Last week we spoke about the prophecies that brought hope to the minds and hearts of God’s people — those who were anticipating the arrival of God’s Messiah into the world. Those prophesies created such longing, such expectancy and such a desire to see what God was going to do in the world that many people were heavy with anticipation. Just the presence of the prophetic promises of God sustained the hope of God’s people. But if the promise of a Savior was wonderful, the fulfillment of the promise was much more so. The promise gave way to reality. Faith became sight, and longing became fulfillment. The presence of God in the world has changed the world in more ways than we can possibly understand — especially for those who saw God’s Gift with their own eyes.
Have you ever wondered how many actual healings Jesus performed during his time on earth? How many people who were blind, lame, diseased and broken did Jesus touch and free from the bondage of disease and disability? How many sinful people did he forgive and give hope that they could be something different? How many beaten down and discouraged people did Christ literally lift and give new respect? How many received a new strength to be someone different? Wouldn’t it be interesting to hear all their stories? Wouldn’t it be fascinating to follow them along and see how their lives turned out after a divine touch from the living Son of God? I’m sure that at the end of their lives they could not have imagined what their lives would have been like if it had not been for God’s Son coming into the world.
I think about people like John the Baptist, Mary Magdalene, and the Disciples — men like Peter and John. What about Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead? How different their lives were because of the arrival of God’s Promise How many stories could be told of those whose lives had been eternally touched by the presence of Christ in the world? If his promise brought hope, his presence did more so.
Let’s look at some different groups of people whose lives were forever changed by the fulfillment of God’s Word as it came through the prophets. For whom and for what purpose did Christ come? First, Jesus Christ came to the sinful. In his love and compassion he fed the multitudes and healed the sick, but his primary purpose in coming was to forgive our sins and restore us to a relationship with God. We don’t take sin very seriously in our culture, and many people don’t think God should either. We don’t even want the Ten Commandments posted in public places. We welcome a God who comes to feed us, heal us and comfort us, but we are not as welcoming to one who calls us to recognize our sin and turn from it. So the real meaning of Christmas is lost to us, because the real message of Christmas is this: a Savior has come into the world. The reason a Savior came is because we needed to be saved from our sins. The Bible gives the message and meaning of Christmas with these familiar words: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).
I think about all the people in the New Testament who found forgiveness. I think of Mary Magdalene — a sinful woman, sinful enough to have seven demons inside (Mark 16:9), but who found new meaning and hope in life because Jesus Christ looked past her sin and saw her need. I think of a sinful, foul-mouthed, hard-hitting fisherman name Peter. I wonder what his life would have been like without Jesus. He would have been just one more bone-headed, unwashed man who may have abused his wife and cheated at business. Just one man in a long line of men throughout history living a base existence, without a clue that there is something more to life. No one would have ever heard of him, and he may have caused more pain than pleasure in his brief existence.
I think about a man who was a paralytic who was brought to Jesus by four friends. They thought that his biggest problem was his physical paralysis, but Jesus saw his real problem: his spiritual paralysis. He said to him, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven” (Matthew 9:2). Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know “the rest of the story.” Did he marry and have a family after his healing? Did he follow Jesus wherever he went? Did he tell this story throughout the country and bring many people to Christ? What kind of work did he chose, and what kind of life did he live?
I think of a woman with a sinful past who fell at Jesus’ feet while he dined with some of the religious leaders of the day. She rushed in and worshiped at his feet, pouring expensive perfume over them until the fragrance filled the house. Jesus said, “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven — for she loved much” (Luke 7:47). Sinners were profoundly affected by the fulfillment of God’s promise of a Savior.
The second thing we realize about Christmas is: Jesus Christ came to the sick and poor. These were the people who were in the majority, but who did not dare to dream about the things that the powerful and rich enjoyed. When Jesus came as the fulfillment of prophecy it was not a politically correct Christmas. He did not go to the “in” crowd. He went to the oppressed, the disenfranchised, the outcasts of society. He showed that God valued every human being. But today we are so cautious. We do not want to offend. In fact, many of the “Christmas” cards fail to mention anything about Christ or Christmas. The advertisers on television wish us “Warm Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” without mentioning what the holiday is or what the greeting of the season might be. The message is polite and non-offensive, and therefore says nothing.
William Willimon, in an essay on the “hard” gospel suggests that perhaps we should put a picture of John the Baptist on our Christmas cards. On the inside of the card it would read, “Our thoughts for you at this special time of year are best expressed by the one who said, ‘You brood of vipers Who told you to flee from the wrath to come?’ Merry Christmas.” (You might have someone in mind to whom you would like to send such a card.)
I think it would be totally appropriate to have a Christmas card with a picture of Jesus, and on the inside of the card would be the words with which he started his ministry: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near (Matthew 4:17). Merry Christmas.” Or what about having a picture of Mary, and inside the card a quote from the song Mary sang after she learned she was to be the mother of the Christ: “He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty (Luke 1:51-53). Have a joyous Christmas.”
