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First
Reading
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Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
| Isaiah 9:2-7 |
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Titus 2:11-14 |
Luke 2:1-14
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Every time I read the Christmas stories, the questions they invoke never seem to go away. I wonder if it has always been thus. In the Gospel of Luke, a choir of messengers in the middle of the night surprised a group of shepherds as they reclined around a fire watching a flock of sheep sleeping on the adjoining hillsides. The shepherds immediately were sent off into the town of Bethlehem. Certainly they had to have had plenty of doubts over what that overwhelming announcement meant. In the Gospel of Matthew, while there is no mention of shepherds or a stable, gentile magi from foreign lands and their entourage came seeking the Holy Family in order to pay their respects. The magi were obviously of some importance, for King Herod himself had granted them an audience. Where did the magi come from and what significance should be made about the mysterious star that they followed?
Both Matthew and Luke try to give their birth stories a sense of order by developing a genealogy of Jesus that affirms that he was a true descendant of David, but alas their genealogies do not agree. In the end when they finish the genealogy at Joseph, it is affirmed that the birth of Jesus also depended on God’s initiative. Traditionally we conflate the two birth stories and both the shepherds and magi arrive at the stable, and more often than not there are additional personnel. In the case of St. John’s crèche, there is a Russian Bear, its keeper, a small church mouse and another animal I just can’t make out.
Tonight there are as many questions in the air as there are notes to the carols we sing. However, Christmas always tells us that it is OK to have questions. People of faith are people who are not afraid to wonder about the angel’s message, to endure the journey to the Bethlehem of their world, and say openly in front of the stable, “I don’t know.”
Did Mary and Joseph comprehend the full meaning of Jesus’ birth? Of course not. Did the shepherds have a clear idea of how their lives would be changed after responding to the angels’ message of peace on earth to those of goodwill? No again. Did the magi understand how the birth of Jesus would change world history? They had no idea either, yet all of them, after seeing the newborn Jesus, knew that somehow God had touched them in a profound way. God was wishing humanity well, and was actively involved in the healing of humanity. They understood that God would not be offended by the questions they held in their hearts.
Every year at our youth choir camp, Kevin Radloff engages the campers in a rather subtle exercise of theological inquiry that demonstrates that when our hearts get over inflated, they cannot take being handled by the peaks and valleys of life. Sooner or later life tears such people apart. Yes, Kevin’s water balloon toss conveys the truth many in the world do not comprehend: namely that an arrogant and over inflated heart is way too fragile to make it through life’s journey. The covering of those with know-it all hearts are too weak and strained under the burden of protecting the pride of so-called sure answers. They will never make it to the stable; they will never see the revelation of the new birth of Christmas, for in some manner their spirits will go bust long before.
In the age when Augustus Caesar was emperor of the Roman Empire, the mightiest empire the world had ever known, and Quirinius was Governor of Syria, there were continual incidents of increasing rebellion throughout Palestine. Herod, the designated local puppet ruler, was constantly on edge and ready to brutally suppress whatever seemed to threaten his power. The poor were getting poorer. The empire was having trouble controlling its borders. Undefined dread was gnawing at society's soul. Cracks in the empire’s foundations could not be denied.
Many of us remember the promises of those who told us that the best and the brightest of our age would finally bring peace to the world; that our science would insure that the world would have enough to eat; and that through our ingenuity, energy would soon be too cheap to meter. Yet some two thousand years after that first disclosure to shepherds on the hills outside of Bethlehem, despite all the solemn assurances, the foundations of world society still seem to shudder and totter. Those who have claimed to have most of the answers and assurances seem like cheap charlatans working a second rate carnival sideshow.
Last January, most of us could not have imagined the fortunes that have happened in the last twelve months to some of the mightiest and trusted institutions the world has ever known. Oh yes, we will go forth from the celebration of this Christmas with plenty of doubts and questions. If we are honest with ourselves, it has been ever thus. That the future is totally malleable to our wishes has always been a delusion.
Tonight God brings us good news telling us to not be afraid. People of faith know that God willingly lives among us in such a world; that just because we do not have all the answers, God still has wonderful plans for humanity. God has not deserted us. So this Christmas, bring your questions along to the manger. Leave the walls defending your certainty behind. Take only your questions and doubts and may you discover that in your journey to the new birth at the manger you will be able to navigate over the world’s mountains and through the thick undergrowth of the valleys. If you stumble, you will be able to pick yourself up and you will not burst. People of faith have no use to carry a fragile heart of certainty. People of faith are those who have learned the freedom to say, “I don’t know” and without shame or fear, greet the new birth of our Lord with great joy.
And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
