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Valley View Chapel December 20, 2015 Our Coming Savior

“The Scandal of Christmas

I've seen some scandals in my lifetime…

- Clinton Scandal.

- (older) Watergate.

- (younger) Bridgegate.

- Maybe your favorite athletes, coaches, entertainment stars, political or even religious

leaders are now shrouded by the cloud of scandal, shame, and ignominy.

I get upset when I hear about pastors wrapped up in scandal. A pastor I knew in the Midwest got caught in a scandal when he was found with another woman (from the church!). This was a guy I really admired. I remember the first time I met him, I thought, “I want to be a pastor like him- thoughtful, kind, confident in God’s Word, easy going and fun to talk to.” I guess I wasn’t the only one who admired his personality. It destroyed his church. The trust he built in a couple of years he lost overnight and set the church so far back in their rapport and trustworthiness that they’re still reeling from the damages.

Scandals hurt far more people than just those directly involved. Everyone who catches wind of a scandal loses some trust in the association, company, or group they’re a part of. If we lived in 1st century Nazareth, a little town in the area called Galilee, we may have caught wind of a scandal involving a lovely couple.

Read Mtt. 1:18-19NIV

Mary & Joseph were betrothed (~engagement, but I’ll explain) and yet she was discovered to be pregnant. To you, me, and the rest of Nazareth, that left 2 options:

- Joseph couldn’t control himself- (shame on him!) Lk 3:23 "[Jesus] was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph." public opinion

OR - Mary was unfaithful (punishable by death, or more commonly, public humiliation

and divorce) Scandal! In such a small town, you can bet word travelled fast and this once hopeful couple was thrown into the shadows of shame, disrepute, and doubt. Tongues wagged, heads shook, rumors started…

Joseph knew the baby wasn’t his, so to save his own reputation and to spare the woman he loved, he settled on a quiet divorce.

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But I wonder how quiet any divorce can be, especially in such a small town. People talk, especially about scandals…

Mary heard from God and knew she was right, but no one else heard, so they doubted her and saw her as a harlot!

(#Thattimewhenyouknowyou'rerightbuteverybodyelsethinksyou'rewrong !) - Even more scandalous, Mary is blaming GOD for the pregnancy!

o As crazy as ~ “The devil made me do it.”

Here’s what you need to know about their situation: they were together, but they weren’t allowed to be TOGETHER like that yet! They were betrothed. Let me explain…

Jewish marriage was a long process with a few steps: 1) *Espousal: parents arranged the marriage, often when the kids were little.

(PARENTS: genius of arranged marriage: take the biggest decision your kids have to make and make it for them! Brilliant right? Why have we stopped doing this? ) Sometimes the children had a say in the matter.

- *Not all Jews arranged marriages, a. But Galilean Jews were known for their staunch adherence to Jewish customs and

laws, so it would surprise me if Joseph and Mary were NOT espoused from a young age. Their parents likely arranged their marriage with their consent.

2) Betrothal: Much more serious than today's engagement.

a. Again, the parents are closely involved. b. The groom or his father made a contract (ketubah) and brought it to the bride's

father, giving money and/or gifts to her family. i. The gifts (opposite of dowry) showed the groom’s valuable love for her, and

were like compensation for both the cost to raise the girl and the labor she would no longer be around to provide for her family. (KIDS: how big of a gap in labor would you leave if you left your household?)

c. The groom would offer a cup of wine and if the bride (and family) accepted his contract for marriage, she drank the cup and the betrothal began. The groom would leave, saying, “I will go and prepare a place for you. Then I will come back and take you to be with me that we may be together.” (Jn 14:2-3)

d. Women were betrothed when they hit puberty and could have kids. So Mary is 12-16 yrs old at this point. Joseph 18-20.

e. Considered the beginning of marriage; legally as binding as marriage; could only be broken by divorce. In fact, if one died before the wedding the survivor would be called a widow or widower.

f. At least a year elapsed between betrothal and actual marriage. This time was spent preparing for marriage.

i. The groom would work on the living quarters, such as an addition to his family’s home or land.

ii. The bride would do everything from beauty treatments to preparing household supplies for the new nest.

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g. Communication between betrothed was through a friend of the bridegroom. Since Galilee was so “legalistic,” we can expect that Mary & Joseph, though aware of each other, didn’t spend any time together (~dates, etc.), certainly not alone anyway.

