Christmas Questions: Destiny
“Home for Christmas”
John 1:14
Rev. Brian Bill
12/21/08
On December 17th, 1903, after four attempts, the Wright Brothers flew their “flying machine” for the first time. Wilbur rushed to the local telegraph office and sent the following message: “We have flown for 12 seconds – will be home for Christmas!” Upon receiving the telegram, their sister Katherine went to the newspaper office and told them the news. Two days later, the local paper placed the following headline on page six: “Wright brothers home for Christmas.”
Amazingly, being home for Christmas trumped their flight feat. Sure, they were the first to fly, but it was even more important that they were coming home. I’ve been asked “Are you going home for Christmas” repeatedly this week. And I’ve asked others the same question. Why is that? There’s something deep within each of us that longs to belong to a place called home.
This past Wednesday I was the chaperone for four eighth grade girls from Pontiac Christian School while they rang the Salvation Army bell outside a local business. Not surprisingly, there were no “Happy Holiday” greetings coming from them; only “Merry Christmas.”
This particular store was playing Christmas music and I noticed that even secular songs speak of a yuletide yearning.
* “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” written during World War II, captures that longing to be home, especially for soldiers serving overseas. Even if they couldn’t come home, they would be there in their dreams. [Go up to stage set where couple is missing their son]
* “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” also speaks of a time long ago when our expectations of a white and wonderful Christmas were met…or were they?
Our songs and sentiments speak of a yearning for what we have yet to experience or as one person said, “The longing for things that have never happened.” It’s no secret that not everyone is merry about Christmas. While most shoppers smiled at the students and put their shekels in the kettle, one man told them to stop ringing those “bleepity bleep bells.” Later on, a weary woman walked by with a big frown on her face and said to the cheery teens, “Bah, Humbug!” She muttered something about shopping and trudged off to her car.
Barbara Brown Taylor catches the flavor of our tendency to romanticize Christmas: “Every Christmas Eve functions like a kind of time machine for us, taking us back to every other Christmas Eve we’ve spent on this earth. For some…it’s the smell of pine…and…the taste of roast turkey…it is mom and dad sitting around in their bathrobes sipping coffee while the kids chase the new puppy through a sea of wrapping paper. For others, this night is a reminder of the way life should have been but never was – those who have looked all their lives through other people’s windows at such scenes of domestic bliss, but…never as an insider.”
Some of you can’t wait to go home for Christmas and others of you, like the college student in our drama, are afraid to be with your family because home is not a happy place. Some of you are dreading the day because a loved one will be gone from the table. I know this will be the first Christmas in our family where cancer has made an unwelcome appearance.
Some of you even feel “homeless” this holiday season as you worry and wonder about the status of the Pontiac Correctional Center. You might be happy or you might feel horrible. Christmas might be warm or just plain weird. Your home might be beautiful or it may be broken; you may be filled with delight or you’re already getting ready to be disappointed. John Ortberg suggests that there’s the home we long for and the home we have – and there’s always a gap between them.
We all know that Joseph and Mary were away from home that first Christmas. In Matthew 1:20, Joseph is told to “take Mary home as his wife” but that didn’t last long because they had to bounce down to Bethlehem. The shepherds, because of the nature of their work, were far from home. As we learned last week, the wise men had wandered away from home so they could worship King Jesus. The family of Jesus set up their home in Bethlehem for awhile and then fled to Egypt and then back to Judea and finally ended up in Nazareth. Later Jesus made Capernaum his home base, but during his ministry, the Bible says that Jesus had no “place to lay his head.” And Jesus was literally far from home when He was here because he came all the way from heaven.
Because we all long to belong, we will be homeless until we find our home with God. There’s a longing for home inside each of us that no human home can satisfy. This week I discovered that the word “home” is used 186 times in the Bible. As I studied this further I saw that one can make a distinction between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Let’s look first at a few passages from the Old Testament where we learn that…
1. We are homesick for God. Ever since Adam and Eve were thrown out of their home in Eden, there’s been a deep homesickness inside each of our souls, a deep longing for belonging that can be traced through the entire Old Testament. In Genesis 8:9 we read about Noah setting a dove free after the 40-day flood: “But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth…” The phrase “set its feet” in Hebrew literally means “home.” That’s a cool description of home. We’re looking for security – not just a place for our feet but a place of safety for our souls.
