Unwanted Baby

On 24th November this year, at about 7.30am, a group of cyclists were riding down a bike track beside the M7 highway west of Sydney, Australia when they heard a noise, like the faint meowing of a kitten. They stopped riding and looked around but saw nothing. Eventually, they traced the sound to a storm drain by the side of the road. They pulled off the concrete cover and found a one week-old baby, wrapped in a hospital blanket, lying at the bottom of the drain.

The little boy had been squeezed through the drain's narrow opening, dropped and left for dead. He was found malnourished and dehydrated. Sydney had been sweltering in temperatures above 30C and it is thought the baby, who had been abandoned five days earlier, would not have survived two hours longer if those cyclists had not heard his cries. It was a miracle he survived the fall and was discovered when he was.

You probably heard this story in the news. His mother is facing charges of attempted murder but the little boy is now in good care and is doing well. I paid particular attention to it because I happen to share a birthday with that little lad; 18th November. I wondered what it would have been like, for me, to grow up knowing I had been rejected or mistreated by my own mother.

It’s more common than we realise. According to the NSPCC, about one in ten children in the UK have experienced neglect at some point in their lives. About 200,000 babies are aborted in our country each year.

New laws in the United States have made it possible for unwanted new-borns to be abandoned at specific locations, known as safe havens, with no questions asked, and with no threat of prosecution. These laws have had to be passed because the phenomenon of unwanted babies is on the increase.

And as I reflected on the sadness of all this, it occurred to me that Jesus too entered our world as an unwanted baby.

It would be unfair, strictly speaking, to say that Mary, his mother, didn’t want him. In fact, the Bible says that she accepted that her child was from God and she trusted the Lord for whatever would follow. But I don’t think she would ever have planned her life this way. To be pregnant before her wedding in her society was scandalous and deeply shameful and it still is throughout the Middle East. She could have been stoned for it. As she wondered as a little girl what motherhood would one day be like, Mary would never have wished for her first pregnancy to be overshadowed by public disapproval and disgrace.

Joseph certainly didn’t want him, at least at first. It took him time to come to terms with the idea that his fiancée was expecting a baby that wasn’t his - but without her having been unfaithful to him. We know he wanted to call the wedding off and was ready to walk away. That was only ever about this unexplained pregnancy. As far as Joseph was concerned, Jesus was an unwanted baby.

Then Mary and Joseph’s wider family didn’t want him either. If their home town was Bethlehem, there would certainly have been relatives of some sort living in that area. But when they arrived in Bethlehem, no one opened their home to them, they were persona non grata - so they had to look for somewhere to stay in a local hostel. But they felt Mary had brought dishonour on their good name. They disapproved of Joseph marrying what they saw as a loose woman. As far as Joseph and Mary’s wider family was concerned, Jesus was an unwanted baby.

Then the Innkeeper didn’t want him either. A young couple turns up looking for a room but his hostel is already overcrowded and he’s short staffed. He’s got drinks and evening meals to serve in his congested tavern, a full complement of breakfasts to prepare and serve at first light, rooms to turn round before midday, paperwork to do… the last thing he needs is another hard luck story on his doorstep. Mary and Joseph were just another problem. It wasn’t his fault the girl was pregnant. As far as the innkeeper was concerned, Jesus was an unwanted baby.

Then Herod didn’t want him either. Anyone who had a claim to his throne, even a new-born infant, was not to be tolerated. Herod thought nothing of killing two of his own sons the moment he suspected they were a threat to his reign. Anyone showing the slightest ambition of claiming his title “King of the Jews” was ruthlessly eliminated. As far as Herod was concerned, Jesus was an unwanted baby.

All through his life Jesus was unwanted. The Scribes and the Pharisees hated him. His own brothers thought he was out of his mind. Those from his home town tried to stone him. Judas betrayed him. The Temple Guards arrested him. The Chief Priests and Elders indicted him – though they couldn’t get their testimonies to agree. Pontius Pilate condemned him – though he couldn’t find a thing wrong with him. His closest friend Peter disowned him - though he had sworn loyalty to him just hours earlier.

Isaiah the prophet foretold about Jesus 750 years before he was born saying, “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.” All four Gospels agree that he was precisely that.

As you know, this year marks the 100th anniversary of World War One and the unofficial Christmas truce that broke in several places on the Western Front.

No one quite knows for sure where it began or which side was the first to start singing Silent Night. But soon, German and British soldiers were singing in unison. Slowly, a few squaddies emerged from the trenches, hands in the air. No one fired. So more came out.

The dead, left out in the middle of the line of fire, were recovered and given a proper burial. Eventually they all met in the middle, exchanged gifts of cigarettes and chocolate and played football together. There were prisoner swaps as well.

The following year, only a few units arranged ceasefires. There had been strongly worded orders from high command on both sides not to fraternise with the enemy.

Jesus was once again an unwanted baby, this time by the military generals who sent millions to their deaths in a war hardly anyone knew the reason for.

By the year after that, 1916, no one wanted a truce any more. There had been heavy losses in Verdun and the Somme and the widespread use of poison gas had long ended any inclination to show a bit of seasonal goodwill.

