***The following conventions have been used in this sermon, which may assist delivery: Capitals indicate Bold Text, parts bracketed between forward slashes indicate italics, it may also be helpful to skip who wrote or defined what***
Five minutes into the film /Love Actually/ (1) a little girl rushes to tell her mother her great news:
Daughter: We've been given our parts in the nativity play /[Mum oohs]/ and /I'm/ the Lobster!
Mother /[taken aback]/: The Lobster?
Daughter: Yeah.
Mother: In the nativity play?
Daughter /[proudly]/: Yeah. /First/ Lobster.
Mother /[bemused]/: There was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus?
Daughter /[knowing something mum doesn't]/: Duh!
We’re going to look at three points tonight – THE INN, THE INCARNATION and THE INVITATION. So, which of these belong /IN/ the Christmas Story: Lobsters? Santa Claus? A Stable? Unwed Mothers? Shepherds giving Lambs? A baby born on 25th December 0AD? Herod killing little boys? Three Kings of Orient? No room at the Inn? Snowmen, Mistletoe etc?
NONE OF THEM!
• We don’t know when Jesus was born, but it wasn’t on 25th December 0AD; it was probably late September in 6 to 4 BC, and although Jesus’ birthday was associated very early with 25th December, even then calendars have been consistent; it depends on whether we use the Julian or Gregorian calendar and when the year changes (In England until 1752 for example the year began on 25th March i.e. 24th March 1750 was the day before 25th March 1751)
• The three wise men arrived later - we only know there was at least two, bringing three gifts
• Herod killed all boys under two – Jesus was probably 12-18 months old at the time.
• Joseph & Mary were married (Matthew 1:24-25).
• No animals except flocks in the fields are mentioned; if lambs were given, they weren’t accepted – at Jesus' temple presentation (aged 8 days), a poor man’s gift of 2 doves are sacrificed instead of a lamb (c.f. Luke 2:21, 24 Leviticus. 12:8).
• No stable is mentioned in the Bible; Moses was placed in a basket, but wasn’t born in a Laundrette! Jesus was placed in a manger because Joseph’s relatives weren’t expecting a baby.
• “No room at the Inn” –
•• The word “Inn”, translated from a Greek word kataluma, is translated “Guest Room” everywhere else (cf. Luke 22:11 and Mark 14:14). Luke uses the common Greek word for Inn – pandokheion to designate a commercial inn in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. (cf. Luke 10:36)
•• Joseph “belonged to the house and line of David.”; that’s why he had to travel to Bethlehem with Mary for the Census (Luke 2:4). Almost certainly his family is from Bethlehem; even if he had no family in Bethlehem, he could expect to be put up “for David’s sake” (2).
So, let’s strip away the familiar, comfortable and romanticised, and concentrate on the passage.
THE INN:
... the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2:6b-7).
We’ve already seen that THE INN is probably not as we’d imagine; mostly likely it’s a one-roomed private home, with a raised area for the family, and a lower area for the animals. Hardly salubrious accommodation or where you’d expect to find a King.
THE INCARNATION:
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. (Luke 2:8).
The miracle in this passage, as the Angels subsequently tell the shepherds, is the incarnation. The Angels told the Shepherds of the great joy that was being revealed to them “for to you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11). This short verse contains the doctrines of Calling (/“to you”/), Salvation (/“a Saviour”/) and THE INCARNATION (/“is born... Christ the Lord”/), the obstacle for those who would see Jesus as something less than God. Even Hinduism, for example, could accept God working in the world through Christ and according to Panikkar (3) “…call it perhaps Isvara (Lord). The stumbling block appears when Christianity further identifies, with the required qualifications, Christ with Jesus, the Son of Mary”; the stumbling block is Christ as both mortal man and God eternal. Baker (4) wrote “Without the Incarnation, Christianity is both incoherent and inadequate; and with the Incarnation Christianity shows up the incoherence and inadequacy of non-incarnational theism.”
The circumstances are unusual - unusual enough for the shepherds to be given it as a sign - but the miracle is the Incarnate God, the creator of the universe, the Word made flesh and residing in human form. That God himself puts aside his glory, is conceived of a Virgin through the Holy Spirit, begotten and born of a human woman into a poverty stricken family. Of course, Jesus does not remain a baby; he grows. He is fully man yet fully God.
THE INVITATION:
And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger". (Luke 2:10-12).
