Next Christmas, when you set up your nativity scene, you might consider leaving out the wise men. The reason is because the Bible tells us that the wise men1 didn’t visit Mary and Joseph and Jesus until about two years after he was born, and when they did, they visited them in their home.2
In other words, by the time the wise men showed up in Jerusalem loudly proclaiming the arrival of a new king, Mary and Joseph had settled down in a house in Bethlehem and Jesus was a toddler who could speak!
The circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth, however, were quite different. Instead of the home the Magi greeted them in, Mary and Joseph got haphazardly put up in a barn or nearby cave. Instead of a bed, Jesus lay in a feeding trough. Instead of clothes, Jesus was wrapped with shreds of cloth. And instead of royal magi from the east bearing expensive gifts, Mary, Joseph and Jesus were greeted by rugged shepherds – literal social outliers.
In contrast to the very public visit of the Magi when Jesus was between one and two years old, the whole affair of Jesus’ birth was a clandestine event. It was as if Joseph and Mary and been enrolled in a witness protection program. Satan, so accustomed to grand entrances, assumed God’s entrance into the world would be the grandest of all. Humility not being one of Satan’s strong suits, he was blinded to the idea that God would invade his world in such debased circumstances.
And that brings me to Mary. Here she was, giving birth for the first time far away from her home and her home town, with no one to help her except her husband, homeless and with no resources available. All she had was the promise of an angel she had seen in a vision months before that somehow the baby she would bear would become a king and sit on David’s throne.
It must have been shocking how things were working out, so different from what she and Joseph might have expected. How could that promise possibly be true?
Enter the famous shepherds, God’s Christmas card, so to speak, addressed specifically to Mary and Joseph.
The interesting thing about shepherds in Jesus’ day was that no one believed them. The reason shepherds had the reputation of used car salesmen was because shepherds, wandering out in the wilderness all day tending their landlords’ sheep, got hungry. And when they got hungry, one or two of those sheep often became lamb chops. When shepherds got back with, say, 99 sheep instead of 100, their excuse to their landlord was simple: a wild animal killed it.
No one believed them, of course, but no one could disprove them either.
So when the Angel of the Lord, along with thousands and thousands of heavenly beings appeared to shepherds on the hills surrounding Bethlehem announcing the birth of Israel’s messiah and telling them to go visit the baby Jesus “wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger,” God knew word about it would get out. But he also knew that the rumor would quickly fade: “Oh…shepherds.”
Mary, on the other hand did get it. The result: “Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.” She got the card. The special message God sent just for her and Joseph had been delivered. “I know what I am doing. This isn’t a mistake. This little baby of yours really is the messiah. I will keep my word.”
And so, dear Christians, God has made many amazing promises to us, hasn’t he? And yet our circumstances may seem to betray them. We may be experiencing just the opposite of what God has promised. Those promises may seem distant and unreal to us. If so, if that is where you’re at spiritually today, then I invite you to remember Mary and Joseph and Jesus.
This Christmas, treasure God’s promises and ponder them in your heart. God knows what he is doing. They will certainly come true.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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- For a discussion of the relationship between wise men in the Ancient Near East and Christianity, see my devotional, “The Wise Men’s Christian Association.”
- Matthew 2:1-18
