Sermon: "Chains Shall He Break" D Anderson
Is. 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20
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The Lord Jesus once proclaimed of Himself,
"If the Son sets you free, you are free
indeed." Titus picks up on this when He
speaks of Christ’s journey to the Cradle, and
from the cradle to the cross. From Titus,
the second chapter, in Jesus name: “For the
grace of God that brings salvation has
appeared to all men.” (Titus 2:11 NIV)
RATTLE... RATTLE... CLANK.... CLANK....
CLANK...
EB-O-NEE-ZER SCROOGE!
With these horrifying sounds the candlelight
serenity of Ebenezer’s upper chamber was
shattered, and with it crumbled his
comfortable, pat view about life.
MOST EVERYBODY HAS SEEN AT LEAST ONE VERSION
OF THE CHRISTMAS CAROL. Already this year I
have seen the Muppet version, and just last
Sunday, I saw it presented again at the
Gutherie Theater.
The Christmas Carol has become synonymous
with this time of the year. We all feel good
after we experience it, written or presented,
and yet..... WHY?
LET’S LOOK AT THIS work by Charles Dickens,
and see what it has to say about the true
meaning of Christmas.
The central figure of The Christmas Carol is
Ebenezer Scrooge... His very name "scrooge"
stands for the worst in human selfishness.
Just look at old Scrooge at the beginning of
the story:
--> This man was materialistic. His
life... ALL LIFE!... measured its
worth on a profit and loss sheet.
--> Scrooge was selfish-- He wasn’t
concerned for the poor and
orphaned, only the building of
his financial empire.
--> And miserly!-- Making money,
money, money was his only
motivation.
--> AND WITH MISERLY, CAME STINGY! He
would count the coals used at the
office, caring little that Bob
Cratchet was cold and miserable.
--> Ebenezer Scrooge was joyless--
BAH! HUMBUG! to everything bright,
beautiful, and festive.
--> This old, crotchety fellow was
harsh! His own and only nephew
was verbally assaulted and almost
roasted out of Scrooge’s office.
--> Amid all his wealth, he lived a
spartan life in the servant’s
quarters of his mansion.
To sum it all up Scrooge was driven to
accumulate wealth, and considered the world a
cold, hard place which worked according to
the survival of the fittest. “LET the
poor and orphans die, and decrees the
worlds surplus population!”--he was
analytic with figures, even to the point of
death.
SHAME ON EBENEZER SCROOGE! SHAME ON THAT
MATERIALISTIC, TIGHT, COLD HEARTED MAN!
And yet, if we peel beneath the veneers of
our own lives, don’t many of us see the face
of the crotchety old materialist? How many
of us here today are using our time, talents
and treasures to build the Kingdom of God in
the world, and how many of us our building
our own kingdoms in the world!
Scrooge was building his kingdom-- Bah Humbug
to any other greater reality, but then came
the rattling and the clanking of heavy chains
and metal money boxes.
Scrooge is confronted with a world bigger
than his money making and selfish living.
The presentation of The Christmas Carol at
the Guthrie this year had Scrooge making some
comical remarks as he tried to settle into
his servant’s quarters for the night. Cracks
like, "I like the cold... it’s cheep!"
He also liked the dark...he liked living
alone. It all meant that he could hide in
his miser’s world.
BUT ENTER JACOB MARLEY-- a spirit, not
flesh....not of this world; and Scrooge’s
pat, little world begins to crumble. There
really is something bigger than this world...
than making money.... than living for
ourselves.
ABOUT 2,000 YEARS AGO, another personality
entered history, not with rattle and clank,
but with angel’s wings and songs. Not a
spirit, but the custodian of all that is
spiritual.
AND NOW FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, not just the
hundreds measured from the death of Dickens,
some have looked at the One who wore the
cradle and the cross, and they never look at
the world the same way again--people like
you.
We know that something very big is out
there... watching... working.. seeking...
giving peace and joy.
