Sermon Based on : Luke 2. 1-20; Isaiah 9. 2-7; Titus 2. 11-14
Preached on: Christmas Day 2019
Prayer:-
Let me start this Christmas sermon with a story “Once upon a time there was a man who looked upon Christmas as a lot of humbug. He wasn’t a Scrooge. He was a kind and decent person, generous to his family, upright in all his dealings with other people. But he didn’t believe all that stuff about Incarnation which churches proclaim at Christmas. And he was too honest to pretend that he did. “I am truly sorry to distress you,” he told his wife, who was a faithful churchgoer. “But I simply cannot understand this claim that God becomes man. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
On Christmas Eve his wife and children went to church for the midnight service. He declined to accompany them. “I’d feel like a hypocrite,” he explained. “I’d rather stay at home. But I will wait up for you.” Shortly after his family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window and watched the flurries getting heavier and heavier. “If we must have Christmas,” he thought, “it’s nice to have a white one.” He went back to his chair by the fireside and began to read his newspaper. A few minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound. It was quickly followed by another, then another.
He thought that someone must be throwing snowballs at his living room window. When he went to the front door to investigate, he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the storm. They had been caught in the storm and in a desperate search for shelter had tried to fly through his window. “I can’t let these poor creatures lie there and freeze,” he thought. “But how can I help them?” Then he remembered the barn where the children’s pony was stabled. It would provide a warm shelter.
He put on his coat and galoshes and tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the door wide and turned on a light. But the birds didn’t come in. “Food will lure them in,” he thought. So he hurried back to the house for bread crumbs, which he sprinkled on the snow to make a trail into the barn. To his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs and continued to flop around helplessly in the snow. He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around and waving his arms. They scattered in every direction – except into the warm lighted barn.
“They find me a strange and terrifying creature,” he said to himself, “and I can’t seem to think of any way to let them know they can trust me. If only I could be a bird myself for a few minutes, perhaps I could lead them to safety. . . .” Just at that moment the church bells began to ring. He stood silent for a while, listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. Then he sank to his knees in the snow. “Now I do understand,” he whispered. “Now I see why You had to do it.”
I am sure many of you must have heard this story before, and it is a simple but beautiful way to explain the mystery of Christmas.
I want you to think of the many ways God has reached out to us to communicate with us since the beginning. All through the centuries of the Old Testament God pursued his people like a lover but we had broken the covenant and God had to make a new unbreakable covenant with us. For this new covenant, God would become flesh and bones like us, and shed his blood in the person of Jesus to convince us once and for all to accept his invitation to be his people. Jesus was the climax of God reaching out to us.
The Letter to the Hebrews expresses it beautifully, we read it last night for the Christmas Eve service-
“Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being ” (Heb 1:1-3)
God has spoken to us, the Word has become flesh. Let us allow God’s word to sink into our hearts. In today’s reflection, perhaps we can consider just a single verse in the Gospel, one that both challenges our love and acts as a sign of God’s humble and abiding love for us: ‘because there was no place for them in the inn’. (Luke 2.7)
Joseph must have asked for help, speaking on behalf of both Mary and Jesus (who is in her womb still), seeks entrance to the homes and lodgings of those in Bethlehem. Although the Jewish people in those days placed a high obligation upon the duty of hospitality to the stranger and passerby, the answer probably repeatedly given is, “No room here.” “No place here”.
It was indeed a cold night, not so much in terms of the air temperature, but in terms of the hearts of the people. Surely someone could make room for a pregnant woman! But no; no place at the inn. Yes, it is a cold night. The only warmth to be found is amongst the animals.
What we notice here in the nativity account of the Gospel; Surely God stoops low to come from lightsome heaven to our war-torn, dark, cold world. As He stoops, He stoops to the lowest place, being born not in a palace or even in a comfortable home. He stoops to a manger. God will defeat Satan’s pride with humility. God stooped with them to be born, among the animals and agricultural implements, probably in the damp cave under some house or inn.
Yes, our God stoops; He stoops to the lowest place. To find Him and be with Him we, too, must be willing to stoop. God hates pride. He just can’t stand it because He sees what it does to us. He comes to break its back, not with clubs and swords or by overpowering, but with humility. Darkness cannot defeat darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot defeat hate; only love can do that. Pride cannot defeat pride; only humility can do that. So God stoops.
Today, God calls us with this same humility. He could have ridden down from Heaven on a lightning bolt and stunned us into fearful submission. Instead He goes to the lowest place. He comes quietly, non-violently, without threat, as an infant. Even in this lowly way, though, He is still calling. Scripture says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me (Rev 3:20).
Today’s Gospel tells us that ‘because there was no place for them in the inn’. It was symbolic of what was to happen to Jesus. The only place where there was room for him was on a cross. He sought an entry to the over-crowded hearts of people; He couldn’t find it; and still His search – and his rejection -go on. How strange and sad for this world that God simply doesn’t fit. He doesn’t fit our agendas, our schedules, our priorities. No place; God just doesn’t fit.
Scripture says,
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him (Jn 1:11).
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the power to become children of God (Jn 1:12).
What of us? Is there room for Jesus in the “inn” of our hearts? If there is, Jesus comes bearing many gifts- love, joy peace, abundant life and above all life eternal.
Make room for Jesus. Every second, every minute and every year He comes knocking. He stoops low and invites us to find Him in the lowly places of this world, in the lowly places of our own life. What are the things in your life that may be crowding out Jesus? What obstacles and preoccupations leave little or no place for Him?
Today is the day of gifts and Jesus stoops low to give us a priceless gift: the power to become children of God. Is there place in the “inn” of your heart? Receive Jesus.
Two thousand years ago God looked down into a broken world and, despite the mess that people had made of it, God loved them anyway. And on this night we celebrate that love coming into the world, not as a conquering army, but as a little baby, a new life, that would change everything.
Two thousand years later, we still mess up this world. But two thousand years later, the story is still the same. God still loves us. God still chooses to come into this world. God still gives us light that is bright enough to overcome any darkness.
And each Christmas, God also gives us a choice…how are we going to respond to that love?