I don't know if you've heard the
news, your probably not aware of it, since the movie has received such little
hype in the media, but the movie Stars Wars opened in theaters on
Friday. Star Wars, the Force Awakens,
Episode 7. Yes, “long ago, in a galaxy
far away.” No, I haven't seen it yet, I
may be the only one on the planet who hasn't.
It has a huge cult following like no other movie series. I remember when Nancy and I were driving
along highway 1 in Santa Barbara
earlier this year and we saw a storm trooper walking along the highway. Our son Eric and our grandson Wyatt both have
storm trooper costumes.
Pop culture has long employed a
concept called King or Queen Incognito, where in film and books you run into an
apparently nondescript and unimportant character like a beggar, and later
discover that this person is someone of great fame and power, like a king or
queen or powerful wizard, who has disguised himself to walk unnoticed among the
common people.
In Star Wars there is such
a character, Queen Amidala, the queen of the planet Naboo, who frequently disguised
herself as one of her own handmaidens, and went out into public incognito, in
order to walk among the populace and fulfill her mission of liberating her
planet from the evil Federation.
Christmas dares to make this
astonishing claim: God, the king of kings, came among us in human form. This
humble birth of a baby named Jesus, born in a tiny town called Bethlehem , is in reality the incarnation of God,
the ruler of the universe Christmas announces that in this baby's birth, God
appeared in a human body. God was in Jesus. God came to the town of Bethlehem and that meant
God entered our neighborhood, our world. C.S. Lewis wrote in his Chronicles
of Narnia: “A stable once had something in it bigger than the whole world.”
Why is this Christian truth-claim
revolutionary? Humans have long been plagued with a haunting question – “Am I alone in this vast universe? Am I merely a fleeting spark in a dark abyss?” Is this world impersonal, capricious, devoid
of some core principle or power which unites, sustains and directs it?
Christmas declares that an
eternal light has broken into the darkness of the world. John says: “In
Christ was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the
darkness did not overcome it.” Christmas is Christianity's answer to these
existential questions. In Jesus, God has
made himself, his character, his heart, his mind, his voice, his nature known
to the world. Christmas proclaims that
you and I are not alone. “Joy to the
world, the Lord is come.”
Some people today see Christmas
as a fairytale, like the brother's Grimm fairy tales, remember those stories,
Snow White, Rapunzel, the Frog Prince.
They view Christmas as a sentimental tale about a poor peasant family
giving birth to a baby surrounded by angels, animals, shepherds and kings. But is is just a romantic story. The Christian faith strongly disagrees. I strongly disagree. Christmas is based upon a historical
event. It is based upon a unique and
joyous and astonishing birth. An
ordinary and humble birth of the king of kings and lord of lords, which
occurred in a world of Caesar's and Herod’s and Pilates, and a Jewish people
under the power of the Roman Empire .
Christmas announces that Jesus is
truly God, very God, fully God. In the
Gospel of John we read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and lived among
us and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of
grace and truth.” The letter of
Colossians says it succinctly: “In Jesus
Christ, the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” The letter of Philippians says: “Though He was in the form of God, Jesus
humbled himself, and was born in human likeness.” The Letter of Hebrews states: “In
these last days God has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all
things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God's glory and the
exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful
word.” And our Gospel writer John
says: “No one has ever seen God, it is God the only Son, who is close to the
Father's heart, who has made him known.”
So on the one hand, Jesus' is God’s self-communication, God’s
self-revelation, Immanuel, God is with us.
But paradoxically, Christmas also
declares the exact opposite, Jesus was a human being. Jesus was fully and truly human. God entered the world as a fragile and helpless
baby. The letter of Hebrews says: “Since
God’s children share flesh and blood, Jesus likewise shared the same
things. For we do not have a high
priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in
every respect was tested as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus was human, born of a woman like you and
I are born. No, the story of Jesus' birth is no fairytale.
Yes, for some today it’s a
scandalous claim. The Jews considered it blasphemy, an unforgiveable insult and
offense to God because God is Spirit, not flesh and blood. They also called it idolatry. How can one say a man named Jesus is at the
same time God and worship Him as such.
Some unbelievers today despise Christmas and argue that it’s a myth, a
fallacy, a lie and put their energies into trying to eradicate Christmas from
our culture.
We Christians declare this truth:
in Jesus of Nazareth, God and humanity are united in one personal existence. We
also acknowledge that this truth is a mystery. Ultimately, comprehending it
lies beyond our mind's ability to fully grasp it. We recognize that our minds are limited in
our capacity to fully understand the incarnation.
Is the controversial debate about
Jesus today surprising? No. Jesus was born into controversy 2000 years
ago and that controversy continues today.
But on the other hand let us never forget that the celebration of the
birthday of Jesus also continues to be honored and observed by 2.2 billion
Christians around the world today. Jesus
is the visible image of the invisible God.
In Jesus the God of the heavens stooped down to earth. In Jesus the
glory of God appeared as Immanuel, God with us, God one of us.
Why did God enter into the world
in Jesus? To fulfill His messianic
promise which the prophets declared that the messiah, God's anointed one, would
come to the world. To send a savior to bring salvation from our sins, to
establish His Kingdom, to open up for us the heart and character of God, to
show us who God is, to allow us to see God and know God, to demonstrate God's
love for the world, to come into your life and my life.
God is so passionate about human
beings that He was willing to reach out to humanity by coming personally. God
chose to bend down to our level, like an adult bends down to speak to a child
face to face. God became Immanuel,
"God with us," so we might
spend eternity with him.
The distinguished 5th century Church Father St.
Augustine said: “God became a man for
this purpose. Since you, a human being
could not reach God, but you can reach other humans, God became a human so that
following a human, something you are able to do, you might reach God.”
I close with this story about a
Roman Catholic priest named Father Damien.
For 16 years, in the late 1870’s and 80’s he dedicated his life to
serving lepers. He moved to a village on
the island of Molokai ,
Hawaii that
had been quarantined to serve as a leper colony. He lived among them. He learned to speak their language, he ate
with them, he bandaged their wounds, he embraced the bodies no one else would
touch, he preached to hearts that would otherwise have been left alone. He organized schools and choirs. He built homes so that the lepers could have
shelter. He built coffins by hand so that, when they died, they could be buried
with dignity. Slowly, it was said, the village became a place to live rather
than only a place to die, for Father Damien offered God’s love and acceptance
and affirmation.
Father Damien was not careful
about keeping his distance. He was close to them. He did nothing to separate himself from these
people. He dipped his fingers in the poi bowl along with them. He shared his
pipe. He did not always wash his hands after bandaging open sores. For this, the people loved him. Then one day he stood up and began his sermon
with two words: "We lepers…."
Now he wasn't just helping them. Now he was one of them.”
“And the word became flesh and lived among us and we have seen his
glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. But to all who received him, who believed in
his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born not of blood
or the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
Let us prepare to celebrate
Jesus’ coming into our lives through faith, and to witness by our words and
deeds to the Savior of the world. Amen!
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