3) Wedding: a. At the end of the betrothal period, when the groom had the house or room all

ready, he would come for his bride and THEN the marriage celebration took place, accompanied by a big feast that lasted 7 days.

b. The first night of the wedding the couple finally spent together, and the groom would attest to the bride’s virginity.

That’s what Mary & Joseph and certainly their families and town expected of them. But then this unexpected pregnancy… What would they do? Was Joseph going to divorce Mary?

Mtt. 1:20-21

“After he had considered this…” I love how we can think up our best solution, and then God comes on the scene and gives us the rest of the story so we don’t mess everything up with what we were certain was the best plan!

**If you have some big decisions right now, do yourself a favor and don’t mess them up by not consulting with God and His Word first!**

Mtt. 1:22-25

Remember what a normal Jewish wedding looked like:

The celebration. The rejoicing. The families and friends all getting together. The groom’s public proof (bed sheet) or attestation of the bride’s chastity.

I don’t mean to be graphic, but Joseph “had no union” with Mary until after their baby was born. That means:

No honeymoon No celebration No proof of chastity …at least not until after Jesus was born, but by then it would’ve been awkward to say

the least! We can assume Mary & Joseph got married very discreetly. They were that couple who just went to the justice of the peace and then moved in together. No fanfare, no rejoicing, no beautiful pomp & circumstance of a ceremony. Just, “yesterday we were engaged, today we’re married.”

Do you see how abnormal all of this was?! Do you see how scandalous it all appears?! I’m sure people were whispering. It says a lot about Joseph’s character that he stood by Mary.

V. 19 says he was a righteous man and we can see now, why. But his righteousness wasn’t an easy road to follow. And in some ways, it didn’t even look like the right path to take!

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RIGHTEOUS= díkaios (also, “just") describes what is in conformity to God's own being (His

will, standard of rightness).

There’s a clear connection to the character of God connoted in the word “righteous.” In other words, Joseph is said here to act like God would act. {That’s big, and I’ll come back to that at the end…} Joseph, the “Righteous” Man 1. Unwilling to shame Mary

i. The law allowed him to divorce her, even stone her! There was no wrongdoing if he did. By rights, he probably should have- his wife-to-be was pregnant and the baby wasn’t his.

2. Unwilling to cover up scandal of Jesus’ conception. i. When he took Mary home to be his wife, it wasn’t just allowable but expected that

they’d come together physically also. By rights, he should have slept with Mary, then it’d seem that the baby was his, maybe even without appearance of premarital relations. It would’ve just looked more like he rushed the preparations to take Mary as his bride. Who can blame a lovesick groom for pushing up the wedding?

ii. He took every excuse away from himself, except the truth, and that truth could get him beat up, mocked, or put in a padded room- saying his kid was the Messiah who’d save Israel?! “Oh reeeaaallly? The one Mary conceived…from God??... We’ve heard of God’s miracles before. We’re a people with a history of miracles and wonders. But nobody has ever heard of this. This is a new one… and how convenient that Mary is your betrothed. Yeah, God’s baby… sure! How dare you try to bring God into your immorality!”

Sometimes you’re allowed to do something but the righteous + God-like thing to do is NOT to do what your rights allow.

1. This is why the Christians often choose to forego a lawsuit that may even handsomely reward them

2. Or why some don’t retaliate when we are wronged 3. Or why

3. He obeyed the angel every time, even though every time it caused him pain + difficulty i. 1:20- take Mary as your wife ii. 1:21- name the baby “Jesus” b/c he’ll save his people from sin (Jews shouted once:

“no one can forgive sin but God alone!” Mk 2:7) iii. 1:24- immediate obedience! iv. 2:13- go to Egypt…EGYPT?! Although ancient historian Josephus reports that there

was a large community of Jews in Alexandria Egypt, it still wasn’t home to Mary & Joseph, these backcountry Galileans. And Joseph got the family and left the same night! (2:14)

v. 2:19-20- go [back] to Israel vi. 2:22-23- live in Galilee… Nazareth (home *sweet* home… where everybody knew

their story) For Joseph, saying yes to God involved sacrifice.

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For Mary, too, saying yes to God involved great sacrifice. Mary’s story is captured more in Luke’s researched account of Jesus’ birth.

Luke 2:1-7 4. Eventually, you can’t hide pregnancy or a baby. So she endured the doubts of her betrothed

and the scorn of all who saw her pregnant before marriage. The wording is clear in case you missed it: (v.5) “pledged to be married and was expecting a child.”

