Introduction:
A. Every year, I look forward to our special worship service on the Sunday before Christmas.
1. I hope and pray that you have a very happy and healthy Christmas holiday filled with much joy and peace.
2. Although none of us knows the exact day when Jesus Christ was born, His coming into the world is one of the most important moments in history.
3. And with regard to our salvation – His coming is the beginning of our salvation.
4. Jesus is God’s gift to us – salvation is a gift, it cannot be earned or purchased, it must simply be received.
5. None of us will receive a greater gift in all our lives than the gift of Jesus.
B. During this Christmas season you will likely receive some other gifts as well.
1. I heard a story about a boy who received an electric guitar for Christmas from his uncle.
2. After the holidays were over, his uncle came for a visit, and the young boy said, “Thank you so much for the electric guitar you gave me for Christmas. It's the best present I ever got.”
3. “That's great,” said his uncle. “Have you learned how to play it yet?”
4. “Oh no, I don’t play it,” the little fellow said. “My mom gives me a dollar a day not to play it during the day and my dad gives me five dollars a week not to play it at night.”
5. That, indeed, is a gift that keeps on giving!
C. I have named today’s sermon “Miracle on 1st Century Street” because I want to use the classic Christmas movie Miracle on 34th Street to illustrate some important spiritual truths.
Miracle on 34th Street:
A. So, how many of you have seen that 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street? It is one of my favorites.
1. The film stars Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, and Natalie Wood
2. It’s a Thanksgiving tradition for NBC to air the film right after the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
3. There have been four remakes of the movie, as well as a Broadway musical, but of the ones I’ve seen, I like original the best.
4. Let me give you the “Reader’s Digest” version of the story.
B. Miracle on 34th Street is a story that takes place in New York City following Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and leaves people wondering whether or not a certain department store Santa might be the real thing.
1. As the story progresses, we discover that Maureen O’Hara’s character, Doris Walker, has been disappointed in life and in love.
2. She is determined to make sure that her little nine-year-old daughter, Susan (a very young Natalie Wood), is raised with no illusions about life.
3. And so, for little Susan, there are no fairy tales, no make believe, and certainly no Santa Claus.
4. Susan is a bright little girl with a strangely adult seriousness about her.
5. Susan’s matter-of-fact attitude toward life worries their neighbor, Fred Gailey, who is very much interested in Susan’s mother.
6. But there seems to be no place in Doris and Susan’s lives for silliness whether it involves sitting on Santa’s knee or believing in the hope of romantic love.
C. The story begins with Kris Kringle indignantly discovering that the person assigned to play Santa in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is intoxicated.
1. When he complains about the drunken Santa to the event’s director, Doris Walker, she persuades Kris to replace him.
2. He does such a good job that he is hired to be the Santa for Macy’s flagship New York City store on 34th Street.
D. After Kris goes through the store’s training, he ignores the store’s instructions to steer parents to goods that Macy's wants to sell, and tells one woman shopper to go to another store for a fire engine for her son that Macy’s doesn’t have.
1. The lady is so impressed, she tells Shellhammer, the head of the toy department, about it, and tells him that she intends to become a loyal Macy’s customer because of this good service.
2. Kris later informs another mother that Macy’s archrival store, Gimbels, has better skates for her daughter.
E. Fred, who is an attorney and Doris’ neighbor, takes Doris’ daughter Susan, to see Kris Kringle, the store Santa.
1. When Doris finds out what Fred did, she lectures Fred about filling Susan’s mind with fantasy.
2. Meanwhile, little Susan witnesses Kris talking and singing with a Dutch World War II orphan girl in her native tongue and begins to wonder if perhaps Kris is really Santa.
3. When Doris asks Kris to tell Susan the truth about who he is, Kris surprises her by insisting that he really is Santa Claus.
F. Doris becomes really concerned that Kris really believes he is Santa, and so Doris decides to fire him.
1. But Kris has generated so much good publicity and customer goodwill for Macy’s that the delighted owner, R. H. Macy, promises to give Doris and Shellhammer generous bonuses which makes it awkward for them to fire the old man.
2. To overcome Doris’ misgivings about Kris, Shellhammer proposes that they send Kris to get a “psychological evaluation” from the store psychologist named Mr. Sawyer.
3. Kris easily passes the test, but he antagonizes the psychologist, by questioning Mr. Sawyer’s own psychological health.
G. Still concerned about Kris’ delusion, Doris and Shellhammer discover that Kris lives at a nursing home and so they ask the director of the nursing home to come to a meeting about Kris.
1. At the meeting, Dr. Pierce, the doctor at Kris’ nursing home, assures Doris and Shellhammer that Kris’ apparent delusion is harmless and he disagrees with the vindictive psychologist, Mr. Sawyer, who argues that Kris is dangerous and should be placed in a mental hospital.
