One of the best things about Christmas is surprises, isn't it? You've got a bed on Christmas Eve, you know what your main present will be probably or you think you might know but very often it's the little presents that are so much fun and you had no idea what you were going to get and you had no idea that the person who got you the gift was so thoughtful.
And you've not thought about it and you get the present and you just say, oh that's fantastic, I wasn't expecting, it's a great surprise. I didn't even know I wanted it but now I see that I do want it now that I've got it.
And there are some people out there, they've got the gift of giving gifts. They're just brilliant at it. And those surprises in lots of ways make Christmas.
And I hope as we look at this passage that we might get a surprise. People come with their own idea of Christmas, with their own sentimental idea of Christmas.
And as Christians we want to be surprised again and again as we go to what is a familiar story.
So the first surprise is this, that the birth of Jesus was supernatural, not normal.
The birth of Jesus is supernatural, not normal.
And I think that's worth pointing out because in many people's minds what we've just read must just, they just think well the birth of Jesus, the conception of Jesus, it's just normal, it's just like everyone else and the kind of manger that's been embellished.
And I guess for many people the reasoning goes like this, there was a person named Jesus 20 centuries ago and he was born in Bethlehem.
But in the end he's just like us.
Maybe he does some special things and the story has grown.
But he was a normal man, born in the normal way, conceived in the normal way.
But let's just go back to Matthew 1 and let's see that God was acting in a very, very special way.
Look at verse 18, chapter 1.
Before they came to Galilee, that's Joseph and Mary.
She was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
Look at verse 20.
As Joseph considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,
Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Same point again.
Then he was 23.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name the mother.
She was a virgin.
Mary was a virgin.
It's made really clear in the text.
And virgin births don't just happen, do they?
And Joseph knew this.
And so when Joseph finds out that she is with child, as her fiancé, he is absolutely horrified.
In his mind, there is only one possible explanation.
And that may be the same for you.
There's only one explanation for pregnancy.
Of course, they didn't have medical technology that we now have.
But they're not naive, and they're not deft.
Pregnancy does not just happen.
So Joseph, he resolves to divorce her.
He is a compassionate man.
He doesn't want to put on his chain.
He wants to do it quietly.
But he's told by this messenger, by this angel, not to do it.
But can you see what this section of God's word does for us?
It says right at the start of Jesus' story, there is a God.
And there is a Holy Spirit.
And there are angels.
There are unseen messengers from God.
There's a whole unseen realm.
There is a living and a true God.
Who, with this birth, is doing something very, very special.
And this birth happened because God acted supernaturally.
God intervenes.
At one level, it's a great surprise, isn't it?
But then at another level, it shouldn't surprise us at all.
That when God came into this world, it was a little bit different.
That's what you'd expect, isn't it?
If God is going to enter into his creation, surely he'll do that in a different way.
When he left this world, well, it's a little bit different as well.
And we would expect the entry point of God into the world to be different, and its exit point to be different.
So when you think of when the President of the US comes to the UK, it is different, isn't it?
I might flew back from Edinburgh on Sunday afternoon.
There was no pomp.
There was no ceremony.
I just walked through Terminal 5 to get on the Piccadilly 9.
But when the President of the US comes, regardless of what you think of the current one, he is someone special.
When he comes to the airport, it's different.
He doesn't come cramped up in economy class, queuing up to get his own bags, does he?
He doesn't have to go through security and all the hassle.
He comes as the special one in the special way.
And when he leaves, he leaves in a special way.
And so here we have in Matthew chapter 1 and 2, an account of a supernatural baby who was fully man, but also fully God.
And God acts to enter into his world.
The first surprise is supernatural birth, not a normal woman.
The second surprise for some of us will be that this is truth, not myth.
It's truth, not myth.
And so you might be thinking, God came to earth, it's just not likely.
The Greeks have their myths.
The Greeks have their gods.
A myth is a made-up story.
It is a legend without any basis in history or fact.
And it's easy just to say it's a myth.
The stuff about God coming to earth, that is your story, you might say.
It's a story that your community has made up and adopted.
And there's no real reason why I should adopt your story.
Why I should believe about the supernatural conception and his birth.
Of course, there's long answers to that, and there's short answers to those sort of questions.
But let me just point you to a couple of things as you think about it.
Firstly, what you have in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is basically a record of eyewitness accounts.
It is written like an eyewitness account.
And we know that it was written by those who were very close to the events.
