Rev.
Debbie Cato
Isaiah
9:2-7 and Luke 2:1-20
Peace
Presbyterian Church
December
24, 2014 - Christmas Eve
A
Message of Hope
I
must confess that I love the Christmas story as narrated by Luke.
I’ve loved it since I was an angel in the Christmas pageant when I
was four years old. There’s something sort of romantic about it.
All the pictures we see show a dimly lit manger scene with the
animals nicely gathered around the manger. Mary looks clean and
fresh – no signs of just giving birth in a barn, looking more like
a woman than a teenager. The manger scene always looks so calm; so
perfect; so peaceful.
We
don't hear a lot about Joseph – he’s really not “that”
important in the Christmas story. After all, this was God’s Son.
But, there's a Christmas song that is sung from Joseph's perspective.
It says:
Why
me, I'm just a simple man of trade
Why Him, with all the rulers in the world
Why here inside this stable filled with hay
Why her, she's just an ordinary girl
Now I'm not one to second guess what angels have to say
But this is such a strange way to save the world1
Why Him, with all the rulers in the world
Why here inside this stable filled with hay
Why her, she's just an ordinary girl
Now I'm not one to second guess what angels have to say
But this is such a strange way to save the world1
This
is a strange way for God to save the world. When we look beyond the
words that we are so familiar with, the Christmas story is not the
type of story we might expect to find for the birth of the Lord and
Savior of the world. It’s not a grandiose story. It’s certainly
not as romantic as we make it out to be.
Jesus
was born to a poor, unwed teenage mother. Mary was probably 14 years
old! Mary’s pregnancy brought much shame to Joseph; the disgrace
of being engaged to a pregnant woman was unfathomable. The long,
arduous journey to Bethlehem – Mary nine months pregnant traveling
80 miles on a donkey.
Normally
it would take about 4 days to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem by
donkey. But,
with Mary so near her due date, the couple would have traveled for
more than 4 days for fear of miscarriage. Perhaps it took them as
long as a week.
Mary gives birth in the filth of a barn, probably lying on top of stiff, dirty, itchy straw. The Christ child is laid in a feeding trough for barn animals, not the nice cradle that we find in our nativity scenes. The shepherds – the first ones the angels’ tell of the birth of Christ – the first ones to see the infant Jesus - were not the most upstanding part of society; certainly not the most important people. They were outcasts in their society. Yet these rough, dirty, nrefined shepherds were chosen by God to get the first look at the Savior. The most significant event of the universe witnessed by the nobodies of society. What a strange way to save the world.
God
allows his Son…. the Christ Child, to be born into humble
beginnings without any splendor. Jesus birth was so humble, so
seemingly routine; grace took on human flesh and scarcely broke the
hush of midnight. You see, this Messiah; this Savior was not unapproachable royalty. He is “good news of great joy for ALL the
people.” Everyone, no matter their lot in life, is able – and
invited to approach the Christ. What a strange way to save the
world.
Of
course the night wasn’t over! Christ’s birth was a gift and it
was one God intended to share since the beginning of time. There was
nothing under-the-radar about angels shouting the news of Christ to
startled shepherds, singing at the top of their angelic lungs. Celebration! Adoration! Good news for all people!
I
don’t suppose the shepherds were expecting divine revelation when
they gathered their flocks that night, but after seeing Jesus for
themselves, they too – these unrefined, outcasts, “spread the
word concerning what had been told them about this child.”
And
tonight, we proclaim the same news. We’ve waited; we’ve hoped;
we’ve anticipated… God is coming, we said. And tonight… well
tonight we proclaim “He
has come!” As the prophet Isaiah proclaimed so many years ago; “A
child has been born for us and He is named Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father; Prince of Peace.”
We
hear this story every year. The story is familiar to us. But, what
does this story mean for us today? How does the birth of the Savior
of the world bring hope to us today? Or was the hope of the Messiah
just something for those witnesses in Bethlehem so many years ago?
Let's
face it. Our world is a dark place. It was just a week ago that 132
children and 9 adults were massacred in a Pakistani school. Some
805 million people in
the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life.
That's about one in nine people on earth.2
The 2014 Ebola epidemic is the largest in history.3
Gun violence in America continues to kill our young people. Racism
and prejudice loom large; there is unrest in many of our large
cities. How do you see the light of hope in the nativity when you
are going through a divorce, struggling to find work, confused, sick,
alone, grieving?
The
truth is, we live in a world where it's not always a wonderful life,
where there are places in the world where there is no joy, where
silent nights are interrupted by screams and sobs and cursing and
gunshots.
Into
what kind of world was God born late that night in Bethlehem? A
world that is full of hurting people who hurt each other, hurt
themselves, and some-times will do terrible things to themselves just
to make the hurt stop. For them; for you,
God was born. For you – no matter your hurt, no matter how screwed
up your life is, no matter what kinds of stupid decisions you've
made, no matter how filthy or vile or useless you think you are –
for precisely YOU, God was born. He gladly left a bright and shiny
heaven to plunge headfirst into the mud and muck of our world that is
full of darkness and unbelief and tragedy.
He didn't stand in the light and beckon you out of the darkness. He
invaded the night. He entered the darkness. He came in search of you.
You
say, “But
I'm a lost cause.”
Jesus
says, “I
specialize in lost causes, for I came to seek and to save the lost.”
You
say, “But
I just can't go on.”
Jesus
says, “You
don't have to. I will carry you. I've got you. You don't need to
take another step.”
You
say,
“But I'm hopeless.”
Jesus
says, “I
have all the hope you need. I am your hope. I hold your past, your
present, and your future in my nail-scarred hands.”
You
say, “But
look at what I've done. I'm dirty. Nobody wants me.”
And
Jesus says, “I
want you. Look at what I've done for you. I have taken your dirt
and smeared it all over me. You are clean. I want you –
desperately, lovingly, crazily. I want you.”4
Into
this mad world, oozing with pain, racked with guilt, pockmarked with
graves, God gladly and willingly was born to make you his own flesh
and blood. The deeper you have fallen, the farther he will dig to
find you. The darker your despair, the more light he will bring to
seek you out. The farther away from God you are, the better he sees
you. No life has sunk so unfathomably deep that he cannot dig down
to grasp you by the hand and climb out of the pit with you in his
loving arms. That's the kind of God who was born on Christmas
That's the kind of God Jesus is. He never gives up on us. Never.5
Why
was the Savior of the world born in a dirty barn and laid in a
feeding trough? Because God wanted us to understand that He came
for us – for you and for me. For ordinary, everyday people. Jesus
was born to save the shepherds of the world, the poor and
oppressed, the sinners. Yes. God did choose a strange way to save
the world.
The
Christmas story is a beautiful story. But it’s more than just a
story. It's life changing and life saving. God changed the world
that night so many years ago in Bethlehem. This precious baby boy
grows up and turns the world upside down. This precious baby boy
grows up and makes the ultimate sacrifice so that every one of us
will be forgiven for our sinful ways. This precious baby boy is our
way to eternal life. This baby boy is our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. It is for us that the angels proclaim, “I
am bringing you good news of great joy for ALL the people! To you is
born this day in the city of David A Savior, who is the Messiah, the
Lord.”
This
night, long ago in Bethlehem, God took on human flesh and came and
lived among us so that we may not perish, but have eternal life.
“Glory to God in the highest
heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.”
Amen.
4
https://birdchadlouis.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/a-tree-decorated-with-tears-the-dark-side-of-christmas-is-why-christmas-exists/
5
https://birdchadlouis.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/a-tree-decorated-with-tears-the-dark-side-of-christmas-is-why-christmas-exists/
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