The psalmist observes the sparrows and swallows finding homes and longs for that same sense of security in Psalm 84:3. It’s almost as if he’s jealous that they have unlimited access to the home of the Holy One: “Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young -- a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.”
In Psalm 90:1, Moses, who spent most of his life wandering in the wilderness, declares that home is where God is: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.” Psalm 91:1 echoes this sentiment: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.’” And the very last verse of the Old Testament in Malachi 4:6 pictures a day in which houses are transformed into homes, when the hearts of fathers are turned toward their children “and the hearts of the children to their fathers…”
Martin Copenhaver argues that because we’re homesick for God, our Christmas celebrations are often incomplete. Even if we could return to a place where everything seemed complete, we would find that someone is always missing: “We are homesick, not for some home of our past, but for a home we have never seen and cannot readily imagine…This is something more than nostalgia, and more profound as well, because what we long for is not merely a Christmas from our past, but a gathering up of our past, present and future into a harmony that is not achieved in the days of our lives…What we long for is to have the broken and scattered pieces brought together in ways that we are unable to do. And that is why I have concluded that our homesickness is, in some way, a yearning for God.”
2. God is homesick for us. If the Old Testament shows our homesickness for God, a case could be made that the New Testament depicts God as homesick for us. At its core that’s what Christmas is all about. John 1:14 is one of the most startling verses in the Bible: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
A grandfather was visiting his grandson one Christmas when he walked into the family room and saw the toddler standing up in his playpen, crying. His face was red and tear-stained. When little Jeffy saw his granddad, his face lit up and his hands reached out for help as he pleaded, “Out, papa, out!” What grandfather could resist this plea? And so he walked over to the playpen and reached down to lift his little buddy out of captivity. Just then, however, “Law and Order” stepped into the room with a dishtowel in her hand and spoke sternly, “Jeffy, you know better. You’re being punished. Leave him right there, dad.” And she marched back out of the room. The grandfather didn’t know what to do. Jeffy’s tears and outstretched hands tugged at his heart, but he didn’t want to interfere with a mother’s discipline either. He couldn’t stand being in the same room and not being able to do anything but he couldn’t leave without feeling like a traitor. Grandpa then had an idea. Since he couldn’t take Jeffy out of the playpen, he decided to climb in with him. That’s a pretty good picture of what Jesus did for us…He climbed in with us.
The first part of verse 14 says that the “Word became flesh…” This is the single, most unique quality of Christianity that makes it different from any other religion: God became flesh. The Message paraphrase puts it this way: “The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” The NIV says that Jesus “made his dwelling among us,” which literally means, “to make one’s tent.” When we would camp at campsites growing up, we would always get to know the other campers around us. In fact, it’s difficult to be private when you’re camping. Everyone can see what you’re doing. To say that Jesus pitched a tent implies that He wants to be on familiar terms with us. He wants to be close. He wants a lot of interaction. “Dwelling” is the same word used for “tabernacle” in the Old Testament. The tabernacle was a portable tent where the glory of God dwelt in the days before the Temple was built in Jerusalem.
After spending three years with Jesus His disciples had finally found a home in Him. Being with Him gave them a sense of belonging, an identity, and a purpose. Then, in John 14 Jesus announces that He is leaving them. This really shakes them up and so He says: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” He then tells them about a home that He is going to prepare for them.
Let me pause here to give a little background about homes in that culture. Many lived in what was called an insula, which was a housing arrangement. In the center would be a courtyard where animals would walk around and where one would find common fire pits for cooking. On the outer edge of the courtyard were homes, or dwelling places. When a young man wanted to get married, the parents would arrange a contract and negotiate the bridal price. Incidentally, that’s where the phrase, “Bought with a price” comes from.
The couple was betrothed but no wedding date was set because the father and groom-to-be had to get to work building an addition on to the father’s house. He was highly motivated to work quickly because when it was complete, the father would say, “Now it’s finished…go get your bride!” The bride would have to be ready at any time because she never knew when he was coming to get her. The groom would show up with his friends to get his bride and there would be a parade back to their new room.
Friends, that’s what Jesus is talking about in John 14:2-4: “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” These are wedding words! Jesus is the groom who has the room ready for us. We are the bride that has been bought with a price. When the time is right He will take us to that home where we will be with Him forever – that’s the promise that the family in the third drama was holding on to.