Everybody wanted peace, but nobody was prepared to accept the terms of the Prince of Peace, Jesus, the one who said to his followers “Love your enemies” and “Put your sword back in its place.”

To end, I want to read you a few lines from Bonny who is a social worker and who might well have been an unwanted baby. Because she wrote,  

“As a child I suffered years of abuse. Even into my thirties I had flashbacks of the terrible things I suffered. Years of hating people who had hurt me left me with a very bitter heart. I was often ill and in complete distress with physical and mental pain.

Having become a Christian at the age of 31 the issue of forgiving those who hurt me reared its head. I did not want to do this. I recall banging my fists on the floor and telling God in no uncertain terms that I would not and could not forgive.

But as time went on I began to realise forgiveness was not about those who had hurt me. It was about the damage that not forgiving was doing to me. I learned that forgiving is a decision I could make, not a feeling I should feel. So I said these words, ‘God I do not feel like forgiving but as an act of my will I choose to forgive. I ask that you forgive the people who hurt me and forgive me for all the wrong things I have done.’

An amazing thing then happened. As I forgave, God took away the dreadful flashbacks and pain I had felt all those years. The flashbacks began to get less and less and the physical pain in my body began to heal.

I now know that God can rewrite a life no matter how sad or painful it has been.”

From his unpromising beginnings as an unwanted baby, no one has transformed more individual lives and impacted human history more than Jesus of Nazareth.

As you celebrate Christmas this year, I feel God would say to us, “What about you? Will you accept my Son? Everybody else rejected him but what about you? Will you put up with him? Will you let him change your heart? Will he be Lord of your future?

Carol Service talk at Saint Mary's Long Newton and All Saints' Preston on Tees, 21st December 2014

Finding God by Looking Up (Matthew 2.1-12)

 Introduction

“We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts we traverse afar, field and fountain, moor and mountain following yonder star.”

That was all well and good in the First Century. But what legislation and bureaucracy would they have to contend with if Jesus were born in 2014?

You can see the problems can’t you?

1. All visitors to Israel must have valid passports with biometric ID, visas and travel insurance.

2. Tom-Tom satellite navigation systems will not be held responsible for any deviation from your intended route as the accuracy of star navigation cannot be guaranteed.

3. Please note, as per the guidelines from the RSPCA, that camels are entitled to food and rest breaks every 4 hours or every 10 miles.

4. Scissors, hand cream and similar products are not permitted on camels. A full list of proscribed items is available on the Foreign Office website.

5. You are reminded that the offering of presents to royalty is subject to strict guidelines and regulated by the Bribery and Corruption Act. Therefore all gifts must be listed in duplicate on the Declaration of Interests form available at most post offices.

6. This may be waived in the case of a back hander deposited in FIFA’s offshore bank account in the Solomon Islands.

7. It is particularly noted that currency or gold must be declared at customs, while caution is advised regarding other common gifts, notably aromatic resins such as myrrh which may provoke allergic reactions or frankincense which is not to be lit in any public place.

And don’t get me started on “Away in a Manger.”

We are advised of the recent case of an infant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, found in a domestic animal’s eating trough, with no crib for a bed. Social Services have been alerted and will be arriving shortly.

Actually, the circumstances that surrounded Jesus’ first coming are strikingly similar to those of today and may perhaps be a sign that his second coming is near - though I think we always need to be cautious when speaking of these things. 

For example, when Jesus was born, like today, the Middle East was a tinder box of restless political agitation, marked by violence and almost ungovernable.  

When Jesus was born, as in our day, there were sudden vast leaps forward in communications. In our day, we have telecommunications, the internet, air travel and the prevalence of English as the world's commercail language. In the First Century too, Roman roads were making travel much easier and cheaper and safer. The Greek language was widely spoken, making it possible for nations and peoples to come together as never before.

When Jesus was born, like today, the eyes of those in the west were looking east and the eyes of those in the east were looking west – and the focal point at the centre of it all was an unstable Middle East.

They Spotted the Star

And amongst those in the east looking west were these Magi. Of course, as you know I’m sure, the Bible never actually says that these visitors were men or women, or how many of them there were, whether they were royalty or not or even if they were wise. We certainly have no idea what their names might have been so we have to clear away quite a lot of sentimental folklore to get a picture of who these Magi really were.

We do know that they were from as far as Persia or perhaps even India. They were the philosophers, intellectuals, scholars of their day. They studied the universe and they tried to make sense of it all. They looked for patterns in the stars and noticed that you can arrange the lights in the sky together in groups. The patterns they traced reminded them of the shapes of things they knew and they gave them names.

The Magi noticed that all the stars appeared to move in a great arc as the night progressed. Then they made charts and divided the heavens into sections. So they identified stars, labelled their groups and learned about their motion.

And from this learning, people began to say that the movements in the heavens affect our lives and that we can therefore predict the future based on the known trajectory of the stars and planets.

There is actually a very small element of truth in that. We now know for example that the solar cycle affects the weather on earth. The position of the moon influences the tides. Some say the full moon affects people’s moods – (I don't know where they get that from, sounds a lunatic idea to me!)

