We hear the Christmas story every year. The same events; the same characters; the same location. We sing Christmas carols that retell the story over and over again. But I wonder how many people as they watch Carols by Candlelight on Christmas Eve will see through the sentimentality of the occasion to the incredible paradox, in fact one might even suggest scandal, that we find in these stories?
Because here we find the Almighty Son of God, through whom the whole universe was created, arriving on earth as a dependant, vulnerable baby.
The wise men come bringing him gifts of enormous value - at least that’s what they think they’re bringing in homage to a king. Yet God has already given them a gift of inestimable worth: he’s invited them to enter into the heritage of the people of God, to move from their pagan background to become worshippers of the true and living God.
And of course for us today we know that despite him being the omnipotent God who can create worlds from nothing, who can do anything necessary to bring his kingdom to its fulfillment all by himself, he calls us to serve him, to do his will on earth. He uses us, weak human beings that we are, to show the world his power and glory.
Sometimes though, this responsibility of being God’s agents here on earth gets too much for us. We get worried that if we’re not careful God’s kingdom might fail. e.g. when you hear people using God’s name as a swear word do you feel like you should say something? Are you offended when you watch a movie where the most common swear word used is ’Jesus Christ’. Some people get really cross when this happens and try to censor those around them. Yet we all know that God is perfectly able to defend his own name.
Well, David was faced with the same paradox, the same dilemma when he got to the point of being settled in his kingdom. I guess he knew that it was God who’d enabled him to overcome all his enemies and establish his kingdom. But still, he thought God needed to be looked after. He was embarrassed that the God of Israel was still being worshipped in a tent rather than in a temple that matched his stature as the Living God, the Lord of Hosts. Other nations around about had temples for their gods but all Israel had was a mere tent!
So he did what human beings so often do. He sat down and thought up a plan to save God’s reputation. He had a palace of his own. Now he’d build a palace, well, a temple, for God.
Nathan the prophet heard this plan and immediately thought it was a good idea. After all, God had been on David’s side his entire life, surely he’d applaud this desire to give God a suitable place to live in.
Now Nathan at this moment wasn’t really thinking very clearly was he? He was carried away by the magnificence of the gesture, perhaps he was even imagining himself presiding over this magnificent structure; but he hadn’t thought through the theological assumptions behind the plan.
You can see what he missed can’t you?
What he’d missed was that you can’t tie God down to a place. You can’t just build a temple and tell everyone that that’s where God dwells. That’s actually a pagan idea: to think that God is bound by geography.
So God tells Nathan in a dream that David has got it all wrong. He doesn’t need David to protect his honour. He actually likes living in a tent. He likes being seen moving among his people, in a figurative sense at least. In fact not only does he not need looking after, he has plans to look after David. He’s the one who’ll build a house for David. So he reminds David that all his success is the result of what God has done for him.
I mean, it’s not as though David was born for greatness is it? He wasn’t groomed from an early age to become a king the way princes are. He was just a lowly shepherd, the youngest of eight brothers. He seems to have forgotten what he told Saul when Goliath was threatening the Israelites: that God had looked after him all his life. But now God was reminding him. He was the one who’d cut off all his enemies from before him, who’d made him king and now he was going to go one step further. He was going to make him a name that would be among the greatest names in history. He was going to build him a house. Not a house of bricks and mortar but a royal household, a line of kings that would form an everlasting kingdom.
This is the stuff of legends isn’t it? This is what Tolkien had in mind when he created the story of the Lord of the Rings and Aragorn, the last in the lines of the great kings of Middle Earth. God is going to build a royal house through David’s offspring and in the end will establish his kingdom forever.
Again there’s a paradox here, because we know from all of human history, but especially that of the nation of Israel that human kings just can’t be relied upon. Even those who turn out to be good kings only last a few years before they die and their no-hoper son takes over. So this promise of an everlasting kingdom at first seems like a long shot, an impossible dream.
Yet God knows what he’s doing. He knows that some of David’s descendants will do the wrong thing, will need to be rebuked, punished. But this is a promise for eternity. In the end he’ll raise up a son who’ll fulfill all of God’s plans for his kingdom.
