The Gospel According to… The Grinch
Luke 2:1-7
December 14, 2008
The gospel according to… the Grinch. Adapted from Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” or what might be a better title, “How the Grinch Tried to Steal Christmas.”
The Grinch hates Christmas and he hates the Whos and their celebration of Christmas. He has the toys and noise and roast beasts and the feasts. He hates the gifts and most of all the singing. He longs to hear them suffer probably as he suffers from his isolation.
So the Grinch decides to steal Christmas and in doing so keep it from coming. He is convinced that if he takes away the Christmas stuff then everyone will be upset and they will cry and wail and there certainly will not by any Christmas celebration this year. So he takes the Christmas stuff. What stuff did he take?
For the Grinch and this is especially relevant to our culture, the Grinch thinks Christmas is about the material things: gifts, presents, food, decorations, parties, etc. So he steals it all but when the Whos wake up, they are upset. They are blaming the banks or the GM or President Bush or OPEC. They are blaming the neighbor or blaming the father who didn’t want to spend the money for the state-of-the-art alarm system. They blame the police for not keeping them safe. But they didn’t blame anyone.
In fact, they woke up with the same amount of joy that they had always had. They sang because Christmas wasn’t about the decorations, or the gifts, or the food. They were thankful and they sang.
The Grinch didn’t realize that Christmas can’t be bought. Christmas can’t be sold. It is much more than that. Christmas isn’t about materialism or consumerism. It isn’t about shopping.
A man shared with his friends that he and his wife were going through the empty-nest syndrome. He said the worst part about it was that once the children leave some wives treat their husbands like children.
He said, "When we go to the grocery store and I reach for cereal, she slaps my hand and says, ’We don’t need that this week.’ Then I reach for the ice cream, and she slaps my hand, saying, ’We don’t need that this week.’ I reach for the potato chips, and again she slaps my hand and says, ’We don’t need that this week.’ I finally get so frustrated I hop out of the basket and go to the car!"
So Christmas isn’t about stuff you can buy. Dr. Seuss got that right. And that is extremely good news especially for the poor and especially during these tough financial times.
Maybe we sort of buy into the whole consumer mentality. We all know the money can’t buy you happiness but it sure helps. Money buys us the toys and the other things that we enjoy. And when we don’t have money. It makes things very stressful. I think that if the Grinch can remind us of anything, it is the idea that we need to examine what we place our hope in. What do we base our happiness on?
In our study group, it was mentioned that if someone broke in and stole all the Christmas gifts not to mention the decorations and Christmas ham, then most of us would have a pretty miserable Christmas. Very few of us would get up and see the empty house and walk outside and start singing the praises of God. Let me correct that… none of us would do that. We would be in shock. How could this happen? Then we’d call the police and investigate if any clues were left and how they got in and try to determine what all was missing. But we wouldn’t immediately praise God.
However, I believe that those of us who are truly seeking to follow Jesus might eventually get around to it. We might thank God that no one was hurt. We might even pray for those who stole our Christmas.
But then think about others who have no basis in grace, mercy, love, and peace. There would be very few filled with Christmas joy if everything was stolen from their homes.
In fact, there are many people out there who are really struggling. Some of them may even be brothers and sisters in Christ. They are going to lose their home. They don’t have many gifts. Santa never really came this year.
But is that what Christmas is really about? And I would say this, it is not about simply being filled with joy and singing and family and relationships as the Whos seem to think Christmas is about. In fact Christmas is about a person: Jesus. It is about the one who was born as an outcast. His mother and father disowned by their families and their community. They were cast out and no one showed mercy on them except a low-life tavern owner (where no good self-respecting, righteous [tsadiqs] would ever consider staying) who showed some measure of compassion on a pregnant young girl and allowed them to stay in his cave where some livestock were kept.
There was no room for them inside. There was no room for an adulteress in the homes of their family. There was no place for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords to be born except in a pig sty. Seems pretty harsh, doesn’t it?
Speaking of harsh, A minister’s six-year-old girl had been so naughty during the week that her mother decided to give her the worst kind of punishment: she couldn’t go to the Sunday school picnic.
When the day came, her mother felt she had been too harsh and changed her mind. When she told the little girl she could go to the picnic, the child’s reaction was one of gloom and unhappiness.
"What’s the matter? I thought you’d be glad to go to the picnic," her mother said.
"It’s too late!" the little girl said. "I’ve already prayed for rain."
Listen to Luke 2.
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
This is the real gospel. This is the real reason for Christmas. Jesus was born. It was unexpected. It was an event that defied all reason, logic, and good (religious) sense. No one, Jews or Gentile, would have ever dreamed that God would become a human let alone a human baby that was born in the most dire, unsanitary, and decadent circumstances ever.
A little while later, some shepherds, who were considered to be bad characters, were told by angels about this. The Lord of Lord’s retinue and acclamation came not from heralds in fancy clothes riding expensive horses as the child of a king normally would have but low-life shepherds. No matter how bad things are, Jesus knows what it is like. He was born basically as a homeless person and that is who he first taught, healed, and saved.
Here are some of the things that the small group felt were important to remember.
• Keep your priorities straight
What is your focus this Christmas? Gifts? Parties? Or is it to worship the Lord?
Are you spending time with the Lord or are you running on empty?
Are you consumed with worry about what you can’t buy?
What kinds of things are buying? Will they really last? Are they really treasures? Will anyone even remember them next year?
• Seek the joy of the King of Kings
The shepherds didn’t have much but they were excited about what God was doing. They excited about the possibilities of God. We can do all things in Christ who strengthens us. Mary and Joseph had nothing. Yet the scriptures tells that Mary made special mental notes about the shepherds and the other things regarding her baby boy. She treasured those things in her heart. They were worth more than gold to her.
There is a pretty common belief that differentiates between happiness and joy. This is one that I believe. Happiness is based on circumstances. Expensive gifts and good food and parties and celebrations and Christmas lights can bring happiness. But they are only temporary. They aren’t always there. There are many people who have those things take away. Some have never had them.
Joy comes from within. It transcends what happens to us. Good things that God blesses us with makes the joy swell in our hearts. Like the ocean. Ever been on the ocean or even Lake Erie when there are swells from a storm. Large sections of the water rise up and burst of the side of the boat. I was one on a boat on Lake Erie when there were fifteen foot swells. It was amazing. The boat was large enough that we weren’t worried but you get the sense of power.
Joy has the same capacity if not more so. It swells when God pours out His blessings on you. It overflows onto others. It spills out of your heart in showers of praise and gratitude. Yet, while happiness is often fleeting and disappears when circumstances change (like when Christmas is taken from us). Joy remains constant even in the darkest times. It may not burst from you but it remains the same. The joy is there while happiness has run away. This is the joy of Jesus. This is what Christ brings to us when he comes. It is the joy of forgiveness. It is the joy of grace. It is the joy of love. It is the joy of mercy.
You heard the cliché saying, “Wise men still seek him.” It may be pithy. It may be simplistic. But is still is true. Seek the King and you will find joy.