Jesus is so different than Marley who
confronted Scrooge with the law. In Marley
the spiritual world pointed an accusing
finger at him.
We look at the Child of Bethlehem, and we see
sheer grace! John was inspired to say it
like this: 16 “From the fullness of his
grace we have all received one blessing after
another. 17 For the law was given through
Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ.” (John 1 NIV)
What a difference it makes in people when
they believe that Jesus TRULY IS the Son of
God and not just the product of an under-
cooked potato in the human imagination.
MY FRIENDS, let’s go again to the Bethlehem
manger with wide-eyes, like children, and see
the glow.... and believe the Word.... and
feel the blessing of awe and wonder which
breaks into our individual lives.
Well, clearly something was breaking into
Scrooge’s life! It was not enough just to
know that the spirit world existed, Scrooge
must learn what this world meant for him, and
how he lived.
Enter the ghost of Christmas past...
Scrooge thought that he was like all the
other normal children and young men, but not
so! He was a loner & somewhat selfish from
the beginning.
Hurt by the death of his mother and the
resentment of his father, he did not really
know his past. He was not objective about
it.
THERE ARE CHRISTIANS in name.... they belong
to a church and they think that they have
lived like all the other Christians, but not
so! If they ever experienced a real
Christian home they would see the difference.
Scrooge was brought to Tom Cratchet’s home
and saw its love, its warmth, and even
Christian charity toward’s him-- a boss who
deserved little more than resentment. There
are Christians who really don’t see their
past clearly, and how much fuller it could
have been.
Enter the Ghost of Christmas
present...
This ghost was a big, jovial, feasting
spirit. In his interaction with Scrooge, we
discover that Ebenezer didn’t see the plenty
or the poverty of the Season.
THERE ARE CHRISTIANS who will go through
Christmas 1994 and never be moved to share
the joy with those less fortunate. There are
those who will enter Christmas and find
little joy.
Enter the spirit of Christmas yet to
come...
Poor Scrooge, under the bony finger of this
cloaked spirit, Ebenezer learns that for all
the wealth he had amassed, he had never
accumulated love within the hearts of others.
In the absence of love, he was shown his
mortality and his death. Colder than the
winter landscape was the shudder of one who
dies without the love of family or friends.
THERE ARE CHRISTIANS who do not consider
their future, and their lack of permanence in
this world. They use their time and talents
to build empires, but remain strangers to
their families and friends.
Scrooge was a stranger to all. He was blind
to prosperity and poverty, and dead to the
life all about him in all its richness and
all its poverty.
BUT THEN SCROOGE AWOKE!
Was it all a dream... a bad one at that! How
many days had passed? Was there time to
change?
WONDER OF WONDERS, only one night had passed,
but Scrooge was a changed man-- changed by a
merciful encounter of a world bigger than his
little empire.
My Christian friends, in Bethlehem long ago,
the Christ child broke into our pat little
empires. As Scrooge, in this fiction, did
nothing to merit the attention and mercy of
his guests from "the other side," we in fact
did not deserve the Gift of God wrapped under
the star of the Magi.
IT’S ALL GOD’S GRACE-- a true gift! Given to
us in Baptism where we are united to Christ’s
death and resurrection.
I’VE SEEN THIS GIFT alive within the hearts
and hands and spirits of many within our
parish family. You have the marks of Scrooge
after his night of discovery.
SCROOGE WAS A CHANGED MAN-- changed by forces
outside of himself. He became generous... a
good citizen... had joy in his heart... and
became a second father to Timothy. It was
said of him that there was not a better
friend or citizen than Ebenezer Scrooge.
Jesus once said that He calls us, His
disciples, friends. Tonight, we the friends
of Jesus, our Lord and Savior, have come
because we are excited to celebrate His
birthday.
WE CELEBRATE because we love the Lord, but
we also celebrate because in His love for us
we are born anew. Changed by His Holy Spirit
we become generous... good citizens... joyful
in our hearts... and gracious benefactors to
Timothys’ throughout the world.
God bless us everyone! Amen!
