Soon It Will Be Christmas Day – Part 2
December 16, 2001
INTRODUCTION
It was mid-December 1977 and oh, how I couldn’t wait for Christmas. Nearly every day when I arrived home on the bus from 4th Grade, I would head inside the house and plug in the Christmas tree. Then I would get out Mom and Dad’s Christmas records. And there I would sit, listening to Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby and Tennessee Ernie Ford sing about the wonders of Christmas, as I basked in the warm glow of the lighted tree. Perfectly amazed by it all, and painfully impatient.
I didn’t always just sit. Sometimes…well, most times…I would investigate the items under the tree. At our house wrapped presents began to appear two or three weeks before Christmas Day. Maybe that’s what made me so impatient.
I would search under the tree for the gifts with my name on them. And then, making sure Mom wasn’t looking, I’d shake the boxes, trying to figure out what might be inside. A rattle was always a good indication it might be a toy. A soft shifting sound was a tip-off that perhaps clothes were inside – and automatically meant that I would choose to open that box LAST!
If shaking didn’t work, there was always the old “press the paper tight to the box and attempt to read the label” trick. Don’t laugh, some of you still do this, don’t you? Of course it only works for items in their original packaging if the Christmas paper is rather thin. This tactic led to my parents purchasing the heavy foil paper for wrapping all of my gifts.
Today, my Mom tells me that I nearly drove her crazy in the days leading up to Christmas. She could understand a boy being curious, but believed any child who spent an hour scientifically examining his presents every day after school was a bit excessive. I was so impatient.
Then, after what seemed like an eternity, Christmas Day finally arrived. All I was waiting for was finally here! Our family gathered in the living room, taking their usual places. When it came my turn to open a gift, I was handed heaviest present under the tree. This one had me stumped. What could it be? I tore off the paper to find a set of…….DISHES?! Corelle dishes?? This isn’t what I was expecting! What a let down! What kind of sadistic person would give dishes to a nine-year-old?
Then I noticed across the room that my Mom had also just opened a present. Hers was a Lego 145 building set – exactly what I had wanted! Knowing that I would shake the presents every day, and that the sound of Legos is unmistakable, my brother and sister switched the name-tags.
Pretty funny – for THEM! Despite the emotional scarring, Christmas 1977 was everything I hoped it would be. It still lived up to all my expectations.
I love the line from the song “Silver Bells” that says, “In the air, there’s a feeling of Christmas.”
“City sidewalks, busy sidewalks.
Dressed in holiday style
In the air
There’s a feeling
of Christmas
Children laughing
People passing
Meeting smile after smile
and on every street corner you’ll hear
Silver bells…”
That unmistakable feeling of Christmas – the feeling of anticipation. During the days leading up to Christmas, expectations run high. But will it be able to deliver on all the hype?
As I age, I’m sorry to say that Christmas doesn’t always live up to my expectations any more.
Not that I don’t enjoy it, or find it incredibly meaningful – each one seems to be full of all the things that Christmas should be and so much more.
It’s just that last year something happened. Our family – kids and all - had gathered at Mom and Dad’s house to celebrate, and we had just opened all the presents. As I looked around the room at the piles of ripped up wrapping paper – bows strewn here and there – empty boxes in a heap; All of a sudden, I got melancholy. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes and the giant lump developing in my throat.
I looked at my Dad and said, “It’s over.”
After all that build up – all that anticipation – all that work and preparation – all that shopping and wrapping. It’s over – and in a matter of minutes. Was that all there is to it?
Christmas was over. Gone like a vapor or a mist. Back at our house the decorations would eventually get put away – the ones Kim and I took such delight in getting out a few shorts weeks ago. And you know what I’m talking about. Suddenly the house feels so empty.
January’s cold puts a depressing hold on our hearts. Then we endure the gray days of February where in Chicago the sun is seldom seen.
Where did that air go? The air that carried the feeling of Christmas?
The holiday was still incredibly fun. So why so sad? Maybe the problem was with my expectations.
