If we made a list of what it would take to make a perfect Christmas, it would be quite a list. Of course all the family needs to be together, all at the same time. Just that can be really complicated. For us, as near as we can tell, we’ll have one son coming in on the afternoon of the 25th and leaving the afternoon of the 26th. Another son will be coming in on the afternoon of the 26th and staying a day or two more. I hope they can overlap because we all love to see the grandkids together. Our daughter will be with the other side of the family in Nebraska and we haven’t heard when our youngest son will arrive, but he always shows up sooner or later.
The perfect Christmas requires a ton of food, not just a huge Christmas dinner, but plenty of special snacks, and maybe several days’ worth of food for out of town guests.
The house should be beautifully decorated: outside, the living room, the dining room, the entry hallway, maybe even the bathroom.
You should be able to find presents for all your loved ones, presents that are just right for them, that they’ll really use and love, and preferably, if you shop enough you can find everything on sale for less than $10 each.
You should be able to get together with each group of friends, the Christmas party from work, from your Sunday school class, your neighbors, the other side of the family.
There should be long, relaxed evenings to just sit and enjoy the peace and wonder of it all, with no hurry at all.
There should be fresh snow, but not enough to require much work.
And then at church we should sing your favorite hymns, just the verses you like, with nobody singing off key within 5 rows of you. The pastor should preach a sermon that will really help you understand what happened on the first Christmas, how it fits into the broad picture of God’s plan of salvation, how it relates to your life here and now and end with a story that just melts your heart, and wrap it up in about 4 ½ minutes.
How are we doing? Is anyone here having that kind of Christmas?
This morning we are going to look at the next step in the amazing journey that Mary and Joseph took to bring our Lord Jesus into the world.
Now picture Mary in her last month of her first pregnancy, probably 14 or 15 years old, pondering the wonderful things the angel had said about her baby. She didn’t know anything about Christmas, but what would be in the heart of a 1st century, early teenage girl as she anticipated giving birth? What would be on her Christmas list?
She would want a place to give birth that would be familiar, cozy and safe, to have her family nearby, to be helped by the village midwife she had known all her life, to have everything go according to plan. I’ll bet she had been nesting for some time, preparing the birthing room with all the special things she could think of. Joseph had already made a cradle and maybe a changing table. Baby clothes and bedding were ready. Her hopes were high.
And how did it all turn out? Our text for this morning is Luke 2:1-7.
1 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Now I like to be the answer man who is an expert on everything, but I know my limits. There are people here who know a lot more about being 9 months pregnant than I do. What’s it like?
It’s hard to sleep. Your back aches. You feel clumsy.
Do you feel like taking a long road trip? Would riding a donkey make it better? How about bouncing in a primitive wagon?
I remember when we were expecting our second and living in Nepal, Kathy was talking about how uncomfortable it was getting and someone suggested that if she wanted to get it over we should rent a taxi to drive us on a very bumpy road through the mountains to the Tibetan border. They were only joking, and that would only have been about 45 minutes away from a hospital.
So what do you think Mary thought when she heard some Roman soldier announce that she had to make a long trip to Bethlehem because the stupid Roman Emperor thought it was a good idea to have his bean counters do a complete census, so he could know how much money he could squeeze out of his conquered territories?
Pastor Adam Hamilton travelled the route that Mary and Joseph probably followed. He’s doing things a lot cooler than when I took a bus tour in Israel in 1990. This all makes me want to go back. As we watch, put yourself in Mary’s shoes. See what an amazing story this really is.
[In the video, Hamilton describes the trip. The route took at least a week. It started out through the gentle rolling hills of the Jezreel Valley, passed through some of the wells used by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Old Testament, and the last part went through some very rough, dry, mountainous terrain, not an easy hike.]
What do we learn about God from this scripture? Contrary to some very ‘successful’ TV and radio preachers, God does not always make our way easy and prosperous. God often leads his most loved children on difficult paths. In the Old Testament Abraham and Sarah went many years childless. Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers. David was anointed to be king, but had to run for his life as King Saul tried to kill him. Daniel obeyed God but was thrown into a den of lions. Mary said yes to God, and look what happened to her.
Maybe some of us could add our own stories to that. You did your best at your job, but there were cutbacks and you got laid off. You did everything you could to support a family member through illness, but they died anyway. You love your son or daughter so much and want them to be happy, but they did poorly in school or they got into trouble or their marriage failed. You worked hard on a project at church and got criticized for it.
If any of those are your story this morning, then remember that those adversities don’t mean God hates you. It means that you are doing just about as well as some of the greatest Bible characters and probably having it a whole lot easier. Our challenges are small beside theirs.
And remember that God works, even in difficult situations, even using difficult situations to work wonders. Abraham and Sarah had a very long wait before they had their son, Isaac. But they learned an amazing faith in God, lived a life that has inspired God’s people through many centuries, and established a family line that has been a blessing to all the earth.
Joseph of the Old Testament was sold into slavery by his brothers and had more misfortunes on top of that. But he stayed faithful to God even in all his adversity and in the end that adversity was God’s path that brought him to be the number two leader in Egypt and to a place where he could provide for his family when famine came.
King David had some years of running for his life to avoid the violent jealousy of King Saul. But his faith grew in that time and, as he wrestled with it all in his heart he wrote many of the Psalms that sustain us today in our rough times.
And it must have been scary for Daniel to be thrown into the lion’s den, but God protected him and King Darius was so impressed that he made a royal decree that Daniel’s God should be honored throughout the Persian Empire.
And all of Mary’s plans for the perfect birth of her son went down the drain as she ended up far from home and family in a barn that had been hastily swept out. But God was with her, too. God used even a hard-hearted Roman Emperor to bring about the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem, where the prophet Micah had said it would be centuries before. God brought the shepherds to confirm that he was with them after all. God brought the wise men from far, far to the east, with expensive gifts, so that when Herod tried to kill their child and they had to run for their lives and become refugees in Egypt, they would have money to live on. But there were big gaps where they lived on naked faith and nothing more.
And the result? Nobody can say that Jesus had special privileges. He came into this world at the bottom of society. And everyone should say: “What an amazing God, that he would love you that much!”
Remember this morning that we serve a God who is working for good in whatever adversities come our way. He is here. He knows what he’s doing. Let’s be like Mary and Joseph and say yes to his call, follow faithfully where he leads us, and trust that he will guide and provide and that there is blessing at the end of the road. AMEN
