Christ, the Reason for the Season

Luke 1: 39-45

Advent 4: December 24, 2006

Sermon Preached by the Rev. John Lee at Dentonia Park United Church

Christmas Day is only a day away. We gather on the fourth and final Sunday of Advent with anticipation and with excitement. Something wonderful is about to happen to us and we are part of it. To rediscover the joy of Christmas we must realize that joy is a gift to us from the God who loves us. We cannot earn joy, we cannot follow step by step instructions and arrive at joy. Joy is a gift and is celebrated as a gift through the love of Jesus Christ. 

Often times in our lives we experience joy at unexpected times and in unexpected places. We learned in many occasions that God's ways are different from our ways. Our God is a God of great surprises. We cannot know God by looking up Consumer Reports as we do for unknown products. God gives us gifts, knows us better than we do, and God sees what we cannot see. God's way of doing things is different from our ways.  God is full of surprises.

The Old Testament prophet Micah predicted that the Messiah would come from the little town of Bethlehem. Perhaps the people Micah told this to were amused at the thought that God would choose lowly Bethlehem. Bethlehem was just a small, grubby little town in the middle of a dry and barren desert. To get to Bethlehem, people had to travel through the desert. The people of Bethlehem weren't the most friendly people on earth either. It was an unlikely choice. By earthly standards Bethlehem wasn't much of a town. But the Messiah would be born in this unlikely little town.

God's ways are not always the way we would do things. Our God is full of surprises. Let us hear today’s story in the Luke’s Gospel through the secular eyes. At this unfriendly little town in a barren environment, something happened. An old lady became pregnant.

People spoke about this unbelievable happening and tried to ask her husband about this.

Her husband suddenly became mute and could only communicate using signs with his hands.

Six months later, at the same town near the village where Zechariah and Elizabeth lived, a young woman who was engaged with a village carpenter became pregnant. She did not have any one to discuss this with. Naturally she decided to visit Elizabeth, an old woman who was rumored to have an unbelievable pregnancy. These are the facts without any evolving or development of our imagination. It could be the gossip in any small town. It is certain that the two women in this story suffered so much from the gossip and the reality that the babies will be coming after a few months. What should they say to their husband and fiancé?

This could be a story of tragedy or disaster even in our times. But behind what we can hear or what we can see, there is another important thing that happened around this story.

More important is the fact that the old couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth were both good people who lived their lives obeying God's laws. One day, an angel came to Zechariah and told him, "God has heard your prayer, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son." The angel told Zechariah to name the boy John and told him that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit. John's task would be to "bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God."  Everything happened just as the angel said it would, Elizabeth became pregnant.

Zechariah left the Temple unable to speak. There were people outside the Temple waiting for Zechariah to come out. But the old priest could not speak. Elizabeth was so filled with joy that she sang out, "Now at last the Lord has helped me." We might have thought that God would have chosen someone else, perhaps a younger couple instead of Elizabeth and Zechariah who were so old. God is full of surprises. We do not know, we do not understand fully.  What we know is that God's way is not necessarily the way we would do things.

Six months later the angel Gabriel paid a visit to a young woman named Mary. Mary was engaged to the village carpenter named Joseph. The angel spoke to Mary. "The Lord is with you and had greatly blessed you!" Then the angel told Mary that she would bear a son and his name would be Jesus. "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God," the angel Gabriel told Mary. The most amazing thing about this encounter with an angel was that Mary believed without question. She simply replied, "I am the Lord's servant." Mary placed her trust in God.

God is full of surprise. We do not know, we do not understand fully. What we know is that God's way is not necessarily the way we would do things. What we have come to know is that God’s story is the story of faithful people. Mary visited Elizabeth and when Mary entered the house, the baby within Elizabeth jumped with joy. At that moment Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and saw Mary for who she really was--the Mother of the Lord Jesus.

Elizabeth was moved to sing a song of praise. "Why should this great thing happen to me, that my Lord's mother comes to visit me?"  Elizabeth, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, was the first person to identify Mary as the mother of the Messiah. Caught up in the Spirit of the moment, Mary began to sing her song of praise. "My soul is glad because of God my Savior," Mary sang. 