2. Meanwhile, Fred offers to let Kris stay with him so he can be closer to his workplace.
3. And Kris makes a deal with Fred that he will work on little Susan’s cynicism while Fred does the same with the disillusioned Doris.
I. Later, Kris becomes furious when he learns that Mr. Sawyer, Macy’s psychologist, has convinced a young, impressionable employee, Alfred, that he is mentally ill simply because he enjoys playing Santa Claus at the YMCA and is generous and kind-hearted.
1. So Kris confronts Mr. Sawyer and, in a fit of anger, raps him on the head with his cane.
2. Doris and Shellhammer arrive at the scene just as it happens, but only see the aftermath; with Sawyer exaggerating his injury in order to have Kris confined to Bellevue mental hospital.
J. Kris becomes very discouraged when he believes that Doris is part of the move to have him committed, so he deliberately fails his mental examination and is recommended for permanent commitment.
1. To secure Kris’ release, Fred gets a formal hearing before Judge Harper of the New York Supreme Court.
2. Warned by Mr. Macy to get the matter dropped, Sawyer pleads with Fred not to seek publicity.
3. To Sawyer’s dismay, Fred thanks him for the idea and takes the story to the newspaper.
4. As a result, Judge Harper is put in an awkward spot - even his own grandchildren are against him for “persecuting” Santa Claus.
K. Fred quits his job at a prestigious New York law firm in order to defend Kris and has a falling out with Doris, who calls his resignation an “idealistic binge” over some “lovely intangibles.”
1. Fred replies that one day she may discover that those intangibles are the only worthwhile things in life. (How true – intangibles like faith and hope, joy, peace and love are everything.)
2. At the hearing, the New York City District Attorney, gets Kris to assert that he is in fact Santa Claus and then rests his case, believing he has proven his point and won the case.
3. But Fred stuns the court by arguing that Kris is not insane because he actually is Santa Claus and that he will prove it.
4. The District Attorney requests that the judge simply rule that Santa Claus does not exist.
5. Judge Harper is warned privately in chambers by his political adviser that declaring that Santa Claus does not exist would be politically disastrous for his upcoming reelection bid.
6. Do you remember the position Pilate was in when Jesus was on trial - it’s always about politics.
7. The judge buys time by deciding to hear evidence before making a ruling.
L. So Fred calls R.H. Macy, the department store owner, to the witness stand.
1. Mara cross-examines him, pointedly asking if he really believes Kris to be Santa Claus.
2. Realizing that denying Kris could ruin his Christmas sales, and remembering the expressions on the faces of small children upon seeing Kris, and he firmly states, “I do believe he is Santa!”
3. Fred then calls the district attorney’s own young son to the stand.
4. The boy testifies that his father had told him that Santa was real and says that “My daddy would never tell a lie! Would you, daddy?” Outmaneuvered, Mara concedes the point.
5. Mara then demands that Fred prove that Kris is “the one and only” Santa Claus, on the basis of some competent authority.
6. While Fred searches frantically for a way to prove his case, little Susan, by now a firm believer in Kris, writes him a letter to cheer him up, which Doris also signs and puts it in the mail.
K. A mail sorter sees the letter from Susan to Kris Kringle addressed to the courthouse and realizes the post office could clear out the thousands of letters to Santa that are taking up space in their dead letter office by delivering them to Kris at the courthouse jail.
1. Kris receives Susan’s letter and is uplifted by this breakthrough.
2. Just then, Fred learns that over 50,000 pieces of mail have been delivered to Kris that are simply addressed to Santa.
3. Seizing the opportunity, Fred returns to the courtroom and first establishes the authority of the United States Post Office, and then presents Judge Harper with three letters addressed only to “Santa Claus” and notes that the Post Office has delivered them to Kris.
4. Fred nonchalantly admits he “has further exhibits,” if the Judge would like to see them.
5. When Judge Harper demands that he “put them here on my desk”, the postmen carry in all the bags of letters and put them on the Judge’s desk (this is my favorite moment of the movie).
6. Fred then argues that the United States Post Office, a branch of the federal government, accepts Kris’ claim that he is the one and only Santa Claus.
7. This conveniently lets Judge Harper rule in favor of Kris, saying, “Since the United States government declares this man to be Santa Claus, this court will not dispute it. Case dismissed.”
L. There’s more to the story of the movie, but you will have to watch the rest of the movie to see how Kris delivers the Christmas gift that Susan asked him for – I don’t want to spoil the whole movie for you!
