It's Christmas time. It is many people's favorite time of the year. As I sit here this year, my mind keeps pondering all the shame and scandal that God provoked during this time. That part of the story doesn't get expounded on as much as the Homogenised and Pasteurised version does during our church services and songs. If you will bear with me, I will try and explain some of what I'm talking about.
To begin with, let us look at the announcement from Gabriel to Mary. We she that she is a virgin who was "engaged" or betrothed to a man named Joseph. History books suggest that she was probably a teenager, maybe even as young as 14 or so. This means that she looked down upon as one who had a baby out of wedlock and may have been a pregnant teenager. Even though she was right in her song of praise that she would be known in history as being Blessed, people of her day (especially the religious leaders) would see her as being immoral and "wild".
Joseph could have demanded that her and her baby be stoned to death because of this. He do know that he pondered what to do, so he would have considered this but instead decided just to "divorce" her (or maybe "annul the betrothal" would be a better way to understand this). At that point is when he had his encounter with an angel. So Joseph took the shame of this upon himself, and their marriage would look more like we used to call a "shotgun wedding". We see that this indeed did happen as during a heated exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees (in John chapter 8), they tell Jesus that they were not born as a result of fornication.
The immorality thing would not be the only thing that would cause people to look down upon them as Mary and Joseph were very poor. First we see this by they needing to find refuge in a stable or place where animals were kept. Bethlehem that night was overrun with people who the Romans required to be there, but you still did not see "rich" people staying in such conditions. Also when Mary went to the Temple to offer her sacrifice to be pure again after the birth, she offered two doves or pigeons instead of a lamb. This offering of doves was for people who had no money.
Also look at the people who God chose to reveal this birth. With the exception of Simeon, Anna, and the parents of John the Baptist, everyone else was looked down upon in this society. I'm talking about the shepherds and the Magi. Even though sheep and lambs were very important in Jewish worship and life, shepherds were the outcasts of society. They were not allowed to participate in any of the "reindeer games" that people played in those days. To continue in my Rudolf references, they would be considered "misfits" in their society.
The Magi were not even Jews. They were star gazers from the Iran/Iraq region of the world. (Several empires from these parts pestered, invaded, conquered Israel throughout their history.) They used the stars to predict the future. Maybe they knew the words that Balaam spoke to Balak, when he prophesied about a Star coming from Jacob to rule the nations.
Then we have the fact that Jesus' birth caused the execution of many toddlers and infants. The man used by the Romans to lead this area as King (Herod the great), ordered the death of all children that were under two that were in Bethlehem to be killed. Joseph and Mary who were warned by God about this, took Jesus and fled to Egypt.
God could have chosen to be born in any way that He wanted to be born when He came into this world, but did it in a way of a unwed teenage Mom, in a way that brought accusations of having "wild" and immoral parents. He was born among the poorest of society's moneyless people. He sort to reveal his birth to Jewish outcasts instead of that nation's highest ruling or religious hierarchy. He was forced to immigrate to another nation for sanctuary, to live as long as Herod ruled Israel.
So, even from the birth, we see a God who loves the outcasts and misfits in society and chose to be numbered among them.
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