Breaking: Messiah Born
How would people react if Jesus were born today? What would the headlines say?
Several years ago, a weekly newspaper in Camden, New Jersey published its front page on Christmas day devoted to imaginary coverage of a modern-day birth of Christ. Headlines included, "President adopts 'wait and see' stance on birth," and "NASA says 'star' junk."
The unusual editorial format was intended to make people think, said publisher Hollis Curl. Other headlines from front page stories read "Virgin birth not possible," "Wall Street mixed about Savior," and "Shepherds jailed after claim of hearing voices of angels."
In an editor's note, Curl wrote that no offense was intended. "We hope none is perceived," he said. "How would you react?" One local pastor applauded the publisher’s effort. "If it gets people to think about the real reason for the season, he will have done a fine job," he said.
The paper's mock news stories quoted "medical experts" at Stanford University as saying there was "no way whatsoever" for the "Israeli woman known thus far only as 'Mary,'" to have given birth to a child "without having had sex with a male partner."
So how would you react if you read such outlandish accounts in today's world? Would you dismiss it as "fake news"? Would you jump in line with the "pro-science" crowd to explain away why it could never have happened? Would you be skeptical of any reports of the supernatural and file it away with the other conspiracy nuts?
The story of Jesus' coming to earth was the biggest news in the history of the world. That one event split history down the middle, and even today, we still date our checks from the year that Christ was born. But make no mistake: it was as crazy and unbelievable then as it would be if we heard such an announcement today.
Everything about Jesus' birth was supernatural and "anti-science." A virgin gave birth to a baby. God became a human. Even the biblical nativity accounts that we are so familiar to us now were filled with out-of-the-box details that, if we heard them now, we would certainly be at least a little skeptical. That's why the shepherds were startled and "sore afraid" when their night was interrupted by a multitude of angels, bringing good news of great joy, for all the people, about the Savior's birth. How would you have responded to such shocking news that night?
The reality is, over time we have so "Disney-field" Christmas that we have pushed the outrageous realities of the miraculous aspects of the story to the periphery. In doing so, we lean on our enlightened thinking and our technological advances and inadvertently suggest that we do not need the power of God in our lives. But the story of the coming of the Messiah cannot be separated from the supernatural—not then, and not now. The message of Christmas was shocking, hard-to-believe news that confronts our willingness to believe in God's ability to do whatever it takes to intervene in our broken world But believing is what we must do.
And so, we declare our faith, singing, "Joy to the world, the Lord is come!" That's still the good news of Christmas, and the reminder of the truth behind our Advent season, as crazy and unbelievable as it may be. But it is true, and we must place our faith in Jesus, our Immanuel, who came to be present with us and rescue us from the chaos of this world.
I'm praying for you this Advent season, and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday, morning and evening, as we celebrate our Savior together.
--Pastor Ken
