Rev. 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
These are the words of Jesus Christ, as recorded in the book of Revelation.They are bold. They are confident. They are all encompassing. They speak of a powerful dominating being.
One who says, you want to know reality – look no further – I’m your man.
Its Christmas Eve, the night we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Is that how you think of Jesus Christ tonight? Bold. Confident. All encompassing.
Its hard to think beyond the event of Christmas Eve, isn’t it?
Our whole family was able to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. It was the first time everyone was there in about 15 years. Several of my nieces and nephews are in college or just out of college. It was somewhat of a shock seeing them. I still have that little kid image in my head of them. Intellectually, I know they are older, accomplished…
But I’m still stuck, in some way, with how I remember them long ago.
Does that happen to you too? Why is that?…..I think, one thing might be that there are wonderful memories, great memories of those people being those wonderful ages, they were cute, innocent, full of life.
Isn’t the story of Christ’s birth like that too? There we see Jesus in the manger – and to some degree, there he stays, cute, innocent, full of life. Even though the Bible clearly tells us so much more about who Jesus is, so much more than God come to earth as an infant.
You know we hear what the Bibles says, we do, on some level, understand Jesus is more than the Christmas story, but it is tough to get past the image we see everywhere around us. It is tough to get past event of the manger.
The two of them were best friends in seminary, studying together, helping each other financially when one or the other got in a pinch, they stood by each other through thick and thin.
When they graduated from seminary both coincidentally received a church call within the same state: Louisiana, Bob got a church in the north part of the state and Bill got a church in the south. Life was great. Every Wednesday they would met in the middle of the state and fish, hunt for gaiters, or just go shooting. They did this for many years and as they were nearing retirement, one day Pastor Bill said to Pastor Bob, I can’t think of anyone else I would like to do my funeral. Pastor Bob said to Pastor Bill, I feel the same way, I can’t think of anyone better than you to my funeral. So they agreed that whoever should go first, the other would do the funeral.
It came to pass that Pastor Bob passed away first and so Pastor Bill came up to do the funeral. Upon his arrival, he was met by one of the church ladies, Evelyn. Evelyn needed desperately to meet with Pastor Bill. It seems Evelyn was at Pastor Bob’s bedside and his dying wish, in his last gasping breaths, was to have a final song sung at the end of the graveside committal – Jingle Bells. Pastor Bill said Jungle Bells – that’s crazy, Bob would have never said that, I’m not singing Jingle Bells at a graveside committal.
After some thought, Bill decided he had to sing Jingle Bells at the graveside committal, for it was after all, as crazy as it was, it was Bob’s dying request. The day of the funeral came and the church was packed, the funeral service went well; so well that everyone came to the graveside committal, which went very well with Pastor Bill ending it with, “Let’s all join in together and sing the song that was Pastor Bob’s dying request: Jingle Bells.” “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way….no one else joined in except Evelyn, the church lady.
At the wake, as Pastor Bill sat alone, everyone distancing themselves from him – Evelyn, the church lady sat down beside him. “That was such a nice funeral…but you know, now that I think of it, I think Pastor Bob may have said, ‘please sing the song, The Bell Tolls For Thee’”
Sometime we hear….what wasn’t said.
We have all heard the Christmas story – we heard it read tonight again.
We hear it every year, we are so familiar with it. We know the “facts” about the Christmas story…..We think we know who Jesus is….or do we?
Well how about a quick Christmas quiz? Let’s see how much you know about the Christmas story: Are you ready? Tonight we will give our associate pastor, Ted the quiz - and you can play along with him.
1. In the Christmas story, Joseph never says a word.
True.
There is no record of Joseph ever speaking anywhere in the Gospels.
2. Mary rode a donkey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
False.
There is no mention of a donkey. it was very likely the poor woman walked the whole way. In fact no animals are mentioned in the Christmas story.
3. Jesus had a prostitute, a husband who committed adultery and murder, and an incestuous relationship in his ancestry.
True.
Rahab was a prostitute, David was both a murderer and an adulterer
and Tamar & Judah committed incest. They are all in the ancestral line of Jesus.
4. The star appeared above the manger.
False.
It appeared above the house where Joseph’s family was living (Matthew 2:9-11). The Magi did not come until about a year later and by that time the family had moved into a house.
5. There were three Magi.
False.
There is no mention of the number of Magi. There could have been two Magi, there could have been twenty five Magi. Because there were three kinds of gifts given, many assume there were three kings. But one king could have given two gifts or several kings could have given the same type of gift. Know one knows how many kings there were.
6. Joseph married Mary immediately after the angel appeared to him.
True.
His obedience was quick, I think if an angel appeared to you, you might act quickly too. Matthew 1:24.
7. The name Jesus was a very unique and uncommon name when the Christmas story takes place.
False.
Jesus was a very popular common name. Many, many people had the name Jesus. You may also recall that Jesus was brought before Pilot for Judgment – a death sentence. Pilot said he would release one prisoner,
either the prisoner Jesus Christ or the prisoner Barabbas…Whose full name is Bar-Jesus Barabbas.