1. Let me just say that everyone lives happily ever after!
Application:
A. No matter how individual families choose to navigate the lore surrounding jolly old Saint Nick, I think that the Miracle 34th Street is a fun story that is appropriate for all ages.
1. And I think that parents can use it to draw a distinction between fiction and biblical fact.
2. The film's “identity-on-trial story” is a perfect segue way into the question of the identity of Jesus.
3. Is Jesus really who He claimed to be – the Son of God Himself?
4. Is He really the Lord? If not, then he was just a liar or a lunatic.
5. Those are the only three possibilities – liar, lunatic, or Lord.
B. When we turn to the pages of the Bible, we see that the birth of Jesus has all the marks of fact and history, rather than that of fiction and fairytale.
1. We are told exactly when it took place – in the days of Caesar Augustus, when the census was decreed – which was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
2. Everyone was required to go to their hometown to register, and so Joseph went to Bethlehem the town of David, because he was a descendent of David.
3. Not wanting to leave Mary at home in Nazareth so late in her pregnancy, he took her with him.
4. Because there were no more rooms in the Inn, they stayed in the stable with the animals.
5. Mary went into labor, and baby Jesus was born right there in the barn.
6. He was wrapped in strips of cloth and placed in a manger - a feeding trough for the animals was His first crib.
C. Everything surrounding the conception and birth of Jesus was miraculous.
1. The angel Gabriel had appeared to inform Mary, a virgin, that she would be impregnated miraculously.
2. When Joseph did not believe Mary’s story of a miraculous conception, an angel of the Lord appeared to him to convince him that the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit, and that what was happening took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” – which means, “God with us.” (Mt. 1:20-23)
3. When Jesus was born that night in the stable, an angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds out in the field and told them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.” (Lk. 2:11-12)
4. So the shepherds went and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
5. And they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed.
D. Baby Jesus was miraculously protected by God, and when He had become an adult, the time came for Him to fulfill His destiny and to accomplish the will of God.
1. During His three year ministry, He displayed the power of God through His teaching and the miracles He performed – healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out the demons, and even controlling nature.
2. Then came the moment Jesus had predicted so many times – He was handed over to the officials, He was beaten, tried and crucified, but then three days later, He arose from the dead.
E. The miracles on that 1st Century Street are altogether true.
1. The world has never been the same since Jesus came.
2. One of the important lines of the movie Miracle on 34th Street that sticks with me, is the line: “Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to.”
3. Faith is not believing in what is untrue, but faith is believing in something that is true, even though we may not have seen or experienced it, or even if it is otherwise humanly impossible.
4. That’s what the angel explained to Mary in Luke 1:37, “For nothing is impossible with God.”
5. We believe in the God of the impossible who can do anything and everything!
F. I want to end with another story – a story from a book called The Luck of the Roaring Camp, by Bret Harte (published in 1868).
1. Roaring Camp was the meanest, toughest mining town in all the West.
2. It was a horrible place to live as selfish men mistreated one another.
3. There was only one woman living in this town, a woman of questionable character and career.
4. She became pregnant and then died while giving birth.
5. Those awful, mean men, took her baby and put it in an old box for a crib with some rags for bedding.
6. One of the guys said he didn’t think that looked very good, so he jumped on his horse and rode 80 miles to buy a rosewood cradle.
7. The cradle helped, but those rags still looked kind of nasty, so one of the other guys rode to town and bought some silk blankets.
8. Before long someone noticed that the baby probably wasn’t too safe on that old dusty floor, so a few of the guys got on their hands and knees and scrubbed the floor spotless.
9. It wasn’t long before someone decided to clean the windows, and wash the walls and ceiling.
10. One of the guys put up some curtains.
11. One of the guys suggested that they start watching their language around the baby, and have their wild parties somewhere else.
12. The guys began to bathe more often, and even shave on a regular basis.
13. The point of the story is that this baby changed everything.
G. And I submit to you that the coming of baby Jesus did the same – it changed everything.
1. Jesus came, lived and died, and arose, and because of Jesus and through Jesus, we have access to abundant and ever-lasting life.
2. His story and the miracles surrounding it are true – He is the way and the truth and the life.
3. Have you received the gift of Jesus?
4. It is a gift that keeps on giving!
5. But our first and most important response is to believe in the miracle of Jesus: the miracle of His conception and birth, the miracle of His life and ministry, the miracle of His death and resurrection, and the miracle of His promised return.
6. Are you putting your faith in Jesus and are you striving to live a life of faithfulness to His teachings and mission? I hope so!
H. Let us know if we can help you make your good confession and be baptized into Christ.
1. Or let us know how we can help you with growing your faith in Christ.
2. Those who believe in Jesus should be filled with joy because Jesus came and brought us salvation, and we know that Jesus is coming again.
