Sermon for Christmas I Yr B, 29/12/2002
Based on Gal 4:4-7
Grace Lutheran Church, Medicine Hat, Alberta
By Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson
While working as a waitress at a restaurant in Jasper National Park, Janet Rayner recalls the following incident: “I had the pleasure of serving an elderly gentleman from England. When he inquired about our house wine I told him it was a dry Chablis from B.C. “Well, my dear,” he replied, “that’s what I call aged!”
It is interesting, is it not, to observe how human beings understand time. The house wine from B.C., of course was a reference to the province of British Columbia, NOT the period of time before Christ’s birth. Time is understood in many different ways. For example, the season of the church year we are in now is that of Christmas, which only began on the evening of December 24, and spans a mere 12 days, ending on January 5. Yet, how many people, even Christians, celebrate Christmas way before December 24?! In our society, it seems that the world of advertising and commerce commence their celebration of Christmas almost the day after Halloween! By the time Christmas Eve and Christmas Day role around, a lot of folks are weary of celebrating Christmas and ready to take down the tree and decorations. Sad, isn’t it, that they beep out the season of Advent altogether, which serves to prepare us for Christmas, not to celebrate it during Advent. For those of us who do observe the season of Advent, we’re ready to begin our celebration of the twelve days of Christmas when Christmas Eve arrives!
Time is understood in so many different ways. Our understanding of time has some very practical implications on our faith and life. Here I’m reminded of the following Jewish story as told on one occasion by Rabbi Irving Greenberg:
When the Messiah arrives, of course there will be a large gathering of people to welcome him. Both Christians and Jews will be there, along with the mass media. The Messiah will hold a press conference, and both the Jews and Christians will ask him the same most urgent question; seeking to prove who has been right all these centuries. They will ask, ‘Tell us, is this your first or second coming?’ The Messiah will answer very wisely by saying: “No comment.” 1
The story, in my view, is a profound one, for at least two reasons. First, the Messiah’s answer to the question teaches us humility. We as Jews and Christians sometimes might become too proud or arrogant—falsely believing that we have a monopoly on the whole truth. We may believe we do quite sincerely, but, nonetheless; there is always room in our system of beliefs for a little (perhaps a lot of!) humility; realising that we still have significant things to learn about the truth from others different than ourselves. Second, in a more indirect, implicit way, the Messiah’s answer is telling both Jews and Christians that what is really important is not whether it’s his first or second coming, but that he is here now and we are in relationship with him together. In saying “No comment,” he is preventing the dynamic of “We are right and you are wrong.” He is keeping both Jews and Christians together in relationship with one another. As they both get to know and follow the Messiah more, most likely they will live together in love and unity with one another.
In our second lesson today, the apostle Paul is writing with a great deal of conviction when he tells us what he believes about the time of Christ’s birth. Paul is convinced that all of history reached a high point when Jesus was born. He makes his point by describing the time before Christ’s birth as a time when humankind was living under slavery and the requirements of the law—which, according to Paul, only Jesus was able to observe fully. He then goes on to say that beginning with the birth of Jesus, history reached a “fullness of time,” since now humankind is transformed in Christ from slaves to children of God and heirs. In verse four, Paul states: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.”
So, for centuries according to Paul, history was moving ahead and leading up to “the fullness of time.” It is like our gospel today, when both Simeon and Anna were coming to the end of their lives, and their lives reached the highest point when they were privileged to see baby Jesus, the Messiah. Their whole lives had been waiting for and leading up to that very moment. Now they could depart in peace because everything had been fulfilled, they had done all that they needed to do.
As most of us know, timing is everything. For instance, in the world of sports, even one second can determine who will win a race and who will finish in second place. In the world of music, the choir or symphony orchestra that fails to sing and play together determines the difference between an excellent concert and a poor one. Think too for a moment of your own lives. Some of us may not have travelled in the direction we did if we had not met up with the right people at the right places, in the right circumstances, at the right time.
So at the right time, at the perfect time, at the fullness of time, God sent Jesus into this world, “born of a woman, born under the law,” says Paul. Think of that, the God who created our entire universe; a God who could have chosen to remain aloof and far away from us earthlings; chooses instead to become one of us by living as a foetus in Mary’s womb for nine months and then being born as a real human baby boy. A fragile infant who would do all the same things that we did when we were infants: cry when he was hungry, thirsty, sick, or needed his diaper changed, sleep when he was tired, learn how to crawl, walk, run, talk, sing, and so on.
It was a time when God in the person of Jesus revealed his complete solidarity with us human beings. Paul tells us that the shape God’s solidarity took with us in the person of Jesus was that of humanity; with all of the limitations of the human condition. It was by being born to specific parents, Mary and Joseph; within the framework of a specific time and place, first century Judea; along with the attendant ethnic, racial, cultural, political, social and religious circumstances that Jesus chose to spend quality time with humankind. Notice how Paul continues to unravel his rationale for Christ’s birth by employing the language of love and intimacy—i.e., family language. He tells us that the first century Jesus lived under the laws of his Jewish ancestors as well as the secular laws of the Gentile Romans. It is in that particular time and place, under those human, historical circumstances that he came to adopt us as his children and make us his heirs.
Paul’s language of adoption then is family language; it was quite true that in the Roman Empire then, if a wealthy person—usually a male, because it was a patriarchal society—wished to purchase slaves (referred to as redeeming them), who virtually had no rights and privileges at all; the purchaser/redeemer could do so and even adopt the slaves as their family members; making them their children and granting them all the rights and privileges of the family, including that of entitlement to an inheritance. So, then, the slave literally was transformed from that state of being into a free child and family member with all the rights and privileges of the family, including inheritance.
Paul here in our second lesson today is saying that this is precisely what happens when God in the person of Jesus comes into the world to spend quality time with us. Jesus becomes our purchaser; our redeemer; he buys us from our slavery of sin, death and the powers of evil; he fulfills and completes the requirements of the law; by redeeming us through his life, death and resurrection; he adopts us as his very own children; we are now members of God’s family and given all of the rights and privileges of God’s family, including that of being heirs with and inheritance of the abundant life now and eternal life in the future. Paul then goes on to tell us that such an inheritance involves, through our baptism into Christ, the gift of the Spirit in our hearts, which helps us to cry out to God our Loving Parent in the language of endearment; the language of love and intimacy; by saying, “ Abba! Father!” The Aramaic word “Abba,” can be translated into English as “Daddy dear,” or even “Pops,” such a language reflects then the close relationship children are given thanks to our Loving Parent and God.
So, I’m joyful and thankful that you are here today on this first Sunday after Christmas. It is a sign of the reality of your relationship with God and God’s family. It is a sign of your solidarity and love; that you want to spend quality time with the family of God and continue to celebrate our Saviour’s birth!
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1 I have provided the story here as I remember it, and am most grateful for this story told by Rabbi Irving Greenberg on the video: “Jews and Christians: A Journey of Faith,” (Potomac, MD: Auteur Productions, 2001).
