the possibility of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. They did not have to struggle with intellectual biases. They did not have to rationalize His low estate. They did not have to put Him in a different setting to accept Him. He could be their Savior!
Are you believing He is your Savior today in the midst of your crazy world? “The Jews look for a sign and the Greeks must understand , but we look for Christ crucified” (I Corinthians 1:22, 23). Is that what you look for in your circumstances? This Christmas can you worship Jesus in your circumstances? Can you see Him using them to make you more like Him? Can you see Him taking the weak and fooish things of the world to show Himself strong in your life? If He were to come today, would He appear to you because of the simplicity of your faith in the midst of your circumstances? Would He say, “I