Even today Jesus is very common name – in fact it was #73 of the top 100 most popular names given to babies just last year – here in the good old USA. The name Jesus is very common, but the person of Jesus Christ is not very common at all..
8. The angels appeared before the shepherds in the fields and sang to them.
False.
The angels spoke, but did not sing. lego/ntwn – the word used to describe what the angels are doing in Luke 2:14 means to say or to speak….not to sing.
9. When Herod heard about Jesus he was the only one concerned about this new king.
False.
All Jerusalem was disturbed by this news of a new king (Matthew 2:3).
10. The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary first and later to Joseph.
False .
The name of the angel who appeared to Joseph is never named.
We are almost done, I don’t know why I chose 11 questions instead of 10, I guess it is some sort of Spinal Tap thing.
11. God sent a choir of cherub like angels to announce Jesus’ birth to the shepherds.
False.
It was an army of warrior angels that God sent. Luke 2:13. "Company" and "host" are military terms. These angels are fierce, mighty, and imposing beings. No wonder the shepherds are blown away
So how did you do? Anyone get them all right? (of course they won’t)
Clearly in our view of what Christmas is, we are influenced by all kinds of things:The Media, Tradition, Family events, even the manufacturers of nativity scenes. What would a Nativity Scene be without barnyard animals and the three kings standing by?
Even here tonight, we all sang Hark The Herald Angels Sing. What a great Carol. What would Christmas Eve be like without it?
It is true, our culture, does cloud the Christmas Story. In fact, it clouds it so much, that to remove elements like angels singing, a manger without animals, or to consider the wise men came so much later, can be….well….disturbing.
You know, those may be the facts Peter but leave my manger scene alone – I like it how it is!
Most of us can’t get the true Christmas story straight. Chances are….what we think we know about who Jesus is, isn’t all correct either. Just like our culture tends to change our view what the Christmas story really is. It also tends to change our view of who Jesus really is. Now, if I imagine various animals in the manger scene, or celebrate angels singing, instead of speaking, or even imagine three Magi, that doesn’t change things much. But if I imagine Jesus as…you know, there are several ways Jesus is viewed in our culture: Some folks imagine Jesus as a good man who was a good example for us to follow;
kind of like an author of excellent self help books -The Dr. Phil of his day. Some folks imagine Jesus to be a holy man who learned the ways of God and should be respected for what he taught and they way he lived. Still others would say that Jesus was like any great man, Buddha, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, who was able to tap into the universal energy around us. He was able to tap the divine within. And many more, haven’t really, ever thought about who Jesus really is….
Remember at the beginning of the sermon the words of Jesus? Rev. 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Jesus isn’t being poetic, metaphysical, or imaginative, or even theoretical. Jesus is speaking about who he is.
When he says Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, he is referring to the well known and commonly used Greek alphabet. The most common alphabet used in his day. The first letter the alpha and the last letter the Omega. Equivalent to our A to Z. The beginning and the end. With this statement Jesus is claiming that not only was he at the beginning of time and will be there at the end of time. He is claiming that he is the source of all things and the culmination of all things. This is a claim of immortality. This is a claim that says – I’m outside of time, time has no effect on me. This is a claim way beyond what many in our culture.
I would say Jesus is a claiming pre-existence. In other words Jesus existed, he was alive and well, long before that first Christmas Eve so many years ago. Jesus is saying that before he was that little child born on Christmas eve he was….
Jesus is not in any way claiming reincarnation, which, by the way, the bible never endorses, nor teaches, it tells us that we as humans, have one life – that we do not exist before our birth. So Jesus claiming to exist….before he exists...sounds like he’s playing word games with us – but he’s not.
Further - The Apostle John tells us Jesus is the one: “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Which is a claim of not only immortality, and pre-existence – but a claim of divinity.
So, wait a second here. We are here to celebrate the birth of a wonderful small child, who in every way we see, experiences the human condition – from birth to death. And though we see angels and miracles - Jesus is still very human. And if you believe that you are right – sort of….but Jesus is more than human, Jesus is also divine, he is God himself - God come in human form.
The Christmas story isn’t just a story about a family having difficult times during the birth of their first born child. The Christmas story is about God, in the person of Jesus Christ, joining us in our human plight. And Jesus doesn’t do this for show, or to give us a good example of how to live a good life, or even to give us a wonderful holiday during the dark days of Winter.
No, Jesus comes to bring us healing. That no matter what is coming up against us, no mater what impossibility – Jesus came for us. Right now, here this evening….
We see Jesus repeats himself a little later saying: Rev. 21:6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. (but he adds to that statement – telling us not only who he really is he, also tells us why he did, what he did) To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
Jesus came to give us new life. A new life any of us can join in on when we decide to become followers of Jesus Christ.
Tonight we join with family, we join with friends, in celebration of life, love and faith. We sing, exchange gifts....toasts all around, and you just have to step back and say - This is great stuff, this is a wonderful time….why am I celebrating Christmas anyway?
Is it because I find it a happy time of year with a wonderful story, or is there more to this person of Jesus Christ than I understand? Amen
(special thanks to Andrew Chan for the great Christmas Quiz which I changed some for this sermon)
