Pastor Dan Mangler's Christmas Eve Sermon

A Sermon in Four Parts

Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 2:8-14; Luke 2: 8-14; Luke 2:15-20; John 1:1-4

December 24, 2007

A Sermon in Four Parts

Isaiah 9:-7; Isaiah 2: 8-14

The single, most often asked question heard from Thanksgiving Day through most of the month of December is "What do you want for Christmas?". You've heard it countless times. The six-year-old, having waited in line patiently for 20 minutes, climbs onto Santa's lap and the first thing Santa says is, "Well, hello little girl/boy. What do you want for Christmas?" But it isn't only in the center courtyard of the mall where Santa sits that we hear that question? We are asked the same thing by family and friends, and we ask it of them. "What do you want for Christmas?"

It is significant that the question is asked with those exact words. It is almost always "What do you want for Christmas?” Rarely is it "What do you need for Christmas?" How might we answer differently if we were asked about our needs, instead of our wants?

When Isaiah wrote the words of chapter 9 that was read this evening the northern half of that nation, called Israel, had been conquered by Assyria. Most of its citizens had been deported and scattered across many nations. Judah, the southern half of Israelite lands, preserved its independence only by paying tribute to Assyria, paying the tribute in gold, silver, any other forms of wealth in the royal palace or holy temple. Judah's king was weak, its government ineffective, and a war that they would surely loose loomed always on the horizon.

God looked at them, saw their need. They needed hope. And so he gave them this promise through the words of Isaiah: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.' Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this."

As we celebrate Christmas once again this year, it is well to remember that our family and friends may give us what we want, but it is God who knows and gives us what we need.

A Christmas card put it this way: "If our greatest need was for information. God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need was for technology. God would have sent a scientist. If our greatest need was for pleasure God would have sent an entertainer. If our greatest need was for money. God would have sent a banker. But since our greatest need is for forgiveness, God sent a Savior." "For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

"...for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."

Jesus was born in a manger because, as Luke tells us in his Christmas story, there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn. I wonder if things have changed all that much. Are our lives still too full for Christ to be born in them?

Just a few days before Christmas two ladies stood looking into a department store window at a large display of the manger scene with clay figures of the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, and the animals. Disgustedly, one lady said, "Look at that, the church is trying to horn in on Christmas!"

This is such a busy time. Buy presents, wrap presents, decorate the house inside and out, bake cookies, cook candy, send cards, travel to visit the relatives. Our lives can become so busy with preparation for Christmas that there is no time left for the celebration of Christmas. Our lives begin to resemble that crowded inn, too full to receive the Christ.

We need to be much more the empty manger in the stable than the full rooms in the inn. The manger had room for the Christ child, and so, too, must our hearts. Earlier we saw how God looked down to see our greatest need and, in response, sent a savior. But Christ, too, has a need at Christmas, indeed the same need all year round. Christ needs a place to be born. May our lives be a manger this year that welcomes the presence of Christ, and not the inn which is too full for him.

The shepherds, in response to the angels’ announcement, said, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us."

Why Bethlehem? In one of the many books containing "Children's letters to God" was this letter from Jim, aged 12: "Dear God, was there anything special about Bethlehem or did you just figure that that was as good a place as any to start a franchise?" Indeed, why Bethlehem?

The most common answer is that Jesus was born to fulfill the prophecy in Micah 5:2: “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.

But I find a more poetic reason. Bethlehem literally translated from the Hebrew means "house of bread". The origin of that name was the simple fact that in Bethlehem people could get enough to eat. Much of the Holy Land was, and still is, a hard land for people who must get coax sustenance from the earth. Most of the land is simply untillable soil. There are rocks everywhere. Bethlehem, sitting at the edge of the Judean wilderness where absolutely nothing grows, stands as a virtual oasis where wheat ripens in the fields and figs and olives grow in abundance on the trees.

Bread, in some form, is a staple food in virtually all countries having temperate climates. So necessary is bread to life that, in Hebrew, the difference between the word for bread (lechem) is only one vowel marking from the word for life (lechaim). And so Bethlehem, by its very name, and the fact that it was known for food production, was linked with humanity's basic survival needs from the very beginning.

How appropriate, then, that Jesus, the Bread of Life, should be born in Bethlehem, the house of bread. It is a reminder that we can no more live without Jesus than we can survive without food. And just as Bethlehem offers the traveler relief from the wilderness, so Jesus is our oasis of rest and sustenance in the wildernesses of life.

It is easy to trivialize Christmas. To trivialize is to lessen the significance of something, to make it less important, to treat it as something common or ordinary. We trivialize Christmas not only when we commercialize it, but also when we reduce it to gift giving, or family gatherings, or even peace and goodwill on earth. We trivialize Christmas when we look into the manger and smile sweetly at a baby.

It is interesting that only two of the four gospel writers, Matthew and Luke, give the account of Jesus' birth. Mark opens with a grown-up Jesus proclaiming the good news of God saying. The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the gospel." John, before introducing Jesus, begins his gospel with a philosophical/theological discourse about the pre-existence of the Word of God, the co-creative activities of this Word from the very beginning, and then identifies this pre-existent, co-creative Word saying, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father..." What John means to say is that when you look into the manger, you are looking at God, and even more, you are looking into the face of creation itself.

The scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer said, "The best way to send an idea is to wrap it up in a person." The theological word for that is incarnation, to come in the flesh. Jesus was the incarnation of God. Jesus, coming in person, was the way God chose to send His idea to humanity.

One of the early church fathers, Ignatius, explained that "by the incarnation God broke his silence." Less scholarly as an explanation but equally to the point was the remark of a little girl who said, "Some people couldn't hear God's inside whisper and so He sent Jesus to tell them out loud." The Gospel of John declares dramatically, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." The Word, that living expression of God, tells out loud God's truth and sees to it that we are in touch with the power and glory which is at the heart of Creation.

This announcement was printed in the school's Christmas play program: All of the cast will be played by members of the eighth grade, except the baby Jesus, who will be played by a concealed 40-watt light bulb.

You must see that if a light is to represent this God in the flesh, it wouldn't be the light of a 40-watt light bulb; it would be the blinding light of the solar system's sun. When you look into the manger, it is not with a smile and a warm heart. It is with the awe and wonder of looking into the face of almighty God. Amen.

May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.