The Christmas Jesus #4: Given a New Purpose

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham...

Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar...

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth...

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife...

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: his mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit...

Having been warned in a dream, he [Joseph] withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Matthew 1:1, 3, 5, 6, 18 and 2:22-23

If we had been put in charge of organising the coming of God’s Son into the world, we probably would have done things differently.

For a start, we wouldn’t have included those women in the messianic line. Not only are they women (which is significant), and not only are they Gentiles or associated with Gentiles (which is also significant), but they’re also, as one writer puts it, ‘Mothers on the Margin’. In some respects, they anticipate the whiff of sexual scandal surrounding Mary’s childbearing, reminding us that God doesn’t always work out his purpose within the boundaries of public respectability.

Their inclusion sends out a signal that God can be found on the margins, using people with dubious records, people without the normal trappings of status and power, but who might – like some of Jesus’ grandmothers – be right at the centre of his amazing plan for the world.

Issues of power and status continue into Matthew 2, where the contrast is not only between two ‘kings’ – Jesus and Herod – but between those who have power, like Herod and the religious elite, and those who are apparently powerless and insignificant, like pagan astrologers, like children under two years old who can be wiped out at someone else’s whim, like Joseph and Mary who are forced to become refugees and then residents of backwater Nazareth.

Jesus’ coming rewrites the messianic script, challenging ideas of social status and power in the process – born under a cloud of sexual impropriety, taken as a refugee to Egypt, living as a ridiculed Nazarene, dying as a criminal on a Roman cross.

Although we might not immediately think of it this way, it’s a reminder that belonging to Jesus gives us a new purpose. God is working out his plan of salvation for all nations, and – incredibly – he makes us a part of how he brings that about. And that salvation, as we see in the Christmas story, is for people who lack power and status, for people on the margins, for people with sexual scandal in their histories, for people with dodgy backgrounds, for people for whom things haven’t quite worked out the way they hoped they would, for people like you and me.

Because of who he is and how he comes to us, the Christmas Jesus transforms the way we think about ourselves and others, and about church and mission. As 2019 ends and as 2020 starts and unfolds, let’s worship this Jesus – to his own glory.

The Christmas Jesus #3: Subjects of a New King

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham... Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah...

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 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. ‘In Bethlehem in Judea,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet has written:

‘“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.”’

Matthew 1:1, 17 and 2:1-5

It seems somehow appropriate to be writing this the day after the General Election – regardless of what we think about the outcome this time. My Christian friends who work in politics tell me it’s all too easy to say that ‘Christ is King’ as a kind of slogan – even as an excuse for lack of engagement with issues in society, a way of retreating into our Christian caves. Perhaps so. Of course, that doesn’t stop it being true: Christ is King.

In fact, the very first verse of the New Testament makes it clear he is ‘the Messiah the son of David’. And Jesus’ kingship is written large across the opening chapters of Matthew’s gospel.

For instance, Matthew traces Jesus’ genealogy through the rise of the monarchy in king David, its loss in the exile, and its restoration in Jesus the Messiah. Matthew’s division of Jesus’ family tree into three groups of 14 may have prompted Jewish readers to think of the numerical value of the name ‘David’ in Hebrew, which is 14. Even the very arrangement of the genealogy emphasises Jesus’ kingship!

Matthew also reminds us of the contrast between Jesus, who has been ‘born king of the Jews’ (2:1), and Herod, who is currently installed as a puppet king of the Romans. Herod somehow senses that Jesus represents a rule that ultimately threatens his own. Indeed, as the Scriptures make clear, it’s the one born in Bethlehem who is the legitimate king, the one who would shepherd Israel.

And it becomes clear as the story progresses that this ‘son of David’ will not defeat his enemies with military might or political power. Nor will he rule over a particular geographical territory or ethnic group. This king will take away the sins of his people. His throne will be a cross. His kingdom will include people from all nations. His rule will embrace all things.

If anything, that all-embracing rule provides the biggest motivation of all not to withdraw now that the General Election is over. Precisely because Christ is King, whatever realm the Lord has placed us in – whatever family, street, job, career, course, or hobby – we can bear fruit in it, as we build relationships, seek justice, make a gracious stand for truth, and witness to the gospel. And we do so as subjects of the king, called to represent and reflect the beauty of his rule in all the earth.

The Christmas Jesus #2: Brought into a New Family

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham...

Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar...

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth...

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife...

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 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.’

Matthew 1:1, 3, 5, 6 and 2:1-2

The persecution of Christians in China has steadily increased in recent months. President Xi Jinping has embarked upon a campaign to bring religion in China under the control of the Communist Party. Church leaders who have refused to sign agreements binding them to government regulations have been forced out of their homes and their churches have been closed. They have felt unable to declare that love for the homeland must be greater than love for the church and its Lord. For them, some alliances come before other alliances.

For us, too, the ties that unite us to Christ and to each other are stronger and ultimately more lasting than those which unite us to people in our own country, political party, even family.