Maybe movements in the heavens impact life on earth in small ways, but the truth is this: God orders both the heavens and the earth. God clearly forbids speculating with horoscopes and astral charts because they lead us away from trusting him for our future.

Don’t waste your time or spend your money on useless stargazers who say they know what path you should take. The Bible says trust in the Lord with all your heart and he will make your paths straight.

We’ve all heard of people who blame their misfortunes on the fact that they, a Sagittarius, happen to have Saturn coming into Orion or whatever drivel Mystic Meg is serving up that day. It’s rubbish. As Shakespeare said in Julius Caesar, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars. But in ourselves.”

Some of you know that I love astronomy. I love looking at pictures of nebulas and galaxies thousands of light years away. It speaks to me of the awe and wonder of God; his infinite greatness, his mighty and glorious creative wisdom.

The writer of Psalm 8 felt the same way.

I look up at your skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewellery,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at myself and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?

“The fuel of worship is a true vision of the greatness of God” said John Piper. God’s majesty and authority are what the vast splendour of the heavens reminds me of. You can find God by looking up.

I like Professor Brian Cox. He certainly knows his facts. But when you listen to him carefully, you notice that he tends to mix his facts with his opinions. In his recent series The Human Universe he said that a scientific way of thinking includes removing the idea of a creator God – because, he says, there is no god. Well that’s his opinion. His mind has ruled out the possibility of a Creator before he looks up so it’s unsurprising he sees nothing when he does.

But there are many scientists who are Christians who see the incredible order in the cosmos as evidence of God’s wise dominion over all things.

Johannes Kepler was one of the most famous. He was incredibly brilliant - a total mathematical genius. And, as a Christian, his conviction was that God has created the world according to an intelligible plan and so you can make sense of it when you study it. He was the first to work out the precise orbits of all the planets round the sun and he explained using complex equations why some orbits were circular and some were oval shaped.

He was centuries ahead of his time. And because he saw that the circular motion of planets was totally predictable, one of the many things he calculated was that, seen from the earth, there were alignments of Saturn and Jupiter in 7BC, which is about three years before Jesus was born. Many people think it was this that caught the Magi’s attention and set them off on their quest.

Or it might have been Halley’s Comet which passed by in 11BC. Or there are records in China dating back to 4BC of an unusual evanescent star. What the Magi saw could of course have been a supernatural manifestation of the Lord’s glory. 

William Barclay thinks it was the brightest star in the sky, twice as bright as any other - Sirius. Here’s what he says. “In the years 5 to 2 BC there was an unusual astronomical phenomenon. In those years, on the first day of the Egyptian month, Mesori, Sirius… rose at sunrise, and shone with extraordinary brilliance. Now the name Mesori means “the birth of a prince”, and to those ancient Magi such a star would undoubtedly mean the birth of some great king… It was their profession to watch the heavens, and some heavenly brilliance spoke to them of the entry of a king into the world.”

All we know is this; as they looked up they made the greatest spiritual discovery of their lives.

They Searched the Scripture

Well, our Bible reading begins with the words “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem…” And v11 says they were in a house. There’s no talk of an inn or a shelter for domestic animals.

It seems that the census was now over and the crowds were gone. But the baby must have been too small to travel the long distance back to Nazareth. You wouldn’t trek 70 miles on foot in the winter with a new born infant would you? And Mary will have welcomed a bit of a rest after all she’d been through so it seems they decided to spend a few weeks, maybe several months, in Bethlehem before returning home.

And it was during this time that these visitors from the East arrived in the area. But before they got to Bethlehem they went to Jerusalem, about 5 miles away. They had no idea where to look of course. So they went to the most obvious place for a new king of the Jews - the capital, and the palace in Jerusalem where Herod lived (v1).

His title was Herod the Great. But he was Herod the petty; insanely jealous – he killed his wife and sons the minute he saw them as potential rivals for his throne. He ordered many massacres, shedding the innocent blood of thousands. Herod’s paranoia in this chapter matches perfectly everything we know about him from secular history. Mark will no doubt say a bit more about Herod next week.

I just want to say this; the Magi’s logical deduction got them to Jerusalem. It got them as far as the general vicinity – but it didn’t get them to Jesus. Did you notice; it wasn’t until the Magi found people who knew the Bible that their search went from being in the right general area to actually encountering Jesus personally.

It’s like that funny story of the young boy who goes up to his father and says, “Dad, why does the wind blow?” to which the father responds, “I don’t know, son.” “Dad, where do the clouds come from?” “I’m not sure, son.” “Dad, what makes a rainbow?” “No idea, son.” “Dad, do you mind me asking you all these questions?” “Not at all, son. How else are you going to learn?”

Rational study is great. But logic and reason and human enquiry can only take you so far in your quest to know God personally. You also need faith. You need revelation.

But here’s the sad thing for me; in v4-6 the priests and teachers of the law in Jerusalem who knew the Scriptures and read them every day didn’t bother to go with the Magi to meet their Messiah. Isn’t that sad? Listen, you can know the Bible inside out, you can study it in a dry and academic way, but still have little or no interest in knowing Jesus personally.