This is the beginning of a new history when we the people on earth encounter the God, Emmanuel. This is God’s new and ongoing creation story with the Holy Spirit. It was truly a Spirit-filled moment for Mary and Elizabeth. These two unlikely women were able to perceive the wonderful thing that was about to happen to them as well as all future generations. The unbelievable and incredible things were happening to them. No one would ever have believed their story. God had chosen both of them for a special purpose.

Why would God choose Mary to be the mother of Jesus the Christ? She was so young, and besides, she was not even married yet. She certainly was not from one of the wealthy families of Nazareth, if Nazareth even had wealthy families. In fact, we do not even know the names of Mary's mother and father. Nowhere in scripture does it say anything about Mary's parents. Mary's family probably was not any different than all the other families in Nazareth. Nothing stood out as special about them; that is why there is no mention of them in the Bible. But God saw something special in Mary that perhaps no one else ever saw or realized.

Mary was an unlikely choice to many people but not to God. Remember that God's ways are not always our ways. Our God is full of surprises. Mary stayed with her cousin Elizabeth for three months and then returned home. When Mary returned home, she was a different person than when she had left Nazareth. No doubt her family must have noticed a difference in her. And Elizabeth was a different woman also. She was about to have a baby who would prepare the people for the coming of the long awaited Messiah. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Both women were changed as a result of their divine encounter.

Here is a story that tells us the real meaning of Christmas in our time in our town. A church held a live nativity on their front lawn each year. They had been doing this for years. The live nativity would run the week before Christmas. The church was located in a busy part of town. Many travelers would pass by, and many would stop to look and enjoy the live nativity. Every year the live nativity scene got bigger and better. A bigger stable was built. More live animals were added, including sheep, chickens, calves and a donkey. One year they even rented three real hump camels from the local Shriners.

More and more people wanted to take part in this tradition. More characters were added each year. The innkeeper's wife now had a couple of children at her side. More shepherds were added, and last year they even had servants following the three wise men. More angels were added. It was literally a host of angels fifty voices strong. One year there were seventy-five people participating in the week long live nativity. The committee in charge of the live nativity worked hard trying to improve it every year. The people in charge knew what had to be done and planned almost a year in advance.

One year they decided to advertise to see if more people would drive past and perhaps even stop. The pastor knew of an older gentleman who was a retired painter from the congregation who could design and paint an advertisement on a billboard near the highway. This was a great idea. Thousands of people would see it. The committee was in total agreement. The gentleman agreed to paint the huge billboard. He always wanted to do something special for the church and now that he was retired he had the time. This was truly going to be their best live nativity ever.

When the billboard was completed many persons from the congregation as well as other people from the community went to see it unveiled. The mayor was present along with the pastor. There was even a live remote from one of the local television stations. They were planning to go live at the moment the sign was uncovered. The junior high school band was playing Christmas Carols. It was truly a magical evening as the mayor addressed the crowd that had gathered. Everyone joined in singing "Away In A Manger" as the moment neared.

The gentleman signaled for the cloth to be raised that was covering the sign. At first there was a kind of quiet murmur that rippled through the crowd, then gasps, followed by a din of wonderment which grew into what sounded like a roar of disapproval. They could not believe what they were seeing! It looked nothing like their beautiful nativity. The sign painter had painted a simple cardboard shack with a contemporary Joseph and Mary who looked very much like street people who lived in the park a few blocks from the church. Baby Jesus was wrapped in rags and lying in a tattered disposable diaper box.

There were no shepherds or wise men, no angels with gold tipped wings. There was only a bag lady and a cop who had come by on a horse. Some of the church people were upset and even embarrassed. This was not the way it was supposed to be. Who in their right mind would have approved such a sign. This was not the way it was supposed to be done. However, they were, after all, a respectable church with respectable members. This is the Christ we have to look for in our times. When we are with them we will know what Emmanuel, God with us means to us and to the world.

Through the people who suffered in a small town of Bethlehem, through the people who suffer in the towns and in the cities, we can find the Christ, the reason for the season. By being with them, we will all feel the warmth of this blessed season. By being with them, we will have Christ in our hearts, the reason for this Holy Season. Thanks be to God.

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Updated December 24, 2006