Every year about this time television stations bring out of their vaults an old black and white film that is still popular today. They have already shown it this year. The film is It’s a Wonderful Life.
In the film, George Bailey never felt like he amounted to much in life. He had dreams of becoming a famous architect and traveling the world. Instead he fells trapped in a humdrum job in a small town. Then a crisis occurs that strains his every resource.
He is faced with unjust criminal charges. Although he has a fine family and a lot of friends in the community, the injustice of the situation plunges him into despair. Faced with the crisis, George Bailey breaks down and leaps off a bridge into a river.
That’s when his guardian angel, Clarence, comes down to show him what his community would be like without him. The angel takes him back through his life. He shows George how his job has benefited many families, how his little kindnesses and thoughtful acts have changed the lives of others, and how the ripples of George’s love will spread through the world, helping to make it a better place.
George Bailey is played in the film by actor Jimmy Stewart. In the making of the film, Stewart said that things happened to him that never happened in any other picture he had ever made. For instance, in one scene, George Bailey, broke and in despair, sits in a little roadside restaurant. In this scene, Jimmy Stewart, playing George Bailey, raises his eyes and, following the script, pleads, “God … God …dear Father in heaven, I’m not a praying man, but if You’re up there and You can hear me, show me the way. I’m at the end of my rope. Show me the way, God.”
Stewart said, “As I said those words, I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to turn and my eyes filled with tears. I broke down sobbing. This was not planned at all, but the power of that prayer, the realization that our Father in heaven is there to help the hopeless, had reduced me to tears.”
I wonder how many people have been touched by this simple film. People who have seen it have testified that it gave them hope. Hope is what Christmas is all about. The Scripture passages we read this morning are all about hope.
So as we near Christmas and the celebration of Christ’s birth, we began to see that Christ’s coming into the world means hope for the hopeless. The George Bailey’s of our world have a reason to go on. Christ has come into our world.
Our passage this morning comes from Matthew 11:2-11. READ from the Bible.
In this passage, John the Baptist was in prison. We should note that John the Baptist was a wilderness wanderer. So, imprisonment must have been especially hard on him. When John heard in prison the news of what Christ was doing, John sent his followers to ask Christ, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
And Jesus’ reply is interesting. “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”
Notice his didn’t say, “Go back and tell John, 5,000 people came to hear me preach the other day—so many it was difficult to feed them all.” He didn’t say, “The word’s spreading about my miracle crusades. I should really draw the crowds in Jerusalem.” No, he says, “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear … and the good news is preached to the poor.”
If you look closely, you can see that each of these—the blind, lame, deaf, those with leprosy, the poor—are people facing challenges. These are people who have major obstacles to overcome. These were people living, generally, on the charity of others. But these were the people for whom Jesus came. Jesus came to bring hope to the hopeless.
Jesus sent word back to John to assure him that Jesus was beyond question the Messiah. Actually He gives John five assurances.
1. Jesus spoke as the Messiah. His words and the power of His message were evidences that Jesus was the Messiah. There were no greater words and no greater lessons than the words and the lessons that Christ taught. He is the greatest teacher of all times.
2. Another assurance was that Jesus demonstrated the power and works of the Messiah. Sight to the blind, Lame to walk, Cleansed the lepers. Hearing to the deaf, the dead brought to life. All of these are demonstrations of Jesus’ great power.
3. Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Messiah. The works of Christ agree with the works predicted for the Messiah.
4. Jesus preached the gospel of the Messiah. Notice that Jesus went to the poor. He neither avoided nor neglected anyone, no matter their social status. Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Psalms (72:2,4,12-13) and that of Zechariah (Zech. 11:11) that the Messiah would minister especially to the poor.
5. The fifth assurance that Jesus gives that He was the Messiah was that He promised both blessing and judgment of the Messiah.
Jesus WAS the Messiah that was foretold by the prophets of old. Jesus still IS the Messiah today.
And that’s good news. Sometimes you and I are among the hopeless. Sometimes our hearts grow weary and our spirits sag. We need to know that Christ is there when things look dark—particularly at Christmastime.
Charlene knows what it is to be sad at Christmas. Now, you have to know that Charlene is what we might call a Christmas enthusiast, one of those people who takes joy in the tiniest detail of the holiday. Christmastime is a time of excitement in her household.
One year, Charlene decided to get her picture made with Santa, to give as a humorous gift to her husband and her two grown sons. One afternoon at a nearby mall, she came across an unoccupied Santa and asked him if she could sit next to him to have her picture made. He seemed pleased by the idea, so Charlene squeezed in next to him for her photo.
Then Mr. Claus turned to Charlene and, with the obligatory twinkle in his eye, asked her what she wanted for Christmas. Without giving her brain time to engage, Charlene blurted out, “Santa, I’m having a hysterectomy next Wednesday, and I’d like swift healing.” Just for a moment Charlene was embarrassed by her own bluntness, but Santa looked deep into her eyes and said, “I’ll pray for you, and so will Mrs. Claus.”