Where would you be? Would you be in Herod’s fine palace, enjoying the nice food and debating it all with the ruling elite? Or would you be on your way with these visitors to see if it was really true?

Jesus challenged people like this 30 years later. He said “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

And isn’t it telling that the simple, low-life, illiterate shepherds had only a few hundred yards to travel to see the new king? (They’d already been and gone of course). But the intellectuals, the academics, had to journey for miles and they arrived later.

Ordinary people often find God more easily. Those of great learning often have so many sophisticated questions, so many mental barriers, so many rational objections that get in the way. They may arrive in the end but it often takes them much longer - and it did here.

They Saw the Saviour

So they went to Bethlehem. And it’s only as they travel on in faith, which is quickened by revelation from God’s word, that they see the star again (v9-10). 

When you’re looking for the Lord’s leading, his guidance is so often like that. People sometimes ask me about the Lord’s guidance and I always say that it’s easier to turn the steering wheel of a car when you’re moving than when you’re parked. It’s easier to know which direction to take in life if you’re spiritually active, serving the Lord, and growing on in faith.

When they get to the house (v11) they find a plain working man, a simple young peasant woman, and a baby boy. There’s no outward sign of royalty, no butler and no maid, no crown, no fine clothes. But they knew. They knew they have found who they had come to see.

The first time you meet Jesus you never forget do you? I remember when the Lord opened my heart to believe when I was 17 – it was like coming home. I knew that I found what I had been looking for all my life when I opened my heart to Christ. Oh, the emotion, the joy!

They bowed down and worshipped. They came to give themselves as subjects before they opened their gifts.

Louie Giglio says “Worship is our response to what we value most.” So if you value money most you worship money. If you value youth most you worship youth. If you value your job most you worship your job. If you value sport most you worship sport. The Magi valued Christ most and they bowed down and worshipped him.

They didn’t go home saying “Well, I didn’t get much out of that.” They didn’t moan that the worship wasn’t their preferred style. They got it that worship is about him - and not about them.

And on the day we too offer gifts to those less fortunate than us at Saint James’ House, just look at the value of their gifts. Nothing last minute from the petrol garage here is there? Gold for royalty, incense for a priest, myrrh to embalm a body (v11). Their gifts speak of his kingship, his deity and his suffering.

They opened their treasures, (v11) isn’t that beautiful? If we were entertaining the Queen we’d serve her the finest dinner we could prepare, not dish up the leftovers we didn’t want. And here it wasn’t just what was left over after they’d spent all they wanted on themselves. They gave extravagantly. 

So what should your giving to the King of kings look like? What do you think? They gave what was most valuable, most precious. When you come into the presence of Jesus what treasures do you open?

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 14th December 2014

Finding God in a Family Crisis (Matthew 1.18-25)

Introduction

Years ago, I bought a new mobile phone. It was a good one; it had a 2 megapixel camera and an MP3 player. I took a photo on it once but never worked out how to view it and I wouldn’t have a clue how to download music to the media player, let alone listen to it.

But it only cost me One Euro. However, I did have to sign up to a contract that bound me to a particular mobile network for two years. Anyway, a few days after I bought my phone I received an official looking text message telling me that the owner of a certain phone number had won a prize. I thought, “That number looks familiar” and, sure enough, it was mine. I now had an exciting opportunity to win a new car, or 10.000 Euros or some other unspecified surprise. All I had to do is call a number (at one Euro a minute) to find out what it was.

You know what? I didn’t bother. I thought “They’re going to have me hanging on the line for half an hour to win the surprise – which will probably turn out to be a cardboard dustpan and brush.”

Joseph – the Call that Stretches Faith

Maybe the 1^st century equivalent of my text message would have sounded like this: “Joseph Davidson, here’s an exciting opportunity for you to grow in faith! Do you really want to waste your life doing woodwork or will you embark on an exhilarating adventure with God? You want the fun? Congratulations! You get to marry this pregnant girl who tells you that she’s a virgin.”

What did Joseph think? I think if we could see his face, he would have had the same helpless expression that Moses must have had when God said, “You, Moses, are going to defy the most powerful man on earth, this mighty ruler who destroys all who resist him. You are going to tell Pharaoh to stick his pyramid where the sun don’t shine and lead your nation out of oppression into the Promised Land.”

Unsurprisingly, Moses tried to walk away. And so did Joseph. The coming of Christ was not a fairy-tale, magical event like a cute nativity play. Jesus came to us in a messy and stressful family crisis. And he still does today.

Joseph should have known that from the beginning of the Bible to the end God almost never seems to call anyone to do anything reasonable or sensible.

“Gideon, you are going to take on the vast Midianite army with 300 losers equipped with candles and jam jars.”

“David, you are going to defeat the undefeated champion of the Philistines, eight feet tall and covered in armour. You will have, at your personal disposal, the arsenal of a few pebbles and an elastic band.”

“Jeremiah, you are going to prophesy all your life to your nation and nobody will listen to you. Ever. You will face jeers, humiliation, chains, exile and you will be left for dead in a hole in the ground.”

“John the Baptist, you’re going wear a hair shirt, eat insects and tear into King Herod, the most powerful man in the land, for stealing another man’s wife.”

