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THE GIFT OF A SAVIOR
Gifts of the Season, Part 4
December 23, 2007
Pastor Libby Boatwright
The pastor of a church in San Francisco was looking over a nativity scene when he noticed that the baby Jesus was missing from among the figures. Immediately he turned and went outside and saw a little boy with a red wagon, and in the wagon was the figure of the little infant, Jesus. So he walked up to the boy and said, “Well, where did you get him, my fine friend?” And the little boy replied, “I got him from the church.” “And why did you take him? The boy said, “Well, about a week before Christmas I prayed to the little Lord Jesus and I told him if he would bring me a red wagon for Christmas, I would give him a ride around the block in it!”
We’ve been talking a great deal about gifts this season. And not just the kind that are under a tree, but the intangible, wondrous gifts that only God can bestow. There was the Gift of the Second Story, with John the Baptist, and the Gift of the Second Chance, then The Gift of Hope, of the different advents, and last week, we found the Gift of Joy in Mary’s song, full of God’s promises and his justice and mercy for all people. And finally this week, after all the fanfare and prophecy, we turn to Luke 2, the Gift of a Savior, Jesus Christ – the deliverer, master and anointed King – Messiah, born in Bethlehem, the city of David, the birthplace of kings as foretold by the prophet Micah. Hear now the words of that beloved story of Jesus’ humble beginnings.
Luke 2 (TNIV)
1) In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2) (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3) And everyone went to their own town to register.
4) So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5) He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6) While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7) and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8) And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9) An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10) But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11) Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12) This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13) Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14) "Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
Normally when a Prince of any earthly kingdom is born there is fanfare and news releases and countless interviews and pictures. But this is no mere earthly kingdom. Take, for instance, the cast of characters. Mary, a pregnant engaged woman who has heard from the angel Gabriel that she will bear the son of God; and is in danger of being killed for lying with what others thought was another man before her wedding. Elizabeth, well past her child bearing years, is pregnant – a miracle in itself – and she will be the mother of John the Baptist. How odd it is that in a culture where women were hardly regarded as anything but slaves to their family, women would figure so prominently into a first century story about the birth of a King!
But there’s also Joseph, an upright young man of the synagogue, who faces a life being ridiculed for his “unfaithful” wife, and who hears in a dream that the angel tells him to remain with her; for she bears the Son of God. Mary and Joseph – two hungry, unmarried, homeless teenagers on their way over difficult terrain, praying that there will be shelter in time for the birth. Does this sound like a Royal family to you?
And then we find there is no room for them in the inn and they are a world away from friends and family. And since a Jewish man was forbidden to touch anything unclean, including a woman’s blood, it’s likely that Mary delivered the baby on her own somewhere in a borrowed room or a side of a hill in a cave, or a stable stall opening into a courtyard. The bands of cloth were to keep the limbs of the infant straight and encourage proper growth. And the manger was a shared feeding trough for the animals, high enough off the ground to keep the baby from being trampled.
And then there were the shepherds, the lowest of the lower classes, unclean, gross, not even allowed to celebrate in the temple, suspect, the social outcasts of their day. They’re in the fields, keeping watch over their flock, ready to sleep. So when God’s holy messenger, the angel comes, bringing the tidings of great joy there is fear, surprise that born to them, these unwanted, unkempt shepherds, in the City of David, is Christ the Lord; the Savior, Messiah – the one everyone has waited for. And the sign will be a baby, wrapped in cloths lying in a manger. And if that didn’t get their attention, an entire army, a host of angels, joins in the song, “Glory to God in the highest, peace among those on whom God’s favor rests.” Poor, pregnant teenagers, barren women, and ruffian shepherds – that’s how God gets the news out that a king is born.
