What if there was no Christmas?
Luke 1.67-79
December 4, 2005
C.S. Lewis’ penetrable understanding of scripture serves to instruct us in a wonderful way this Christmas. One of the Christ-honoring highlights of the season this year will be the release of the film, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Through Lewis’ world of Narnia, I hope we can see afresh the world of scripture and the beauty of what God does through Jesus. I hope that this series will help make sure that our ears are open and our eyes are looking and our hearts are receptive to the One who is the meaning of every season, but especially this season, the season of Christmas.
Have you ever thought what the world be like without Christmas? Let’s start with your immediate little world.
Just think, the days would get darker and the cold would fly in and Thanksgiving would come and go and that would be the end of it- until spring.
No Christmas carols, no families coming together. No Christmas gifts, no holiday traditions, no Santa Claus, decorations, or Christmas trees. No time off in December, no school break, no holly berries or Christmas cards or Christmas plays. No Red Ryder BB guns or Bedford Falls- all would be Pottersville.
Have a little bit larger perspective. Christmas exists because of the birth of Christ. If there had never been Christ, what would our world be like? There would be no churches. Most of the charitable organizations that exist today: World Relief, World Vision, Samaritans Purse, the Salvation Army, Red Cross, AA- they wouldn’t exist. The majority of the world’s hospitals wouldn’t be built or staffed- neither St. Dominic’s nor Baptist Hospital would serve our community. Think about our ministry to the Quiche Indians, thousands of people would have died of disease and illness if Christ had never come.
Without the birth of Christ, every one of the first 123 American colleges and universities founded in this country wouldn’t be here- Harvard, Yale, Stanford, even many of the large state schools first came into existence because Christians founded them.
And what about our country? What about the moral fiber of law-abiding nations? Would any of it exist apart from the coming of Christ?
Let’s look deeper. Let’s look harder. Not at your world, but at your life, to the depths of your being. If Christ had never come, if Christmas never broke through winter, how would your life be different? Where would you be this morning? How would you deal with the guilt of your failures? Who would you cry to for help with the heart-breaks of your life? What would drive your waking and give aid for your sleeping? What would inspire you? What would fill your life if Christ had never come?
If Christ had never come, if Christmas never broke into winter, much of the good in this world would be missing. We couldn’t imagine what it would be like. It would be far darker than any of us could predict. We would be far darker than any of us has the humility to admit. Our lives would be caught up in the powers of dark forces we could not control. Perhaps we would still be writing songs of despair like Isaiah
So justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We look for light, but all is darkness;
for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
Like the blind we grope along the wall,
feeling our way like men without eyes.
At midday we stumble as if it were twilight;
among the strong, we are like the dead.
We all growl like bears;
we moan mournfully like doves.
We look for justice, but find none;
for deliverance, but it is far away.
For our offenses are many in your sight,
and our sins testify against us.
Our offenses are ever with us,
and we acknowledge our iniquities:
rebellion and treachery against the LORD,
turning our backs on our God,
fomenting oppression and revolt,
uttering lies our hearts have conceived.
So justice is driven back,
and righteousness stands at a distance;
truth has stumbled in the streets,
honesty cannot enter.
Truth is nowhere to be found,
and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.
(Isaiah 59.9-15a)
Sounds pretty dismal. That’s the world we encounter in the book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe- where four children, through a magical wardrobe, enter a world where it is always winter but never Christmas. It is dead and frozen just like December in upstate NY, but Christmas never comes.
It is a world of fear, a world of hope too long postponed, a world of suspicion and insecurity, a world without joy. A world ruled by a selfish white witch whose will asserts itself wherever and whenever she wants. Her power is complete over this land, and for those who fear her they have no power within themselves, no means to be rid of this eternal winter. When the children enter Narnia and want to devise some stratagem against this evil, the little animals of Narnia truthfully reveal
“It’s no good, son of Adam, no good your trying.”
If we’re honest, and if we understand rightly about ourselves and our world, we know how horribly these words express the truth. The Apostle Paul made it all too clear. All people, every one of us, the highly wicked, the slightly immoral, and even the do gooders among us, apart from Christ live in darkness.
…the way you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also loved among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. (Ephesians 2.1-10)
Elsewhere he would call life apart from Christmas:
The empty way of life handed down from your forefathers…life of darkness (1 Peter 1.18; 2.9)
And he goes on about us, our:
thinking became futile and foolish hearts were darkened (Romans 1.21).
That’s you and me, our fate and our existence if Christ has never come. We, Like Narnia, were without hope, and without God. That’s life apart from Christmas, apart from Christ.
You see, it is not just the problem of a few things we have done wrong- it is a problem of a wicked rule in which we serve under, a dark age that we have grown accustomed to, a life of living to our own desires and strategies- which left on their own always serve darkness. We don’t need just forgiveness of offenses- we need to be rescued from our dominion- to be taught how to live the life we were created for. But you see, the situation is hopeless. We have no power to make it right. “No good, your trying.”
But Narnia, you see, is not a land without a memory. And it is not a land without prophecies. As people often do in times of despair, they long for hope. They long for the days when things will be set right. The age old prophecies of Narnia read like this:
Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.