“Joseph, you’re going to marry a girl ‘in the family way’ but who swears she’s never had sex in her life.”

Never confuse following Christ with an easy life! But can I encourage you? Do not be afraid of what the future holds.

With God you never need to run away just because what he calls you to seems impossible. The truth is you’re probably even less equipped to answer God’s call on your life than you think you are.

But 2 Corinthians 4.7 says, “This all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” 

Mary – the Pregnant Virgin

So verse 18; “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child...”

In September 1996 The Daily Telegraph published this article:

 “Virgin birth insurance. Some 300 British women have taken out insurance against having a virgin birth by an act of God. The policy offered by London insurance brokers Goodfellow Ingrams Pearson, promises to pay out £1 million in the event of a virgin birth - to be verified by an independent panel of gynaecologists - against an annual payment of £100. A number of those who took up the policy are from an exclusively female sect who reportedly believes that this would hasten the return of Christ. This is not the company’s only unusual policy - a scheme insuring against impregnation by aliens was taken up by 723 people in just four weeks. Managing Director Simon Burgess commented, “You must never underestimate the stupidity of the British public…”

It doesn’t take a gynaecologist to tell you that a virgin birth is not normal.

I remember when I was growing up, watching a drama on TV, where a 17 year-old girl announces to her bemused parents that she’s going to have a baby. Dad starts shouting. Mum hits the roof. Daughter sobs uncontrollably and then says, “But mum, it was an accident!”

And I used to wonder how you could find yourself pregnant by accident. I didn’t dare ask anyone. But I worried that you could become a dad inadvertently.

And so it wasn’t until I got to the age of about 15 that it sunk in that “It was an accident” really meant “Me and Wayne had sex without a condom.” Yes, it dawned on my sensitive soul that, in the normal course of events, it always takes a man and a woman to make a baby. Any other explanation is scientifically impossible.

But, actually, not all that impossible. Here’s an extract from BBC Science and Nature. “Female hammerhead sharks can reproduce without having sex, scientists confirm. The evidence comes from a shark at Nebraska Zoo in which a female gave birth to a pup in 2001 despite having had no contact with a male. Genetic tests … prove conclusively the young shark possessed no paternal DNA… Parthenogenesis, as this type of reproduction is known, occurs when an egg cell is triggered to develop as an embryo without the addition of any genetic material from a male sperm cell.”

Parthenogenesis occurs naturally in several types of fish, amphibians, and reptiles, some invertebrates, as well as in many plants. It’s very rare, but it does happen.

That’s all well and good. But I don’t think Joseph knew about this and I think that even if he did he would have had no inclination to believe that that is what must have happened here.

He would be right. Let’s be clear. This is not how Jesus was conceived. God becoming human was not a spontaneous biological anomaly. God’s great plan to send his eternal Son in flesh and blood was not a weird evolutionary mutation. Jesus was conceived by a powerful, miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, as the end of v18 specifically states.

I believe that the Bible is true, that this book is a trustworthy record of things that actually happened. I accept that Mary was a virgin when she was pregnant. Full-stop. But why is it so important that Jesus was born of a virgin? Does it matter? Even if the Bible never mentioned it, why would it just not do for him to be conceived by normal sexual relations between Joseph and Mary? I can think of two reasons.

Firstly, it shows that salvation can never come from human effort or works, but must ultimately come from the Lord. If Jesus had had two human parents the solution to all our sin would be man-made. But no. Only God can save us.

Secondly, only by a virgin birth is it possible for the full deity and the full humanity to come together in the one person of Jesus Christ. As it is, Jesus is fully human - so he can totally identify with all our experiences, and fully God - so he can totally deliver us from all our fallenness. If Jesus had had two human parents he could have fully understood our sinful state but he wouldn’t have had the power to save us from it.

Then we read this: “Because Joseph her husband (by the way the custom was that you were called husband and wife even during the engagement, and even though you had to get a divorce to break it off, you couldn’t have sex before the wedding itself)… it says “Joseph was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” (v19-20).

Fear Not

I remember reading about a photographer for a national magazine who was assigned to take pictures of a forest fire in the summer of 2005. He was told that there would be a small plane at the local aerodrome waiting to take him up. He got to the airstrip just as it was getting dark and sure enough, there was a small Cessna aircraft on the runway. He jumped in with all his equipment, his cameras and lenses and shouted “OK, let’s go!”

The pilot took off, swung the plane into the wind, and soon they were flying erratically through the air. After a while, the photographer shouted out, “Fly over the north side of the fire! And make several low-level passes.” The pilot sounded petrified. “Why would I want to do that?” So the other guy said, “Because I’m going to take pictures! That’s what photographers do!” The pilot looked even more scared. “You mean - you’re not my flight instructor!?”

“Do not be afraid...” It seems that any time any angel is despatched from heaven to earth, they must have standing orders that on encountering any human being they are immediately to say, “Fear not!” The Christmas stories in the Bible bear eloquent testimony to this.

Here in v20, here’s Joseph; bothered about the cost of following God’s leading. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.”