Charlene, moved by his sincerity, started to cry. That was just what she needed to hear. As she turned to walk away, she remarked, “You know, you still come to my house in the middle of the night every year, even though my baby is 25 years old.”
And Santa, with a warm smile, said, “I know.”
What Charlene needed was a word of hope. She was fortunate to encounter a Santa with a strong Christian faith who could give her a word of assurance in her time of need. That is what Christmas is all about—hope to the hopeless. Hope for the hopeless.
But Christmas is also about healing for the hurting. Listen to the words of Isaiah the prophet and what he said in Isaiah 35:1-7. READ from the Bible.
What a beautiful picture of healing and new life. It’s something that many people long for more than anything else—either for themselves of someone they love.
Let me tell you a little story about healing. Mark is a big, burly man who owns two transmission repair shops in the Chicago area. In 1997, Mark’s wife, Debbie, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. As Mark watched the woman he loved suffer, he tried to think of some way he could help her.
Finally, he realized that all he could do was pray. Even then, he wasn’t sure that was enough. You’ve been there so you know what he was feeling. So, in the spring of 1998, instead of advertisements for oil changes and brake specials, the signs at Multistate Transmission read PLEASE PRAY FOR DEBBIE THAT THE CANCER WILL GO AWAY.
A stream of customers, many of them strangers, began stopping by to ask about Debbie and offer their prayers. Mark also began personally asking customers and business colleagues to pray for his wife. People of every faith came by to offer their support.
Some customers told Mark that they hadn’t prayed in 20 years, but they would be praying for Debbie. And as the months passed, Mark noticed a change in his wife and in himself.
He had become pretty cynical about the human race. Nobody likes to get their car fixed, and so car-repair customers are usually rude or grouchy. Mark was tired of dealing with unhappy people all the time. But after he posted the sign about his wife’s cancer, he was amazed by the outpouring of love and support from his customers, and even from total strangers.
A few days before Christmas that year, Mark and Debbie got the good news that Debbie’s cancer was all gone. On Christmas Eve, Mark drove to his shops to post a new sign: PRAISE GOD< DEBBIE IS WINNING HER BATTLE WITH CANCER.
Not everybody wins their battle with cancer, but we do know that Christ’s will is for healing. We have seen His will heal many in our congregation that had cancer. Christ never withheld healing from anyone who asked for it—the blind, the deaf, the physically challenged. The coming of Christ is hope for the hopeless and healing for the hurting.
But there’s one more thing: the coming of Christ is joy for all who believe. Isaiah continues in Isaiah 35:7-10. READ from the Bible.
The coming of Jesus brings joy. To be in His presence IS heaven.
Pastor Don Aycock tells about his father who was an old oil field hand. That meant his dad was on 24 hour call. Often he would be gone from home for days at a time when there was trouble at the rig. He was always busy, but in his crazy schedule Don says he seldom felt cheated or deprived of time with his Dad.
During summers and holidays their family would often go to the rig location where his father worked. They lived in Louisiana, and his Dad often had to work in Texas, so they would rent some little low-cost house wherever his Dad was assigned. Don and his older brother Glenn would go to the drilling site with their father. If the rig were near a body of water, they would fish. If they were near a marsh, they would duck hunt.
They never went on a “vacation” in the usual sense. Their father never had that kind of time or money, but he did know how to give attention to his children. One of the best Christmas dinners Don ever had was at the rig.
The rig was “stacked”—which means it was not operating—for the holiday, and Don’s Dad had to stay with it to prevent thefts. Don, his mother, his sister Linda, and his brother Glenn, stayed with their Dad in the bunk house for several days during the Christmas break at school. On Christmas Day they ate Spam and crackers and drank Pepsi. Don says it was wonderful.
Why? Because they were with their Dad. Nothing else meant as much.
That is the way believers feel in the presence of Jesus. His coming means hope for the hopeless, help for the hurting, and unutterable joy for those who call him Lord. And that is what Christmas is all about. Christ has come to our world in the form of a tiny babe. No wonder we sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.”
I feel confident in saying that if you have never asked Jesus to be your Savior then you haven’t experienced the fullness of Christmas. My prayer is that this will be day that you will let down your guard and come forward during our time of response and make a public profession of your faith in Jesus Christ.
And for those of you who have made that decision either recently or years ago, I urge you to watch the movie, It’s a Wonderful life, Really focus on the prayer that George Bailey prayed.
“God … God …dear Father in heaven, I’m not a praying man, but if You’re up there and You can hear me, show me the way. I’m at the end of my rope. Show me the way, God.”
If you are at the end of your rope during this season, talk to God about it. Stress to Him your desire for Him to turn things around for you.
Then, and only then, will you begin to feel and experience
The hope for the hopeless.
The healing for the hurting.
And the joy of believing and knowing Jesus as your very own.
Why not make that decision now and start experiencing the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate.
