OPEN: James Martin (in an article in the devotional "The Upper Room") wrote the following:
On a trip to the Holy Land, I bought a nativity set for my Sunday School. It was carved out of olive wood in Bethlehem itself, and had all the traditional figures - sheep and oxen, wise men and shepherds. Mary and Joseph and, of course, the baby Jesus.
On the return trip, security at Tel Aviv airport was very strict. I remember thinking they wouldn¡¦t trouble to examine my nativity set; it was obviously innocent. But they did. Each figure was carefully scrutinized and even taken away for x-ray examination.
The security officer apologized as he explained: "... we must make sure there is nothing explosive in them."
APPLY: On the surface - Christmas hardly seems "explosive". In fact it seems extremely innocent. How could something as gentle as a baby in a manger be threatening. I remember watching a Christmas pageant in my home church and seeing the host of angels crowd the balcony, the children dressed as sheep make their way to the front where Mary and Joseph and the baby were displayed. It was cute and gentle and touching all at the same time.
Everyone was smiling
Everyone was at peace
Silent Night, Holy Night, all is calm, all is bright
But nowadays, there are those - who quite literally - hate Christmas
They’ll threaten lawsuits if there’s a manger on the public square
They’ll sue school districts that dare to sing about Jesus
And this season (for a time) there were those who successfully convinced many businesses to forbid their clerks to wish anyone a "Merry Christmas."
Not everyone is smiling
Not everyone is at peace
And you get the impression that it may only be a matter of time before you won’t be hearing "Silent Night" played at places like Wal-Mart and Target
What’s happened? Why are so many people so all-fired set on getting Christ out of Christmas? After all, it’s just a non-threatening story a little baby in a manger. A story about God’s Love, and a story about the power of hope of more mankind.
So, why would anyone object?
Simeon declared the answer to that question nearly 2000 years ago: Look with me to Luke 2:34-35
"Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: ’This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.’"
The manger IS an explosive place.
Because of the manger - many would rise AND fall
Because of the manger - the baby child would be spoken against and the true nature of people’s hearts would be revealed.
This BABY Jesus wasn’t going to be harmless... and He wasn’t intended to be "safe."
ILLUS: In C.S. Lewis’ book "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe", the Lion in the story is Aslan - the rightful King of Narnia. Aslan is the heroic figure that Lewis intended to represent Jesus in his story.
We’re first introduced to Aslan during a hushed conversation in a beaver den:
Mr. Beaver sternly says "Aslan a man... Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion--The Lion, the great Lion."
"Ooh!" said Susan. I’d thought he was a man. Is he---quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie..." said Mrs. Beaver, "if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn’t safe?" said Lucy.
"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."
When C.S. Lewis attempted to portray Christ in his book, he wanted to make it quite clear - Jesus was NOT "safe..." but He’s good. Lewis wanted us to understand that if you or I ever found ourselves in the presence of Jesus, our knees would literally knock.
That was the reaction the Apostle John had when he encountered the risen Christ:
"I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw... someone ’like a son of man,’ dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.
In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: ’Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.’" (Revelation 1:12-17)
(pause...)
God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son... the Baby Jesus. And this baby Jesus WAS good. And He IS good. BUT He was not intended to be safe. He was not intended to be harmless.
He is the GOD of heaven come down to man.
Make no mistake... the baby in the manger was God in the flesh....
(pause) And there are people who are NOT comfortable with that.
ILLUS: Commenting on the Disney movie "The Tales Of Narnia" Polly Toynbee an atheist who is a religious writer for the British tabloid The Guardian complained:
"Children are supposed to fall in love with the hypnotic Aslan, though he is not a character: he is pure, raw, awesome power. He is an emblem for everything an atheist objects to in religion.
His divine presence is a way to avoid humans taking responsibility for everything here and now on earth where no one is watching, no one is guiding no one is judging and there is no other place yet to come. Without an Aslan, there is no one here but ourselves to suffer for our sins, no one to redeem us but ourselves: we are obliged to settle our own disputes and do what we can."
Now, set aside for the moment the irrationality of a prominent British Newspaper having an atheist as their "religious columnist". Set that aside for a moment and notice what made this author uncomfortable. What was it that angered her and caused to say such terrible things about Lewis’ book?
It was God. God made her uncomfortable.
Ms. Toynbee recognized that C.S. Lewis intended people to see God taking our place.
He’d intended them to see God dying and paying the price for OUR sins. And that offended Polly Toynbee who wrote:
"Of all the elements of Christianity, the most repugnant is the notion of the Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body in agony to save our souls."
Why would she find that repugnant?
Well, you see, if the story from Scripture - that God became flesh and came to die for us - were true... and it is.
And if the Bible’s contention that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) is true... and it is.
Then Ms. Toynbee just might have to accept the idea that HER personal righteousness wasn’t going to be enough to make her acceptable before the God she despised.
If Polly Toynbee could have kept Jesus in the manger, she might have seen able to ignore Him as being an innocent Biblical myth. But she realized the story didn’t end there.
Eventually this baby grew up... He preached powerful messages about morality, the need for humility and repentance and the imminence of God’s judgment.