You know what it’s like when you’re on the verge of stepping out and following the Lord, maybe about making an important decision, that will mean a big change… maybe cutting ties with something you know isn’t right or taking a stand that will make you unpopular… it’s unsettling, it’s frightening… and if that’s where you are today, do not be afraid.

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” In fact that’s what the name Jesus means - “God saves.”

And that is, of course, why he came. Because as the sad, sorry mess the world is in shows, we need to be saved.

If the greatest need of the human race had been more knowledge, God would have sent us a professor.

If our greatest need had been better technology, God would have sent us an engineer. 

If our greatest need had been increased wealth, God would have sent us an economist.  

If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. 

If Jesus is just a great reformer, a great teacher or a great philosopher he can’t lift our sins from us. He can’t save.

But our greatest need, our deepest need, the basic and fundamental need for all of us is forgiveness. Have you lived a flawless life and never broken one of God’s laws? None of us have. Have you never had to regret anything you’ve ever done or said? All of us have. That’s why God sent us a Saviour.

One day someone wrote a letter to the veteran evangelist Billy Graham which was published in his newspaper column. This is what it said; “I turned my back on God over 60 years ago, while I was still in my teens. I can even remember when I did it. Now I'm old and dying, and I wish I'd taken a different road. Please tell young people not to do what I did. I was a fool, but now it's too late.”

And this is how Billy Graham replied; “Thank you for your letter. When we're young, we often don't realize how life-changing our decisions may be - for good or for evil. Only as we grow older do we begin to see it - and that's especially true for someone in your position. The Bible speaks of the terrible consequences that await those who “did not choose to fear the Lord” (Proverbs 1.29). But listen: It is not too late for you to turn to God! Yes, your life would have been much different (and much happier) if you had given your life to Christ when you had the opportunity many years ago. 

But why enter eternity separated from God and his blessings if you don't have to? God loves you, in spite of the way you've treated him. If you had been the only person on earth who needed to be saved, Jesus Christ would still have gone to the cross and died for you. God loves you that much! Right now, God is speaking to you and giving you a second chance to turn to Christ. Don't make the same mistake you did over 60 years ago. The Bible says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near” (Isaiah 55.6). Confess your sins to God and commit your life to Jesus Christ. You cannot change the past, but you can change the future.”

I don’t know whether that person made their peace with God before they died. I hope so. But you and I today, we can have freedom and forgiveness from God because he sent his Son into the world to save sinners.

Ending

All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel” - which means, “God is with us” (v24).

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 7th December 2014

A Night at the Pub

Researchers have found that Christmas is one of the most stressful times of the year. 

• Cake to make – check
• Cards to write and send - check
• Parties to attend – check. 
• Tree and decorations to put up – check
• Shopping to finish – check... 

But the first Christmas was possibly the most stressful of all. Matthew’s account of the nativity records 

• an embarrassing personal predicament
• a family crisis
• a risky journey
• danger from a paranoid serial killer
• bitter tears
• unwanted foreigners
• homelessness
• great uncertainty

I would love to have been there that night in the packed Bethlehem Arms. (Or was it the Bar Mitzvah?) 

No doubt there were animated discussions in there about the much-loved politicians who had arranged this ridiculous international census. Maybe they were playing darts in the corner (with a picture of Herod or Caesar stuck to the bull’s eye). Perhaps there was a bit of live lyre music in the corner. How unlucky would you be if you were one of the shepherds on the late shift that cold, clear night instead of in that warm tavern?

If you had poked your head through the door, only to find it was a bit crowded for your liking, you would have heard the same sounds as you hear in any inn, anywhere on earth.

Strange, isn’t it, that as people enjoyed a nice night out in the pub, putting the world to rights, nobody guessed that the single greatest event in world history - the thing that would divide time between BC and AD and really would put the world to rights - was taking place in the little old shed outside.

But God had made his plans early for Christmas that year. 

• Send beloved Son to save the world – check
• Show Herod what a real king looks like – check
• Fulfil centuries of prophecy – check
• Prove that even in the greatest stressing can come the greatest blessing – check

Finding God in Messed-Up Lives (Matthew 1.1-17)

Introduction 

We are beginning a new series today which will run through to the last Sunday of the year and we’ve called it “Finding God at Christmas.”

It’s the nativity as told by Matthew - which is a darker and heavier perspective than Luke’s. 

Matthew probably got his source material for chapters 1 and 2 from Joseph because it tells the story from Joseph’s viewpoint.

Luke must have got his facts from Mary because he writes from hers. That explains the differences between the two gospels but when you compare them, like two pieces of a jigsaw they complement each other and fit together perfectly.

Except for one thing - the genealogies.

Why Genealogies Are Important

If I were to ask you the question, “Who are you?” how would you reply?

You’d probably give me a kind of impromptu CV. “Hi, I’m so-and-so, I come from such and such a town, I’m 25 or 75 years old, I’m a teacher, or a retired nurse, or I work with computers.

That’s why employers ask for a CV when they want to employ someone; they want a summary of that person’s personal details, education, previous experience and interests. And that’s how we say who we are in our culture.

But in biblical times, to say who you were you gave your family tree.

