“Christmas without Santa”
Luke 2:1-20
In my 20 years as a pastor I have preached on this passage once every year.
But it’s always the same time of year; I have never preached on the birth of Jesus in July!!!
But why not?
After-all, as far as the exact time of year Jesus was born--we really don’t know.
And, also, shouldn’t we be celebrating the coming of God into our world all year round?
Well, I think we do…
…but we certainly don’t focus on what has become known as the Christmas story all-year-round.
Usually, when I am preaching from this Scripture passage, it is Christmas Eve.
My family and I are exhausted from the stress of Christmas shopping, trying to come up with new and exciting ways to celebrate Advent, the joys of family reunions, the excitement of our children as they talk about the gifts they will find under the tree, several Christmas Choir Cantata’s, Caroling, gift-wrap, 24-7 Christmas songs—whether they be on the radio or in the shopping malls--Santa Clause, Christmas movies, and I could go on and on and on.
But what would Christmas be like without all that stuff?
I’ll never forget a colleague of mine walking into a clergy meeting several years ago and declaring: “If I have to look at one more Christmas Casserole I am going to puke!!!”
I wonder if, sometimes, we get so caught up in the commercialization of Christmas, the busy-ness of Christmas and so forth that we forget to focus on--Jesus?
And that's why mid-summer is the perfect time to celebrate Christ's birth, without all the trappings of holiday hubbub that take over our whole society every December . . . and November . . . and sometimes even before the Halloween decorations are put away or put up.
In July, we can interrupt our regularly-scheduled summer programming and focus just on the coming of Christ.
And it’s not just the coming of Christ in some nostalgic, sentimentalized and watered-down way.
After-all, notice what the angel of the Lord says to the shepherds: “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you…”
It doesn’t just say: “A Savior has been born…”
It says: “A Savior has been born to or for YOU!!!”
This is the “good news that will cause great joy”—this is the Gospel—this is the reason that we live.
God has decided to come and dwell among us—corporately and individually!!!
As Paul proclaims in 1 Timothy 1:15: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”
Have you ever felt like that?—the worst of sinners?
I have.
But you know, that’s not a bad place to be as long as we are aware that Jesus is here with us, that Jesus has come to forgive us, to save us, and that He loves each and every one of us so much that He left the Heavenly Throne and entered the muck and mess of this world—in order to save you, to save me.
We are not alone.
This life, is not, after-all, a cruel joke where we are the punch-lines.
There was a time when I had really, really hit rock bottom.
Have you ever been there?
I think a lot of us have; perhaps some of us are there this morning.
In any event, I was at the end of my rope, when, suddenly I had an epiphany.
And it was so real, it was so full of light and of hope and of joy that I called up a friend who had been very worried about me and exclaimed: “You know, rock bottom really isn’t all that bad—because Jesus is here and that is all that really matters!!!”
I was suddenly so happy even though the events around me had been tragic.
My poor friend, was like: “That’s wonderful Ken,” I think it was like One o’Clock in the morning.
Recently, we have been hearing and reading in the news that the suicide rates in Tennessee and the rest of the nation are at record highs.
I wonder if part of the reason for this is because so many of us do not know that Jesus is with us when we arrive at the bottom of the pit—that there is hope—there is a Savior—there is a God Who loves us, Who came to live with us and die for us.
I think the most beautiful part about how God chose to come into the world is who God chose as His parents and Who God first appeared to.
Mary and Joseph were two young people who must have been scared to death.
Not only had they not planned for this birth, and plenty of people were surely gossiping about their situation but they had to travel, due to the census, while Mary was expecting to have the child.
They looked for some kind of shelter when they got to Bethlehem—an Inn—but there was “No Vacancy.”
And so, when Jesus was about to be born—this world was saying, in essence: “Forget it. We don’t want you. We have no room for you.”
Have you ever felt like that?
Have you ever felt as if the world didn’t have room for you, a place for you?
Have you ever felt like you don’t fit in?—sort of like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole?
It’s not a good feeling, is it?
I think that’s how Mary and Joseph felt and I also think that’s how the Shepherds “living out in the fields” felt on the night Jesus was born.
I mean, think about it.
Shepherds were homeless nomads.
The so-called respectable folk didn’t want to have anything to do with them.
They smelled bad, they looked bad and they had awful reputations.
They just didn’t fit-in.
And they probably didn’t think too good about themselves.
As most of you know, and as some of you experienced, at the end of June, our Youth Group went on a mission trip to Wilmington, South Carolina.
In Wilmington, they worked with an organization called: “Walking Tall Wilmington.”
It’s a ministry that helps homeless families, and our Youth dug right in.
“Walking Tall Wilmington” serves lunch to the homeless on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the place where they do this is right in the middle of the main tourist area in Wilmington.
Well, the Youth helped prepare the food and then they ate with their new friends.
And as they ate, both the Youth and Adults noticed that the tourists walking by would sort of look their noses down on them.
They wouldn’t speak to them and they would turn their heads away from them in disgust.
David tells me the kids didn’t like this feeling—neither did the adults, neither did David.
“It felt like we were lower class or didn’t matter as much as other people, or that they were better than us,” he told me.
But it enabled our Youth and adults to understand—just a bit—of what it feels like for these homeless folks every day…day after day.
It’s not good for one’s self-esteem…to say the least.
Well, this is how people treated the shepherds in Jesus’ day.
They were the marginalized, the ostracized, the looked-down upon folks.
And you know what?
God came to them first—with the Greatest News Ever!!!
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news…today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”
God doesn’t play favorites.
No.
Strike that.
He does.
We are ALL His favorite.
And we are to remember this when we see others who are down on their luck, or act like grumps, or aren’t friendly to us…
…we are to remember this when we look in the mirror as well.
This “good news that will cause great joy” is for you, for me—for all who dare believe!!!
And as Paul writes in Romans Chapter 10: “How can [people] call on the one they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear without someone [telling] them…
…As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”
We are told that “When the angels had left [the shepherds] and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.”
How beautiful are the feet of those dirty, ostracized and smelly old shepherds--those people whom the so-called “respectable folks” wouldn’t dare give the time of day.
How beautiful are the feet of all who bring good news to a lost and dying world.
The Christmas story tells us that the world didn’t have room for the Son of God.
The “No Vacancy” lights were all blinking bright.
And so He was relegated to a feeding trough in a barn.
Many of us often have a hard time making time for God.
We are busy people.
And perhaps, we are most busy at Christmas time.
So maybe July is a really good time to re-read the Christmas story…
…when we aren’t planning our Christmas meals, and thinking about wrapping those last-minute gifts.
It can be hard to make room for God.
Life happens.
We forget.
We get distracted.
But even if we don’t do a good job of making room for God, God makes a lot of room for us.
Remember what Jesus said to His disciples before His crucifixion:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God, trust also in me.
In my Father’s house are many rooms…I am going to prepare a place for you.”
There was no room in the inn for Jesus, Mary and Joseph, but there is room in the Kingdom of God for those who will trust in Jesus.
I don’t know about you—but for sinful little old me—there is NO BETTER NEWS than THAT!!!
Praise God!!!
Amen.