The first Christmas card ever produced had its own disturbing qualitites. It was designed by an English artist named John Calcott Horsley in 1843, after he was commissioned for the task by Sir Henry Cole, a businessman from Bath, England. There were 1,000 of the original cards which were 3 by 5 inches, and they sold for one shilling each — an average man’s weekly wage — which meant they were only bought by the wealthy. Only 12 of the original cards still exist, and one was recently sold for £20,000. But many found the pictures on the card disturbing. In the center is a well dressed Victorian family, perhaps that of Sir Henry, is sitting down to a Christmas feast toasting each other. But on each side of the center picture are two very different scenes. On the left is a scene of the hungry being fed, and on the right is a picture of the poor being clothed. The Puritans denounced it because the family was drinking and living in opulence, and the wealthy were put off by it because it had the poor taste of reminding them of the destitute people who lived all around them who were in need of their aid.
Jesus described his own mission with these words: “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, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). He was a holistic Savior. He was interested in every area of our need. He came to the sick and the poor.
But there was a third group that discovered the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies: Jesus Christ came to the faithful and expectant. He came to those who loved God and were looking for the coming of his Messiah. There were those that understood that we are not alone. We do not have to live as though we are animals. We do not have to struggle, wondering if there is meaning to this thing we call life. They knew that we have a God who not only cares for us in some broad way, but we have a God who intervenes in history and intersects our lives. There would always be the cynics and those who were slow to believe, but the faithful were the ones who placed their whole faith in God and were looking for him to act on behalf of human need. They expected the words of the prophets to be fulfilled. They knew God and knew him to be faithful. They knew about God’s plan of restoration. He would bring the world back to its original design and intent. He would restore health to the afflicted, hope to the hurting, peace to the troubled, joy to those in mourning, courage to those who were afraid, light to those in darkness and spiritual rest to those who had wandered away from God and were weary with the weight of their own sin.
Not everyone was full of faith and therefore faithful. There were those who snarled at the idea of a personal God of love coming to the world. In fact, they did not want God coming to the world and messing with their lives. There were those who were cynical. They believed the material world was all that existed. There were those who were disillusioned and disappointed. God had waited too long as far as they were concerned. There were those who had misconceptions of what Messiah would be like and what he would do. They wanted him to be a certain way and do definite things that they saw as important. There were those who wanted the prophet’s message to be true, but for them it sounded too good to be true.
However, the faithful, those who were expecting God’s promised gift, were full of hope. And their hope was not disappointed. As the Bible says, “To the faithful you show yourself faithful” (2 Samuel 22:26). Many people experienced the blessing of Christ’s coming into the world. The sinful did. The poor did. The hungry did. The sick certainly did. But none experienced the blessing of his presence more than the faithful. Their hope was not disappointed. The Bible says, “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:5).
Waiting in hope is the providence of those who belong to God. The psalm says, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry” (Psalm 40:1). Eberhard Busch, a friend of Karl Barth, the famous German speaking theologian, said about him, “He told me that once when he was a little boy, he spent all day Sunday watching at the window, waiting for Jesus to come to Bern. I asked him, ‘And in the evening, you were disappointed?’ He said, ‘No, the waiting was wonderful ’ I think that attitude remained throughout his life.”
I think of a faithful man like John the Baptist who waited, and whose ministry was to prepare the way for Christ’s coming into the world. He waited in hope, and when he saw Christ coming to him, he said: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world ” (John 1:29). I think of Anna and Simeon waiting in the temple, fasting and praying that they might see God’s Messiah. So spiritually attuned where they that they recognized him before he performed a single miracle or uttered his first word. I think of all the unnamed faithful who went to the synagogue and heard the Scripture read every Sabbath. Their hearts longed for the appearance of God upon the earth as they heard the prophets speak. A stirring of great hope gripped their hearts as they heard the words of Haggai the prophet: “I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Haggai 2:7).
Someone has said, “It seems so remarkable to me that when God comes to speak God’s Word to us, that Word becomes a child. A child announced by singing, not by thunder. A child born by lamplight in silent night.” The mystery is that the One who spoke the world into existence cries in a manger. He does not come with glory and the armies of heaven; he is totally dependent on a mother’s care. However, one day he will return with great glory to conquer the world with a single shout.
One of the books in C. S. Lewis’ children’s fantasy The Chronicles of Narnia is entitled The Last Battle. In it the children have been captured in battle and thrown into what their enemies believe is the small wooden dwelling of a terrible and fearsome god. But what they thought would be a cramped and terrible place, they discover to be large and wonderful, with beautiful sights and smells. It appeared to be a small stable when they were pushed through the door, but on the other side of the door was a whole new world. Tirian, one of the leaders says to the others, “It seems, then, that the Stable seen from within and the Stable seen from without are two different places.” “Yes,” said Lord Digory. “Its inside is bigger than its outside.” “Yes,” said Queen Lucy. “In our world too, a Stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”
That is the way it was for the sinful, the poor, sick and hungry, and especially the faithful. They discover that the stable that seemed so small and ignominious is bigger inside than the world itself. It is more powerful and glorious than any structure the world has ever known. It is the world created by Christmas.
Rodney J. Buchanan
December 15, 2002
Mulberry St. UMC
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
