(prayer)
Only two of the four New Testament Gospels (Matthew and Luke) share any
specific stories of the beginning of Jesus’ life.
Okay, John kind of does it...
in an artsy, poetic, metaphoric way (The
Word became flesh and lived among us - Jn1:14).
The closest Mark come to
“Christmas” is referring to the adult Jesus as the son of Mary (Mk6:3); we have to extrapolate that backwards on
our own.
Even Matthew’s focus is
largely on the month’s leading up to Jesus’ birth and the immaculate tradition
of his conception. When it comes to the
actual day of Jesus’ birth all Matthew wrote was [Joseph] took [Mary] as his wife, but had no marital relations with her
until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus. Then Matthew jumps ahead as much as two years
to a time when ‘toddler Jesus’ received three special gifts from foreign
visitors.
//
The reason why we tend to focus on Luke’s
version on Christmas Eve is because the third gospel shares an interesting
story about the actual day that Jesus was born.
Imagine how boring Sunday School pageants and Christmas cards would be
if Luke had not written a gospel.
Thanks to the third gospel, we are able to picture a very pregnant mary
making the journey from Nazareth to Bethelem… of a stable functioning as a
hotel… of shepherds watching their flocks by night… of choir of angels singing
about a new born lying in a manger… of those same shepherds discovering things
just as the angel song had proclaimed and becoming the first christian
evangelists.
Thanks to Luke, we are able to picture a new mother quietly reflecting
on the wonder and mystery that had happened, as she pondered all that the
shepherds had said.
//
●
John - “The Word became flesh”: makes you think.
●
Mark - “Jesus is Mary's son": not enough
information.
●
Matthew - “And Joseph and Mary practiced
abstinence”: too much information.
●
But... Luke: “An unexpected pregnancy,
inconvenient travel plans thanks to some government bureaucrat, overbooked
inns, cow poop, curious shepherds”. Now that is a story we can enter!
We can enter it because it is our story.
We know what it is like when things don't go as planned.
Allow me to extrapolate what Luke has given us...
Mary and Joseph would have expected marriage to change their lives, but
a baby so soon put a wrench in the
plans.
And not everyone was going to buy the it’s an angel’s fault tale; maybe
that is why Mary was sent off to stay with relatives for a while.
Was it the census announcement that brought the young couple back
together before the baby was born?
Joseph was not a wealthy man. He
owned no land. His family had not farmed
for a generation or two which is why he made a living as an artisan. They couldn't afford a long trip to Bethlehem
so, they left it until the last minute.
By the time they arrived, accommodation options were very limited. A stable place [would] suffice.
//
Meanwhile, on the hills outside of town, the sheephands had no reason to
expect anything but a normal night. Now,
a normal night could still be exciting, but it might be limited to dealing with
a hungry wolf or a wayward lamb. As Luke tells it, this was not a normal night:
“In that region there were
shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then
an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around
them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid;
for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is
born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth
and lying in a manger.’ … So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph,
and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had
been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the
shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in
her heart.”
Luke 2:8-12,16-19
//
Plans change. Expectations are
thrown out the window. To put it another
way… something unexpected happened.
//
The Christmas story is one of a change at the heart of the cosmos. The human and divine realms intersected in a
new and wonderful way.
The manger was not an ideal cradle.
You've got to know that Joseph
has built something special but that it was back in Nazareth.
But the borrowed manger was enough: enough for God to touch the earth.
There was a place for Mary, Joseph and Jesus in Bethlelem… a place for
word to become flesh.
//
There is a place for us in Christmas (human-divine story) even in today’s
world where things don't go as planned or hoped.
//
The shepherds first response to the Christmas news was to retreat in
fear. But the good news of great joy
begins with simple words of comfort: don’t
be afraid.
This is unexpected - and the unexpected can be
scary, but ‘don’t be afraid’. In
fact, seek out even more. Go and see.
There was a place where wonder was on display.
A place to ponder and treasure our place in heart of God.
//
Each of us know a unique combination of comfort and struggle, serenity
and stress. If you are in a fortunate
time of balance, wonderful. Appreciate it.
Enjoy it.
But if you are teetering (and that could be a great number of us), know
that there is a place for you.
//
If Luke's Christmas story tells us anything, it is that there is enough grace in our midst
to let us glimpse a greater joy… even if the next day it is obvious that the
struggle has more challenge in store. We
have been given something that we will carry into the next chapter.
The divine-human drama (that unfolded in a Bethlehem stable) has a place
for us.
We are part of something grand and wonderful.
The best part of this good news is that the glad tidings of great joy
are still being revealed; the divine-human story is still being written.
And we are part of it.
Thanks be to God!
//
Let us
pray:
(ad lib)
May
peace and goodwill be known to all.
We pray
in Jesus' name, who taught his followers to pray together,
Our Father,
who art in heaven, hallow-ed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory
forever and ever,
Amen.
****Offering****
#55VU
“In the Bleak Mid-Winter”
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