Kickin' It Old School: Advent in the OT, Part 4

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, December 20, 2009. The text for this week's message is Micah 5:2-5.

Today is the fourth Sunday in Advent, the time in which we prepare and remember the coming of the Lord on that first Christmas. We have been working through a series taking a look at the Old Testament lectionary readings for Advent this year, and we have been getting a sense of what the Israelites were expecting in the coming of their Messiah. We are also learning a bit about what it means to have faith. That’s what we learned from Jeremiah – that God is trustworthy and faithful. Even when things all around us are dark and gloomy, and it looks like there is no hope at all, God is faithful to His promises.

Malachi is about a messenger that would come to prepare the way for the Lord. That messenger, as we saw, was John the Baptist, who called the people to repentance and pointed them to Jesus. Advent is about preparing ourselves spiritually for the coming of the Lord in Jesus Christ. We have to heed the call of John the Baptist and repent from the sins that are holding us back. We must also use this time to point others to Jesus. That’s also what John did in his ministry. He saw that he wasn’t the most important thing in the world, but that Jesus was. It begins with self-examination, which leads to repentance, and then it ends with us pointing others to the source of our salvation in Jesus Christ.

Zephaniah reminds us to rejoice in what the Lord is doing. Rejoicing and praising God shouldn’t be something that we do because those around us are doing it, and it shouldn’t be something we do because that’s what we are “supposed” to do. We should be rejoicing and praising God because He is faithful and He has brought us salvation in the form of His Son Jesus Christ. We should be rejoicing because this salvation is for all people, and we should be praising God with all our hearts when just one person returns to God.

And today, we hear the words of the prophet Micah of Moresheth. Like so many of the other prophets, we don’t know a whole lot about Micah. Instead of giving us a family of origin, we are given the place where Micah was born. Moresheth was a town about 22 miles southwest of Jerusalem, so it was a part of the southern kingdom of Judah. We are told that Micah’s ministry took place during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. This would put him as active during the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel, when the Assyrians came in, conquered and exiled the people of Israel in 722 B.C.

Micah’s words didn’t just serve warning to the people in the northern kingdom. He also spoke of what was to come in the southern kingdom. In Jeremiah 26:18, we see the words of Micah quoted by some of the elders in Judah. The primary theme in Micah, as with a lot of the other prophets, is one of judgment and forgiveness. The people are to be scattered for their unfaithfulness, but because of God’s faithfulness, they will be gathered together once again by one who will protect and forgive them.

Today’s passage comes during a time when the restoration of the people is being accomplished. There will come one from the town of Bethlehem, who will be raised up in the strength of the Lord to shepherd the flock of God’s people. Today’s reading begins by addressing Bethlehem Ephrathah. Ephrathah is a designation of the district in which Bethlehem is located. There was apparently more than one Bethlehem in the area, and this designation narrows it down to the Bethlehem that David called home.

There are allusions to David throughout this passage, which is why is it seen as a Messianic prophecy, or a prophecy that points to the coming of the Messiah. First of all the city, Bethlehem, was also known as the City of David. Bethlehem was kind of like one of the small New England towns that have the sign “George Washington slept here.” They had a giant sign at the edge of town that said, “David was born here.” Okay, that’s probably not true, but Bethlehem was known to be the home of Israel’s greatest king. It’s not much, but it is a claim to fame.

Secondly, there is mention of one that would come from Bethlehem who would be a ruler whose coming forth is from the ancient days. There was only one ruling family from Bethlehem, and you got it, it was the line of David. It was understood that the line of David would always sit on the throne of Israel. Now, at the time that Micah was saying these words, there were descendants of David that were sitting on the throne, but they were nothing like Israel’s ideal king.

At the time, the people were warned about the exile that was to come, but it was not a reality, nor was it immanent. The promise of the line of David sitting on the throne was something that was going to mean a lot to the people in just a couple hundred years, but right now, it was something that was just normal. The people of Israel, as they lived in exile in Babylon would look back on these words and remember the promises that God had made.

Finally, the imagery of a shepherd was equally important because David was a shepherd. The shepherd imagery for God is also seen in some of the other prophets. It is an image that portrays care and concern for the people that are being governed, a trait that had become rather rare in the kings that followed David. But the Messiah, the ruler that was to come from the line of David would care for the people, and as we read about Jesus’ ministry, we do see that care and concern for the people come through loud and clear. And as we read Micah and reflect on the birth, life and death of Jesus, what we begin to understand is that sometimes, the best things come in the smallest, and most unexpected, packages.

Take for example, Bethlehem itself. “O little town of Bethlehem” is more than a beginning to a beloved Christmas hymn. It is a statement of fact. Bethlehem was a little town. Remember when Mary and Joseph come into Bethlehem, and there is no room for them at the inn? It was because there just wasn’t much in Bethlehem, which is why everybody left. But once they all had to go back to their hometown for the census, it was packed and there was nowhere to put everybody. The word in verse 2 for “little” could also be translated as “small,” or “insignificant.”