And so a few weeks ago in Brentside High School, Noah came home wide-eyed, and he said that there'd been a stabbing in the school,
and that a teacher had been stabbed.
And there were police and there were ambulance there.
I said, did you see it?
No, but I heard about it.
Did your friends see it?
No, they'd not seen it.
Did anyone you know had seen it?
No, but everyone was talking about it, he said.
Everyone was talking about it.
And an hour and a half later, we had an email from the head teacher,
saying that there were some rumours going around with the school and on social media,
and one of the dinner lady staff had fainted,
and an ambulance had been caught to take her to hospital.
And had anyone seen it?
The stabbing?
No.
Had anyone you know seen it?
No.
But everyone was talking about it.
And we know what that's like, don't we?
We know what it's like with schools or any closed communities.
If there are eyewitnesses, they've probably got truth on their hands.
If there is somebody who has seen it with their own eyes,
it gives you a different level of confidence in the information.
And so what you've got in Matthew and Mark and Luke and John
is you've got eyewitness accounts.
You've got something written by people,
or spoken by people who were living at the time.
The second thing to think about,
of it being truth, not myth,
there's a striking bit of evidence in the text.
So in Matthew chapter 2,
you've got this whole issue of where Jesus was born.
So the Magi, these wise men astrologers,
they come looking from the Jesus,
they come looking from the east,
the star that they followed had got them so far,
and they knew that there was going to be a king of the Jews who'd be born.
And the star had informed them of that.
They did the logical thing,
they thought, where will the king of the Jews be born?
Well, he'll be born in the capital, won't he?
And so they come to Jerusalem.
He'll be born in Israel.
The king of the Jews,
well, obviously, where does a king get born?
He gets born in a palace,
and so they end up talking to Herod.
And you can sense in these verses, I think,
the commotion that's going on in Jerusalem.
So these visitors, they come from the east,
they're a very wealthy man,
and they ask the question to the current ruler,
where is the king of the Jews to be born?
And so King Herod calls a conference
of the wise men of Jerusalem,
the pundits,
and he asks, where is the Christ to be born?
Where will he be born?
And they don't have an answer, verse 6.
They have no answer.
There in verse 6,
well, they have an answer.
Where will he be born?
They told him, verse 5,
in Bethlehem of Judea,
because it's written about that on the prophets.
And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah.
But from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people, Israel.
You see, they say to him,
no, that there is a prophecy,
there is a declaration
that he will be born in Bethlehem.
Now, why do they say that?
Because they knew that 700 years prior,
the prophet Micah had spoken.
It had been predicted,
God was speaking through Micah,
that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
And they knew that God had said,
that is what would happen.
700 years earlier,
that he'd be born in Bethlehem.
And they knew he'd be born in Bethlehem,
and that is exactly where he was born.
The extraordinary accuracy of the Old Testament.
These prophecies come true.
In history,
and in real time,
you can't easily be dismissed.
And so we're dealing with truth,
and not myth.
The third surprise is that Jesus is essential,
and not optional.
It was a supernatural conception.
Do you remember?
It wasn't a normal birth.
You're dealing with something that is true.
It's not a myth.
That's a second surprise.
But it still leaves a great question.
And the question is,
so what?
Big deal.
Maybe it's true after all.
Maybe there is a supernatural birth.
But what's that going to do with me?
And so can we ask the question,
do I need this?
Do I need it?
And we need to think for a moment
about the importance of this.
And again,
we're not left guessing.
Look at Matthew chapter 1,
and include it in the name
that Matthew is given,
that Jesus is given.
So,
and parents today,
and like parents today,
pretty much parents down through the ages,
Mary and Joseph have no choice
as to the name of their son.
The name of their child is given.
And so we have,
don't we,
the great mystery
of when a child is born,
what will the name be?
And we ask parents,
have you thought of a name yet?
And we hope that those children
that are born that we know
will be gifts of God,
won't they?
But Mary and Joseph are told
that they are to give this child a name,
and you are to give him the name
Jesus.
For he shall save his people
from their sins.
Jesus is the Greek name
of the Hebrew Joshua.
Jesus means the Lord saves,
the Lord rescues.
That is the name
that he is to be given,
because that is exactly
what he will do
in verse 21.
Verse 21,
she will bear a son,
and Joseph,
you shall call his name Jesus,
for he will save his people
from their sins.
The name he was given
is the very thing
that he would do.
he would rescue his people
from their sins.
He would be a saviour.
So you see a tragedy
on your TV screen,
and you see it happening.
