Here’s one of the points from a sermon on Matthew 2:1-18…
Christmas is for people who don’t want Jesus.
The first Christmas hardly anyone actually wanted Jesus. When you have the nice nativity scene it looks like Jesus had quite a nice welcoming committee – shepherds, wise men.
Actually that is a pathetic welcoming committee. God has been made flesh. The light of the world has come. And all you get is a few motley shepherds and then a year or two later a few strange guys from the east drop by. That’s it.
Joy to the world! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King;
But the earth doesn’t receive her King. Look at Jerusalem:
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;
This is the centre of the Jewish world – this is where the Messiah should have a massive ticker tape reception. Herod is troubled – he sees Jesus as a threat to his rule – and all Jerusalem with him. Not rejoicing – troubled.
4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he enquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ 7 Then the chief, priests and the Scribes and all Jerusalem said, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this great thing that has happened.” And so they made haste and ran to see the Messiah.
Is that verse 7 in your Bible? It doesn’t say that in my Bible. They knew the Messiah had been born, they knew that he was a few kilometres down the road in Bethlehem but they didn’t want to go to him.
These are religious people. Chief priests, scribes, God’s people living in Jerusalem. They’ve been through Sunday School and CRE. They know all the right answers. But their hearts are cold. They know their Bibles. They search the Scriptures but they won’t come to Jesus to have life.
Are you cold to Jesus this morning? You come to church, maybe you even read the Bible but actually in your heart of hearts you don’t really want Jesus. A bit of religion maybe. A bit of prayer. A bit of gospel music. But if I ask you to come and receive Jesus right now – you don’t want to do that. Maybe you’re getting a bit uncomfortable now and you’re hoping there’s not an altar call. You like church but you don’t really want Jesus.
The great news is Jesus came for people who didn’t want him. Christmas is for the cold and hardened and unwilling. Look again at the end of verse 6:
for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel
Jesus – the shepherd ruler – came to Israel – God’s rebellious people – who had disowned him a thousand times – who had wandered so far from him that when they heard that the Messiah had arrived they were troubled! The good shepherd came to shepherd a flock who had descended into hypocrisy and legalism and religiosity and didn’t want him.
You notice Jesus didn’t wait till Israel was ready. He didn’t wait till Israel was repentant and longing for him and willing to come to him. The good shepherd came to the lost sheep of Israel, the confused, wandering, half-dead sheep of Israel who didn’t even want him. And he laid down his life for those sheep.
Are you unwilling to come to Jesus this morning? That’s ok. Because Jesus has come for you. He knows you’re not willing and he has come for people who don’t want him.
In fact none of us is naturally willing to come to Jesus. We are born allergic to Jesus. We are all born allergic to light and truth. We have a God-intolerance. There is no one who seeks God. We don’t naturally want Jesus. But the good news is Jesus wants us, he has come to us, ready or not here he comes.
Christmas is for the unwilling .
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1. The OT is an unfinished story, promise without fulfilment, shadows. The letter to the Hebrews does often use the word ‘better’ to describe what you get with the coming in the flesh of Jesus and the new covenant. In the NT you get the climax of the story, the resolution of apparent contradictions, the substance and Yes to all the promises of the OT.
2. Jesus and his Apostles teach us that all the Hebrew Scriptures (OT), as well as their own words (the NT) are fully inspired, the true voice of God written, and all useful for teaching, rebuking etc., all written for our learning and comfort and warning. Even when they say we are not under law they are quick to follow that we are not lawless. Under the new covenant the *law* is written on our hearts. At the same time, Jesus says that he is the fulfilment of the law, which means (among other things) that our relationship to the OT law is now changed. We obey the law as mediated through Christ; as “the law of Christ”. As it is sometimes put, we “pass everything through Christ and the Cross.” We read all the OT promises, commands and institutions in relation to Christ – what he did and said – he is our interpretative key – the Christian life is first and foremost following him.
3. Hebrews tells us that the OT saints (Abraham, Moses, David etc.) were walking by faith towards a heavenly kingdom just as we are. But it also warns us very strongly that if as someone living past the coming of Christ you reject his divinity, his supremacy, his priesthood and his call and try to go back to the OT institutions, the Mosaic Law and the Aaronic priesthood as if Jesus had never come then you are in desperate danger. There has been a change of high priest and a change of covenant. Going back to the more outwardly impressive rituals of the old covenant or hiding from persecution in Judaism (as the recipients of Hebrews seemed tempted to do) is to drift away from Christ in whom is all our salvation.
4. The early heretic Marcion believed the NT but not the OT. The problem was the NT is constantly quoting and building on and affirming the OT. So Marcion had to cut out huge chunks of the NT too. As mentioned above, we must believe the OT because Jesus did. And if we don’t read the OT the NT won’t make a lot of sense to us. It’ll be like reading the last few chapters of a novel or seeing the last half an hour of a movie. Can you can reach heaven if you only have a NT translated in your language – I’m sure you can. But if we completely reject the OT that we have, that is either a worrying misunderstanding or a worrying lack of submission to king Jesus.
Hope that makes some sense and begins to answer your very helpful questions Andrew. Big topics! How would others put it?