The Birth of Jesus

Matthew 1

                
1. Jesus was born in 4 B.C. or a year or so earlier. Herod the Great was still alive. He was born in Bethlehem in Judea, about 10 miles from Jerusalem. He probably attended the local synagogue, or house of worship. He was trained to be a carpenter as was Joseph, his legal father. There were six children at least born after him, sons and daughters of Joseph and Mary: James, Joses, Simon and Jude, brothers, daughters were not listed. He went to the temple at the age of l2, and for the next 18 years we know nothing of what his life was like. When he was 30 he encountered John the Baptist and John recognized  him as the Redeemer of Israel. Following his baptism in the Jordan River, he retired to the wilderness for 40 days and then returned to begin preaching that the Kingdom of God has come. He began calling disciples to himself, Simon Peter, John, Andrew, James, all fishermen.

At first Jesus went to the synagogues to preach and began to heal people of their diseases. He visited a number of cities around the  Sea  of Galilee beginning with Capernaum. As he preached and healed people the crowds grew and he found it difficult to find time to rest and space to be in.

The furor of excitement and interest that attended the journeys of Jesus through the towns and villages of Galilee attracted the attention of the Pharisees and Sadducees in Jerusalem. Investigators were sent to spy on Jesus and report on him. The report was adverse. Thereupon selected Pharisees and Sadducees were sent to heckle and oppose him. Verbal encounters became frequent and always threw the radical tendency of Jesus' teaching into sharp focus. A typical encounter occurred when Jesus' disciples walked thru the fields on the Sabbath, and plucked grain to eat. This was protested as a breaking the law, to which Jesus replied, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." What offended the Pharisees most was the freedom with which Jesus interpreted the law without regard for the traditions of the Rabbis.

The Pharisees circulated rumors that Jesus was possessed by an evil spirit. When he returned  to Nazareth, his home town, he marveled at their lack of faith. Even his brothers and sisters thought him possessed.

The popularity of Jesus with some groups began to subside when he would not support open rebellion against Rome. It was under these conditions that Jesus made his way northward to Tyre and Sidon to Caesarea Philippi where the disciples confessed him to be the Christ, the Messiah of Israel. After this he turned toward Jerusalem and warned them that he would die there.

Jews from all over the world came to Jerusalem for the annual festival of the Passover. On a borrowed colt he rode from the Mount of Olives into the city. He was greeted with joy and he went to the Temple and cast out the commercial dealers of animals for sacrifices.

This act had popular support, but the Jewish leaders did not intend to forget it. They began verbal hostilities in the hope of discrediting him before the people. For several days while  he taught them in the temple, they attempted to trap him into some treasonable or blasphemous utterance, but he alluded them.

Little by little the Pharisees undercut Jesus. The opposition began to mount. On Thursday of that week of the Passover, he observed the Last Supper with the disciples. Later, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was betrayed by Judas to a crowd of men with swords and clubs, who had been sent by the high priest.

He was hailed before the Sanhedrin, a Jewish court, and condemned to death by Jewish law for blasphemy. Pilate, when asked to carry out the sentence, passed Jesus over to Herod Antipas, the governor of Galilee, but Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate. Pilate endeavored to procure Jesus' release but the crowd cried for the release of Barnabas, known to Pilate as a robber. At their demand, Pilate turned Jesus over for crucifixion.

At 3 p.m. in the afternoon, forsaken by all  but the women who would not leave him, in the midst of a howling mob for whom he breathed out his prayer," Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," he cried out with a loud voice, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."

To avoid having the body on the cross over the Sabbath day, Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin, offered the use of his empty tomb, and the body of Jesus was taken there. On Sunday, the resurrection took place. From this point, the Good News, the Gospel, has been preached to all people.

2. The Gospel of Matthew tells us about the birth and death of Jesus. It is no ordinary life story. It is not a biography in the ordinary sense of the term.   It is an account  to show that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah of Israel promised redeemer  who was to come. In that, there is a lot left untouched, and unsaid. What did he do for the   first 30 years of life? We are not told whether he was one who ate his cereal for breakfast, or his spinach for lunch. The key issue concerns his role as redeemer.  If he is not that, then he is only one among  many who are interesting in the history of man.

3. The long genealogy was important to a Jew,  but it seems important now only to those who are interested in family history. The reason for the genealogy is to show that he was of the genealogy  of David through whom the Redeemer was to come. Racial purity has no significance beyond that. There are people who claim heir relations  here and there, but in the Kingdom of God, such distinctions are rejected and thrown away. The true sons of David or Abraham, are the sons of faith.

4. This chapter points up the significance of the birth of Jesus.

I. Truly Human--God entering human life. V. 23

1 . mythologies .... There are a variety of stories about gods  visiting humans around the world.In Hinduism there are stories  about Gods taking various forms from humans to fish, turtles, and a variety of other beings. In Greek mythology  there are stories in which the gods co-habit  with human women, giving birth to heroes of the past. However, in these stories, they are non-historical, i.e., they occurred in literature as stories, hut no  one confesses to have seen such visitations in their own life times. There are no historical surroundings to these stories.

In the case of the birth of Jesus, we have the historical setting. In Bethlehem of Judea, there  occurred a  birth in which the claim is made that God  has come down, God has entered human life in the form of a baby, and subsequently grows up to the role of redeemer of Israel and the world. Moreover, there are predictions in the Old Testament that such a person would come.

