Thank you to Pat for this week’s MWB
An unexpected place
Where will you be celebrating Christmas? At home, visiting others or perhaps you’re not sure. There may be somewhere you’d like to be, but it’s not going to be possible this year. Our prophecy this week speaks of the location of the first Christmas, and it wasn’t what was expected for God’s anointed.
Let’s read Micah 5: 2 – 5 A Promised Ruler from Bethlehem
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” 3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labour bears a son, and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites.
4 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. 5 And he will be our peace.
We are all familiar with Jesus’ birthplace, Bethlehem, seeing the nativity scenes, singing about it in carols, but when it happened it wasn’t the expected place. Bethlehem was chosen but it certainly wasn’t where a new king would be expected to be born. Declaring that a new king had been born would have been more convincing if it was located in a more prominent place, the city of previous kings, the city of David, Jerusalem. But we know that’s not how God works; he doesn’t always do the expected – like when Jesus rode triumphant into Jerusalem on a donkey rather than the expected fine horse! There were so many other things that Jesus said and did during his life that were different and not what people were expecting. You may have experienced God working in very unexpected ways and places in your own life and can therefore understand this aspect of God’s character.
This prophecy also emphasises the ancient, eternal covenant of God with his people, following the line of David, who was also born in Bethlehem. A son will be born and will herald in a new chapter, bringing God’s kingdom to earth. The Mesiah was to be a shepherd, standing firm and shepherding his flock with strength and majesty, providing security for those who trust in him. Once again, the great promise, “he will be our peace” v.5, was to give hope to those living with power struggles in Israel at that time but also speaks into our world now, filled with wars and conflicts. Micah’s prophecy outlines how Gods kingdom works – not with the mighty and powerful but rather encouraging us to look for God at work in the unexpected places, and in surprising ways and through those we may least expect, the vulnerable, humble and those outside our usual ‘circle’.
Perhaps you or those around you have great expectations for Christmas, hope of reconciliation, hope of peace or hope of better times. Let’s be filled with hope that God is in control and let’s be prepared to expect the unexpected as we celebrate together and share with others during this season.
As we consider Bethlehem, his birthplace, let’s pray especially for those in the Holy Land and for all those around our world who are unable to celebrate at home, or no longer have a place to call home due to war, persecution, natural disasters or family breakdown.