So I, in biblical terms, am John, son of Michael, son of Richard, cousin of Count Charles de Lambert, from the Franco-Russian aristocracy inventor of the hydrofoil, hovercraft and pioneer aviator who was friendly with the Wright brothers. That’s who I am! By the way, he died in 1944 without a penny to his name, having blown all his fortune on research.

Two Family Lines

The two family trees (Matthew 1 and Luke 3) are broadly similar but they go off on two different branches after King David. Here's a simplified diagram.

  

Matthew’s genealogy is on the left and Luke’s is on the right. David had several sons, two of whom were Solomon and Nathan. The dotted lines represent several generations and they show two different lines from King David.

Matthew’s and Luke’s family trees stick to those two different branches until they arrive at Jesus’ stepfather Joseph, where each gospel states a different name for Joseph’s father; Matthew says his name was Jacob and Luke says his name was Heli.

This is a problem. And it has led to some people claiming that the Bible can’t be trusted.

And I just want to deal with this issue right away because it can be a distraction. It can undermine our confidence in the trustworthiness of the Bible. There are in fact four basic theories as to why they are different but I’m just going to talk you through the one I think is right.

I think the enigma is best explained by what is called the levirate marriage custom which you find in Deuteronomy 25.

For Jews at that time, you see, who you are is all about your family tree. To die without an heir was like having your name blotted out from history. So they had a type of marriage in which a man, if an older relative died without leaving an heir, had to marry the widow so that the dead man’s name could be preserved.

Are you with me so far? A good example of levirate marriage is in the Book of Ruth where, if you know the story, Boaz marries Ruth because - and only because - he was distantly related to her former husband who had died before having children.

This levirate marriage custom seems weird to us but it was common in those days and it explains the question Jesus was once asked by the Sadducees; do you remember? “If a man dies and his six brothers each marry the widow, one after the other, each leaving no heir, who is her husband in heaven?”

The apparent contradiction between Matthew and Luke disappears if Matthew’s family tree includes a Jacob who died before he had children, meaning his family line would end.

There would only be one way to preserve his name - desperately important for a first century Jew - and that would be a levirate marriage. So a close relative would marry Jacob’s widow. It seems that this is what must have happened; a relative called Heli, maybe a cousin or an uncle, married Jacob’s widow as was the custom.

And they had a child and they named him Joseph. This is the family line that Luke records. Luke, remember, was a gentile, so he was unfamiliar with Jewish customs. He was also a family doctor, so he was much more interested in biology than legality. It makes perfect sense that Luke would put Heli as Joseph’s father.

But in Jewish thinking, Jacob would be seen as the father, not Heli. And Matthew was a Jew writing to Jews. So it makes perfect sense that Matthew would put Jacob as Joseph’s father.

Genealogies were preserved in two ways in the ancient world. They were remembered by individuals and families and they were registered by governments for tax purposes (a bit like our civil records office in Somerset House). What was Matthew’s job? He was a taxman of course so he would have had access to the official archives and, under Jewish law, they would record Jacob, not Heli, as Joseph’s legal father. Are you still with me?

In any case, both Jacob and Heli trace their ancestry back to David, so Jesus has a claim to be the son of David, the Messiah, through his adoptive father Joseph, not only legally but also biologically which, as we shall see a bit later, is of crucial, crucial importance.

People usually find the genealogies in the Bible boring and pointless. Some of you are glazing over right now, proving my point! But I want to say that the whole Bible is God’s word and it is all inspired, even these family trees.

Admittedly, they are not hugely entertaining. Reading them is a bit like panning for gold. When you pan for gold, you turn your sieve round and round and, every now and then, something catches your eye; something glints in the sun and stands out.

There are priceless nuggets of truth in this list if we can be patient enough to keep panning the sieve.

I want to say that this list of names is good news for messed up people – because there are loads of messed-up lives in here.

We haven’t time to go through all of them so I’m going to pick out just eight who, like little nuggets of gold, glinted at me when I looked at this passage carefully two weeks ago. I’m going to pick out four men and four women.

Four Messed-Up Women

First of all the women; Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Uriah’s wife Bath Sheba (v6).

Tamar (v3) what can we say about her? She went through two husbands in a few years, and both were rogues who died young, before she disguised herself as a sex worker, deceived her father-in-law, committed adultery with him and ended up with not one love-child, but two.

She was nearly burned to death in a family feud but she blackmailed her way out of it. She was, it seems, utterly dysfunctional, with serial relationships, each one more damaging than the last. And it’s all there in Genesis 38.

Tamar had a messed-up life. But she was an ancestor of Jesus, the friend of sinners.

Rahab (v5) wasn’t even a Jew. She was from the Canaanites, a pagan people who were into child sacrifice and the occult. She was also a prostitute. And a traitor. She betrayed her own people, giving away state secrets and protecting foreign spies. She lived in the city walls, which is where the marginalised and vulnerable people lived.

Rahab had a messed-up life. But she was an ancestor of Jesus, who doesn’t condemn but says, “you’re free to go, sin no more.”

