SOME OF MARY AND JOSEPH'S QUESTIONS: “God, why have the birth so far from home?” “God, why didn’t You provide a place for us to stay?” “God, how can this be the place for the miracle child to be born?”
- Luke 2:6-7.
- I’m sure when the angel visited Mary and told her that she’d be carrying this miracle child, she didn’t expect to end up giving birth in a stable somewhere. I’m sur when Joseph was told by the angel that this was all of God that He didn’t think He’d end up being the midwife when they were in a distant town for the baby’s birth.
- Almost certainly Mary and Joseph were left with questions when it came to the birth of Jesus. Questions like I’ve shared above.
- We all struggle with times in our lives when we are left with unanswered questions. Some might think the problem is unique to us, but the reality is that people in the Bible dealt with the same thing. There are multiple examples we could cite, but Mary and Joseph are standing right in front of us.
GOD DIDN'T ANSWER THEIR QUESTIONS: God often gives us a sign that we are going in the right direction even though we may not know why that is the direction.
- Luke 2:8-20.
- Although Mary and Joseph would have undoubtedly had many questions, God doesn’t give them direct answers to those questions. But the Bible does tell us what He did give them.
- After this most famous Christmas passage (2:1-7), Luke immediately transitions to the story of the shepherds and the angels visiting them. It’s an interesting interaction and there are several sermons there, but I’m only interested this morning in what the angels visiting the shepherds meant for Mary and Joseph.
- Look with me at 2:15-16. After the angels left, the shepherds hurried off to find this baby. This is important: think of what the arrival of the shepherds on this night of Jesus’ birth meant to Mary and Joseph. They were likely there in the barn/stable/cave, wondering if they’d missed God’s plan and holding all these unanswered questions. Then, unexpectedly, the shepherds show up, worshiping the baby and sharing a wild story of a host of angels appearing to them in the field.
- Notice that this did not answer any of their heretofore unanswered questions. But it did give them a clear sign that they were going in the right direction. It gave them confidence that God had not abandoned them. It let them know they were where they were supposed to be, even though they didn’t know why that’s where they were supposed to be.
- Also, a brief side note: it was only the shepherds that provided this. The wise men did not visit Jesus on the night of His birth. It was over a year later and in Nazareth that the Magi bowed to the Christ.
- I can think in my own life of times this has happened, although one stands out.
- Without getting into all the details, I was working on a big project for God, one that I thought had great potential. When it began to become clear that this project was not going to succeed, I had lots of questions, most of which were (and remain) unanswered. “Why aren’t You blessing this work?” “Why did You open up doors for this if it’s not going to prosper?”
- And yet, even as the project came to a close, there were signs of God’s provision along the way. Amazing things happened to allow everything to finish up in a proper way. New doors very clearly opened up. Those were signs along the way. It made it clear to me that this was the way that God was leading, even though I had no idea why that’s where He was leading.
- I still have my unanswered questions about that project. I wish I could tell you that now in hindsight everything makes sense, but it doesn’t. The unanswered questions linger, and yet it is also true that the signposts leading in that new direction are also definitely from God.
DID GOD HAVE ANSWERS? Yes.
- Question 1: Micah 5:2; Question 2: Matthew 26:3-4; John 1:11-13; John 12:37-38; Question 3: Luke 4:14-21; Luke 7:18-23.
- Although Mary and Joseph didn't know the answers, God did have answers to their concerns.
- Let’s look back at the three questions I opened with:
a. “God, why have the birth so far from home?”
- Micah 5:2.
- The answer was that it had been prophesied in the Old Testament that the Messiah would come out of Bethlehem. Although it was obviously a great inconvenience for them, it has served as a point of encouragement for Christians for two millennia now to see how God orchestrated the birth of His Son to fulfill that ancient prediction. It was not Mary and Joseph consciously saying, “Well, the Messiah is supposed to be born in Bethlehem so I guess we need to get there and hang out until the baby is born.” God used a Roman ruler’s census to get the couple to that town. Further, He made sure that the hometown of the baby’s earthly father was one that would line out these details.
b. “God, why didn’t You provide a place for us to stay?”
