Take Note
This message is part of our Advent series, *Surprising Gifts*, and it looks at a simple question most of us learned as kids. Who deserves presents. Christmas culture says nice people get gifts and bad people get coal. The Bible tells a very different story, and it starts with the people God chose to receive the first Christmas gift.
The birth of Jesus was announced to people who did not fit the rules. God did not start with the powerful, the religious elite, or the people who thought they deserved it. He started with outsiders, overlooked workers, and a forgotten town. That is not an accident, it is the point.
The Wrong Kings
Matthew 2:1–12
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him… When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”
The Magi were not Jewish and did not worship the right God. King Herod did, and he rejected the news. God used the wrong kings to announce the right King.
The Wrong Job
Luke 2:8–20
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night… But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.’”
Shepherds were poor, dirty, and spiritually unclean by cultural standards. God sent angels to them first. They became the first witnesses to the gospel, not because of their status, but because God chose them.
The Wrong Town
Micah 5:2
“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.”
Bethlehem was insignificant. What made it important was not the people, but God’s promise.
Who Jesus Is For
Luke 1:52–53
“He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.”
1 Corinthians 1:27–28
“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
Mark 2:17
“Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”
If you feel like the wrong type, that is exactly who Jesus came for.
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