Finding Christ… In The "Christ-Mess”

Finding Christ… in the “Christ-Mess”

Brad Bailey – December 22, 2019

Summary: Christmas message using Matthew 1:18-25… depicting the process of finding Christmas involves a mess… and what i…and unique aspects of Joseph.

Intro

It’s always a joy to gather each week …but especially today.

Because I know that we are here …three days before Christmas…and for most… we not feel ready for Christmas. I think many people find it hard to connect to the warmth and wonder that we associate with Christmas.

there is a paradox of sorts…

We may want to find Christ…the one who has brought peace on earth …and goodwill to men…but we often face and feel so much that seems at odds with that.

We tried to go choose a Christmas tree…and had our usual frustrations.

The lines get longer…the patience shorter.

The lists get longer and the time feels shorter.

You may be coming to this season finding life a bit chaotic…messy.

And sometimes the holidays seems to accentuate the sense of mess… the limits and losses we find in life.

The finances are limited.

The family we long for may be messed up…or missing.

For those who have lost a loved one… it’s a time in which one is reminded that the family circle is not complete, that you can’t make any more Christmas memories with the one who is gone.

You may be one who sees the hallmark Christmas card …or look at the snow globe… images of the perfect Christmas… glee-filled smiles with gentle snow falling outside….and wonder how to experience that perfect Christmas.

God wants us to know something. The truth is that there’s never been the “perfect Christmas” by sentimental standards. There’s never been a peaceful Christmas as defined by the circumstances that people were in.

That is actually the way that the true nature of Christmas comes.

Christmas is about God is in the midst of chaos.

This is what the Scriptures describe…as we hear from the Gospel of Matthew earlier…

Matthew 1:18

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

“This is how it came about….”

A women who was already given in the commitment to marriage… was now bearing a child.

This child had not been conceived with her husband to be. In other words,…a moral scandal… a social crisis… a mess. [1]

In that one sentence…we are introduced to the way in which God works.

This is the testimony of the Scriptures. It is not some fairy tale rooted in some other world.

The writers describe every ruler…and date…and the conflict with customs and laws. It’s all there.

The gospels are written as eyewitness' accounts…they do not have the sense of myth.

When Albert Einstein was asked if he accepted the historical existence of Jesus, Einstein said:

“Unquestionably. No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.” [2]

Two of the twentieth century’s greatest myth makers – C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien knew the nature of myth and fiction…and knew that the Gospels accounts have nothing of the nature of ancient myth and fiction. [3]

Lewis declared…"I have been reading poems, romances, vision-literature, legends, myths all my life. I know what they are like. I know that not one of them is like this [the Gospels]."

And unlike any ancient myth…it is not only full of the historical details …but the unpleasant circumstances in how it unfolded.

It’s not about bringing tranquil circumstances …but about God entering the conflict and chaos and confusion that we all know.

In that one sentence… Christmas is about God entering what we might call the real world… with real people.

Real people like Joseph. Joseph who would serve as the earthly father of Christ.

Many note that Joseph is not mentioned in much detail later on.

But his initial position is shared with us…because it relates to us. [4]

He has a mess.

There is every reason to believe that Mary was likely only around 16 years old…and he likely only a year or two older. In such times… they would have been considered adults… but still young… just at the point in life in which one is excited by launching into the stage in which they will be forming their own households… but also intimidated …as it’s the start of proving oneself.

Years of planning for this life with Mary… the foundation to prove his own identity amidst the social world that defined him…. crumbled in shame.

Whenever Jesus comes into somebody’s life… he brings challenges… conflict. That’s just inevitable.

Matthew 1:19

Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.