Who Would Have Thought? 12-24-22
Who Would Have Thought?
Is 9:2-7; Luke 2:1-14
Is 9:2-7
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Luke 2:1-14
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—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 will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
Prayer - Who would have thought that you would show up in a small town so far from Jerusalem? Who would have thought that you would enter into the world as an infant rather than as a king? Who would have thought that you would walk around and touch lives, bringing healing and hope where there was once no hope at all? Who would have thought that you would let yourself be killed so that we could truly know life? Who would have thought? Who would have thought? Amen.
We see in the original Gospel stories of Jesus’ birth that there’s really nothing pretty or extraordinary about that first Christmas. Time has proven to us that the only way we human beings can understand most spiritual things is that they have to be presented in a physical, material form. We are true followers of the ‘have to see it to believe it’ genre. Part of the mystery we celebrate at Christmas is saying that the divine has chosen its hiding place in all material things; and that all become summed up now in the baby Jesus.
Where is this God being revealed? Not in the safe world, but at the edge, at the bottom, among those where we don’t want to find God, where we don’t expect God. The way we have evolved Christianity, it seems like it’s all about being nice, pretty, middle class, normal, and under the law. Here we have gospel stories Jesus, Mary and Joseph being none of those things. It might just be telling that we should be looking elsewhere, but who would have thought.
Incarnation – from the Latin word for “in the flesh” – is the set of ideas by which Christians believe that Jesus is both human and divine. The incarnation says that Christ is the full expression and revelation of God, not only one who talks about God but one who speaks for and acts as God, one who is God. The eternal “Word became flesh.” Not that Jesus Christ – as the visible image of the invisible God – is obviously, self-evidently God. From his birth, to his youth to the time he started his ministry, he was simply son of Joseph and Mary. As he began his ministry most people who encountered the human Jesus said not, “That Jew from Nazareth is God” but, “Who would have thought that wandering rabbi could be God?”
The incarnation positions Jesus among the most vulnerable people, the bereft and threatened of society. The first advent shows God wrestling with the struggles common to many the world over – no home, little food, at the beck and call of someone who rules over. And it is from this disadvantaged stance that Jesus lives out God’s peace agenda as a counter testimony to Caesar’s peace.
Why isn’t Jesus Christ’s divinity more obvious? Well for one thing, God is God and we aren’t. The OT teaches that it is fearful and devastating for mere mortals to gaze directly at God, as painful as gazing at the sun. For another thing, we have expectations of how God ought to look and act if God is worthy of our worship. From the get-go, Jesus failed to live up to our expectations of God. And at the end, Jesus is crucified mainly because he didn’t look like the ‘god’ we thought we deserved.
Our Christian story teaches that a baby born to Mary and Joseph is “Christ the Lord,” the long awaited savior. Who would have thought a savior didn’t descend to us on a cloud from heaven. Who would have thought that Jesus would have a human mother, bore human genes, carried the imprint of human evolution, was born to a particular people in a small, hick town in Galilee, while Caesar Augustus ruled the whole world with an iron fist. Who would have thought that the good news of Christmas is that God not only created us but became one of us?
No one disputed that Jesus was a real man. As a Jewish man, he said and did things that most humans do. Nobody doubted that Jesus had a body. He spit in the dirt. He bled and hurt like hell on the cross. After a full day on the road, he was tired and hungry while frequently needing to get away for rest and prayer. He got angry, especially with people who presumed they were tight with God. On a couple of occasions, he broke down and wept. In every way, Jesus fully shared our humanity, the joys and the sorrows, the miraculous moments as well as the utter despair of human suffering.
Who would have thought that God would come to us in human form? Who would have thought that Jesus the Christ would demonstrate for us the depth and breadth of God’s grace and love for us? Who would have thought that this man, God with us, was born to a human family, who attended parties, his first miracle ensuring that the wedding party had the best wine ever – no one ever accused him of being too spiritual or too pious and critics sneered that he was a vulgar glutton and drunkard. He moved constantly around the area of Galilee, ran afoul of governmental and religious authorities, taught through homely but disconcerting and pithy parables, did a number of surprising and utterly inexplicable ‘signs and wonders,’ and eventually was tortured to death in a horribly cruel punishment that the Romans used against rebellious troublemakers. Who would have thought that a human could be a savior? Who would have thought that God would work like that?
Christians believe this story, for all of its strangeness, is true. This strange, faith-filled story demonstrates not only who God really is but how we who are often lost may be found, how we who are often enslaved got redeemed, how the dead are restored, how the sorrowful are rescued by a God who refuses to let our rejection and rebellion be the last word on matters between us and God. God with us in order for God to be for us.
This is particularly important for a lot of folks who celebrate the holy coming of the Christ as recent years have proven to be a challenge to much we believe and hold true. A friend suggested that Christmas 2022 can give us a taste of what that first Christmas was like when King Herod hovered in the background commanding what legend calls the “Massacre of the Innocents.” For a lot of folks, this Christmas season feels pretty dark and perhaps this story of the birth of a child who will lead us can be the beacon of light and hope we desperately need. As singer and songwriter Carrie Newcomer shares – “The things that have saved us are still here to save us.” That line invites me, invites us to look back on times when I, when we, needed to be saved from despair. A child, a child who is both fully human and fully divine, who came 2000 years ago to point us towards God is still pointing us toward a God whose love for us, for all of us, cannot be extinguished. I believe in the power of that love, even against great odds. That is indeed good news – who would have thought all of that from a child born in a stable in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago – thanks be to God – amen.