In the closing scene of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’ followers are to ‘make disciples of all nations’ (28:19) – Gentiles as well as Jews. But right from his opening page, Matthew shows us that Jesus comes for the whole world.

We see it in the birth of this ‘son of Abraham’: God is finally making good on the promise he made to Abraham that through him all nations would be blessed. We see it in the women in Jesus’ family tree – Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba – foreigners to Israel who came within the orbit of the people of God. We see it, perhaps most clearly of all, in the worship of the Magi. If anything, these star-gazing, horoscope fanatics represent the lowest rung of gentile idolatry and religious hocus-pocus. And yet, these are the ones who follow the star, find the king, and offer him worship.

Whether it’s the promise made to Abraham, the foreignness of the women in Jesus’ ancestry, or the worship of the Magi, Jesus’ mission of saving his people from their sins will reach beyond the borders of Israel to embrace the whole world.

And we, too, are brought into this new family.

Once again, it works the other way round from what we might expect. God is not on the sidelines, desperately longing for us to invite him into our families so that he can get a piece of our action. Rather, he invites us into his bigger family! And as strong as the links are in our families, our links with each other in the family of the Christmas Jesus are stronger still – the family which forms our identity, the family in which all are included.

The Christmas Jesus #1: Included in a New Story

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers...

Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

Matthew 1:1-2, 17

One of the main ways we understand life is through stories. We each have our own personal story. Our families have a family story. Our church has a story. Our nation has a story. Stories embody the values of the groups to which we belong. They shape how we think about things in everyday life, such as money and friendships and family and food and sex and everything else.

For Christians, the most crucial story for our identity, for shaping the way we think and live, is the biblical story – God’s story. And when we become a Christian, God’s story becomes our story.

It’s tempting to think that being a Christian involves inviting God into a little part of our story, where we give God an occasional walk-on part in the drama of our life – the ‘religious’ part of our life. But it’s not like that at all. God calls us into the bigger story that he is weaving. And it’s God’s story that shapes how we think about things in everyday life, such as money and friendships and family and food and sex and everything else.

The Christmas story reminds us that God calls us to be a part of the bigger story that he is working out.

Matthew begins his gospel by telling us that Jesus stands at the heart of this epic tale the Bible tells, and that he brings the whole story to its goal. His opening phrase – ‘This is the genealogy of’ – would remind Jewish readers of similar phrases in the early chapters of Genesis. Matthew is placing the story he’s about to tell in the larger story of God’s dealings – not just with Israel, but with the whole of creation. It’s Jesus who is the promised son of Abraham who will bring blessing to the whole world. It’s Jesus who is the promised son of David who has come to be king over his people. He is the one towards whom the story of Israel and the nations and the whole of creation has been moving.

By God’s grace, we are included in this story. As Christians, we find our identity, with others, in the one who stands at the heart of God’s plan for the universe – the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the Messiah, the true king, the true Israel, the Saviour, the one who saves his people from their sins, Emmanuel, God with us.

Tim Keller on Christmas

Timothy Keller, Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2016), ix + 148pp., ISBN: 978-1-64258-4.

This was my tube reading for a few days earlier this month. It’s a small hardback with large-ish print, and so a fairly quick read. It also works out quite expensive page for page, but I tried not to think about that too much as it’s Tim Keller, and I was mostly enjoying it.

It’s largely a set of reflections on some of the Christmas-related passages in the Bible. The chapters felt sermonic to me as I was reading them, although they also felt stuffed too full to be read as individual sermons or to be held up as model sermons on their passages. Interestingly, in the acknowledgements section at the end (which I read after I’d read the book), Keller notes that ‘each chapter represents at least 10 or so meditations and sermons on each biblical text, delivered in Christmas services across the decades’. For me, at least, that helped explain the feeling that I was reading something like a mashup of several sermons in each chapter.

Those who enjoy Keller’s work will know what to expect here: a warm engagement with Scripture, intelligent but not pushy reflection on currents in contemporary culture, and constantly coming back to the implications of the gospel for Christians and non-Christians alike.

Stephen R. Holmes on Christmas

Stephen R. Holmes, The Politics of Christmas (London: Theos, 2011).

The ever-productive team at Theos have produced another helpful-looking booklet, this one written by Stephen Holmes, on Christmas.

There are more details here, it’s available for download here, and here’s the back cover blurb:

‘Christmas is about spending time with family and friends... at least, that is what the vast majority of us think.

‘Yet, this safe, domestic Christmas was largely an invention of the Victorians. The Christmas stories themselves, as told in Matthew’s and Luke’s gospels, are far less peaceful and far more unsettling.

‘Economic exploitation, imperial oppression, social stigma, petty tyranny: all are in the sights of a story in which God himself is born into a poor, vulnerable and somewhat unorthodox family unit.

‘While Christmas must undoubtedly be a time for family and generosity, Stephen Holmes argues, it should also be a moment when we hear and attend to the Bible’s message of justice and freedom for all.’