Ruth (v5) was a Moabitess, another “dodgy foreigner” - so she wasn’t a Jew either. Deuteronomy 23 says that Moabites and all their descendants are not allowed even to come near the assembly of the Lord. She was excluded from the Lord’s people.

She was also a young widow so her life will have been shattered – all her dreams gone. She became an economic migrant, living off hand outs and if that wasn’t enough trouble, her mother-in-law followed her wherever she went.

Ruth had a messed-up life. But she was an ancestor of Jesus, who binds up the broken hearted.

Bath Sheba (v6) was a tragic figure whose beauty led to being seduced by the most powerful man in the country while her husband was serving in the armed forces. She ended up pregnant and before her husband could find out he was bumped off so no one would know. There was a big cover up but it was all exposed and she was caught up in a national scandal. To make matters worse, her love-child died in infancy.

Bath Sheba had a messed-up life. But she was an ancestor of Jesus, who will one day say “Look, I make all things new.”

William Barclay in his commentary, listing those four said “If Matthew had ransacked the pages of the Old Testament for improbable candidates he couldn’t have discovered four more incredible ancestors for Jesus Christ.”

Four Messed-Up Men

Then the men; David, Manasseh, Jeconiah and Joseph. Notice I'm steering clear of Salmon (v4). He was a bit fishy as well. Rumour has it he was related to Captain Haddock, Nicola Sturgeon, Magnus Pike and Michael Fish.

David of course (v6) was the man who seduced Bath Sheba and had her husband murdered. He was hot headed and impulsive. He could be loyal and brave but he was stupid with women and he indulged his children. His family lost respect for him and he ended up a slightly pathetic figure; a former great who threw it all away. He had a heart for God but he also sinned terribly.

But David was an ancestor of Jesus, who asks this basic question to people who really mess up: “Do you love me?” David would melt immediately and say “Lord, you know I love you.”

David is mentioned five times in this genealogy, more than anyone else, even Jesus. That’s because if there’s one thing that all Jews know it’s that the Messiah has to be a descendant of David.

Manasseh (v10) was the worst of all the kings of Judah. This is what the Bible says about him: “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord… He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed… He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshipped them… He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practised divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger. Manasseh led [the people] astray [and did] more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and… led Judah into sin with his idols… Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end – besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

He was beyond the pale. We’d lock him up as a sadistic serial offender and throw away the key. Manasseh had a messed-up life. But he was an ancestor of Jesus, who came to seek and save the lost.”

Jeconiah (v11) was the last king of Judah. Jeremiah called him “a despised, broken pot, an object no one wants.” Jeconiah was like Saddam Hussein, a sleazy leader living in luxury while his ruined nation collapsed around him.

There’s another thing Jeremiah said about him. He prophesied a curse from God over his life. Listen to this: “Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule any more in Judah.”

God’s word is final. This means that Jesus could not be King of the Jews if he descended from Jeconiah. That prophecy would disqualify Jesus from claiming the crown if he had been the natural grandson of Jacob, because Jacob was in Jeconiah’s cursed line.

As the slide shows, Jesus' legal descent from David came through Solomon and Jeconiah to Jacob. 

But his biological descent from David, and his human right to David’s throne came through Heli, who was not under Jeconiah’s curse. 

Jeconiah had a messed-up life. But he too was an ancestor of Jesus, who lifts the curses off a thousand generations and proclaims a day of jubilee, a day of release.

And then Joseph (v16). A righteous man who was saving sex for marriage, and finds his fiancée is pregnant. All the village is talking about him and his “damaged goods” girlfriend. The wedding looks like it’s off.

In his culture, the engagement is binding and only dissolvable by divorce. Joseph’s future dreams look to be in tatters. He’s going to be divorced before he’s even married!

Joseph had a messed-up life. But he was the stepfather of Jesus, who gives hope to the hopeless and gives beauty for ashes, wine for water and can transform any situation by his mighty power.

And here’s the thing; had Joseph gone ahead with the divorce when he discovered that Mary was pregnant, Jesus would have had no claim whatever to the throne of David! But he didn’t and Jesus fulfils every prophecy and breaks every curse.

Ending

This list of names tells me it doesn’t matter how bad you’ve been, how low you’ve been, how deeply you’ve messed up.

Because God’s grace is sufficient. It wipes away every tear and it cleanses every stain.

This list of names tells me it doesn’t matter where you’ve come from; it’s where you’re going that counts. Because no family curse, no shameful past can take away what Christ gives you by faith.

This list of names tells me that all that matters is Jesus. His is the last genealogy in the Bible. You won’t find Paul’s, you won’t find Peter’s and you won’t find Mary’s. They’re irrelevant. It doesn’t matter who your ancestors are anymore. Are you in Christ’s family? Matthew 1 is my family tree because I am in Christ. That’s what really counts. Are you a child of God? Are you in Christ?

And finally, this list of names tells me it doesn’t matter where my name is written on earth. You can trace my baptismal record, you can find my entry on the electoral register and spot me somewhere in Somerset House. Who cares? What counts is that my name is written in heaven. Is yours? Do you have the assurance today that your name is written in the Book of Life?

The Bible says “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Have you done that? If you haven’t, do it today!

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 30th November 2014