WADING RIVER CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

SERMONS IN PRINT

Peter Vibert 12/25/05 Christmas

Luke 2:8-20 “A Baby?”

Christmas is an event so full of ambiguity that it’s little wonder that some people find it hard to take seriously, while others remain mystified by what it means.

According to the Christian Scriptures, it was an event surrounded by miracles; but they occurred either in private places or to obscure people, and the rest of the world went on about its business completely unaware of what was happening. Angels appear, and a young women named Mary, and Joseph her betrothed, are recipients of amazing promises. Were these just dreams, fantasies? They had only each other to test them out on; nobody else to confirm that there had indeed been angels.

Months went by, and all they knew for sure was that there was an unexplained pregnancy. But life had to go on, so they took their awkward little secret with them as they worked, as they lived with their families and planned their wedding, and finally as they set out for Jerusalem to obey the whim of the Roman Emperor – Octavian, who had defeated Mark Anthony and Cleopatra to become undisputed leader of the Empire, and has been granted by the Roman Senate the title Augustus – his desire that his provincial subjects should be subject to census, probably so that he could tax them more reliably.

The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem and back took weeks, and inevitably Mary found that she was to deliver during the trip. The surroundings were meager; little shelter, probably not much food, and animals for company. But a son she had, as the angel had said. He started out his life in a feeding trough. What in the world was it all about? Mary must have wondered.

But the confirmation that this was an act of God, and not a random, sad and difficult event in the life of a peasant couple, came even while they were in the animals’ cave in Bethlehem – and in a totally unexpected way. Shepherds arrived with a story of angels. They had been confronted on the Judean hills at night by “an angel of the Lord” – the kind of personage that the Hebrew Bible describes as huge and brilliant and fearsome, often wielding a sword. When he appeared, his brightness was so great that it was like the “shekinah” glory that long ago had filled the Holy of Holies in the Temple to show the presence of God himself. The shepherds were terrified. But the angel’s first word were that they need not be afraid, because he was bringing them “good news, which would bring great joy to all the people.”

How could they take in such a message? Could they even comprehend what was said? The angel’s message was both simple and incredible. God’s Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, “the Lord,” had finally arrived to save his people. The day Israel had longed for had finally arrived! What a message, what a day! But why, the shepherds might have been wondering – why tell us? What can we do with that knowledge? And where and how has Messiah arrived, and who is he, exactly?

“This will be a sign for you,” says the angel. We are waiting, said the shepherds! “Today” – good, that’s one answer! “In Bethlehem, city of David” – yes! Now we know when and where! “You will find a baby...” – a what? A baby? “wrapped in cloths and lying in a feeding trough.” Lying where? This is how we will recognize God’s Messiah?

If it were not an angel speaking, any half-awake shepherd could tell this was nonsense! How could a baby be God’s answer to the needs of a nation under foreign oppression? How long before he can lead an army? A baby? In an animal’s feeding trough? Are you serious? This is God’s answer to the Roman occupation of Israel, to our corrupt priesthood, to the cruel system of taxation, to the huge divisions of wealth and culture that cleave our society into warring pieces, to the shortness and brutality of our peasant lives, to the religious strife that divides us and keeps people like us on the fringes because we do “unclean” jobs, to the violence and insurgencies that flare up every day, to the brutality of the lash and the cross and all the other ways Rome has of putting them down and keeping order in the provinces? The answer to all this is a baby? What kind of joke is that?

Who would be a shepherd? If they disbelieved what they heard, put it down as hallucination, who could blame them? It made no sense, and they were the wrong people to tell these things to anyway. Better forget it. Go back to sleep. “But suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God, and saying: “Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men, on whom his favor rests.” Now you could not ignore it! Hosts of angels, voices ringing: “Glory to God.” Now the shepherds were more than frightened, more than confused; now they were awed into silence and submission.

When it was over, there was only one thing to do: “We had better go and see this ‘sign’ that we have been told to look for.” And so it was that a bunch of scared, dirty and disreputable shepherds came to Mary and confirmed for her that this baby was indeed the “Son of the Most High” whom she had been promised months before.

What an inscrutable God he is! Who would invent such a story? Who would decide to appear on earth in such conditions and in such company? No wonder people don’t take this story seriously! Oh, you can make a poignant little pageant out of it, you can dress it up in all kinds of glitter, but no thinking adult is going to believe that this is how God the Creator and Sustainer of all things entered his world! A baby? What good is one more baby in a world like this? Don’t you know how many babies die of infectious diseases in Africa every single day, how many inherit HIV from their mothers, how many die of starvation in their first year? Don’t you know how many millions never make it out of the womb? And you send us another baby?

Such are the ways of God. He works in the dark, in private, revealing his plans to a few people - and insignificant ones at that. He sends small signs to obscure people, and promises that those who believe will find that he can change their worlds. He has entered his world so quietly that millions don’t know it, and find the stories of it incredible. Even those who have waited long for his coming feel that so little has changed that Messiah cannot have come yet – his people are still suffering, still waiting for a sign.

“This will be a sign to you – a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” This is how we know the Son of God, this is how we recognize “the God who hides himself,” this where we find his strength, his guidance, his hope, his salvation. In little things that other people don’t even see, and wouldn’t believe if we told them, the gracious God speaks to obscure people like us about his love and grace.

You may need a sign of his love as you try to “survive the holidays,” as you wait for a “new” year ahead; as you struggle with family troubles, sickness, lack of money, loneliness. Signs of his love can come in the smallest way if you are prepared to see God’s hand in them. One phone call, one invitation, one conversation, can change everything. One look of love, one twinkling eye, one squeezed hand, can turn your life around. Be ready when God gives you a sign, and accept it gratefully; go where it points, and trust him to lead you where you need to go.

I pray that the gracious, loving, wise, compassionate God who sent his Son to Bethlehem, will lead you every day until you find your way home.

God bless you, and a very Merry Christmas to you all!

Let us pray...