Last week we looked at the two birth narratives of Jesus found in the Bible’s books of Matthew and Luke.  The primary point I wanted to highlight was that the beginning of the Jesus’ life provided an allusion to what was to come.  His was not a “rags to riches” story, but a rags to rags to rags story.  His origin story was predictive of what was to come, as is the case to varying degrees for all of us.

Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph, are rightly celebrated for the role they played in the story.  Each in their own way were forced by their circumstances to choose a different path than they would have preferred.  The way forward required great humility, which is always an act of great courage as it necessitates a level of exposed vulnerability that forces a new perspective into being.  The baby wasn’t the only thing brought to life in this origin story.  A new way of thinking and being began as well, which lasted well beyond their check-out time from the makeshift barnyard accommodations.  The young parents were thrust into a way of life that continued to demand an open stance toward their future.  Nothing in the origin story was predictable except that their faith was going to be challenged in ways that instructed Jesus for the rest of his life.

Mary was simply invited to trust that God was with her from the beginning and would not leave.  Her song of response to the announcement-invitation of her unusual pregnancy is deeply inspiring and informative for anyone venturing into a living faith.  Joseph was invited to set aside customary expectations and embrace a different path that was marked by love and grace.  His initial decision to divorce Mary quietly, followed up with saying yes to God’s invitation to stand by Mary’s side and walk forward in love and grace at grace cost to his ego speaks volumes about who he was choosing to become. Combined, these two parents set the foundation for the development of the Prince of Peace that Jesus became.  In short, they both learned to live with a humble openness to the life God was leading them into, trusting that the Spirit of God was trustworthy and strong enough to bring about something greater than they could have possibly imagined.  Their lived faith is a picture of the real deal, and it surely was the greatest factor in Jesus’ development. 

Like we noted last week, there was no shortage of wannabe messiahs.  Longing for rebellion that would invite and ignite God’s power to restore Israel to glory was running at fever pitch.  Plenty of young Jewish men threw their hat into the ring to take on Rome.  They pretty much all endured the same future: they slowly died as they hung naked on crosses.  Spoiler alert – this is how Jesus died, too!  The rebellion he was punished for, however, was very different than that of his contemporaries.  His was marked by profound love and grace that promoted peace even as it challenged the status quo.  His was so radically different that when most people came to grips with what was being asked of them, they walked away.  Jesus didn’t call for people to take up arms to overthrow Rome.  He called people to live in response to the active Spirit of God who was and is always calling us toward a life of love and grace.  He learned well what his parents taught and took it further than anyone had seen.

One of the things that made Jesus such a standout was his view of humanity.  He really, really viewed everyone as loved children of God worthy of being treated with dignity and grace.  This is part of the reason he was so popular – he treated everyone with kindness.  He had the audacity to suggest that God loved people who didn’t feel like they were loved by God, and then backed it up with healing and forgiving sin.  Such a level of love and grace had not been seen like it before, really, and those who received it loved it!  You are loved like that – do you know it?  That message has never changed, and it never will.  The love of God is for you and with you regardless of your circumstances. It was true for tax collectors and prostitutes and lepers and foul-mouthed manly men and rich people and poor people and sick people and powerless people and powerful people and white people and brown people and… you get the idea.  Have you embraced it yet?  Have you really let it sink in?  It truly changes our lives when we do.  So please do it! 