As ever, we romanticise the shepherds in our nativities. They're either unbearably cute, or rugged, ruddy and handsome - like David. They're extremely worthy and virtuous - after all they were chosen to be the first outside the family to see Jesus, getting their very own announcement from the Angels. They're godly, righteous, and virtuous, right? Just what every mother would love her son to grow up to be.
Shepherds are; dirty, tic-ridden, coarse, weatherworn, hard-bitten, smelly & socially unacceptable - living all year round with sheep, and mostly outside doesn't tend towards good personal hygiene. Shepherds smelt like sheep. Some rabbis declared their whole profession ritually unclean - and not without reason; they touched dead animals, insects, blood and faeces on a near daily basis. They wouldn't normally carry out the purification necessary, and generally were busy when the Synagogue was meeting. Most places wouldn’t welcome them. They were near the bottom of the social ladder - whilst not necessarily untrustworthy, they'd be the first suspects for missing lambs. They were equivalent perhaps to cowboys, oil-riggers, bin men, gypsies or roofers - men used to hard work and outside conditions, not too bothered by social niceties or the need to be genteel.
Yet, they’re the first to receive THE INVITATION - the first to hear, lowly and unlovable as they are, of the great joy that God has come into the world. The shepherds were told there was a special sign for them - the presence of the baby in a manger. There is no need for them to feel ashamed of their poverty and their low station. There is no humiliation in visiting this child, for he was laid in a manger. They would know that he was born in a simple peasant home with mangers in the family room. He was one of them.
THE INVITATION is better described as the doctrine of /Calling/ which has been defined by Berkhof (5) “as that gracious act of God whereby He invites sinners to accept the salvation that is offered in Christ Jesus”. THE INVITATION extended to the Shepherds is external, universal, serious, and calls them to witness THE INCARNATION or Christology; God made man – the promised Salvation, and the pivotal point in our relationship with God, where he sends his own son to repair the relationship.
The shepherds’ reaction to THE INVITATION is initially fear, but is quickly replaced with joy and obedience. They willingly leave their flocks, and cannot contain their jubilation afterwards. They are experiencing for themselves the pleasure of God, and his peace rests upon them. The Calling is extended to those listening and offers the conditional atoning work of Christ to all will accept the good pleasure of God’s gracious invitation.
Conditional? Yes, for the invitation must be accepted; the shepherds would not have seen Christ if they had refused the invitation. They were struck with fear, as the carol says “for mighty dread had seized their troubled minds”; yet they had the special sign of the baby in a manger – /HE/ was one of /them/ – and so they accept THE INVITATION, and go IN to that simple peasant’s home with a manger in the family room to see THE INCARNATION of God, to see Jesus.
And he is one of us too. God, the Son, the Word of the Father, was born into our world as a man. He was begotten, not made, and he lived as we do. He walked and talked with us, and ultimately, he died for us - unworthy as we were. He stretched out his hands upon the cross and bore our sins. He rose again after conquering death and he invites /you/ to put your trust and faith in him, that when he comes again to Judge the world, he will have already atoned for your crimes.
Our winning Christmas Card design this year was a slight optical illusion of two crosses forming the manger bed, together with an excerpt of the words of Jesus, taken from his trial before Pilate. In John 18:37 “Jesus answered ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’” We celebrate the birth of Jesus, whose very name means God saves; but look forward to the fulfilment of his purpose – when at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So tonight, if there is any part of you that remains IN any doubt – put it aside; accept THE INVITATION of Jesus, THE INCARNATION of God Almighty, and celebrate the good news that Jesus came into the world to save you from your sins.
Let’s pray.
Jesus, Lord, you were born INto our world as one of us. Thank you for your willing sacrifice and for your gracious undeserved INVITATION. Move our hearts, we pray, that we will let you into our hearts and into our lives, that we may call God Father, and the incarnate God, brother, friend and King. We ask this in your precious name, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
QUOTATIONS
(1) Curtis, R. (2003, 00:05:20/21-00:05:35/36)
(2) Bailey, K. (2007)
(3) Panikkar, R. (1965, pp.23f, /The Unknown Christ of Hinduism/ quoted in Wiles, 1974, pp.58-59)
(4) Baker, J. (1973, p.134, /Behaviour as a Criterion of Membership (in Church Membership and Intercommunion)/ quoted in Wiles, 1974, p.59)
(5) Berkhof, L. (1938, p.115)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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