“God with Us: He is Our Peace”
Micah 5:2-5a
It was during Advent of 2012, when Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut and shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children between 6 and 7 years old, and 6 adult staff members.
Earlier that day, Lanza shot and killed his mother.
This year we are still reeling from killings and protests--some violent--as well as political upheaval and a pandemic the likes of which none of us have experienced in our life-times.
And these things will be added to in 2021 no matter what we do.
There is a reason God had to go so far as to become one of us and come into this world to save us.
The problem of evil is THAT bad, THAT tortured, THAT unresolvable from our side of things.
Immanuel means “God with us.”
That is the message we need.
It is our only hope.
Remember when the Magi from the East came to Jerusalem expecting to find the King of the Jews?
They asked, “Where is he?
We have seen his star when it rose and we have come to worship him.”
The experts in the Law told them: “Bethlehem.”
And the evidence they used for this was our Scripture Passage for this morning from Micah 5: “But you, Bethlehem…though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are of old, from ancient times.”
Isn’t it interesting that God uses something so small to do something so great?
I mean, Bethlehem is barely worth counting among the clans of Judah—it’s a one camel town--yet God chooses to be born there.
Why?
One reason, I think, is the God of the Universe is actually a humble God.
And why wouldn’t God be humble?
God is the Creator of the world.
The Creator of us and all that is.
What does God have to prove?
God is also Love.
And love is humble, patient, kind.
Love doesn’t lord it over on others, love seeks to lift others up.
Love serves.
Love gives.
Love stoops down.
And so, God stooped down and was born in a small, backwater town…
…because that is what Love does.
And furthermore, God chose a stable over an inn, God chose a manger over a crib and God chose a Cross over a mighty army.
He didn’t have to—He just did, because that is what Love does.
God came into this world, not as some scary, overpowering tyrant—but as a helpless baby.
A poor, homeless, helpless baby born in the middle of nowhere to two peasant parents.
And that’s the way Love does things.
Has anyone ever made you feel small?
What was it about that person that made you feel small?
Perhaps it was their stunning good looks.
According to Isaiah Chapter 53, Jesus wasn’t extraordinarily handsome.
What else has there been about others that has made you feel small?
Maybe it was that they were so-called “popular” and excluded those who they deemed not up to their standards.
Isaiah also tells us that Jesus was “despised and rejected…,” like one “from whom people hide their faces,” and was held in “low esteem.”
I mean, think about the people Jesus hung out with while on this earth.
He certainly wasn’t part of the “in-crowd” so to speak.
His buddies were poor, uneducated fishermen, despised tax collectors, down and out prostitutes and lepers—the so-called losers of this world.
In our high school we called these kinds of people: “dirt-bags.”
No one wanted to be seen with them.
The “popular” Pharisees, Sadducees and experts in the Law made fun of Jesus and looked down on Him and his gang of ragtag friends.
So, when we think about it, the God of the universe purposely came to this earth, was born under questionable circumstances to peasant parents, in a dirty stable.
During His life He hung out with the losers and was bullied by the “cool kids.”
And because He wouldn’t bend to the “status quo” He was “pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was on him.
And by his wounds we are healed.”
All because, that is what Love does.
Love doesn’t look down on others; love doesn’t seek to make others feel small in order to lift oneself up.
And love is not insecure.
As a matter of fact, in 1st John, we are told that there is “no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…”
(pause)
So, Jesus was born in little, insignificant Bethlehem.
And Micah foretells that “He will stand and shepherd his flock…and they will live securely…”
Oh, to live securely.
Is this not what all of humankind yearns for.
Life is risky.
We could all be here today and gone tomorrow.
The pandemic that is continuing to spread over the world is helping to prove this in new ways as we watch businesses crumble, ways of life radically change and thousands of people die every day.
And so, where can we go to find security?
The so-called securities we purchase with our dollars and in which we place so much trust: insurance policies, savings accounts, credit cards, physicians, and elected officials…
…Well, like us, they are here today and gone tomorrow.
I was having a text conversation with my two sisters, last week.
We were discussing the pandemic, the sad fact that some of our relatives recently tested positive for COVID and that none of us could be together for Thanksgiving.
Then one of my sisters wrote: “Glad there is hope in sight with the vaccines.”
My other sister wrote in reply: “Could be a whole year to get everyone vaccinated but at least that would give us something to hope for.”
“That would give us something to hope for…”
There is something about that statement that strikes me as sad.
When we look at our Scripture passage for this morning, Micah speaks hope in the face of despair with a boldness and power that is nothing less than thrilling!
He admits that the situation his people are living in is grim: the nation is in extreme distress, Jerusalem is under siege, and the king has been humiliated.
But Micah sees hope.
He sees beyond the current circumstances to what God is promising to do.
That’s right, our God is a God of promises, and Micah is God’s messenger.
And despite the evidence of despair and defeat that is all around, Micah talks about a future that God has guaranteed.
And, oh, what a future!
He speaks of security.
In this majorly insecure world marred by disease, terror, war, poverty, accidents, strange weather patterns and the ordinary but nonetheless anguishing events of old age, illness, and death God promises a security that the world cannot give.
And we Americans have this in common with the ancient Israelites: a sense of insecurity fills our lives.
And like the people of Micah’s day we usually look toward the perceived seats of worldly power to rescue us, hoping that our leaders will take care of our needs.
Or we look to established professionals like doctors, lawyers, bankers—you name it—to protect us from what threatens and makes us feel vulnerable.
Yet, while we are looking toward Presidents and Senators, Micah is jumping up and down, waving his arms, desperately trying to point us in an entirely different direction.
He is pointing to a small, out-of-the-way place: a town called Bethlehem.
He is pointing to a Messiah Who will Shepherd His flock.
He is pointing to a Leader Who stands in the strength of the Lord rather than in the strength of weapons, or power or wealth or even vaccines.
Here is a difference that makes a difference.
It can take our breath away, this promise, if we allow it.
It can change our entire lives.
It can even bring us security and peace.
But it is a peace that must happen before there can be peace on earth.
It’s peace between us and God.
Our unbelief, our rebellion, our sin and thus our fear must be removed and God’s love must take its place.
That is our deepest peace—and our deepest need as those created by the God Who is Love.
Micah, through God’s Word, knew it was coming.
He knew that the Messiah would cast all our sins into the depths of the sea, but it was yet to be done.
The great enemy called the devil who is evil and brings sin, death and hell—that is the worst enemy.
But, the Good News is that this enemy has been trampled underfoot by the Cross of Christ.
And for everyone Who trusts in Him, gives their lives to Him—their sins are cast into the depths of the sea.
And there is nothing more to fear.
As the Apostle Paul puts it so well in Romans Chapter 8: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Until Christ comes again, will the Adam Lanzas of the world continue to reign terror down upon us?
Will diseases and virus’s come and go?
Will wars rage and death continue?
Of course.
But, our Messiah has come.
His name is Christ Jesus the Lord.
And for those who accept Him as both Lord and Savior, what God has promised through Micah has come true: “He is our Peace.”
Praise God—Amen.