Of course, one of the changes that God’s unconditional love fosters in our lives is exactly what led to a lot of people walking away both then and now.  We’re very welcoming of God’s love for ourselves and those we love.  But not for our enemies.  The most hated group of people in Jesus’ Jewish community were called Samaritans.  They were mixed race.  They believed differently about the faith than traditional Jews, and they returned the hate.  Jesus undoubtedly grew up fully exposed to such hatred.  The love of God transformed him, however, and he could no longer see them as anything less than loved by God, even when they treated him with disrespect.  That’s why Jesus made a Samaritan the hero of one of his best-known parables – it was meant to disturb deep, long-held, popular attitudes about people that we “okay” to hate.  When Jesus taught about this radical love of God and backed it up with his actual living, it really upset people.  It still does.  How do we know if this is happening for us?  Usually we know it when we are made uncomfortable as we think of certain others.  There’s plenty of offending to go around!  Who do you struggle to believe that God loves and is therefore worthy of being treated as if it were true?  People with a different political perspective than you?  People with different skin-tone than you?  Different language?  Different religion? Different culture? People who love differently than you?  The key word here is “different” (and has been the critical variable for all time).  We are more likely to like and love people who are like us, and less likely to like and love those who are different than us.  This is one of those areas, however, where we are invited to follow.  Will you trust like Mary and Joseph and Jesus that the Spirit of God is trustworthy?

Another thing that we at first love but then struggle with has to do with how we affect the culture around us.  We already know that many people were ready to go to battle with Rome.  Jesus was all for challenging those in power.  A major difference between Jesus and the other would-be messiahs was the approach to resistance.  The vast majority of others were in favor of violent rebellion.  Not so with Jesus.  He was nonviolent in his resistance, and brilliantly so.  Turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, and give the shirt off your back were statements Jesus gave as instruction for nonviolent protest – statements that today are interpreted very differently than in the first century.  As Ronald Sider notes in his book, If Jesus is Lord, what have become cliché statements for us were highly provocative moves in a Roman occupied Palestine:

     Jesus’s advice to turn the other (left) cheek conveys a surprising suggestion. Normally, an inferior would simply accept the insult (or on occasion fight back). But by turning the left cheek to the person insulting one, one almost forces the attacker to use his fist if he wants to strike again. (It is much harder to hit the left cheek with a back slap than with a fist.) The effect, Wink believes, is that the inferior person astonishes the superior by a dramatic act that asserts the inferior’s dignity, not by striking back but by forcing the attacker either to stop or use his fist and thus treat the inferior as an equal. Thus Jesus is urging a nonviolent but nonetheless activist response to evil. One cannot assert with certainty that this is Jesus’s intended meaning (45). But that conclusion is certainly plausible (65).

     The disgrace for nakedness fell not only on the naked person but also on those viewing the naked person (50). By stripping naked, the debtor exposes the cruelty not only of the creditor but also of the oppressive system the creditor represents. “The entire system by which debtors are oppressed has been publicly unmasked” (51). Rather than recommending a passive response to injustice, Jesus urges a dramatic nonviolent protest (66).

Jesus was definitely radical in his resistance, which is in part what led to his execution.  But his resistance was nonviolent.  Are we so inclined to do the same, or do we prefer what seems to be the more efficient approach of violent speech, attitude, and action?  Again, as Jesus followers wanting to honor his birth this December, we must ask ourselves if we actually want to follow this guy or not.  For some of us, it means getting off our butts and actually do something to bring about justice in an unjust world, especially for people that may be different than ourselves (whom we don’t understand and may dislike).  For others, it may mean that we need to love mercy as we pursue justice instead of mimicking the violent behavior that is all around us.

Jesus’ behavior still got him executed, but never defeated.  Rome may have remained as the reigning empire, but Caesar was not in charge.  The life and teaching of Jesus modeled what faith is supposed to look like, and delivered a life of hope, meaning, purpose, and love that prevailed regardless of the circumstances.  That way of living in faith still works today, and still promotes love and peace for all.  It is still unpopular as is it remains counter-intuitive and counter-cultural.  It challenges power at all levels and calls for humility.  It may even result in death of various sorts at the hand of those who are threatened.  And yet it remains the answer and hope of the world.  When we say yes to Jesus, when we accept him as the leader of our lives, we are saying yes to living in that way.  We are saying yes like Mary and Joseph said yes – not knowing exactly how things are going to roll out but trusting the heart of God to be with us, guiding us, holding us, providing life even in the face of death.