Isaiah 9:2-7 Psalm 96 Titus 2:11-14 Luke 2:1-14, (15-20)
We’ve reached that amazing time of year once more. The day that we celebrate the birth of Jesus
Christ. For most, this is simply the day
that is set aside to celebrate the birth of a great historical figure. For Christians what we celebrate is so much
more and yet so hard to fully comprehend.
Our first reading begins in the reality of an historical time describe
by Isaiah as “Darkness”.
From Isaiah 9:2 “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.”
We are no longer experiencing any “deep darkness”, are we?
That was a rhetorical question because the people that I know, are
experiencing some pretty deep dark this year.
There are at least three people, I know personally, who are to
“celebrate” Christmas this year for the first time without their significant
other alive. Many more will be
“celebrating” amidst the -heartbreak of separation for so many other
reasons. Many in this area are
struggling because they are out of work, sick and then there is also the deep
dark that our society is in globally.
We are living in a crazy contradiction of life, because Jesus Christ,
the saviour, the messiah, has come… why are we in such deep dark?
This celebration of Christmas is one that we cannot afford to let pass
without it being born in us, and while that may be a metaphor, if Christmas is
nothing more than an ideology we really have missed the mark… and to “miss the
mark” is the literal definition of sin. We don’t need to stay “in the dark” and in
sin.
The birth of any great leader is often celebrated, but none more than
this. The reason being that Christians
believe that this was no ordinary person who was born. This was God made flesh. The immortal creator and ruler of the
universe, becomes the fragile and vulnerable creation. He who is light and life is willing, for the
love of humanity, to submerge himself into that world of deep darkness.
Our readings do not do not continue to focus on that deep
darkness. Even in that first line the
sentence ends with light shining. The
coming of Christ is heralded as a time of great joy because there is an
acknowledgement that they were in great need of a saviour. The message before Christ’s ministry was to
repent. To repent, is essentially to
reflect on the reality of your situation and acknowledge the darkness of your
life and your need for change. Is your
world in need of change?
If you have already acknowledged the darkness in your life and tried to
change it you will know what comes next.
Can you guess what it is?
Deeper darkness……! Memes abound
over social media promoting self-help and self-change. These are great sounding to sound true to the
naive… just as naïve as were Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when the
Serpent convinced them also that they could better their life…. Do we remember what happened there?
The reason for this deep darkness is fallen humanity and all the earth
subject to decay because of it. Just
look around. Are you concerned about the
environment and climate change? Humanity
has not been a good steward of the earth and we could well say that fallen
humanity has put greed above the good of the earth and caused our environmental
problems.
It certainly isn’t too big a jump to blame fallen humanity for so many
other woes in our dark world.
So we’ve acknowledged the darkness and tried to change it, but due to
the nature of fallen humanity, changing the darkness is beyond our
ability. We can try to change ourselves,
but many of us even fail at that and at best might have some temporary
success. Honestly, this has been my
experience. We all do it. We try hard
and sometimes see signs of light, but in the end you will be exhausted. I am.
Thankfully God knew all this and had a better plan.
Titus 2:11 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to
all,”
We need to understand that “the grace of God”, means the undeserved
favour of God. We have salvation because
of nothing that we are or do, but simply because God loves us. It can best be described as the love a parent
has for a favoured child who always does the wrong thing – everyone else might
see the faults, but the parent looks with the eyes of love at something
wonderful that only they can see.
But this unconditional love of God is wisdom also and it comes with the
gift of the Holy Spirit bringing the presence of God, which affects change in
the individual and then change in the community like ripples in a pond. As Christians, we are anointed by our baptism
to be an effective body of Christ in the community.
Titus 2:14 “He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us
from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous
for good deeds.”
The result in us, of Christ’s coming, dying and rising, will be that we
are people who are changed and eager to reflect God’s love.
I was wondering why the Angel announced the Good News about the birth
of Christ, to shepherds. I think the
explanation given over years gone by was that these were the poor people and so
it was God’s way of showing His love for all.
While this is true, I believe there is more to it.
Throughout the Bible, the image of the shepherd is used to describe how
God cares for his sheep and also it illustrates the “Good” shepherd and compares
this with those shepherds who scatter the sheep. The Good News is given to the Shepherds, and
we are now those shepherds. The sheep
are those in the world around us who God cared so much about that he died for
them…. But they may not know it. Will we
be like the shepherds in the story and respond to the Good News by making a
search for the saviour and by passing on the Good News?
Apparently there is more to these shepherds of Bethlehem. From an article online; http://www.jesus.org/birth-of-jesus/shepherds-and-angels/why-did-the-angels-announce-jesuss-birth-to-shepherds.html
“Somewhere deep in Jewish
tradition (revealed in writings called the Mishnah), a belief had arisen that
the Messiah would be revealed from the Migdal Eder ("the tower of the
flock"). This tower stood close to Bethlehem on the road to Jerusalem, and
the sheep that pastured there were not the type used for ordinary purposes. The
shepherds working there, in fact, took care of the temple-flocks, the sheep
meant for sacrifice.
We can trust that God had a
specific purpose for this shepherd audience, and the work they performed
suggests the reason. These men who watched the sheep meant for the slaughter
received a divine message about the ultimate Lamb who would take away the sins
of the world through His death and resurrection.
(Adapted from The Life and Times of Jesus the
Messiah by Alfred Edersheim (Book II, Chapter VI).)
For those of us aware of the dark and longing for change, this message
that the Angels bring, tell of a lamb that will take away sin. This is no ordinary lamb, but the Lamb of God
whose sacrifice is once and for all. The
Lamb of God is also the light of the world who stepped down into darkness. He gives us eyes that can see in the dark, he
can change our heart and most importantly he has restored
our fallen humanity, but we are like he was when he walked the earth –
we live in a place of darkness. Within
us now we have the light – the light of Christ.
Just like Christ when he walked the earth, we hurt and we grieve, but
like him, we can learn to walk in unity with God in a new reality of light.
As Jesus said, in John
5:19 “Jesus gave them this answer: "Very truly I tell you, the Son can do
nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because
whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
We live in a dark world, but we can walk in the light. So… let us rest from our labours and vain
attempts to manipulate others, ourselves and the world that is, and accept the
gift that Christ gives us this Christmas.
For so many years I have thought that Christmas was a time of thinking
like the carol of the little drummer boy and pondering what gift I could give
to God. I have had it all back to
front. The message of Christmas is that
God gives us himself.
Will we receive the gift He gives?
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