Why Jesus Came -- Matthew 1: 18-21

Matthew 1: 18-21

Last week we saw the Christmas story portrayed by our children, in the traditional Christmas pageant. Today, I want to tell you the ‘grown up” version of the story. Some of it you’ve probably never heard. I want to dispel some of the inaccuracies that have developed over the years. 

First, Jesus was born, not in 1 AD, but between four to eight years earlier than that. Herod the Great died in 4 BC so Jesus had to be born before that. Somebody made a mistake on the calendar and we have kept it ever since.

Second, it probably happened in the spring, not the winter. Shepherds abided in the fields in the spring not the winter. Third, Joseph was probably not a carpenter. The Greek word for carpenter is actually “builder.” Nazareth has few trees, but an awful lot of rocks. 

None of these details are very important. What is much more important to us is the fundamental misunderstanding the people of Jesus’ time had about who the Messiah was. Few (if any) understood the real reason why Jesus had to come to earth.

In 63 BC, the Roman general Pompey marched into Judea to settle a dispute between two rivals for the throne. Under him Judea became part of the Roman Empire. He stole most of the gold and silver, took their children for slaves, and stole their land for retirement homes for his legions. The Jews hated the Romans and engaged in an armed guerilla struggle against them. The Jews believed (as ISIS believes today) that God was going to send a warrior leader who would destroy the Romans. The rebellions did not stop until 120 AD when the Jews were banned from the Holy Land, and did not return until 1947. 

The Jewish Messiah was a warrior leader who would come and rescue them. Every community of Jews thought the messiah would come from them.  Egyptian Jews thought He would come from Egypt. Galilean Jews looked to Nazareth. Judean Jews thought he would come from Bethlehem, since it was King David’s home. Though they disagreed with where He would be born, they all agreed He was coming like a Jewish Alexander the Great to take over the world.

It was in those days that the archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she would give birth to the Messiah.

When Mary told her family, it must have caused quite a stir. When Joseph found out, he was devastated. He started to break their engagement quietly. But before he could, he had a dream. In that dream, the same angel said:

"Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

Did you catch that? He was coming to save them from their sins. This was not what anyone was expecting.

Does the world need saving today? If so, from what? People would answer that question differently—global warming, ISIS, political correctness, overpopulation, disease, crime, big business, or rampant technology. If you were to conduct a Gallup poll and ask that question, then I don’t think “our sins” would even rank in the top ten. We all think we know what’s wrong with the world, but we don’t include our sins among them. In fact, most of us would passionately argue today that our sins are not all that important. Which do we worry most about—dying in terrorist attacks, adultery, obesity, pride, or anger?  From which do we think we need protection—our sinful nature or other people’s sinful nature. People put locks on their doors, but they leave their own hearts unguarded. Worrying about our own individual lives seems strangely irrelevant in this messed-up world. 

The same was true back then. They worried about famine, disease, Romans, Parthians, Scythians, slavery, taxes--you name it!  If they had Facebook back then, these national concerns would dominate their posts. They hated the Romans, but it was their own sinful infighting that led to the Romans taking over. The Romans did not conquer Judea, they were invited! The sins of Judea led to its downfall.

The same is true in our lives. It’s our sins that mainly get us in trouble, and not those who sin against us. The worst things in the world reside in our hearts and minds. But of all the problems in the world the only biggest one that concerns God is our sins.  He was concerned about the Romans, but He didn’t send His son to save them from the Romans. He sent Him to save them from their own sins.   

Suppose a terrorist came into the church and started shooting. Of course I would be afraid. But if I were shot, the panic would only last for a moment, then I would have eternal peace in heaven. But what if I had sins weighing down on my conscience, and I had no peace with God. Then that bullet would send me into an eternity of darkness. Which one is worse—for some shooter to deprives me of a few more years of life, or a sin that deprives me of an eternity of happiness?  Yet we worry more about the shooter than the sin.

Which brings us more misery into our lives---global warming and terrorism, or overindulgence, sexual immorality, and drug and alcohol addiction?  Which causes us most grief—war on the other side of the world or our own domestic strife?  How can we say that terrorism and immigration are the greatest problems, when ordinary, everyday sins are the ones that cause the greatest misery?  It’s the little sins that create the most destruction. We are wanting to be saved from fear but we overlook the things in our lives that should really make us afraid.

God looked upon the people of First Century Judea and recognized that the problem was not who ran the country, but how the country was run. If Pompey the Great had been less pompous, they might not have resented his leadership. If the Romans had been less greedy and more considerate, then there might have been less resentment. If the Jews had been more tolerant of outsiders, or if they had been able to agree with themselves, then they may not have been a problem. If there had been less immorality, and more understanding, humility, and godliness in everyone, then the problems between the Jews and Romans might have had a more peaceful solution. But it was their individual sins which made others resentful. 

God’s words to Joseph show His priorities. Our sins are what we need to be saved from first. What’s more important—whether we steal or whether we are robbed?  What’s worse in God’s eyes—that we kill or that we be killed?  Whether we commit adultery or whether we have adultery committed against us?  Whether we wrong people or whether we are wronged?

The salvation of Christ begins with us. Only after we are saved, can we help save the world.  Jesus did not come to a perfect world. He came to a sinful world. He revealed himself to sinful people. The idea that Mary and Joseph were somehow sinless doesn’t sit well with me. They were sinners like everyone else. The miracle of the incarnation is that Jesus came in sinful flesh, not sinless flesh. He was born in an ordinary girl, not an extraordinary one. 

Christ is still coming in sinful flesh today—your sinful flesh. When we give our hearts to Christ and invite Him into our lives we are open at least to a new world of love and forgiveness. 

The Jews believed that there was only one way a person could be cleansed by sin. That was by sacrifice. When a lamb was placed on the altar in Jerusalem, the sinner could confess his sins over the lamb. There were two parts to the ritual—the confession and the killing.  Jesus was born to be the lamb of God. God provides the killing, in that Jesus was killed for our sins. Our part is the confession. By owning up to our sins, and confessing them before the Lord in prayer, we are forgiven for our sins.  Christ’s blood gives us that forgiveness once and for all.     

We don’t have to be perfect. We only have to be forgiven. We don’t have to be Christ, we only have to be open to Christ, and to let Him live in us and through us. 

It’s not the world we need saving from. It is ourselves. Salvation begins inside, in our heart, when we confess our sins before Jesus.

Here is a prayer of confession that comes from the Book of Common Worship:

“Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.”

God’s word assures us that, “When we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

This is what Jesus came to do, to save us from our sins. Don’t let your sins destroy you. Give them to Jesus, receive His forgiveness, and be healed.