Christmas Day Was Yesterday…What Now? (Matthew 2:1-2 & Luke 1:26-38)
GIST: Christmas is more than a “magical” feeling; it’s real! So, you don’t have to understand everything to know & be changed by the truth.
Last week, we celebrated “Christmas Sunday”. It was so much fun. Music in the morning. Kiddos doing their awesome things in the evening. I loved it. That being said, I went back and forth on this week’s message a lot. We could have continued in Revelation. In fact, the second part of the letter to Philadelphia leads really nicely into how we should approach the new year, yet Christmas was yesterday, and I still had two passages bouncing around in my head I couldn’t shake. Full disclosure. Tim Keller and his wife Kathy have been doing these really wonderful advent videos on youtube, and they brought up both of these passages over the course of those discussions.
Both resonated with me as I thought about the inevitable “post-Christmas-let-down” so many of us face. We get so hyped up about the day, it’s hard not to feel a little disappointed when you wake up the next morning and the world is still how you left it three days ago. So I wanted to talk through them with you guys, but I wasn’t sure which one to focus on, so we’re going to try something completely different and take just a couple observations from both passages! (Crazy, I know ☺️.) That means I won’t be fully unpacking each passage, but trying to draw up just a few key thoughts.
And to make this even more weird, we’re going to take a few moments to pray between the observations. Yeah, that might be really uncomfortable because it is so out of our routine, but it will force us to do what we really need to do if we want to avoid missing the beauty of Christmas, and that’s looking to the Jesus of Christmas. And, hey, if it completely flops, we just won’t ever do this again ☺️.
That being said, let me give you our gist. Then, we’ll hit the first passage. Gist: Christmas is more than a “magical” feeling; it’s real! So, you don’t have to understand everything to know & be changed by the truth.
I. Christmas Is More Than A “Magical” Feeling; It’s Real!
Let’s start by looking at the passage all our songs have been about this morning (and the subject of the adult Sunday School classes): the three wise men. If we want to know how to face life after Christmas, let’s look first at the “Christmas Characters” who didn’t make it to the birth at all ☺ ️.
Look at Matthew 2:1-2: “1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, "Where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.”
Ok. Here are a few things to keep in mind post Christmas.
1. This happened. “Wise men from the east” wouldn’t have been added for any other reason. I think it’s easy to completely miss this because we’ve grown up with the wise men as an integral part of the nativity scene. However, to early Jewish and Christian readers, these people would have stuck out from the rest of the pack. Everyone else had a reason for being there. Shepherds were part of this culture. The innkeeper was at his place of employment. Mary and Joseph were going where the law demanded. However, when they got back home and at some point (maybe even as much as a few years later) these eastern astrologers showed up, it wouldn’t have made sense. These were pagans who worshipped the stars. They weren’t part of the Jewish culture at all. They were also part of the intellectual elite of the time, so they were out of place in backwater Galilee. In fact, their presence would have been a turnoff for many early readers. Why are they in this story then? Because it really happened.
2. Jesus is bigger than intellectual trends. It’s easy to laugh at these men now from our places of “superior understanding”. Keep in mind, what was cutting edge 50 years ago, seem archaic now. So much of our scientific and medical understanding will likely be laughed at by our grandchildren as well. You know what truth doesn’t change? The Truth: Jesus Christ. They were using flawed understandings and chasing after false teachings, but Jesus cut through all that anyway. He still can because→
3. He can change disbelief into worship. They had already been convinced before they ever saw Him that He was not only the fulfillment of prophecy but the One worthy of their worship
Let’s take a moment to examine our hearts. Is Christmas more than a story to us? Have we let the reality of these events change our disbelief into worship?
Alright, second main point→
II. You Don’t Have To Understand Everything To Know & Be Changed By The Truth
The wise men’s arrival marks what is traditionally considered the end of the Christmas narrative. Let’s backtrack a bit to the beginning and look at Mary’s reaction when she first got this news! Luke 1:26-38: “26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." 34 And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" 35 And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy--the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God." 38 And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.”
Honestly, there’s so much here, but I just want to point out a few things for us to chew on.
1. Mary wasn’t dumb and her doubt wasn’t sinful. Ancient people weren’t less intelligent than us. They were working with a whole different set of experiences, but their minds were just as capable as ours. When Mary is given this news, she immediately starts processing…and doesn’t understand. She knows she can’t become pregnant the traditional way because she hasn’t been with her betrothed in that way yet. She understands the implications of being known as the “pregnant girl” in that context, too. She asks “how?” and isn’t reprimanded for it. Guys, it’s ok to come to God with our doubts and confusion. For too long, the church has had a reputation of preaching blind faith and rejecting earnest questions. Let’s not perpetuate that stereotype! We need to make it very clear that bringing your questions to God is exactly what we should be doing. Otherwise, we’ll be encouraging people to take their questions elsewhere, and what answers will you find if you’re running from the Truth? Church shouldn’t be the place in your life where you “turn off your brain”. We should be tackling questions here.
Mary brought her questions to God, and got the message we all need→
2. Don’t be afraid. Jesus came to change everything! This is true for all of us. We might not understand, but He does. We might not see how this ends, but He does. We might feel completely lost, but He’s not! This world is stumbling in darkness, but the light of the world has come!
3. Nothing is impossible with God, so why are you looking for hope and meaning without Him? Maybe I’ll just leave that one there ☺️.
4. Perspective: I’m Your servant. Let Your will be done. She still didn’t fully get it, but she knew the truth and was ready to be part of what He was doing. Are you?
5. Transformation: Everything was different because of her submission to God’s work in her life. Literally, the entire world has never been the same.
Let’s take a moment to let these sink in. Then, I’ll ask one of you to pray. Do you have doubts today? Bring them to Jesus. Be honest. Lay it all down. Are you prepared to surrender everything and experience His transforming grace in your life and in the lives of those around you?
TAKEAWAYS
You don’t have to feel “let down” after Christmas day because→
This is real.
Jesus is bigger than your intellectual objections and compassionate enough to come to you in the midst of them.
We don’t have to be afraid because Jesus brings hope and equips us to be His.
We’ll be transformed and see the world transformed when we submit our lives wholeheartedly to Jesus.
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