And so we come to the birth narratives of Luke and Matthew. And again there’s paradox and mystery. Mary sees it quite clearly. How can she bear a son when she’s a virgin? How can God cause a life to grow inside her without the natural processes of reproduction taking place? This is something that’s worried people of a scientific bent for centuries. But we’re not told how. We’re just told it’s true. We’re just told the meaning behind this miracle. God’s Holy Spirit will come upon her and she’ll conceive and bear a son who’ll be called the Son of the Most High. He’ll be the living Son of God. God in human form. A wonder that’s impossible to reconcile. Here is the immortal God taking on mortality. Here is the all-present God restricted to one time and place. But then the paradox begins to be resolved as we read on and we’re reminded of the prophecy of 2 Samuel 7: "the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David".
How could God arrange for one of David’s descendants to rule forever? Only by having his own immortal Son take on human flesh and be born in the line of David; to begin a reign that will never end.
But of course there’s more to it than just that. Jesus is born not just to be king. He’s also born to bring salvation to his people. The account of Matthew 1 tells us that this child will be not only "Emmanuel", which means, "God is with us", but he’ll be named "Jesus for he will save his people from their sins."
To build an everlasting kingdom Jesus needs not just to be sinless himself, he needs subjects who will be able to stand before God as righteous, obedient people. He needs people who’ve had their wrongdoings wiped away. So he comes not just to begin an eternal reign as king, but first to bring salvation to his people. Jesus is born to die on the cross. So when we read those words in the prophecy of 2 Samuel: "I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings" we realise that this isn’t just the punishment of unworthy successors to David. Ultimately this is a prophecy of the punishment that Jesus will experience on the cross: punishment not for his own sins but for the sins of every man and woman whose place he takes.
But let’s get back to David and his desire to build God a house to dwell in. Jesus actually takes up this idea when he’s talking to the Sadducees in John 2. He’s just cleared the Temple of money changers and cattle merchants and the Jewish leaders come up to him and ask: "’What sign can you show us for doing this?’ 19Jesus answered them, ’Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ 20The Jews then said, ’This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ 21But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken." (John 2:18-22 NRSV) By Scripture there he’s no doubt thinking of 2 Sam 7:13-16.
The temple that God builds is the temple of Jesus’ body, through which all people can come into God’s presence. Jesus’ death and resurrection create an everlasting kingdom. (Eph 1:20-21 NRSV) "God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come." Jesus’ reign is without end. His kingdom is established forever. God’s love will never be removed from him, because he’s God’s only begotten Son.
So, far from David building a house for God, God was planning to build a house for David. A house that would last forever, founded on the Living Stone who was Jesus Christ.
You see, David’s zeal and sincerity wasn’t enough. What David didn’t understand, and in fact couldn’t understand under the old covenant was that the way God wanted to be worshipped didn’t depend on a building, but on a person, and that person was Jesus Christ.
This is still a relevant question for us. Do we need a special sort of a temple in which to worship God? What do we think is important when it comes to worshipping God? At vestry on Tuesday night we were discussing the aesthetics of our new building, wondering whether the building layout will create the right sort of atmosphere for worship.
Does it matter whether we worship in a beautiful building or in a tent? How much do we rely on things like music and liturgy to feel like we’re doing it "right".
Do we feel like we haven’t done God justice if we don’t have the outward trappings of "Real Worship"? When we have our carols in the car park tonight, will there be some who’ll say that wasn’t real worship? Or just as bad, will some say that was real worship, because it was in the outdoors, in the realm of nature?
No, here’s the paradox again: real worship doesn’t depend on what we do for God; it has nothing to do with the outward setting or form: real worship is done in the heart. It arises from the gift of the Holy Spirit that God has given to live within us. It’s to do with an attitude towards God that’s independent of the setting. Beautiful surrounds can sometimes help that, but they can equally distract us, leading us to value the beauty of the place, or the beauty of the performance, rather than the beauty of our God. Paul said in Romans 12 "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." True worship is found in lives that are given up to service of God and of his people.
So what will your focus be this week as we celebrate once again the birth of Jesus? Will it be the sentimentality of a baby in a manger? Will it be the pleasure of sharing time with family and friends, perhaps gathered for the one day in the year when they all get together? Or will it be the wonder of the immortal God taking on mortal flesh; the omnipotent God appearing in the form of a helpless vulnerable baby; the only begotten Son of God coming as one of us to take on himself the punishment that we deserved so that we could be part of his kingdom forever? And in response to that wonder will you give yourself as a living sacrifice, in an act of worship that’s appropriate for someone who’s been incorporated into the living temple that is Christ’s body?
For more sermons from this source go to http://www.stthomasburwood.org.au
