The Wonder of His Presentation
(Part 2, The Wonder of Christmas)
Text: John 1:1-14, Luke 1:26-38, Matt. 1:18-24, Luke 1:39-45
The birth of Jesus is an awesome encounter of God in the flesh. But before He was born, the signs given to His future parents and those who would be eye-witnesses of His miraculous entry into our world, were a wonder to behold.
I want to begin this morning with John 1:1-14. In John’s account of the birth of Christ, He describes Jesus as the Word. This has several implications for us today as we come into this season of Christmas. But, we’ll look at those a little later. Let’s read John’s account and see just what he has to say.
Text: John 1:1-14 (pg. 750)
The Word became flesh. How vivid a picture John paints for us! There was a plan in heaven for God, the One who is the beginning and the end, to come to earth as a man and live among the wicked, sick, depressed, poor, rich, humble, and righteous people, so that they might know grace. The Word became flesh. Micah 5:2-5 contains one of many prophetic messages of Jesus’ birth. Micah closes his statement by saying that this “Shepherd” will be Israel’s peace. This was foretelling the birth of Christ long before it happened. Zechariah, probably knew this verse. Yet, even with this type of foreknowledge, the understanding of the reality that was about to take place was evident. So much so that God had to send an angel to Mary to warn her and inform her of what was about to happen. Let’s pick up with Mary and her angelic visitation.
1. Mary’s visitation (Luke 1:26-38)(pg. 723)
Close your eyes and picture what has just happened. Close your eyes.
You are getting ready for bed, going through your normal routine. Thinking about what is going to be on your plate for tomorrow. Maybe you have a certain appointment you have been putting off for a week now. You are brushing your teeth, at least for the benefit of everyone else’s imagination you are. You turn down the lights, crawl into bed and snuggle up tight to your covers. What a great feeling, freshly washed sheets, that fresh from the line smell, fills your soul as you take a deep breath of cool night air. Your thoughts fade and sleep comes over you. You slowly watch from behind your eyelids as the black gets blacker and you drift off …
BAMMM!!
Light floods the room! All of the sudden your night is invaded by the brightness of the sun in your little room. There isn’t a single shadow anywhere to be found. You can hardly open your eyes because the brightness of the figure standing before you is white hot. Strangely, as the voice from the light speaks, you feel soothed. You are told to not be afraid for God is with you. You feel like crying, shouting, and whispering, all at the same time. All you can manage is a feeble question, asking why me?
Does anyone still have their eyes shut? You can open them now. I wonder if that is what Mary felt when Gabriel came to tell her the news of Jesus coming. Scary to think of, maybe. But, more importantly, God did it anyway. At just the right time, to the just right person, for the just right reason, God sent His son to be born of the virgin Mary. He made His presentation known to those who would be most affected. Mary was found in favor with God. God’s grace was upon her and she was found worthy to hold this Christ-child for the world to be redeemed. God is a wonderful God who works in wonderful ways, for a wonderful purpose. Mary got first-hand evidence of God’s imagination in a very real way. His presentation was wonderful.
2. Elizabeth’s visitation (Luke 1:39-45) (make note of change in bulletin)
Elizabeth must have been so happy to see Mary. We know that there was a special bond between them because of the activity of the baby John the Baptist in Elizabeth’s womb. When Mary arrived, Elizabeth knew of the baby Mary was carrying because she blurted out the question, “Why am I so blessed that the mother of my Lord came to visit me?” I wonder if Elizabeth was ready to have visitors. You know how pregnant mothers can be. Sure they are happy to have people who care about them over to help, but they like to have everything in order, too. It seems to help the stress. At least when my wife is pregnant she says so. That reminds me of a story. Don’t worry, Gail. I got this one.
One afternoon a man came home from work to find total mayhem in his house. His three children were outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife’s car was open, as was the front door to the house.
Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded on the wall. In the front room, the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.
He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles and piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she may be ill, or that something serious had happened. He found her lounging in the bedroom, still curled in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"
She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and ask me what in the world did I do today?"
"Yes" was his incredulous reply.
"I thought I’d show you."
