The Glorious Shame of Christmas

I think it is a good thing to have a time in our calendar each year that is set aside to specifically remember Christ's birth.

However, the event and the story has become wrapped in an almost 'romantic' ribbon of artistic licence!  We have made it to have a glorious, happy, beautiful, glitzy, comfortable, warm and cozy 'feel' to it.  

The reality of the first Christmas - Christ's birth, was somewhat different.

The magnitude and glory of Christ's birth was real, but it was in a way that was 'upside-down' to the world's idea of magnitude and glory. 

It was also the beginning of the story of the coming of the Messiah - the beginning of what is described in Isaiah 53.

This was the beginning of what could be described as a life of shame in the eyes of the world of that day.

Consider this:

• 9 months prior, a woman became pregnant before her betrothal period had been completed.  To those looking on, she had done something shameful - something that Joseph could have divorced her for (ie it would have appeared to others that she had been unfaithful to him).  In his love for her, he wanted to do the divorce in such a way as to keep it quiet and not bring additional unnecessary shame upon Mary, and her family.  But an angel came and explained the situation to him and he didn't divorce her but instead, with obedience and trust in God, chose to share her shame.  We have no idea, as scripture doesn't tell us, if other people believed their story of the conception.  Maybe some did and her cousin Elizabeth would have endorsed their story as true.  But in all likelihood many would not have believed them. So to some degree Jesus was born in the context of a shadow of shameful and questionable circumstances of which the whole village would have been very aware.

• the family Jesus was born into was not some prestigious family.  It was not a religious leader's family.  It was not a priest's family or a Pharisee's family or wealthy nobleman's family.  It was the family of a lowly carpenter.

• when the time came for him to be born, he didn't even have a nice comfy place.  As Scripture says, "foxes have holes ....but the Son of Man has no-where to lay his head". (Matt 8:20)  So Joseph and Mary, became innovative and must have thought that the straw in the animal feed trough would at least mean he wouldn't be on the floor with risk of an animal walking on him or lying in some animal manure.  He was born in the indignity of the room for animals because there was no place for him in the rooms where other human beings were staying.

• so the King of Kings had been born - but who did the angels announce it to?  Not the leaders of the land. No, the lowest of the low - shepherds.  Here in Botswana, the equivalent is called a 'herd boy' and they are the lowest of low jobs.  In those days, shepherds were illiterates, the guys people hardly had a thought for, the guys who had to sit outside in all weathers and all night and take care of sheep. In fact they were so 'low' on the social ladder, they had no civil rights and were not even supposed to be rescued if they fell into a pit and had the reputation of being thieves!  They were seen as being in a perpetual state of impurity and defilement since they were constantly walking on animal excrement in the fields and often handling dead animals. These guys were despised. A Jewish commentary said there 'is no more disreputable occupation than that of a shepherd'!
•  

• a while later, probably close to two years later, some Wise Men (magi - astrologer/astronomers) came to visit the toddler Jesus and bring valuable gifts as a sign of honour and worship.  There is no record that the local community leaders  came to visit.  It was foreigners who came.  Thus began Jesus' life of being rejected or ignored by his own people.

• with the visit of the Wise Men came the news that Jesus was in danger - he was being 'hunted' by one who had a vicious murder plot and once again his father was given instruction for his life via a dream involving a visit from an angel.  The family now had flee from their homeland of Israel to become essentially refugees in Egypt.

• when they settled again back in Jewish territory, they returned to the village of Nazareth that was home.  Nazareth was not a prestigious city but a tiny obscure humble village of less than 200 people. It seems it wasn't known for anything positive when Scripture records for us 'can anything good come out of Nazareth?' (John 1:46) This was not a town you would boast about coming from.

In a culture which is very honour/shame focused (as the New Testament culture was - see deSilva's book 'Honor,Patronage, Kinship and Purity'), to not associate with the 'prestigious' of society marks you as less honourable, less valuable, less important.  Not only that, but for those of nobility to associate with the lower ranks of society was considered shameful and just 'not done'.  

Jesus entered our world within the ranks of those who could make others feel shameful.

However, Jesus' birth was the beginning of showing us :

• The extreme way in which he loved us - to be willing to leave the glory of heaven and come as a helpless baby of a lowly family and live as a servant on this earth.

• The 'incredibleness' of true glory comes from the greatness of true humility. 

• That he was willing to take the life of the lowest in order that we might be given the opportunity to share in His life, the heights and glory of which make us co-heirs with him

• That his coming to earth was also about bearing our shame, and we needed to understand and see a little of that shame which we have in the eyes of God, by watching the Son of God enduring shame in the eyes of man.

• That God didn't send Jesus to just rescue the wealthy and prestigious of our world.  God is not about only noticing those whom the world takes the time to notice.  No, God notices the needs of the lowest of the low, those the rest of society hardly has a thought for.  God chose the lowest, as the first to tell of the news of Christ's birth.

• God isn't only interested in those who are in close proximity to the good news - he wants those far and wide to come and worship him.  He cares about the foreigner, those far away, those of other belief systems who need to come and bow at the feet of the King of Kings - our Creator - our Saviour!

• While this world might lay great weight on values such as where you were born and in what circumstances or the neighbourhood where you live now, God does not. God is more interested in who you are than where you live.  He is more interested in whether you are part of His family, than what family you come from on this earth. And He is more interested in whether you know Jesus is the Son of God come from heaven than which town on earth he grew up in.

The scandal and ironry of Christ's birth is that it was wrapped in shame yet at the same time filled with glory and honour - the King of Kings was born to dwell with us and reconcile us to God - Jesus our Immanuel!  Jesus birth was the beginning of the most realistic demonstration God could give us that He uses the shameful things of this world to confound the wise!  His ways are not our ways naturally, but we must come to understand His ways and allow them to become our ways supernaturally! 

And this is possible not just because Jesus is with us - in the sense of beside us, but because he came to dwell in us.  He came to make a way possible to restore His life to us so that He could live His life in and through us.

Christ in you - the hope of glory!

...to discover even more on the scandal/irony of the first Christmas that is rarely emphasised or spoken of, in addition to the links included above, I would encourage you to read:

http://msc.gutenberg.edu/2008/07/the-scandal-of-jesus-birth/