- Matthew 26:3-4; John 1:11-13; John 12:37-38.
- I think of the Last Supper preparations and how the disciples went to find a promised room fully stocked and ready for them to bring things together. Why not the same thing here? Why not have the town full but have a child offer his room for the couple? Why not have the town full but have a room open up at the local mayor’s home so Christ could be born among the leaders of the town?
- The lack of a place to stay for Jesus’ birth is a foreshadowing of the lack of welcome He will receive from His people later in His life. The passages I’ve quoted above speak to the rejection that would come from His own people. And so it’s a fitting picture on this night of His entry into the world that there is no place for Him.
c. “God, how can this be the place for the miracle child to be born?”
- Luke 4:14-21; Luke 7:18-23.
- The poor and obscure place for Jesus’ birth is a precursor of the people who Jesus will focus His ministry on. At Nazareth in Luke 4, Jesus declares the focus of His ministry: the poor, the prisoners, the blind, the oppressed. When John the Baptist’s followers question if Jesus is the Messiah, He points them to the focus of His ministry: the blind, the lame, the dead, the poor.
- Jesus does not have the birth of a nobleman or a king. He’s born among the people and in the circumstances that surround those He came to save: the least of these.
A PHRASE TO HOLD ONTO FOR YOUR UNANSWERED QUESTIONS: “Enough light for the next step.”
- This phrase has stuck with me over time. There’s a lot of truth there. It’s the way that God so often leads in our lives. He gives us enough light for the next step.
- We have to trust Him with the larger picture. We have to hold onto our faith that He knows what He’s doing.
- One way to look at this. . .
- We are wandering around (spiritually) in the dark. We can barely made out anything.
- Most of us desire God to turn on the stadium lights. Suddenly everything becomes clear. The whole field around us is bathed in light and we can see all things. The shadows and uncertainty have given way to generous light.
- The second scenario involves standing in that field and finding a small flashlight. It’s weak, but gives us enough light for us to see the next step that we take. We still have no sense of the larger situation. But we do have enough light for the next step.
- Now, if I stand here and give you a choice of either option, all of us are going to pick the stadium lights. We like to know. But that’s rarely the way that God works. We usually get enough light for the next step. It is, after all, a walk of faith.
A PRAYER FOR YOUR UNANSWERED QUESTIONS: “Give me an answer” or “Give me a signpost.”
- There is nothing necessarily wrong with asking God to give you an answer, but let me suggest a prayer that’s more likely to be productive. Ask God for a signpost. You’ve got lots of unanswered questions. If you can’t have an answer that makes everything make sense, you can at least have a sign from God that He is still leading and guiding you. Ask Him to give you an indication that He’s still with you. Ask Him to give you assurance that He’s providing.
- Philip Yancey once put it this way. Rather than asking “Why?” we are better off asking “Toward what?” The “Why?” question is one that we rarely get an answer to. The “Toward what?” is more useful. “Where are You leading in this?” “What are You up to?”
ONE WAY WE SHOULD BE LIKE MARY: She “treasured” and “pondered.”
- Luke 2:19; Luke 2:51.
- Mary had unanswered questions. It’s telling what the Bible shares with us about her reaction.
- Look with me at 2:19. When the shepherds visited on the night of Jesus’ birth, it says that she “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
- Let’s take the last one first. Mary pondered all these things. What’s that indicate? That she didn’t have them figured out yet. She thinking through them, trying to put all the pieces together and have them make sense.
- It also says that she treasured these things. This idea actually recurs later in the chapter. In verse 51, after the incident with the boy Jesus going to the Temple on His own, the Bible tells us that Mary treasured all these things in her heart. It’s an interesting word choice. We know from the details of both stories that Mary didn’t have everything figured out. In the first story, she still had unanswered questions about the circumstances of Jesus’ birth; in the second story, she had unanswered questions about why Jesus would do this. Yet she knew something bigger than her was going on. She knew that something valuable was happening in her life. And she treasured these things in spite of (or perhaps even because of ) the fact that she didn’t have everything figured out.