And then, this Jesus died on a cross for our sins... and worse yet He rose from the dead to be the King of Kings/ Lord of Lords. That’s the God, Polly Toynbee objected to.
As long as people can keep Jesus in a manger¡K they can think of Him as being safe. As long as Jesus remains a baby, He can’t threaten their sense of self-righteousness.
But once He grows up - once He becomes a man - He causes the falling and rising of many, and He becomes a sign to be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.
Or as 1 Corinthians 1:23 puts it:
"... we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles."
The idea that God would take our place and die for us is not a comfortable one for many people. It runs counter to what every other world religion teaches.
All other world religions teach that WE must pay for our own sins. WE must balance our bad deeds with good
* That’s what lies at the heart of the concept of Karma.
* That’s what Islam teaches
* That’s what most cults teach
In fact that’s what most non-Christians believe
ILLUS: I once had a conversation with a very nice non-Christian woman who was offended by my stories about God. I was just telling the stories about God I would tell anybody. I told of the times I’d seen God acting in my life, and in the live of others. And I just enjoy telling others about these events because they speak to me of a living and powerful God.
But my stories offended her. She complained that she didn’t want to hear those stories anymore. And then she concluded the conversation by saying the oddest thing: She said "I am a moral person."
I hadn’t said anything about HER morality. I’d been talking about God. But in her mind, if the God I was talking about was real... then she wasn’t moral anymore.
AND that’s why Jesus ISN’T safe.
His very existence is a threat to the self-righteous.
His very message is condemnation of the idea that we can be good enough to be good enough.
But that’s also why Jesus is GOOD.
Most of us have messed our lives up so badly that we KNOW we NEVER could do enough good to offset that bad things our lives.
But Jesus can (and did) step in and take our sins upon Himself. Jesus can do that because He is God. He is the Lion of Judah, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is powerful, and omnipotent. That is why He has the authority to take our sins from us.
But if that is true. If Jesus is all-powerful, and all knowing, etc. why would God bother to not only send Jesus as to earth a child... but dedicate the opening chapters of Matthew and Luke to tell the story. Obviously, God thought this part of the story was important enough to tell that He wanted you and I to know about His birth and the heavenly tumult that it created.
ILLUS: In last Sunday’s Comics section (December 18th, 2005) "The Family Circus" had a great take on this question. The cartoonist had a little Billy praying in church to the grand God in the heavens. And then (in another frame) Billy was on his bed praying to the baby Jesus in the manger. And then he told his mother: "Praying is easier when I’m talking to the Baby Jesus."
There’s something about the story of the Christ Child that makes God more approachable. The Manger story is all about God becoming accessible to us.
As important as it is for us to realize that Jesus was "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence." (Colossians 1:15-18)
As important as that reality is to us... it is equally important for us to see Jesus as someone we can get close to.
ILLUS: Max Lucado spoke of that in his book God Came Near:
"When God chose to reveal himself, he did so through a human body. The tongue that called forth the dead was a human one. The hand that touched the leper had dirt under its nails. The feet upon which the woman wept were callused and dirty. And his tears... oh, don’t miss the tears... they came from a heart as broken as your or mine has ever been.
So, people came to him. My, how they came to him! They came at night; they touched him as he walked down the street, they followed him around the sea; they invited him into their homes, and placed their children at his feet.. Why? Because he refused to be a statue in a cathedral or a priest in an elevated pulpit. He chose instead to be Jesus.
There were those who mocked him, who were envious of him, who misunderstood him and there were those who revered him. But there was not one person who considered him too holy, too divine, or too celestial to touch. There was not one person who was reluctant to approach him for fear of being rejected.
REMEMBER THAT.
Remember that when you see the nativity scene with a helpless infant drawing shepherd and wise man, manger beast and celestial angel, all in an unthreatening atmosphere that was to mark his entire life, even when that life was eventually slain on a desolate hill in Judea.
Remember.
For man seems always to build barriers between himself and God, but Jesus builds bridges."
ILLUS: A missionary team had been invited to Russia to teach Christianity. It was Christmastime, and as they taught the story of Christ’s birth at an orphanage everyone listened in amazement. None of the kids or the staff had ever heard it before.
One of the missionaries wrote:
"We gave the children some materials and instructed them to create the manger scene that they had just heard about. All went well until I got to one table where little Misha sat; he looked to be about 6 years old and had finished his project.
As I looked at the little boy’s manger, I was startled to see not one, but two babies in the manger. I called for a translator to ask why.
Looking at his completed manger scene, the child began to repeat the story accurately until he came to the part where Mary put the baby Jesus in the manger. Then Misha started to ad-lib his own ending to the story.
He said, ’And when Mary laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no mama and no papa, so I don’t have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him forever.’
Putting his hand over his face, Misha’s head dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed. He had found someone who would never abandon nor abuse him. Someone who would stay with him forever."
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES:
The Land Of Narnia - Romans 8:19-8:25
Narnia and an Angel Of Light - Matthew 4:1-4:17
Royalty - Revelation 1:4-1:7
The Unsafe Savior - Luke 2:25-2:35
Looking For A New Beginning - Deuteronomy 34:1-34:12