Was I really so naïve to think there actually would be (literal) peace on earth?
Was I so foolish that I expected gifts of material things to make me happy?
Perhaps I was somehow expecting – hoping against all hope – that my aging parents would magically become young again right before my very eyes.
Maybe I was expecting to return to those days as a child when life was so simple and free of complications.
And I wondered, “Where is this Christmas of my dreams? Will Christmas ever deliver on my expectations again? Or will it come and go more quickly each year?” Maybe, like me, you wonder about similar things too.
In a flash, it’s over. But what did we expect? For Christmas to last forever?
I think maybe somewhere deep in my heart of hearts, I did.
TRANSITION: A rather large portion of the Bible deals with a group of people who had…
I. SKY HIGH EXPECATIONS
They were the Jews. The nation of Israel. God’s people.
(Let me ask you to turn to Isaiah 61, p. 739)
By the time of Isaiah, the Jewish monarchy was in ruins. After 586 B.C. most of them had been carted off by their captors to live in a foreign land.
Yet they knew they had been given a promise – as we learned last week. A promise that someone was coming. The servant of the Lord….
The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and, will call him Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14)
Someone was coming. The 9th chapter of Isaiah told them…
…the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace….He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it…forever. (Isaiah 9:6-7)
A ruler was coming. A king. They used a special word to refer to this long-awaited person. That word was “Messiah,” which means “anointed one,” or “specially chosen one.” In Greek, Messiah is synonymous with Christos from which we get the word “Christ.” And when he (this Messiah or Christ) came, he would do some amazing things.
In Isaiah 61:1-3, which was written sometime before 681 B.C., the prophet foresees this Messiah and speaks for him…
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
While the most hopeful among the people of Israel and Judah envisioned one day taking back their homeland and recovering their independence, Isaiah’s vision scoffed at such puny pint-sized dreams. Under the spirit-filled leadership of this new ruler, there would be more than just a return to a homeland. There would be a different world. This new ruler would usher in a new day – a new year – the year of the Lord’s favor.
The language suggests a reference to the ancient Jewish principle of Jublilee. In Leviticus 25 God says that after every 50 years there is to be a year when prisoners and slaves are set free, a year when land is returned to its original owners, a year when all debts are cancelled (How would you like to have that on December 26?!). It was a great idea, but there is no evidence that the year of Jubilee was ever celebrated seriously. So God says, “What you won’t do, I will do. With the Messiah I will bring the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Isaiah 35 tells us…
And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf. The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will shout and sing! (Isaiah 35:5-6, NLT)
So among the Jews who would return from captivity, there was a feeling in the air. A feeling of expectation.
It is difficult for us to imagine just how intense the anticipation of the Messiah was among the Jewish communities.
ILLUS – Many of you have probably seen the movie “Castaway” where Tom Hanks is stranded alone on an island. The film does a good job of showing his intense longing for the day when he will be rescued. He has a small picture of his fiancée, which he looks at day after day, year after year. Hoping, hoping, hoping, he will see her again. Although he had never received a promise that he would.
At least the stranded nations of Israel and Judah had a promise to keep them going. They had been picked on for centuries, all the while believing they were God’s chosen people. Even after they returned from captivity in around 430 B.C., they were quickly under the reign of another oppressive dictator.
So among the Jewish community expectancy for deliverance ran high.
In their hearts they longed.
“Come, Messiah, Come!
Rescue us!
Deliver us!
Bring Jublilee!”
TRANSITION: And then, many years later…
II. THE GOODS ARE DELIVERED
(If you still have a Bible handy, turn to Luke 4, p. 1018)
A man named John the Baptist has been preaching about the coming Messiah. When he sees a man named Jesus he tells the crowds listening to him, “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29, NLT)
John baptizes Jesus, and then, as Luke 4 begins, immediately Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert where he is tempted by Satan for 40 days.
Here is the very next thing that Luke records…
Luke 4:16-21
16He (Jesus) went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus reads from Isaiah 61! The words of the Messiah.
