The Bible Binge: The King Nobody Wants: The Son (Matthew 1:21-23)

Chad Richard Bresson

The Table of Los Fresnos

Sermons • Sermon • Submitted 5 months ago • Presented 5 months ago

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The Feast of Christmas Present

What kind of meal are you having for Christmas? In one of the most famous Christmas stories of all time, there is a point in which the author opens the scene by talking about a sitting room that up to the point in the story had been very dark and cold and gloomy. And what once was a gloomy room is now the setting for an over-the-top feast:

“(The sitting room) had undergone a surprising transformation. The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green, that it looked a perfect grove; from every part of which, bright gleaming berries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe, and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there; and such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney, as that dull petrification of a hearth had never known in (his) time, or (his partner's), or for many and many a winter season gone. Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking-pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chesnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that made the chamber dim with their delicious steam."

That is an amazing feast. An over-the-top feast. If we were to continue reading this passage from this novella, we would find that sitting on that festal throne of all things that are great to eat is the jolly giant we have come to know as The Ghost of Christmas Present. And that sitting room belongs to Ebenezer Scrooge. Only a couple of hours earlier, Scrooge’s sitting room had been cold and dark. And gloomy. But the arrival of the Ghost of Christmas Present has transformed the room into a luscious feast fit for a king.

It is not an accident that Charles Dickens portrays Christmas in the present as a grand feast. We are not here to unpack Dickens. But it is worth noting that feasting and food are integral to all of the major scenes in his famous story, the Christmas Carol. All that is good about Christmas, and to be shared with those in need no less, is manifested by an orientation around food and feasting. Whether it’s the house of Scrooge’s office clerk or his nephew, Dickens wants us to see that the Christmas Dinner Table is where relationships with family and friends are strengthened, deepened, and enriched.

And if Scrooge is to experience reconciliation and restoration in his relationships, he must indulge himself in the banquet of Christmas Present. In fact, in this sitting room, the Ghost of Christmas Present beckons Scrooge to "know me better, man". Knowing Christmas is through a feast designed for Scrooge's conversion and the reparation of relationship. In a transformed room, filled wall to wall and floor to ceiling with the choicest of all Christmas banquets everywhere, we are given a glimpse of the kinds of Christmases that await a transformed Scrooge.

Dickens is fiction. What we have here today in Word and Sacrament is not. It is here in this Table that we find the true meaning of the Advent Season. The connection that Dickens makes between meals and ultimate meaning is amplified exponentially in the sacred pages of Scriptures. Meals are inseparable from the storyline of the Bible. From the garden in Genesis to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and the abundance of nourishment in the New Garden of Revelation meals tell us something about the Person and Work of Jesus, the focal point of the Christian story. But there is one meal recorded for us that not only proclaims the Person and work of Christ, it also proclaims to us our new identity as members of a New Covenant. In this Table we find our story, a story forever tied to the story of Jesus in the grand drama of redemption.

And it may not seem readily apparent, but this Table this morning is a Christmas table, proclaiming to us the nature and mission of the One who was announced by angels, ushered to earth with a star, and worshipped by wise men. We cannot know Christmas present without grasping the Sacrament of this Table, because it is in what Jesus is doing at this Table that Christmas itself gets its wonder and joy.

The Birth of a Son

And it all goes back to Matthew chapter 1. We have the story of Jesus and his birth. We have recounted over the past few weeks the story of Jesus’ family, his mother, and his father. But Matthew is writing all of this because the real focus of the entire chapter and the entire biography he is writing is about the son. There is nothing normal about this son.

Joseph, as we have said, knows his wife is pregnant and he is planning to divorce her. But before he can go through with those plans, his life is turned totally upside down.

He gets a visit from an angel.

Mary, a virgin, is pregnant.

Mary is pregnant from the Holy Spirit.

He will have a son.

He is to name his son, Jesus.

Jesus is the Greek name for the Jewish name, Joshua. A connection is made with the Joshua of the Old Testament, but this Joshua is so much better. This Joshua is exponentially superlative. This Joshua gets his birth announcement from an angel. This Joshua is born of a virgin. This Joshua is of divine origin. There has never been a Joshua like this One, nor will there ever be a Joshua like this one. Just as the appearance of an angel in a dream provides a backdrop of the Old Testament drama of redemption, so too does the naming of a child who is not of this world, Joshua. The original Joshua, who led the children of Israel into the land flowing with milk and honey and conquered Jericho and God’s enemies in taking the land, bears witness to this Joshua. Joseph, that child in your wife’s womb is a New Joshua.

This Joshua is a Different kind of Savior

But the way this lands doesn’t feel right. In fact, something is off. This Joshua is the expected Messiah of the Old Testament. He is in the royal line of David. He gets an angel announcement. He gets a virgin birth. Already the story is unbelievable. In the center of this entire story is this line from the angel as he is talking to Joseph.