2. The role of his entering human life is two-fold: experience and sharing that life, and becoming the redeemer from sins.
It is important to focus on the role of Jesus, as the Scripture says, he will save his people from their sins. This is important to note at this point: Jesus did not come to do  lot of other things. There are tragedies that still take place among Christian people as well as others. These are part of human existence.  There is suffering in life, wrong-decisions, there is erroneous  thinking , sinful thinking, calamities that befall us, and many other things.

3. We have a dear friend who is wasting away with MS. She was a fine mother, has a lovely family, served in the church, was a  good wife, hard working, and was a godly person. She has been wasting away now for over 12 years and she is a heartache to herself as well as those who see, love and  care for her. Many have prayed for her recovery, but she is not healed. She has faith that God  is with  her in this experience. There are similar things like this that are not done in terms of healing. Even Jesus himself was not spared the suffering of the enemies who plotted against him, he was not spared the pain and torture of a cruel death, yet he was God’s   son. He entered into the heart of human existence in suffering.   But his suffering was different than ours in this sense; he came to redeem us from our sins. His life is related to forgiveness.  Our life is in need of forgiveness.

II.  Redemption  came  through  the Woman, not the man v.23

1. Karl Barth spoke of this fact: "...from the human  viewpoint  the male is excluded here. The male has nothing to do with this birth. What is involved here is, if you like, a divine act of judgment. To what is to begin here man is to contribute nothing by his action and initiative.  Man is not simply excluded, for the Virgin is there.  But  the male, as the specific agent  of human action and history, within  his responsibility for directing human species, must now retire into the background, as the powerless figure of Joseph. That is the Christian reply to the question of women: here the woman stands absolutely in the  foreground.  God did   not choose man in his pride and in his defiance,  but men in his weakness and humility, not man in his historical role, hut man in the weakness of his nature as represented by the woman.” (Dogmatics in Outline, p.99)

2. There are some implications concerning the role of women in human history. The redeemer was born of a woman who had faith, commitment, and who took the chance of being an outcaste.    It is strange that the role of woman is exalted here and in so many ways women have been put down in the history of the church, and in other places.  Women have counted for so little around the world.  A woman cannot drive a car in Saudi Arabia and other places.  For centuries women were supposed to place themselves on the burning funeral pyre of their husbands in India.  You  can read of the bride burnings taking place in India recently.

Women have not had rights within the church because many have opposed their leadership.   If St. Paul could write to the Galatians and  Ephesians that there is no distinction—between male and female—in Christ, then we have to conclude that this unity means something for service, opportunities in life, for being true human beings.

3.  I talked with a woman this week who is a student. She is 37 and is now divorced. She was married to a man who beat her up, both psychologically and physically. She said about it, that I didn’t think I had a choice.  She said, “now I know I did.”  But there are all kinds of women who do not get the kind of respect that a fellow human being has a right to.

4. God used the weak side of the human race to bring redemption.  He gives us a model in honoring the role of women.

III.   The Virgin Birth—A  new beginning

1. The virgin birth of Jesus is all that the Bible speaks about.  This means that Jesus was conceived by   an Act of God’s  command. There is no other explanation given.   There is no reference to Mary's  parents being sinless as the Roman church has taught  for years based on the  a logic that Mary had to have a sinless mother so she could give birth to a sinless child.  This reason would make a line of sinless mothers back to Eve.  The reasoning does not include anyone except Jesus.. The virgin birth of Jesus does not include the  immaculate conception of Mary.

2. One important point of the creed that is recited occasionally is that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary under the rule of Pontius Pilate—the importance of that is to stress his true humanity. Jesus was not a dream, an idealized man having no reality, but he was truly human, living in a historical period of time.

3. It is significant as we look at this idea,  that there is a new beginning.  There is a break with the past.   There is a break with the matter of heirship.  Jesus did not have a human father.  He was begotten  by the Holy Spirit.  There is a new departure in who he was and that means something for us.  If there is forgiveness of sin, there is a new beginning possible in everyday life.  There is a second chance in living from day to day. Whatever failures we have had  there is a second chance with God. There is hope of new tomorrows without the burden of the past.

4.  I talked with a woman who had been divorced twice. Somewhere along the way she renewed her commitment to Jesus  and has been growing in faith and understanding. But after being alone for some time, and having a child to raise, she would like to remarry.  As she has become a student of the Bible she wanted to be obedient, and she feels that remarrying would always involve her in the sin of adultery. She feel that God has forgiven her in her second marriage and its mistakes, but remarrying would involve her in perpetual adultery  from which she would need to repent every time she made love to her husband.   It seems to me,  as I told her, that she was not really knowing God’s forgiveness,  since she was always bringing up again  the old sin.  If God does forgive and forget, a new beginning is possible.  A new beginning in the human race occurs here and we can begin anew each day ourselves.

Concl.:

1. In summary, we are touched by a life that began in remote Israel, but a life  that is the Savior of the world.  That life gives new meaning to the role of woman,  a new beginning for all of us, and an encounter  with God entering human life, sharing our sufferings, but redeeming us from sin.  What an awesome story!!

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