The Unexpected Messiah

The Unexpected Messiah

I asked my parents for IKEA furniture for my college studio apartment. To make it easy, I gave Dad a list of the items, with aisle numbers, hoping to get one or two complete pieces.

When Christmas morning arrived, I tore through giftwrapped boxes and realized Dad bought furniture parts, but he bought parts of different furniture pieces. They didn’t combine to make any whole piece of furniture. I simply had random planks of pressboard.

It was not what I expected.

The Israelites had a Christmas list of their own for their hoped-for Messiah. But when he arrived, he was not what they expected.

The Messiah Wish List

The prophets foretold of God’s incarnation (God becoming human in the person of Jesus). Some of these prophets spoke about his humility and suffering, but other prophesies described his kingship. These stately prophesies might have thrown off the Jews in Jesus’s day.

• The government would be on the Messiah’s shoulders, and he would reign with justice and fairness (Isa 9:6–7).
• He would rule eternally, and all peoples, nations, and language groups would serve him (Dan 7:13–14).

We can imagine that first-century Jews held onto this political vision of the Messiah, in part because they lived under Roman rule. They probably longed for a deliverer to rescue them from gentile military leadership, excessive taxation, and oppression.

Then Jesus came.

• Born into a humble family on the outskirts of Jerusalem, in a town on the wrong side of the trade route (Mic 5:2; Luke 2:4).
• His family was poor and could only offer birds as Jesus’s dedication sacrifice at the temple (Luke 2:24).
• He lived for a time as a refugee (Hos 11:1; Matt 2:13).
• He befriended tax collectors and sinners, not just  religious leaders (Matt 9:11–12).

The Jews were looking for a conquering earthly king, and Jesus seemed to be a small-town nobody. This could not possibly be the ruler in the line of David who would sit on the throne forever, right (2 Sam 7:8–17)?

The Unexpected Messiah

God-in-the-flesh came as a virgin-born baby, taking his first gulp of air where animals fed. No horns blown from the castle, just a birthday invitation to shepherds (Luke 2).

This king on the outskirts was not well-off as the world reckons prestige; he was not even “Homecoming king” material. Isaiah the prophet foretold, “he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, no special appearance that we should want to follow him” (Isa 53:2).

But appearances can be deceiving.

The Gospel of John beautifully describes the coming of Jesus:

Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. (John 1:14)

The word “residence” here draws the Jewish imagination back to the Old Testament stories of their ancestors, when they wandered the wilderness. God rested his presence inside a “residence,” the tabernacle (Hebrew miškān).

The Israelites made this movable, sacred tabernacle according to God’s instructions, and this is where the people would offer the sacrifices according to the law (as described in detail in the book of Leviticus). Here priests would enter God’s presence on behalf of God’s people.

When Jesus came, John describes him as the “tabernacle” among us, the dwelling of God in our midst. He is our high priest who became present with us so we can be present with him forever.

Jesus may not have appeared majestic, but he came to us clothed in humility, housing majesty.

But people missed it. John describes the reaction to Jesus’s first coming.

He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him. (John 1:10–11)

Maybe some Jewish people missed the Jewish Messiah because they were too busy looking for him in palaces rather than pastures. They imagined a humanly strong solider; instead, they got a cosmically strong Savior.

Do we do something similar? Do we miss the work God is doing because we look only for what we expect him to be doing? This Christmas, let us consider who Jesus is and be open to how he comes.

The Unexpected Mission

The Jewish people wanted a military deliverer. Jesus’s mission was not to deliver them from Roman rulership but to deliver humanity from sin.

His ministry focused on the down-and-out, the overlooked. People on the outskirts of society, including fishermen and sinners, wandered from town to town, as their rabbi declared the arrival of the upside-down kingdom of God, where the last shall be first and the first shall be last, where the humble are exalted and the exalted are humbled.

Jesus’s teachings in parables left people pondering the good news of the kingdom (Mark 1:27). His words felt fresh and surprising, and they were backed up by the things he did. The works declared his identity. The blind saw, the lame walked, the lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard, the dead were raised, and the good news was preached to the poor (Luke 7:22; Isa 35:5–6).

Then the Good News walked his way to the cross, demonstrating his great love and finishing the work the Father gave him to do (John 15:13; 17:14; 1 John 2:2).

This Christmas, let us remember:

God came to us in the person of his Son, Jesus.

Jesus died.

He was buried.

Then he rose to life.

Christmas is paired with Resurrection Sunday. This is the wonder we’re invited to celebrate this Christmas season.

But, oh, wait—there’s more!

Our unexpected Messiah, who lived out his mission in unexpected ways, gave his followers an unexpected mission as well.

Our Unexpected Commission

You might think the God of the universe would have a better plan than to entrust his continued work on earth to a rapscallion band that included common laborers and a tax collector.

But he chooses the lesser things of this world to shame the wise (1 Cor 1:27–29). And commissioned them (and us, through the extension of their ministry) to continue Christ’s work.

Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matt 28:18–20)

We are to carry on proclaiming the kingdom. We are to carry on the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:11–21). We are to carry on offering the greatest gift Christ gave: the riches of his mercy and the hope of glory (Col 1:27).

The Wishlist

Jesus fulfilled the prophetic list of the Messiah’s first coming. But every Christmas, we are reminded, some things on the wish list remain undone.

The Advent season is our time not only to marvel about God becoming human it’s also a time to ponder what’s to come. We look forward to the day when Jesus reigns from Jerusalem in God’s eternal kingdom, where there will be no more tears or missing family members at Christmas dinner (Luke 1:32–33; Rev 11:15; 21:4).

The first-century Jewish leaders weren’t wrong about the prophesies to be fulfilled regarding the Messiah ruling an everlasting kingdom where all peoples, nations, and languages would serve him (Dan 7:13–14). They just didn’t have all the pieces yet—like my Christmas IKEA wood planks years ago.

After unwrapping my wood planks, I thanked Mom and Dad and walked out to my car to put them in my trunk. Then I saw Dad’s car; it was filled with IKEA boxes. Dad didn’t just buy pieces; he bought all the furniture I’d asked for! My brother had the idea to trick me by putting only incomplete sets under the Christmas tree (brothers!). We still laugh about it years later.

It might not be this Christmas, but Jesus is coming soon—and all the pieces will be in place. In the meantime, let’s continue his work on earth. Let’s proclaim the kingdom, baptize believers, and teach them to obey everything he commanded.

The eternal Christmas is coming soon.

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For a devotional series that continues to look at our hope this Advent season, follow these links:
Devotional #1 “When Love Shows Up: From Hospital Rooms to Bethlehem”
Devotional #2 “Discovering the Hope of Christmas in Genesis”
Devotional #3 “The Gift We’re Still Waiting For”