Christmas Eve 2005

Christmas Eve Luke 2:1-20 12/24/05

In the first panel of the cartoon, “Family Circus” which appeared this past Sunday, Jeffy is sitting in a church pew praying. His image is of huge, all powerful, distant God who appears to be standing at a judge’s bench – one that seems to make him cringe. In the second panel, Jeffy is kneeling on his bed at home talking quite naturally and comfortably with God. His image in this panel is of the baby Jesus in a manger. In the third panel, Jeffy is talking to his mother who has come into his bedroom. He says, “Prayin’ is easier when I’m talkin’ to Baby Jesus.”

This is the perfect picture of what this night is all about. We welcome the God who is so immense, so powerful, so distant that we can’t even imagine Him. But He comes, not as that being whose presence would terrify us, but as a baby.

We can take away the halos, the spotless blue mantle of the Madonna and the blond haired and white robed angel choir. We can allow our imaginations to include the animal smells of a stable, the roughness of a bunch of earthy shepherds and the human pain that birth involves. We can also shrug off as unimportant the scholarly debates about how could Caesar Augustus and Quirinius be in the same story when they didn’t live in the same time period, or the fact that history doesn’t record a census of the Roman world.

Neither the fancy dressing of the story, nor the cold hard facts of historical research matter one bit. All that matters is that that huge, all powerful, distant God loved us so much that He comes to us as a helpless infant, so that we can talk to Him in a most natural and comfortable way. He comes as a baby who will grow to manhood, suffering the same stresses and sorrows we suffer, so that we can trust His ability to understand when we talk to Him about our lives.

He came at a time when people had little control over their lives, when they felt threatened and oppressed, when armed conflict was an ever-present source of anxiety, when taxes (and probably the cost of living) made them wonder how they would make it to the next week.

He came at that time so that people living under those conditions in the centuries to follow would know that God knows what real life is like. He wanted us to know that He is with us and cares about our needs as we struggle to make ends meet, have our voices heard by those in power, and try to not worry about war or terrorists.

He came to a couple who probably had their lives all worked out. He had his carpenter shop. It wasn’t the easiest work in the world and he wouldn’t make a fortune, but he expected to provide a decent home for his betrothed. She was a maiden planning the wedding of a lifetime as the beginning of a life of children, homemaking and town social events. Nothing in their lives prepared them for what was to come – for having their lives turned upside down – for all the changes and challenges ahead.

He came to an ordinary couple in a little unknown town so that people living later would know that God is with them when their lives get turned upside down. He wanted us to know that He’ll help us make it through when a decent paying job is lost, a family breaks apart or children move miles away, or we are forced to travel down some other strange, perhaps scary road.

He came to be worshipped by and proclaimed by shepherds – men who in the social order of the day were looked down on and rejected because they weren’t clean and proper like the good folks. Shepherds lived a hard life. They rarely bathed and they smelled of sheep – or worse. They lived outside normal society. They knew the stories told about their dishonesty and disorderly life. The last thing they would expect was an angelic invitation to have this special relationship with God, to welcome the newborn King of Kings.

He came to be worshipped by social rejects, people who deep down probably didn’t feel all that good about themselves and knew their unacceptability all too well, so that sinners in every time and place could know that they are invited into a relationship with a God who loves them more than they can ever imagine, a God who is not put off by what we are outside or inside.

We may at times look at ourselves and feel as caked with dirt inside as those shepherds were on the outside. We may even have the experience of being rejected by the good people because we don’t measure up to their standards in some way. No matter what may make us feel unloved or unlovable, we can remind ourselves that God didn’t come into the life of Caesar Augustus or Quirinius. God didn’t invite the religious leaders or the so-called “good people” to worship – be in relationship with – the newborn King. God came to the lowliest, and as that newborn became a man He continued to prefer sinners like you and me as His friends.

God didn’t come as a baby in a manger so that children could act out a pretty story or so that scholars could debate dates and characters endlessly. God came so that we could be like Jeffy of “Family Circus”. He knew that we too would find “prayin’ is easier when I’m talkin’ to Baby Jesus.” Amen.