“Journey to Christmas – An Unexpected Journey”
Sunday, December 11th, 2022
Last week we began our Journey to Christmas Series understanding that it was a Necessary Journey… Today… how it was an Unexpected Journey!
Unexpected surprises… those are nice, aren’t they?
What about unexpected disappointments?
An Unexpected Arrival
What was mankind expecting?
Isaiah 9:6-7 (NIV)
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
Micah 5:2, 4-5 (NIV)
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will rule over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times.” He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace.
An Unexpected Couple
John 7:52 (NIV)
“Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
John 1:45-46 (NIV)
Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
*“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.*
Luke 2:48-50 (NIV)
When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
An Unexpected Plan
Everywhere he went, he made a habit of unexpected encounters:
- The Samaritan woman went to the well when she knew she would be all alone.
- The hopeless paralytic sitting by the pool Bethesda, expecting once again to be passed over for healing.
- The widow of Nain in the funeral procession of her only son.
- The Leper colonies… the cave of a possessed, crazy man… the rescue of an adulterous woman about to be stoned.
He showed up in unexpected places, with an unexpected message…
- To be first, you must be last.
- Don’t hate your enemies, love them…
- Turn the other cheek…
- If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword.
- “To save your life, you must lose it, and to lose your life for my Name’s sake is to save it.”
An Unexpected Sacrifice
Matthew 16:21 (NIV)
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Matthew 17:22-23 (NIV)
[Jesus] said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.”
Matthew 20:18-19 (NIV)
…the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!
Jesus came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. A journey no one expected; a love no one could fathom.