And you just want to run in
and save,
or dive in,
or save them.
But there's no point to that,
because it would be suicide to do it.
But Jesus,
the rescuer,
he dives in,
he runs into the burning building.
He comes into this world
and would die upon the cross
to save you,
not from burning building,
or not from drowning,
but to save his people
from their sins.
That tells you
that you and I have a problem
from which we need saving.
King Herod,
he illustrates
the sin problem,
he wanted to be in charge.
King Herod,
I think,
understands Christmas
very, very well.
He didn't want Jesus
to be in charge,
and so he was rid of Jesus.
He said,
I just want to run my life
my way.
I want to be the one
that is in charge,
not Jesus.
And that is sin.
And so saying no to God
and saying,
I want to run my life
my way,
that brings God's
just condemnation.
And that is a real problem.
We don't feel it's a real problem.
But when we say no to God
and we say,
I'm in charge,
not you,
that brings us
into a collision course
with God for judgment.
But Jesus came
to save you and I
from that sin problem.
Jesus came
to save you and I
from the condemnation
by dying on a cross for us,
by taking the judgment
we deserve upon ourselves.
Jesus came into this world
and didn't say,
I'm in charge,
I'll do exactly
what I want
and God,
no way.
He lived God's way.
And yet,
he was crucified
for our sin,
for our rebellion,
for our punishment.
Each one of us
are sinners
and we all face
the judgment of God
and so we all need
the rescue
that Jesus provides.
That rescue
is open to us.
And so how will he respond?
How will he respond
to this Jesus
who was born
in the most remarkable way,
who came to earth,
who is
true
and not a mess?
How do you respond?
Well, there's a number
of responses.
So let's just look
at Herod in chapter 2.
He is furious
and he tries
to get rid of Jesus.
And he won't have
anyone challenging him.
And people do respond
to the news like that.
I think
an authentic response
when people understand
who Jesus is,
is fury.
They can't stand him.
They can't stand
the thought of a God
with whom they have
to give account.
And they want
to get rid of him.
No, thank you.
I don't want him
interfering with my life.
Well, that's the first
response, isn't it, Harry?
Then there's the other
common reaction
of the people
in Jerusalem.
And the Magi
come to Jerusalem
and they say,
where is the King
of the Jews
to be born?
And there's a big
conference, isn't there?
There's other people
in Jerusalem
who get involved
in the discussion
and they work out,
they say,
yes, the King
of the Jews
is going to be born
in Bethlehem.
But as far as we know,
the only people
who actually go
to Bethlehem
are the Magi.
Isn't that extraordinary?
There's people
who travel from the East
because they say,
where is the King
of the Jews
to be born?
But the people
that give them
the information
of where he's
to be born,
they can't be bothered.
They won't travel
ten miles down the road.
They can't even be bothered
to go and check out
Bethlehem
and see whether
it's true or not.
They can't be bothered
to see whether
our King
has been born.
Don't be like
these people.
Don't be like
the people
in Jerusalem
who frankly
couldn't be bothered.
The third reaction
is that of the Magi.
They come from
the East
and they went
and they looked
and they found Jesus.
And how did they react
to this time
and the 11th?
Going into the house
they saw the child,
he's probably a toddler
at this point,
but Mary,
his mother,
and they fell down
and they worshipped him.
They opened up their bags
and they give treasures.
They offered him gifts
of gold and frankincense
and murder.
They searched for him,
they found him,
they worshipped him.
They bowed their knee to him.
The one thing
that Herod
would not do,
they do.
They recognised
that Jesus Christ
is Lord
and King
and so they fall down
in reverence
and worship.
That's the right way
to recognise
Jesus God.
Christ is God
and Christ
is God's
Saviour
and he is
worthy
of our worship.
And the only
real response
and true response
is to come to him
and say,
I need rescue.
And I see
that he is
the Saviour
who died
on the cross
for sinners
and I cannot
save myself
and so I need
his salvation.
And so I am
going to trust him
and I'm going to
follow him
as my King.
To recognise
that he came
to die
for sinners
like you
and like me.
and to cry
out to him
and to put
your trust
in him
and to bow
your head
before him
and follow him
as your King.
And it's at that
point that you
leave, don't you,
with the most
amazing gift.
The most surprising
gift of all,
the gift of
forgiveness,
of peace with
God
and of salvation.
and we know,
don't we,
if we do that,
well, we will
have the most
blessed Christmas
despite all the
restrictions.
Let's pray.
Thank you.