Paul was nuts! That’s what some people thought. The miles he traveled around the northern Mediterranean countries, the zeal, the focus, the determination with which he proclaimed the kingdom of God, the sufferings he endured. Who does that? “He’s not right!” That was the conclusion of some. Paul addresses this in the verse before our text. He wrote, If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God. (2 Corinthians 5:13)
I want to call attention to a feature of our text this morning that we won’t want to miss. Maybe you detected it already. But there is a “thread” that runs through this section of Scripture. It is this idea of “seeing.” Philip says to Nathanael, Come and see (v. 46). Jesus sees Nathanael coming and says, Behold! (v. 47). “Behold” means “look at this!” Nathanael is coming to see Jesus but Jesus flips the script and tells Nathanael that he already saw him when he was sitting under the sycamore tree.
An interesting study could be made of this: unexpected places we find the Son of God. It might begin with what we just celebrated. Who would ever expect to find the Son of God in the womb of a Galiean virgin? Who would ever expect to find the Son of God wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger? But the study would not end there. It would expand to include the early life of Jesus. Who would ever expect the Son of God to be a villager in Nazareth?
Do you have a “bucket list”? You know what a “bucket list” is, right? A “bucket list” are those things a person wants to do before they “kick the bucket.” Maybe on a person’s list would be seeing a Packers’ game at Lambeau Field or going skydiving or seeing the Grand Canyon.
There is a hymn we sometimes sing at Christmas called “Of the Father’s Love Begotten.” It is one of the older Christmas hymns in existence. It dates from the 1200’s. Long before people were singing “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” they were singing this hymn. The tune of the hymn is called “Divinum mysterium.” That is Latin. It means “divine mystery.” That is the way the coming of Jesus was described.
I want you – to the best that you are able – to try to imagine what it must have been like to be one of those shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem the night Jesus was born. We don’t know what time it was. We don’t know how many there were. But there you are, with your colleagues, perhaps warming yourself around a little fire. The drowsy sheep over yonder. As many who work the “night-shift,” maybe you are thinking it’s going to be another night of the “same-old-same-old.”
Impracticable, nonviable, unworkable, beyond one, unthinkable, unimaginable, inconceivable, paradoxical, illogical, irrational, undoable, like herding cats, unattainable, unachievable, unobtainable, hopeless, implausible, far-fetched, forlorn, vain, incredible, unbelievable, absurd, ludicrous, ridiculous, laughable, preposterous, outlandish, outrageous, wild, and harebrained. Do you know what all of those words are?
Our text this morning is not the easiest text to understand. Oftentimes texts from the Old Testament prophets can be like that. But two things will help us make sense out of this text. The first is this: the prophet Isaiah was sent to the people of Judah and Jerusalem to deliver a message of God’s judgment. He told them that because of their sinful defiance of the LORD, the Babylonians were going to come and destroy the city of Jerusalem and carry off many of the people into exile in Babylon.
It wouldn’t be Advent if we didn’t spend some time with John the Baptist. John is a unique figure in the Bible. He is called the “Forerunner” of Jesus. His job, his ministry, was to run before Jesus to get things ready. We might say he was the very last prophet God sent before Jesus Christ entered upon his public ministry.
Grace to you and peace… That’s the way the apostle Paul begins our text today. Paul wrote 13 books in the New Testament. He begins all 13 with these twin words – grace and peace. That’s not accidental or merely coincidental. These two words are the sum-and-substance of our existence as Christians. We are saved by GRACE. God’s love for us sinners that caused him to send his Son to save us. And this love of God in Christ, this GRACE, results in PEACE.