Oh how Narnia longs for a Savior. And those cries resound throughout scripture. Isaiah not only cried of despair, but he longed for a renewal of spring, for the day when:
The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned (Isaiah 9)
…Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. (Isaiah 49)
You see, what Narnia needs and longs for, and what you and I needed, was a powerful, dreadful warrior who could break the grasp of evil on our hearts. It wasn’t just our sinning, it was our love of sinning, our selfishness, our proclivity for evil, the fact that we were by nature objects of wrath. And we needed something powerful to break us free from it all.
Those who live in Narnia know that all too well. Listen to what the beavers tell the children.
“It’s no good your trying. But now that Aslan is on the move—“
“Oh, yes! Tell us about Aslan!” Said several voices at once; for once again that strange feeling-like the first signs of spring, like good news, had come over them.
“Who is Aslan?” Asked Susan (one of the children who had entered through the wardrobe).
“Why don’t you know? (said the beaver), He’s the King! He’s the Lord of the whole wood, but not often here, you understand. Never in my time or my father’s time. But word has reached us that he’s come back. He is in Narnia at this moment. He’ll settle the White Queen all right. It is he, not you, that will save…”
That’s the way Zechariah spoke when rumors of a great warrior’s coming began to surface among his people, right at the first Christmas:
He has come and has redeemed his people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us…
salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace (Luke 1.67-79).
What was Zechariah talking about? He was talking about the prophecies. He knew the time was drawing near for the great one to come. And he knew that with His coming a kind of power would be unleashed, the kind of power that was needed to break the curse of the rule of evil and to free men to live lives of light and hope and joy. Oh, how they rejoiced because the day of their freedom and liberation was at hand!
And I tell you this morning, that what Isaiah prophesied, what people longed for, what you and I needed most, God has made it come to pass.
That’s why Paul could preach:
We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us by raising up Jesus (Acts 13.32-33).
And oh how the world changed with his coming!
And the saddest thing that could happen to anybody this Christmas season, would be for you to miss out on his kingdom. For me to stand here this morning and ask, “What if there was no Christmas? What if Christ had never come?” and for you to realize in the depths of your being that it wouldn’t make much difference.
Oh, you’d notice that you’d have to find something else to do on Sunday mornings, but overall, your life, your attitudes, your dreams, your joys, your passions…there just wouldn’t be much difference.
It would be so tragic, that even after Christ has come into our world, for you to look at your life and realize that his power has no real effect for you. For you there is really nothing dynamic, no sense of transformation happening, little joy. In a world now invaded by beauty and light, you sense no wonder.
That’s why we need to read one more section of the book- a part that is both scary and hopeful. It’s a part that reveals a critical truth about the Coming One.
Is- is he a man? Asked Lucy.
“Aslan a man!” Said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not…Don’t you know who is the king of Beasts? Aslan is a lion- The Lion, the great lion.”
“Is he- quite safe? I shall feel nervous about meeting a lion.”
“Safe?” Said Mr. Beaver, “…who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
And you see, there’s our great hope. Yes, Christmas is about a baby that grew up to be a lamb. And that’s warm and fuzzy and toasty. But it’s only half the truth. Isaiah words remind us of the rest of the story:
"As a lion growls,
a great lion over his prey—
and though a whole band of shepherds
is called together against him,
he is not frightened by their shouts
or disturbed by their clamor—
so the LORD Almighty will come down
to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights. (Isaiah 31)
We sometimes forget that when Jesus came, it was not only as a baby but as a lion! He broke the chains of evil, drove out the demons, healed the sick, freed the captives, turned over money tables, gave sight to the blind, liberated the oppressed, preached good news to the poor. When evil spirits saw him coming they shrieked and cried and fled. His presence was magnifying- he brought the reign and the rule of the kingdom of God, right here.
He chastised the religious, thwarted the powerful, challenged the secure, and transformed sinners with his very presence. He brought hope not only as a lamb, but as a lion.
And how we need to hear that this morning. How we need to hear that he is not just gentle and quiet, but that he is mighty and holy, dangerous and powerful.
His humility tells us how much he wants to know us and invite us into his kingdom, how he wants to forgive us. But his power reminds us he will not leave us as we are. He offers power to change us at the core of our beings, and threatens with power to destroy those that oppose him.
The news of the season is his: The story of Narnia and the story of Jesus- they offer open invitations for us to join. We can be a part of the kingdom of light and life. We can align our lives with the wonder and majesty and transformation. It really can happen. It can happen in such a way that if someone were to ask you, “What if there was no Christmas” you would respond, oh but there is, I know, because Christmas is the source of my life!” And when you get immersed into the kingdom of God, everyday becomes filled with possibility. Every moment can be a chance to fight for life and light and truth and in the process, reign in the kingdom of heaven. Isaiah offers that this morning:
say to those with fearful hearts,
"Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you." (Isaiah 35)
And I love the oldest child’s response to the Coming One. And my prayer is that this season and every season, you’ll share his words:
“I’m longing to see him,” said Peter, “even if I do feel frightened when it comes to the point.”