Matthew 1:21 “She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

If this king shows up, has an angel announcing the birth, is born to a virgin… a miracle birth, a divine birth, and is named after one of Israel’s military greats of the Old Testament what do you expect this king to do or be like? You’re expecting someone who is coming to make life better. Someone to take control of the world. Solve the world’s problems. Help me live the life I’ve always wanted.

But that’s not what we get. This Joshua is coming to conquer a different kind of enemy and to establish a different kind of kingdom. This Joshua is not a military leader. This one named Jehovah our Savior comes bringing salvation of a different sort.

The mission of this son is the point of this passage. It colors everything in this passage. This is the son of Abraham who is coming to save his people from their sins. This is the heir to the Davidic throne who is coming to save his people from their sins. This is not a Davidic heir who comes in all the glory of the throne. This is not a Joshua coming in power and might to overthrow Rome. This is Joshua coming on a mission to save his people from their sins.

This is a different kind of a baby story. Before this baby story is over, there will be difficulty. There will be suffering. In order to save his people from their sins, this Joshua who is raised in the midst of scandal will have to have his body broken and his blood poured out for the sins of his people.

The Forgiveness King

Fast forward some 33 years later, and that baby in a manger is now full grown and is having a meal with his best friends. And this is what happens:

Matthew 26:26–28 As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

By the time we get to the end of Matthew’s biography, we are being show that what the angel promised Joseph is happening in real time. This New Joshua will lead His people into a different kind of a promised land… a kingdom that has at its heart the forgiveness of sins. If we were to read the entire book of Matthew we would find that It has been no small controversy that this heir to David’s throne is in the sin forgiving business (9:2). And now here at the end of his ministry, this Son who will save his people from their sins now breaks the bread and lifts the cup declaring that the time is at hand to make good on the promise of salvation through the forgiveness of sins.

A Savior who is Emmanuel

But this New Joshua who is in the sin-forgiving business is more than just a Savior, if that’s even possible. There is one more absolutely stupendous thing the angel is telling Joseph here about the coming baby.

Matthew 1:23 The virgin will give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.”

You know what the great thing about Jesus’ work of saving sinners from sin is? God became one of us to do it. How is it that this Jesus will be God with us for his people? Jesus will be God with us for his people by saving them from their sins. Sin is a problem. Sin is such an enemy. Sin cuts off relationship with the Creator. But this baby is going to make it happen. He wants relationship with us. This is the meaning of love… God with us. This New Joshua has not come as in political power or military might. This Emmanuel, God with us, is God as one of us, giving us his love and giving us his grace. He deals a fatal blow to sin, and reconciles his people to God… so that he may dwell with them forever. Unbelievable.

That transformed sitting room of Ebenezer Scrooge represented the best of Christmas for Dickens. For many of us (and I realize not all of us) that sitting room connects with us because that is what we envision in all good Christmas times. Lots of food. A lot of feast. Time spent with family and friends building and enriching relationships around large tables full of food. The food, as much as it physically satisfies (save the fruitcake which might kill you), is supposed to speak to the satisfaction we find in being with family and friends.

But you and I both know that Normal Rockwell is not reality. There’s always something broken at Christmas. A heart. A relationship. A toy. A family. Health. A bank account. A memory. We live in the midst of brokenness and sin. Feasting with family doesn’t give some of us the warm fuzzies. What is broken at Christmas is us. It may not always be immediately obvious. But somewhere lurking below the grand feast is brokenness of sin in need of reconciliation and restoration. It is brokenness of our own making. We point fingers at Scrooge, yet we empathize with his eventual conversion because we know deep down Scrooge is us. We all need the same grace and salvation that Scrooge gets.

The son born to Joseph and Mary is the king nobody wants… but the king we all need. The king we want is a king who's going to level the playing field for me. Help me win at life. Take out my "enemies" (the people who get in my way), whoever or whatever they are. We want a king who will "show them who's the boss". But that's not the king we get. Or the king we need. We get a Son. Crucified. FOR US. From among us. We need to be saved from sin. We need God to be one of us. And Jesus is one of us. That is the meaning of Christmas. That is the meaning of life. As we feast this Christmas, let’s remind ourselves of the feast Jesus has given us that is every we have ever needed, in life, salvation, grace, and forgiveness.

Let’s Pray.

The Table

We come to this Table bringing nothing. We eat of the bread and drink of the cup placing all of our wants, desires, and needs in the One who gives us of himself here at this Table. The little one in the manger came to save His people from their sins. And that’s exactly what he has done. That Promise is here for us in this Table. In this Table, Christ promises to be for us what he was for Joseph that day. God took on flesh and bone and blood so that he could do for us what we could not do for ourselves… save ourselves from our sin and our shame and our guilt and our death. That he did for us in His body and in His blood. And he offers us life and forgiveness through His body and His blood this morning. This is a Christmas meal. For me and for you.

Benediction

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