Jesus Was a Bigger Threat Than You Think
By: Kyle Chastain
Tags: Jesus, Advent, Bible, Christianity, Christmas

There’s a major piece of the Christmas story you’ve probably missed. And it might change the way you think about Jesus.

Every year at Christmas, millions read the story of the birth of Christ from the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Warm fuzzy feelings abound.

I get it, it’s an awesome story. It’s the birth of hope. It’s about new beginnings. It’s about God becoming a man so He can save humanity. There’s nothing more inspiring or able to fill you with wonder and hope this time of year.

But the secret message of the Christmas story is that Jesus is a threat. What do I mean? Let’s dig a little deeper.

Jesus was a threat from the beginning

There’s this teenage girl. She’s probably somewhere around 15 years old. Her name is Mary. An angel appears to Mary and tells her, “Congratulations, God really likes you. You’re going to have a baby. But it’s not just any baby, your baby is the Son of God,” (this is my unauthorized paraphrase).

Mary is pledged to marry a guy named Joseph. Of course, it looks like she’s broken her end of the pledge because she’s pregnant outside of marriage. Now she has to explain that God got her pregnant? Good luck with that.

But the baby inside of Mary is about more than a pregnancy out of wedlock.

Mary and Joseph were Jewish. And the Jewish people believed they were chosen by God to be his special people. They believed God protected them, cared for them, and provided for them. But at the time of this story, Israel was under the control of the Roman Empire.

Even so, the Jewish people believed that God would send a deliverer to snatch them from the grasp of the Roman empire and set them free.

That’s exactly what the angel tells Mary her baby boy will do.

“He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” (Luke 1:32–33, NLT)

Jesus, says the angel, will be a great deliverer king of Israel, and his reign will never end. Nobody will stand in his way. No king on earth will be more powerful. Not even Caesar, the ruler of the whole world.

Why does this matter?

The Romans believed their empire would last forever

Under Caesar, Rome believed its reach and power had no end. And they had every reason to believe it. After all, they’d conquered most of the world in the name of peace.

Now here’s this teenage Jewish girl, claiming she’s going to give birth to a king who will outlast Caesar.

Do you see how the empire might consider this a problem?

Any threat to Caesar’s power was a threat to the empire. But here’s where it get’s good.

As Emperor, Caesar was worshipped as a god and was even called a Son of God. So when the angel told Mary that Jesus was the Son of God, it was a jab at the man in power. Right from the start, Jesus turns human order upside down. But we’re just getting started.

One of the Emperor’s royal titles was Caesar, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

His political slogan was, “There is no other name under the heavens by which men can be saved than that of Caesar.”

When people from across the world came to pay tribute to and worship him, they confessed, “Caesar is lord.”

If you think some of those titles sound familiar, you’re right.

The early church adopted most of these titles and gave them to Jesus. They claimed that Jesus, not Caesar, was the ruler of the world. The throne of Jesus, not Caesar will last forever.

The Christmas story is about a threat to the established order

Yes, the Christmas story is about the birth of the savior of the world. And yes, Jesus was the “Promised One” from the Old Testament. But the Christmas story is also about the birth of a revolutionary new government springing up on the outskirts of the Roman Empire.

A divine kingdom to outlast all human kingdoms.

The baby born to Mary was a threat to the established order and everyone who benefited from it. Not because Jesus would overthrow Rome, but because his life and teaching would undermine it. His authority would outlive the most powerful empire in the world.

Many kings, emperors, and governments have claimed the name of one God or another, believing they will last forever. But Jesus outlasted every one of them.

The secret message in the Christmas story is a challenge to put your trust and hope in something other than human power.

This year was full of political turmoil and upset

It's been a year full of promises for a better tomorrow through a human government. Where do you think is best to place your trust? In the government of men, or the kingdom that will outlast them all?

Merry Christmas.