He tells them, “What you’ve been waiting for is here! The Scripture has come true before your very eyes!”
He’s saying, “In there air there’s a feeling – a feeling of expectancy that has brought you to this moment of realization.
It’s time to celebrate!
It’s a holiday. The year of the Lord’s favor has arrived.”
Jesus delivered the goods…He was performing miracles. News about Him was spreading all over.
Yet just three chapters later, John the Baptist is in prison wondering if his expectations were too high.
Luke 7:18-23 (p. 1022)
18John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, 19he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
John wonders, “Man, after all that build up, is this all we get? I thought you were going to be this great ruler or a King. I thought you were bringing back Jubilee. Well Jubilee hasn’t exactly entered my life. Look at me! I’m stuck in the prison of a regime I thought you’d overthrow. And this was supposed to be the year. What a let down.”
ILLUS – Some of you, like John, are familiar with the disappointment of unrealized expectations. Some of you are Cubs fans. This past season the Chicago Cubs were in first place for 73 days. In August people were already making World Series plans. But then what a let down! By fall the team couldn’t live up to all the summertime hype.
So far the Messiah hadn’t lived up to John’s expectations.
There was a feeling in the air. Now it’s gone. But was Jesus really a let down?
Luke 7 goes on to say…
21At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: 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.
A let down?
No.
The Good news of Isaiah 61 had arrived!
Hope for the brokenhearted and the poor.
It was still Jubilee!
Maybe John was just thinking too small.
Isaiah 61 had spoken of freedom & release….freedom for the
captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.
Jesus was bringing just that. For those who were locked in the prisons of self-destruction, Jesus brought liberation from sin and all its consequences. What he would do on the cross in giving his life for humanity would bring freedom of a magnitude that no one could have ever dreamed. Many of you here have received that freedom, and you know it wasn’t going to come from anywhere else.
Isaiah 61 had also spoken of Comfort. Comfort for those who mourn – that is, from the effects of sin. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)
Specifically, Isaiah said the Messiah would bring…
a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
These are beautiful images. They show that Jesus will exactly
replace the hurt with the remedy.
The Jews knew that during times of mourning ashes were smeared on the head. Jesus replaces those ashes with a crown. A crown of beauty applies to the head. The cure given directly to the place of need. To bring the new life of gladness instead of mourning – the infusion of a heart of praise to replace despair and depression. Many of you here have received that crown of beauty replacing your ashes, and you know how desperately you needed it.
That’s what Jesus came to do. John the Baptist’s expectations weren’t too high. They were too low! Only the real Messiah could deliver these kinds of results.
TRANSITION: So as we live amid the tremendous build up for another December holiday, we may rightly wonder, “Will Christmas live up to my expectations? Will it be everything I want it to be and more? Will the air that carries the feeling of Christmas deliver on all the hype?”
CONCLUSION
To conclude, let me share with you a quote from C.S. Lewis’ famous work The Weight of Glory, because he captures some of the longings we have for Christmas:
“Ah, but we want so much more---something the books on aesthetics take little notice of, but the poets and mythologies know about it. We do not merely want to see beauty, though God knows that is bounty enough. We want something else that can hardly be put into words---to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. That is why the poets tell us such lovely falsehoods. They talk as if the west wind could really sweep into a human soul, but it can’t. They tell us that the beauty born of a murmuring sound will pass into a human face, but it won’t, or at least not yet... The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last.”
You know maybe all my life I’ve been expecting too much out of Christmas and not enough from Jesus Christ.
Christmas itself cannot deliver all our heart’s desires…but the Bible says Jesus can.
What are your expectations of Christmas this year? What kind of feeling is in the air?
Christ can deliver a holiday to your home that never fades away.
One that doesn’t get boxed up and stored away for another year.
But rather, one that applies the healing to your life directly in the places where you hurt. One that sets you free.
Would you like to have something to celebrate every day? Invite Jesus in, and you’ll see what I mean.
(User note: Part 3 of this series is called, "Soon It Will Be Christmas Day...Again."
