Matthew 2: 13-18
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
"A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."
In the year 1809 the international scene was tumultuous. Napoleon was sweeping through Austria; blood was flowing freely. Nobody then cared about the babies being born. But the world was overlooking some significant births.
For example, William Gladstone was born that year. He was destined to become one of England's finest statesmen. That same year, Alfred Tennyson was born to an obscure minister and his wife. The child would one day greatly affect the literary world in a marked manner. On the American continent, Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And not far away in Boston, Edgar Allan Poe began his eventful, albeit tragic, life. It was also in that same year that a physician named Darwin and his wife named their child Charles Robert. And that same year produced the cries of a newborn infant in a rugged log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. The baby's name was Abraham Lincoln.
If there had been news broadcasts at that time, I'm certain these words would have been heard: "The destiny of the world is being shaped on an Austrian battlefield today." But history was actually being shaped in the cradles of England and America. Similarly, everyone thought taxation was the big news back when Jesus was born. But a young Jewish woman cradled the biggest news of all: the birth of the Savior.
The Christmas season is not about boxes tied with ribbons or bobbles and lights on trees. We have turned it into a celebration of gifts and commercialized thoughtfulness as well as manufactured joy. But Christmas is about the lowly, unrecognized and almost forgotten child of a young couple and how that baby boy changed the fate of all humanity.
Leading up to Christmas we are all very busy with hectic schedules and timetables. We know we have a lot to do before we get that much needed time off. So we run around with lists and hurriedly scratch off each thing we did only to add on three more errands. In all this busyness, we have no time to spend thinking about the truth in the word Christmas. This holiday is supposed to celebrate the birth of a baby that somehow is also God.
It is the greatest mystery in the entire world, it is the greatest part of our faith and we have no time to think about it. We do not do justice to the birth of Christ.
Karl Laney, in his book “Marching Orders” wrote about a Berlin art gallery where there is a painting by the German painter Adolf Menzel. It is only partially finished. It was intended to show Fredrick the Great speaking with some of his generals, however, Menzel first painted the generals and background, while leaving the king until last. He put the outline of Fredrick in charcoal, but died prior to finishing.
Many Christians will come to the end of life without ever having put Christ into his proper place, center stage.
I’d like to think there is a way to fix this but I have noticed that each year we overlook the mystery of Jesus as we hang the mistletoe. There is also an appalling tendency to forget about Jesus as our Savior until Lent is upon us. Unfortunately, Mary and Joseph did not have that luxury when Jesus was born. If it wasn’t bad enough, giving birth in a manger with dirty animals all around, they soon had to pack up their things and walk to Egypt in the scorching heat of the desert sun during the day and the extreme cold at night. It was a trip of 400 miles.
About a week ago, my friend Natalie gave birth to a beautiful baby girl after 27 hours of intense labor. She was in a sterile hospital with nurses and doctors and midwives. Everything should have went perfectly, but something went horribly wrong and Natalie lost 2.5 liters of blood and ended up having four blood transfusions. Mary, gave birth in the cold of a dark, lonely night. With little light, the smell of dirt, decay and refuse all around her. She probably was laying upon dirty straw with the only help that of her husband Joseph – who would have known little to nothing about the birthing process. Then, to be told to get up and flee to Egypt, a trip that would make us shudder – I cannot imagine the fear and pain Mary was in.
My friend Natalie told me that while in the hospital she was not able to bond with her baby girl and the pain she experienced at her birth made her depressed. She didn’t want to feel that way, but she couldn’t help herself. She had a traumatic experience and was unable to shake the blues until after leaving behind the hospital where she was supposed to be safe and instead was hurt. She resented the surgery she endured right after giving birth, she resented not being able to bond with her daughter right away and she resented the horrible pain. Did Mary resent her baby boy and all the pain and terror he brought into her life? We never ask those questions, we never look at the dirty side of the miracle. And yet, what she went through was because God had called upon her and she answered. Both her and Joseph heard God and listened.
Mary and Joseph saved the life of Jesus by being willing to do anything it took to keep him alive. We’re not even willing to give him one day to live exclusively in our hearts. We have made his birth into something sold as a discount in department stores that we wrap up with pretty green and red wrapping paper. We have cheapened our Savior’s gift to us.
A television interviewer was walking streets of Tokyo at Christmas time. Much as in America, Christmas shopping is a big commercial success in Japan. The interviewer stopped one young woman on the sidewalk, and asked, "What is the meaning of Christmas?" Laughing, she responded, "I don't know. Is that the day that Jesus died?"
There is some truth in her answer. And it is Christians that have committed the worst of it because we know the truth and yet we do not share it. We have experienced God with us and yet we do not celebrate Him. Why have we forgotten, why have we reduced Jesus Christ to one gigantic shopping trip and a bunch of parties with stale cookies and overly sweet punch?
During the Christmas Eve service we lit the Christmas candles and turned out the lights as we sang Silent Night. Looking at each person reflected in the light of their candle I realized something. The light of that candle bathed each person’s face in a golden glow – because Christians should be glowing with the light of the Holy Spirit when compared to a world that does not know Jesus.
If we did a police lineup of people from different religions, would a Christian look any different from a Hindu or Buddhist in the same culture? Probably not unless they were wearing a cross. However, if we put people from different religions into a small town and after several weeks of working and living there – would the town be able to pick out the Christian from the Muslim or Jew? I would like to think that by the Christian’s actions, word choice and behavior that the light of Christ would glow brightly and obviously to the people in the small town. But I’m afraid that they would not know.
So when I look around town or when I’m in Pittsburgh, sometimes I wonder who the Christians are. Is it the one who walked by a person struggling with ten bags in their hands? Is it the guy in the taxi swearing at the person crossing the street? Is it the young man that noticed an elderly woman getting into her car covered in snow and offers to help clean it off for her?
We seldom remember that our every action has a consequence. The person in distress we walk by without helping could be Jesus Christ. It is very easy to come up with excuses on why we do not do more and why we cannot help others. Just as it is easy to make excuses why we’re too busy to go to church on Sundays or to take the time to truly celebrate the incarnation of our Lord. The person we tell the excuse to may believe us but the Lord knows what is in our heart. He knows whether it was possible for us to take a moment out of our busy day to make time for another.
Thankfully, God decided he wasn’t too busy running the universe to help humanity by becoming a man. Thankfully, Mary and Joseph weren’t too busy with wedding preparations and house buying to take the time to listen when God spoke to them. They heard him and they obeyed. Will you be too busy to listen when God speaks to you?
Amen.