Divine Disruptions
What amazes me is not what is spoken or done, but how this whole story is a series of disruptions, breakthrough moments in the lives of the characters. And yet God chooses these disruptions so that these same characters can be obedient to his will. The census forces Joseph to leave the comfort of his home and travel 90 miles away so he can supply Rome with the stats for taxes and military conscription. Jews were exempt from serving in the army, but not exempt from the overwhelming taxes paid in their occupied territory. How easy it would have been to simply stay home and quickly marry, and make the tax report to the local authorities, as was the habit of the day. Why do it? God chose it – to move Joseph out of his comfort zone into unknown territory and fulfill prophecy that Messiah would be born in the city of kings, Bethlehem; in Hebrew, bai-it lechem, the house of bread. Jesus was the bread of life.
And Mary – wasn’t she disrupted from her simple life of a fiancée, getting to know Joseph’s family? In the year before their marriage, there were chaperoned engagements and gatherings and preparations for the wedding celebration. In an instant her life would take a radical turn, hiding from her community, while God’s plan gestated in her womb, causing Elizabeth’s baby, John, to leap for joy at the sound of her voice. But Mary, too, takes this huge interruption to her life in obedience. “I am the Lord’s servant,” she declares. May it be to me as you have said. Nothing will shake Mary from what God has given her to carry out.
The shepherds would have been content to wallow on the hills and tend the flocks. They had no idea that they would have a role in this amazing story. First the angel gets their attention and they are frightened out of their minds, and then a heavenly host of angels – an army of huge disarming winged creatures – sending the point home with an even grander display of the glory of heaven. They cannot miss this interruption. The whole sky is ablaze with light and music and noise. It is the party of the century, of the universe, of the kingdom of heaven, and they’re the ones who get to hear the first notes of the symphony. Barbara Brown Taylor says it so well, “None of heaven’s escalators are going up tonight. Everyone up there is coming down tonight, right here, bringing us the God who has decided to make his home in our arms.”
The Gift
And who is this Savior? What is the gift that God brings from heaven? Our passage from Isaiah describes him very well. He’s a fragile newborn, crying in the wilderness of a back door stable; the Son of God lain on straw. And he has interrupted the 400 years of silence and complacency and occupation from foreign lands, for he will be a mighty leader for a government of justice and righteousness is on his shoulders. And He is the wonderful counselor that brings the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts and grants wisdom to our souls. He’s the mighty God who with the sound of his voice can make mountains melt, and raise the dead and heal the sick, bring sight to the blind, and calm the sea. He is the Prince of Peace who blasts through all the so called Pax Romana of Caesar and declares He is Lord and His kingdom is forever. All that wrapped up in bands of cloth, held in the arms of courageous youth who carried their faith all the way to Bethlehem and who listened and were obedient to God’s call. And in their faithfulness, they receive the gift of a Savior, one who has come to take away the sins of the world; the one who brings eternal life for all who will receive Him.
The Sacred Ordinary
And if we choose to embrace the disruptions of life, we too receive this gift. I wonder how many of us take the distraction, the interruption, the passing moment, and use it for God’s will. It’s what Sue Monk Kidd calls the “sacred ordinary” moments, when God asks us to be available for his purposes. It’s taking time for the one who stops in “just to talk” and you find out their spouse is leaving. It’s the young father who is checking in because his mother-in-law is dying and he doesn’t know what to tell the children; It’s the parents of a young adult who happen to be coming by, because, well, they need a counselor for a child that’s in trouble, maybe using drugs. It’s the single parent who has lost their car and needs a ride, the older widower who drops by because he’s lonely and has no one to talk to anymore. We rearrange our schedules because it matters; it’s an obedient response to what the Holy Spirit is telling us; and unlike the innkeeper, who missed the point, missed the miracle, we simply make room. God gives us the words, the wisdom and widens our hearts. And the “dear Christ enters in.”
