It Is No Wonder....

Every year, over the Advent Season, my wife and I try to do something intentional with our sons.  We do this to help shape in them an understanding that Christmas is more than simply lights, a tree, and presents.  We do it to help create a longing in them for Emmanuel—God with us. 

This Advent, we've been reading through some suggested Scripture readings for each day.  Each night, when I read them the passage, I ask Sam and JJ, "Why do you think we read this passage?  What does it have to do with Advent?" 

One night last week, the suggested reading was Micah 5:2-5.  Here is how it reads in the New Living Translation:

 Micah 5:2-5

² But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    are only a small village among all the people of Judah.
Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you,
    one whose origins are from the distant past.
³ The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies
    until the woman in labor gives birth.
Then at last his fellow countrymen
    will return from exile to their own land.
⁴ And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
Then his people will live there undisturbed,
    for he will be highly honored around the world.
⁵     And he will be the source of peace....

This is a passage I'm sure you've heard before, especially this time of year.  It is a passage that is familiar to us.  It would also have been a passage very familiar to the Israelites in Jesus' time.  Those living then would have heard this passage taught by their parents, who would have heard it from their parents before them. 

This is a passage they knew and we know.  But it is a passage we hear and understand quite differently.  You see, we today have a tendency to take chunks of Scripture out of its cultural and Biblical context.  For us, a text like this one speaks directly to Jesus.  We hear this passage and we think of a donkey ride to Bethlehem, a very pregnant Mary, and a birth in a stable. 

For the people living in antiquity, this passage would have made them think of freedom, of liberation, and of finally being out from under the heavy thumb of the oppressing nations.  How do I know?  Context!  I look at the verses surrounding Micah 5:2-5!  The end of chapter four is talking about Israel being brought back from exile.  The second half of 5:5 and following speak of this person, this "ruler" from Bethlehem, rescuing the Israelites from the attacking Assyrians.

When we look at our standard "Advent texts," it's no wonder the people back then misunderstood who Jesus was.  They only knew what they were taught...directly out of their Scriptures (what we call our Old Testament).  And to them, the Messiah was a conquering hero.  He was going to bring freedom, redemption from their enemies, power and might.  His life wasn't going to look like Jesus' life looked! 

This passage in Micah is not the only Old Testament passage predicting the coming of the Messiah.  Most of these other passages speak of the Messiah in similar conquering-type language (a notable exception is Isaiah 52:13-53:12).  It's no wonder, when Jesus arrived in a barn, very few recognized him for who he was.  It is no wonder, when Jesus grew and his ministry took root and spread, that many people misunderstood him!  They had been reading their Scriptures through a certain lens.  They understood Scripture through the way it had been taught to them.  They understood the Word of God exactly how they had been told!

But then Jesus came!  And he came in a way no one expected.  And his life looked nothing like the conquering Messiah everyone thought would come!  It's no wonder they were confused!

As I've reflected on their "misunderstanding" of Scripture, I found myself wondering how we are any different!?!  We read Scripture through a specific lens.  We read the story God continues to write the same way we were taught by our parents and their parents before them.  When Jesus returns again (as predicted in the pages we call The Holy Bible), will we be so stuck in our certain understandings that there is a potential we'll miss Him?  Could He surprise us the same way the people 2000+ years ago were surprised?  Could it be there are things we hold on to tightly that are quite simply wrong?

I often sit and wonder what people 100 years from now will think of how we understood and explained faith.  Will they say, "How could they have missed it so badly!??  How could they have been so far off?!?"   

Today, 2000+ years after Jesus' time getting his feet dirty on the trails of our earth, we think a passage like Micah 5:2-5 is a no-brainer!  But is it?  Was it?  We may have the benefit of hindsight, as well as two millennia of doctrinal and theological teaching.  But I still wonder if there is such thing as a no-brainer!

I wonder if in this Advent season, we need to once again allow a little more of God's mystery to flow freely into the story He is still writing?  I wonder if we need to approach the story we are so familiar with through a set of more humble eyes?  I wonder if we need to give God permission to be Emmanuel in whatever way He so chooses to be "with us?" 

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!!  And may you give us the grace we will need when you do!