5. To make matters worse, it’s tax time, so she and Joseph both have to go to Bethlehem,

about 70-80 miles from Nazareth! i. My wife is 21 weeks pregnant. Ask her if she’d like to go on a hike- for a week! (If

Mary didn’t lose Joseph with the unexpected pregnancy, it’s a wonder their relationship survived the trip to Bethlehem. Where did he stop along the way for ice cream and pickles? You know the poor guy probably gave her both sleeping mats and blankets at night and slept in the dirt.

6. “The inn”… = guest room; lodging-place (2 other places it’s used in NT it means guest

room). Travelers would try to stay with relatives or acquaintances when on the road. i. It seems that both Mary and Joseph were from the same ancestral tribe of Judah

and lineage of King David, hence the reason they both went to Bethlehem- King David’s- hometown for the census. That area, Syria, taxed both men and women, so Mary’s presence in Bethlehem was probably more than mere tagging along with Joseph. She had to be there to pay her dues.

ii. Since Mary + Joseph both traced their ancestry back to Bethlehem, we might imagine that there was some distant relative or family friend still living there, whom they tried to stay with. I don’t think this was some random hotel. Society was different then. It was family-centric and quite hospitable. Have you ever wondered why somebody would force a very pregnant woman to stay outside, in a cave or stable used for animals? The given reason was “there’s no room,” but I’m not buying it.

iii. Mary + Joseph perhaps travelled alone to Bethlehem, but there were others in their family who would’ve had to register in the census, too. Their parents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters. We’re talking about “the entire Roman world” (v1)… and “EVERYONE went to his own town to register” (v3). I’m sure Mary + Joseph were not the only ones from their families who went to Bethlehem. Being pregnant, I imagine Joseph kept a slower pace than the others. Plus, their was the cloud of scandal hanging over their heads too. What if the other relatives got to the relatives’ or friends’ house first, and caught up on all the family news, including this shameful news about Mary + Joseph expecting a child before their wedding! So the poor couple gets to the house and they’re told, “We’re full, I’m sorry. You’ll have to stay with the animals.” That’s what was said, but I wonder if they meant:

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“We don’t want the likes of you staying in our home. You broke God’s laws about purity before marriage so we don’t want you bringing any ill repute on this home as well. You can pay for the consequences of your sin alone, outside.” (Some Bible scholars think Jesus was probably born in the house of relatives, but outside the normal living and guest quarters.)

7. She had her baby away from family, without even proper care or facilities. No midwife, no mom, just a tender-hearted- but probably confused- husband with maybe a few animals.

Bad Timing! Jesus was undeniably born in the right place- Bethlehem. Both the OT and Rabbinic expectations pointed to Bethlehem for the Messiah's birth (Mic 5:2). But He was born in the WORST way and at the WORST time- a census by a pagan emperor!

(Next Jewish census would take place 10 yrs later, so Jesus was only counted in the population by Rome, not Jews at this point!)I.181

And last week you heard about the horrible Jewish King (misnomer) Herod! The real, once-for-all King of the Jews was born under their repugnant "king-appointee," puppet of Rome. (So "wrong" of a way that who would've made this up if they wanted to start a legend?)

Alfred Edersheim (Life & Times of Jesus the Messiah): "If the account of the circumstances, which brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, has no basis in fact, but is a legend invented to locate the birth of the Nazarene in the royal City of David, it must be pronounced most clumsily devised." (I.181)

You can’t make this stuff up! So much was going on that simply wasn’t the way things should be… SCANDAL! But that’s how Jesus was born: in a scandalous situation, at a scandalous time, to a scandalous couple. 8. And oh, by the way, after some more visions from angels directing them where to live in

(Israel, then Egypt) Mary & Joseph finally settled back in their hometown of Nazareth: i. a place about which one future disciple of Jesus scoffed, “Can anything good come

out of Nazareth?!” (Jn 1:46); ii. the place where people doubted Jesus’ power and authority later on, maybe

because they knew the scandal of his birth, and Mark (6) tells us “they took offense

at him.” iii. Jesus said of his community in Nazareth, “A prophet [has no] honor … in his own

town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6He was amazed at their lack of faith.” (Mk 6)

But all that isn’t the real scandal of Christmas. No, it gets MUCH more scandalous! The real scandal of Christmas is that it all happened… for YOU… and for ME.