Bethlehem was an insignificant town on the world stage. Apart from being the birthplace of David, nobody cared about it. Think about it, when the wise men from the east follow the star to find Jesus, one of Herod’s people tells them of this passage, and they go in search of the king of the Jews. We’ll get into the details of that story in a couple of weeks, but they don’t go back to tell Herod where the boy is. Herod figures out that they aren’t coming back and has all the little boys in Bethlehem killed. Did you know that Matthew is the only place in history that records this act of Herod? Herod kills a bunch of little boys, and it wasn’t even a blip on the radar of history. That’s how insignificant Bethlehem was, and yet, it was the birthplace of the world’s greatest king, the Son of God.

What about Jesus’ earthly parents? Who were they? Yes, we know that Mary and Joseph raised him, but what do we know about them? Nothing, really. We know that they were betrothed, which is kind of like being engaged at the time. A betrothal was a legal contract to wed, and couples were generally betrothed for a year before officially getting married. During this time, there was no marital contact between the husband and wife-to-be. Yet, next thing we know, Mary is pregnant. Joseph knows it isn’t his baby, and he had every right to, at best, call off the marriage, and at worst, have Mary stoned to death. But he doesn’t. He takes Mary as his wife anyway. Two people that the world barely knows anything about, and they are asked to raise the Son of God.

And at Christmastime, we need to remember that the greatest gift of all came in one of the most fragile gifts of all. Our salvation, our means of being in right relationship with God came in the form of a baby boy. A baby – is there anything more fragile than a baby? Is there anything more defenseless than a baby? I don’t know what is normal in standard child development. All of my nieces and nephew were way too advanced for their age, but I do know some rough estimates. Human babies can barely walk for the first year. They can’t hold a quality conversation until later than that, and some still can’t do that after a couple of decades.

A child is defenseless, and that’s why we see crimes against children as particularly heinous. And yet, a baby made the heavenly chorus break loose. A baby was the one who fulfilled the ancient prophecies of the people of Israel. A baby would eventually bring salvation to the entire world. A baby is an awesome and incredible thing, but there’s nothing special that a baby can do besides giggle and be cute. But an ordinary town saw an ordinary couple do something that was at the same time ordinary and very extraordinary. They gave birth to the Son of God. God can do the most extraordinary things through the most ordinary people.

There is a website called, My Life is Average. It is quite entertaining sometimes. Check it out when you get a chance. According to the designers, and I’m quoting from the site here, “MyLifeIsAverage is a place to share your everyday mediocrity. It is a place to post the mundane things in your life, and read about what makes life normal for other people.” Here are a few examples of what you’ll find on the site:

• “Today I asked a French guy if he played video games. He said, ‘Wii.’”
• “Today, I walked into my living room. My grandma was on Facebook. My 15-year-old sister was knitting. I’m still confused.”
• “Last night, I had a dream I was eating a giant marshmallow. When I woke up, my pillow was gone. I screamed in fear and held my stomach. Then I saw my pillow on the floor.”
• “Today, I wasn’t prepared for a test so I had my identical twin sister go to my class and take it for me. My teacher didn’t even notice the switch. My mom is the teacher.”
• “Today, I got a paper cut opening the Band-Aid box.”

There’s some pretty funny stuff on there, but in a seriousness, let me give you some questions to think about. Is your life average? Do you think that there’s nothing interesting or important about your life, or about what you do? Do you compare yourself to others and think, “there’s no way I can be like that person”? Do you think about the things that need to be done in this community for the sake of the gospel and then stop because you don’t think that you can make a difference? Do you see or hear about other things that churches do and wish that we could do them here, but don’t think we are capable ? Do you think you are too old, or too young do any good for the sake of Christ in this world? Do you think that God doesn’t want anything to do with you because of your past? What can we learn from Micah today?

We don’t need to be spectacular. God doesn’t need us to be the most talented or gifted individuals. God needs us to be who we are. God needs us to be willing to follow after Him and seek His face. God needs us to be willing, not special. God equips those He sends. We don’t need to walk on water, we need to walk humbly before Him.

Is your life average? Good! That’s something God can work with. Because we know, and everyone around us will know that it is God doing the work, not us. There was nothing special about Bethlehem. There was nothing special about Joseph or Mary. There was nothing special about the shepherds who first came to see the newborn king. But God made them special. God took their stories and shaped them in such a way that here we are 2000 years later talking about them. They weren’t special, but they will be remembered for saying “yes” to God.

This Christmas, let’s remember the words of the prophets. Let’s remember God’s faithfulness. Let’s remember the call to repentance. Let’s remember to rejoice in what God has done in our lives and what He is doing in the lives of those around us. And let’s remember that God can use average, ordinary people and places, people like you and me, and places like Bethlehem or Veedersburg/Hillsboro, to change the course of the world.