Sometimes our wives or mothers are taken for granted with all that gets done that we don’t notice. I wonder if Elizabeth felt this way at all. Here she is, very late in life, dealing with the emotion of finally having a baby, not to mention all the other things that come along with being pregnant; her husband won’t speak to her, at least he can’t… but he’s got a good excuse! And now, family decides to drop by unexpectedly.
For you or me, any one of those things by themselves is big enough to interrupt our day, maybe even our week, for a while, but all together… some of us would have a mental breakdown. When Elizabeth heard it was Mary, though, I bet she had a huge sigh of relief.
I can’t help but think of this time between Mary and Elizabeth as being a kind of comfort for the both of these women. Elizabeth was almost halfway through her pregnancy and, remember, she is an old woman. Mary was probably a big help to her in the daily things that needed to be done. At the same time Elizabeth must have been a great comfort to Mary as an older experience women sharing a lifetime of marriage experience with Mary. Preparing her for motherhood and the great task of being a wife, Elizabeth didn’t have any prior experience being a mother herself, but I’m sure she took care of her share of babies enough to know the routine. Mary on the other hand, was just beginning this process and had no idea what to expect. She was merely the young woman, whom God saw fit to carry His son. What a task! I don’t know if mothers back then had the same kind of typecasting that goes on today, but I’m sure Mary felt the heat of the other women at times. They knew who she was and that she was not married. There probably was a fair amount of controversy surrounding Mary and her relationship with Joseph.
Tony Campolo says that his wife is a brilliant woman. She has a PHD & is capable of pursuing a very profitable career. But she elected to stay home with her children when they were young. Her decision didn’t bother her at all except when other women would ask, “What do you do?” She would answer, “I’m a homemaker. I stay home & take care of my children & my husband.” They would usually respond with “Oh” & then ignore her from then on.
So Mrs. Campolo came up with this response when she was asked what she did: “I’m socializing two Homo-sapiens in Judeo-Christian values so they’ll appropriate the eschatological values of utopia. What do you do?”
They would often blurt out “I’m a doctor” or “I’m a lawyer” & then wander off with a dazed look in their eyes.
It was good for her to get away and help Elizabeth, to be able to learn from her, and to possibly help Zechariah find a convenient way to communicate. I can see the benefit she must have gathered from being around her close friends and family in a time of great need.
Jesus was a part of all this in the most intimate way and His presence was through it even through those who didn’t quite realize what their purpose was going to be. God stepped in at just the right time, to just the right person, for just the right reason. His presentation was wonderful.
3. Joseph’s visitation (Matt. 1:18-24)(pg. 681)
Notice here the account told from Joseph’s perspective. This is probably after Mary has returned from being away for about 4 months at her relative’s house. Now Joseph gets to see her in full swing of her pregnancy. He probably is questioning his honor, his relationship with Mary, and this passage tells us he had in mind to divorce her quietly. He could have had her stoned. He was engaged to her. They were not married at the time, legally. But, being pledged to each other was just about the same thing. Her apparent offence, being visibly pregnant, was enough for Joseph to stone her, if he chose to. The bible tells us that he was a righteous man, and chose to not disgrace her and her family and make them the victim of public humiliation. He was going to divorce her privately.
Then again, God sends His messenger at just the right time, to just the right person, for just the right reason. All the right signs were given, all the right people were in place, God only now had to wait. Joseph was determined to bring honor to his new family, he had God’s blessing.
Mary was determined to see her child be brought into this world perfectly, she was God’s servant. Elizabeth was ready to see her son she thought she’d never have, she was thankful for God’s grace. Zechariah was ready to praise God for allowing him silence, he was now full of faith.
That was the wonder of Christmas. (Read from God Came Near)
Let me read an excerpt from Max Lucado’s book, God Came Near. He has a wonderful description of what is about to take place in life of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. It also will be a great preview for next week’s sermon.
God Came Near, Max Lucado., (pg. 21-22)
The signs of His coming were obvious to those about to be an intimate part of it. The present day application is that Jesus is asking you to be an intimate part of His calling right now. Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth; they all had their day to be with Jesus. They will forever have that glory. Will you now take it upon yourself, as God has revealed to you through His word, His Son, to become an intimate part of that relationship and share in the glory of Jesus and the reason for His birth. That, is the wonder of Christmas.