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Remember that Joseph is called a “righteous man” in Matthew 1:19, and that righteousness can mean NOT doing what the Law allows or even encourages you to do. You and I have broken God’s laws. This is no small misdemeanor. If we’ve lied, gotten jealous or greedy, if we’ve wasted our time, resources, health, if we’ve hated, if we haven’t cared for people God put in our path to care for, if we have lusted, if we have stolen, if we’ve not honored God above all other people and things… then we’ve assaulted the very code of the universe. God made this world to function one way- in His ways- but we rebelled against those ways. “Righteous” means conformity to God's own being, but for us, this is what’s true instead:

Rom 3: 10“No one is righteous—not even one... 23For everyone has sinned; we all fall

short of God’s glorious standard. Some of you just heard me use the word “sin” and you’re already rolling your eyes, like, “These Christians… nobody else talks about sin anymore. Hello! It’s 2015. We’re a little past that!” I don’t care how far past sin you think you or our society is. If you’ve done anything wrong, including break one of the laws of this land which God has commanded us to live in submission to, then there should be some guilt on your conscience.

John Stott, The Cross of Christ(107-110) "What is common to the biblical concepts of the holiness and the wrath of God is the truth that they cannot coexist with sin. God’s holiness exposes sin; his wrath opposes it. So sin cannot approach God, and God cannot tolerate sin. “Several vivid metaphors are used in Scripture to illustrate this stubborn fact… [one of which] is the most dramatic of all. It indicates that the holy God’s rejection of evil is as decisive as the human body’s rejection of poison by vomiting. Vomiting is probably the body’s most violent of all reactions… The picture may be shocking, but its meaning is clear. God cannot tolerate or ‘digest’ sin and hypocrisy. They cause him not distaste merely, but disgust. They are so repulsive to him that he must rid himself of them. He must spit or vomit them out."

When God sees our sin, it makes Him want to puke! So wretched, horrible and contemptuous is our sin- which is doing, saying, or even wanting to do anything God says not to, AND not doing what He says to do (namely, love Him more than anything else)- that God is violently repulsed as if in an involuntary reflex. So foul are we to God that it’s as if He can’t help but to jerk away from us.

And YET… God sent Jesus- Who, it’s a mystery but, was God Himself- Right. To. Us. A scandal is when someone goes somewhere, does something they ought not do and everyone knows it! Imagine how Christmas looked to the angels in heaven who knew the purity and

righteousness of God, how He couldn’t tolerate evil: "God went WHERE?!... to do WHAT?!

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Our pure, holy, good God, went to earth, and not even the nice parts, but to Roman-occupied, disobedient Israel, to a poor not-completely-together couple, only to die a tortured death later?!?!" Listen to what God gave Jesus into for US and tell me if it’s not the greatest scandal of all time:

Isa 53:

3[Jesus] was despised and rejected—

a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.

We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.

He was despised, and we did not care.

4Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;

it was our sorrows that weighed him down.

And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,

a punishment for his own sins!

5But he was pierced for our rebellion,

crushed for our sins.

He was beaten so we could be whole.

He was whipped so we could be healed.

6All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.

We have left God’s paths to follow our own.

Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.

7He was oppressed and treated harshly,

yet he never said a word.

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.

And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.

8Unjustly condemned,

he was led away.

No one cared that he died without descendants,

that his life was cut short in midstream.

But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people.

9He had done no wrong

and had never deceived anyone.

But he was buried like a criminal;

he was put in a rich man’s grave.

10But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush him

and cause him grief.

Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,

he will have many descendants.

He will enjoy a long life,

and the LORD’s good plan will prosper in his hands.

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11When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,

he will be satisfied.

And because of his experience,

my righteous servant will make it possible

for many to be counted righteous,

for he will bear all their sins.

Rom 3:24 God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this

through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.

scandal of grace- not doing what law required for us each! The Christmas story gives Mary’s baby two names:

Jesus: “because He will save His people from their sins” (Jesus= God saves) (Mt 1:21)

Immanuel: “God with us” (Mt 1:22) Us who turn away from Him; Us who curse Him and curse each other; Us who do whatever we want no matter what He says…

You know yourself... If you were another person, knowing everything you know about

yourself (secrets, sins, guilt, choices…), would you give your own child to die for the likes of you? THAT’S the scandal of Christmas…

…That God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (Jn 3:16)

About 2020 years ago, a woman held a baby in her arms whom she didn’t understand but looked on with awe and wonder. He was her treasure. And yet, holding the whole world, including a frightened, confused and scandalized teenage girl, was the One how treasured her, treasured you and me so much that He would make Himself a scandal to rescue us. Thank God for the scandal of Christmas!!