And there are joyful interruptions as well. During this season calls come in from social workers and the agencies and our joy in serving God is what motivates our response. One family was especially memorable, a young mom and dad with three children who recently arrived from Idaho and who had so little. And the angels of this staff simply flew in formation – remembering that the Advent conspiracy is not about consumerism, but compassion and sharing – and they put a celebration together. Linda boxed up food from our deacon’s pantry, Karen found small gifts from our inventory of presents for the home-bound, Lenore provided ornaments, a tree complete with stand was left from the Men’s Advent breakfast, the knitters group donated warm hats and gloves and scarves, cookies and candy and homemade gifts flew off the desks of the offices into the box, door hangers and ornaments were found from a 45ers party. A donated ham would complement the canned goods, and a few donated stuffed animals completed the mix. In a matter of a few hours, these treasures were hurried off in a van loaded with the help of Pastor Graig and delivered by Brian and Alison. This was not an interruption, but an opportunity, a celebration of what God had already provided. Our joy was to simply be available and obedient. Henri Nouwen says it so well, “True ministry goes far beyond the giving of gifts. It requires the giving of self. That is the way of him who did not cling to his privileges, but emptied himself to share our struggles. When God’s way becomes known to us, and practiced by us, hope emerges.”
And this is a world that could definitely use some hope right now; there are wars and tsunamis, earthquakes, hunger, unknown viruses. But sometimes it’s hard to find hope because we’re not listening to God’s voice. The presents, the busyness, the hectic pace we live under is crushing us because the Gift of the Savior is on the bottom of the stack. So perhaps a story will help us break out of this concern. Hear now, just in time for those few days left to “hit the mall,” is the “Parable of the Shopper” as told to a group of anxious bus riders stopped in traffic, and who finally took the time to listen:
The man in the seat next to mine said, “How sad it is, when the gifts are not received in the same spirit they are given. To reject a thoughtful gift is to reject the loving sentiment of the giver himself. And the man lifted a present from my stack. “This one could be you.” And he pointed to a rough looking young adult and read the card, “To you I give my life, lived perfectly, as an example so that you might see the pattern and live worthy to return and live with me again. “ “Merry Christmas, from the Messiah.” “This one,” holding up a white present, “is for you” and he held out the gift to a worn looking woman, who in earlier years must have been a real beauty. She read the card out loud and allowed her tears to slip without shame down her painted face. “My gift to you is repentance. This Christmas I wish you to know for certain that though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Signed, Your Advocate with the Father.” “That isn’t all, no, here’s a big red package.” And he looked around the group and brought a little ragged child forward. This package would be for you, if He were here. The card would say, “On this Christmas and always, my gift to you is love. From your brother, Jesus.” One final gift, said my seat mate, the greatest of all the gifts of God, eternal life!” He held our minds and our hearts. We were a hungry audience. Though our shopping had left us drained, now we were being filled by his words. “How we receive these gifts, these precious gifts from the Babe of Bethlehem, is the telling point. Are we exchangers? Is there really anything else we would rather have? It is what we do with the gift long after we have opened it that shows our true appreciation.”
So what will we do with this gift?
Our challenge today and for the rest of our lives, is do we have the time to listen to the voice of God? Will we in obedience follow his way and avoid the temptation to live in complacency and sameness? Can we make enough room in our hearts so that we don’t miss the Gift of a Savior? Maybe this year you’ve already been challenged with the unexpected news, an interruption in the normal Christmas routine, things you didn’t plan. Well, you have good company in the holy family. A dear friend sent me this wonderful letter about the loss of her mom. “It is because of Christmas, that I can sometimes sense the best of the spirit of Mom, whole and happy. It is because of Christmas, “the Gift of a Savior,” that I have hope, no more than hope, assurance, absolute assurance that my mom and your mom and so many others are now in the loving presence of that gift, Jesus Christ our Savior, and there is no better place to be.” Or maybe you don’t see yourself as someone God could use because you feel less than perfect. The Christmas story tells us that the world doesn’t have to be made perfect before it is made new. The world doesn’t need to be rid of sinners before we are freed of sin. If God can use an unwed teenager to bring about this miracle, he can make you part of the cast of characters, too. For the best gift we bring to this birthday party is ourselves. Thomas Merton tells us, “Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in the world.” For when we are listening, obedient, flexible to his call, he enters our hearts, our private rooms, our own Bethlehem and we receive the Savior, the deliverer, the master, anointed king. May his light shine thought the darkness.
Prayer – Slow us down, Lord; guide us to quiet places to ponder your promises, delight in the gift of a Savior, and be available for your purposes. In your holy name. AMEN
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