The Irony of the Nativity
by Christopher C. Thompson, D.Min.
Imagine a communion service with a crowd of people and no emblems and no one to administer them. Or imagine a wedding; all of the guests are gathered, the bride and the groom are both picture-perfect, but no officiant. Now imagine a courthouse with jury, lawyers, plaintiff, defendant, public and press are all there. No judge. Now imagine this; the upcoming 119th Session of Congress, all ready to go, press is all in place ready to find out about the next big bill, pages, assistants, aides, chiefs of staff, everyone’s there; even the lobbyists, but no lawmakers. Wouldn’t that be weird?
The birth of Jesus was actually quite similar in that some of the key people that you would expect would be present were nowhere to be found. And worse yet, they didn’t even know that this most miraculous event had even taken place. Here is the High Priest of Heaven, but no priests were present. The King of all Kings was born, but none of the royal class attended. The long-awaited Promised Child of Judaism and the very Treasure of Heaven has come to earth, but none of the elites of Israel responded to the invitation.
On the other hand, a peasant girl and her blue collar carpenter fiancé/husband are present with a stable of animals. Some conniving and thieving shepherds have been summoned off the backside of a hill nearby.[1] And some pagan priests from Persia came like several months later.[2] If we look closely, there is a pastoral ministry framework embedded here that needs to be discussed. I will extrapolate three basic principles that will revolutionize your ministry, just as Jesus revolutionized the world from an animal’s feeding trough.
Refuse alignment with and divest from the empire.
King Herod was disturbed and upset about the news of the nativity for obvious reasons, but it’s profound that God sent divine redirections to the Magi to ensure that the king could not cut short or even disrupt the formative years of the Savior. Jesus’ parents also were redirected to Egypt to avoid the machinations of the king. Here’s a word to the wise, if you are lock-step with an earthly ruler, you’re probably scoring points for the wrong team. The story suggests that the Kingdom of God maintains a subversive influence; flying below the radar of the empire in silent, persistent defiance of it. The empire has values, goals, and objectives that are antichrist in that they are antithetical to the work of God. Please be aware of them, and steer clear of them.
Look for those who are left out.
As an infant, Jesus was visited by some characters who no one would have expected would be present, but take note that each received a divine invitation to attend. It’s worth noting that none of these folks in the story would have passed a church nominating committee, more-less, a conference constituency session review. In The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren talks about the Core, Committed, Congregation, Crowd, and Community.[3] We always look for leaders and helpers amongst the first three C’s, but in this case, heaven consulted the crowd and the community for major roles in the nativity scene. There are those outside of our inner circles that have something significant to contribute. We have to intentionally seek them out and identify the ways in which they can advance the mission of the church.
Find strategic ways to include the outsiders.
The first evangelists were shepherds. They went from keeping sheep on the third watch, to growing the flock of followers of Jesus before he could even walk or talk. And according to The Desire of Ages, the gifts that the Magi brought proved invaluable to Jesus’ parents while they were refugees in Egypt.[4] They were pagan soothsayers who organized the first capital campaign in the history of the Christian church. And this was all God’s plan. Be mindful that there are people in the crowd that can help in unique and significant ways. Give them space and opportunity to give of their time, talents, and treasure to forward the mission. It may look much different than before, but that’s okay. We’ve never actually saved the world before. We may need some new players on the team.
I sincerely hope your Christmas holiday is filled with the best blessings possible. I also pray that the policies, practices, systems, and structures in your local church will be revitalized and revolutionized for the finishing of the work. I pray that you would recognize the opportunities and partners that may be hiding in the shadows.
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Some have contended that shepherds weren’t thieves. See Croteau in Christmas Urban Legends: Shepherds as Outcasts at https://research.lifeway.com/2015/12/17/christmas-urban-legends-shepherds-as-outcasts/ This really seems to fly in the face of Jesus’s own logic in John 10. The concept of the good shepherd is a contrasts his ministry with the influence of the religious leaders. The concept simply doesn’t work without the image of a bad shepherd. Imagine calling yourself the good pastor if every pastor who preceded you at your church was also good. Weird right? Exactly. Also, The good shepherd motif is perfectly aligned with the message in Ez. 34. While this text also speaks in reference to leaders of Israel, the imagery is too vivid to simply be allegorical. The description is picture perfect of what a bad shepherd does/doesn't do. It’s because they existed. It’s highly likely that the historical record on shepherds is correct and that Croteau is the one who’s mistaken. They weren’t the best choice to be invited to meet Jesus. They were God’s choice.
Tony Watkins, “Who Were the Magi.” https://academic.tyndalehouse.com/explore/articles/magi/ Accessed 12/24/24.
Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995. 155. Also see https://blog.pastors.com/articles/plan-growing-people-purpose/
Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages. Mountain View: Pacific Press, 1898. 65.
Christopher C. Thompson is editor of Best Practices.
