(The sermon began with the Reader’s Theater piece ‘A Baby, A Stable, and A Manger’ published by Carson-Dellosa Christian Publishing.)
(Slide 1) (Come in with my Irish Christmas Stocking Cap on and hand out candy.) Do you know that as of today it is only 117 days till Christmas? (And only 115 days to Shad ___ and I’s birthday!) How many of us here this morning have started doing some Christmas shopping?
I think that we need to have a Christmas in July party next year… maybe tie in our church picnic… do secret gift bid and donate the money to a local ministry that needs it… (finish handing out candy)
This morning, I want to read the story of Christ’s birthday from both Luke and Matthew’s accounts and I am hoping that we can take some time to digest them both together in a way that I think we cannot often due in December because of all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.
I am going to ask you to share with me your observations as I read them and you can follow along in your Bibles or on the screen or just listen…
(Slide 2) At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2(This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) (Slide 3) 3( All returned to their own towns to register for this census. 4And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. (Slide 4) 5He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was obviously pregnant by this time.
6And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn.
(Slide 5) 8 That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened (Slide 6), 10but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!”
(Slide 7) 13Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God: 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors.”(Slide 8) 15When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Come on, let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
(Slide 9) 16They ran to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 Then the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child.(Slide 10) 18All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20The shepherds went back to their fields and flocks, glorifying and praising God for what the angels had told them, and because they had seen the child, just as the angel had said.
What do you see or hear in this very familiar story this morning that you may not have noticed before? (Have the congregation share)
Now I have some questions about this text. (Slide 11) First, how did the shepherds know which manger the angel was talking about? How long did it take them to find Jesus?
Second, why was Joseph up north in Nazareth? Was Nazareth his place of his birth? Or had he moved there for work or other family reasons? (The reason given for Bethlehem as Joseph’s census destination is that it was David’s ancient home. And also, as we will read in a moment in Matthew’s account, Bethlehem is identified in the Old Testament as the birthplace of the Messiah.)
Yet there are two things I observe in this story that are worth noticing. (Slide 12)
There was commitment. Mary stayed committed to following God even thought she probably had trouble understanding (at first) what had happened to her. Joseph, embarrassed and perhaps ashamed and angry, stayed committed to Mary through it all once a heavenly visitor explained what was going on.
There was love. God had love for both Joseph and Mary and was further expressing His love for all of humanity in the baby Jesus. I also think that there was a deep love between Joseph and Mary in spite of their vastly changed circumstances.
Now the other main Christmas story appears in Matthew’s gospel and chapter 2. Again, you can either follow along in your Bible or read it on the screen:
(Slide 13) Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star as it arose, and we have come to worship him.”
(Slide 14) Herod was deeply disturbed by their question, as was all of Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law. “Where did the prophets say the Messiah would be born?” he asked them.
(Slide 15) “In Bethlehem,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote: ‘O Bethlehem of Judah ,you are not just a lowly village in Judah ,for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’
(Slide 16) 7Then Herod sent a private message to the wise men, asking them to come see him. At this meeting he learned the exact time when they first saw the star. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”
(Slide 17) After this interview the wise men went their way. Once again the star appeared to them, guiding them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!
(Slide 18) They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were, and they fell down before him and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 But when it was time to leave, they went home another way, because God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
What do you observe in this passage? (Have congregation share.)
(Slide 19) I observe the following:
A hunger for something more. In one of my sources, I read this about the ‘wise men’ and some of it was news to me!
“Not much is known about these astrologers (traditionally called wise men). We don’t know where they came from or how many there were. Tradition says they were men of high position from Parthia, near the site of ancient Babylon. How did they know that the star represented the Messiah? (1) They could have been Jews who remained in Babylon after the Exile and knew the Old Testament predictions of the Messiah’s coming. (2) They may have been eastern astrologers who studied ancient manuscripts from around the world. Because of the Jewish exile centuries earlier, they would have had copies of the Old Testament in their land. (3) They may have had a special message from God directing them to the Messiah. Some scholars say these astrologers were each from a different land, representing the entire world bowing before Jesus.”
No matter what their background was, they were seeking something more than a great adventure. These men were motivated about the meaning of life and about a reason for human existence. If we were to accept any of the suggestions as to their identity as just stated, then we can appreciate the long journey they took to find the Messiah.
We seek more to life than just bare existence. (Although at times, bare existence seems hard to hang to!) When I think about all of the Christmas themed movies, it seems that the focus of the movies is not about the materialism of the holiday but about something more. In most of them, it is about relationships, feeling loved and being a part of a family.
But, I also see more than just a hunger for something more in these three men. I also see a sustained pursuit for something more.
Let’s think about it for a moment. In the next 117 days we will develop a sustained pursuit of Christmas gifts. We will check ads carefully. We will go to our favorite internet sites and study them thoughtfully, we will enter stores and look at the aisles deeply, and we will do it often so that we can get the best deals, and get it done! Right?
I have fresh admiration for the wise men. They sustained their pursuit of the Messiah, I think through external factors such as difficult weather, harsh landscapes, hostile, even dangerous towns and cities. But they also, because they were humans just like us, sustained their pursuit through internal factors such as doubt, conflict, fear, anxiety and the like. It was a long trip (Jesus was probably 2 years old by this time,) But they kept putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward because there was a hunger in their heart to see the Messiah, the promised one.
As we move toward another Christmas, I want to suggest that we get pro-active with our giving. And as we conclude I would like to have us consider giving the following gifts to God and to others starting today and throughout each year.
(Slide 20) Let us give the gift of commitment as Joseph did to Mary and vice verse and to God. Let’s renew our vows. Let’s renew our support and affirmation of our kids. Let’s renew our support to God and the church. Let us give the gift of commitment.
Let us also make a commitment to care for one person outside of our family and our church. Maybe a fellow student or co-worker or neighbor or friend or even… a stranger.
How about giving the gift of commitment in our work?
(Slide 20a) Let us give the gift of love as Joseph did to Mary. To love someone in a God-honoring way is just plain hard sometimes.
Let us love by starting to be patient with those closest to us – our family. Let us love by respecting those with whom we disagree with on whatever it is with disagree with – especially during the next two months of political campaign.
(Slide 20b) Let us give the gift of wholehearted pursuit of God and His good and perfect will by the choices we make. Let’s give our families and even ourselves, the gift of time for family prayer and scripture reading each night.
I have said before that we are like the wise men in Christmas story. We are the foreigners, the outsiders, who are seeking meaning and purpose and some kind (hear me correctly) of a Higher Power that will give us meaning, purpose, and direction to our pursuit of more than just ordinary human existence.
What kind of a Christmas do you want to have this year? No matter if you already know or you have absolutely no idea, invite God into the process of your Christmas plans…. TODAY! Amen…. And Merry Christmas!
Sources:
Wise men passage is from Quick Verse Life Application Bible Software. © 1995-1997 by Parsons Technology, Inc.