And there’s only one way to get there, and that’s to move from the cradle of Christmas to the cross of Calvary. Jesus said it like this in verse 6: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus went to the cross so you could come home for Christmas. Later in this same chapter, Jesus spoke these stunning words in John 14:23: “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” When we believe and receive Him, He will come and make His home in our hearts. I wonder, is He at home in you today?
It’s an interesting irony, isn’t it, that Jesus has prepared a room for us even though there was no room for Him when He was born? Despite the fact that we kicked Jesus out of our world, Jesus invites us into His home. Jesus said that there is a place for those who believe in Him. In fact, he left the disciples in order to get some rooms ready for them.
We’re all searching for home. Part of our problem is that most of us are too tied to this place. We often think that this is the land of the living, and that when we die we go to the land of the dead. The opposite is really true – this is the land of homelessness, when our life here is over, we are transferred to another abode – either to a home of eternal joy or to a place of terrible torment. There are really only two possible destinations. The Apostle Paul understood where home really is in 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 when he wrote: “…as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord…we are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
Robert Frost has written a poem where a husband and wife argue about whether to take an old and troublesome acquaintance into their home because he is dying and has no where else to go. The husband doesn’t really want him in his home and says, “Home is that place where, when you go there, they have to take you in.” But his wife disagrees: “I would say, rather, home is what you don’t have to deserve.” That’s good. We don’t deserve our destiny because there’s no way we can earn our way to a home in heaven.
Let me go back to the joyful bell ringers. One of the ways the girls tried to express glad tidings of great joy was to hand out free cookies. One lady said, “I can’t give you anything because my hands are full.” One of the bell ringers said, “That’s OK. Would you like a free cookie?” The lady responded, “Sure” as she rearranged the bags in her hands and held out her hand.
I have good news for you today. You don’t have to give anything to God; He wants to give to you this Christmas. But some of you have your hands so full of stuff that you don’t have room for what He wants to give you. He wants to meet your deep longing for home. The Apostle John wrote down these words in Revelation 21:3-4 that show God’s homesickness for us: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling [home] of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’” God’s home is now among His people. The entire Bible is pointing to this very moment. Even if things are good for you on Christmas there will be a fleeting sense that the best is yet to come. Will you come home to Him right now?
My youngest sister got really angry one day when she was about 8 years old and threatened to run away. I was very compassionate to her crisis…and told her I would help her pack! I’ll never forget her walking across the back yard with her little Barbie suitcase…she turned around and came back a few minutes later.
We’re all runaways, aren’t we? And God is calling us home right now. I picture the prodigal son who was so far from home that he didn’t think the father would ever take him back. He had drifted so much and had sinned so much that the only hope he had was to not come back as a son but to come back as a servant – if he could just work for the Father maybe everything would be alright. He wanted to go on the “good works” plan, but no one can earn their way back home. Jesus can do what I cannot do – He’s already paid the price.
What the son doesn’t know is that the Father has never stopped looking for his drifting son. When the Father sees him, he runs to meet him and welcomes him home. Friend, the Father is always ready to receive runaways! Because we all long to belong, we will be homeless until we find our home with God.
Christmas is all about God’s homecoming. We couldn’t get to God, so God got to us. Jesus is Immanuel, which means, “God with us.” When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Creator of the universe came home to creation. God chose to be with us, to live in our neighborhood so that one day we can live with Him in our heavenly home.
This quote from Tim Keller is spot on: “Christmas is the end of thinking you are better than someone else, because Christmas is telling you that you could never get to heaven on your own. God had to come to you.” Do you want to be home for Christmas? Then come home to Christ. You will remain unfulfilled and restless and homesick until God becomes your dwelling place and you find your home in Him. It’s time to come home right now. The good news is that we don’t have to find our way home – Immanuel has found His way to us.
I want to give you a chance to come home right now. If you’re already at home with Him, just say thanks. Maybe there’s someone you can pray for who is a long way from home. Perhaps you don’t know if you’re home with God or if He is home with you. You can be sure by praying this prayer: “Father, I want to come home. I confess that I’ve drifted far from you. I’ve sinned big time and I’m ready to turn around. Thank you that through the death of Jesus I have been bought with a price. I’m coming home right now. I ask you to forgive me and to make your home in my heart so one day I’ll be home with you forever.”
