Rev. Henley's December 13, 2009, Sermon on the Third Sunday of Advent
This Advent season, we have looked at the prophecy and the promise of the Messiah. We asked ourselves if we were “radical” enough to be followers of those two marginal Jews in the first century John the Baptizer and Jesus.
Last week we traveled with the “expecting” Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and considered how much trust we need in God to live our story.
Today we find Mary and Joseph in the stable with their first born Jesus. I thought we would let the labor and delivery be Mary’s private story.
Let us go there in our mind’s eye. Perhaps you already have an image from your young days in Sunday school. Maybe you were in the Christmas play at church as Mary or Joseph, a shepherd or an angel. Or maybe you have seen many paintings of that wondrous night. Perhaps you have seen a live nativity scene played out in the cold with spotlights set up to highlight the characters of the story, as well as the animals gathered around the stable.
There would probably not be camels in the stable, from what I know, they are kept in a herd away from people because they are inclined to bad behavior. We would probably find in the stable with the family sheep and goats and donkeys. Maybe some cats were hanging around to. It is moderately cold in the winter in Nazareth.
Speaking of live nativity scenes… Every town in the south has one, just about, and I’ve heard of them around here. Now, in Texas there are a limited number of goats and sheep, but plenty of cows. Cows are not native to Bethlehem, but they work for the crowd at the “live nativity” scenes all over Texas. I know, because I remember them when i was a little girl going with my Grandma Mary to the one at Old First Orange Baptist Church on Highway 90.
I digress, a little. SO we go back to the stable in Nazareth. We have to know that there had to be some kind of family there. Other relatives who had traveled to Bethlehem or who lived there. And women of these families to whom Joseph turn to for help. The image we see of the birth story look at our order of service, is Mary holding her little baby Jesus or Joseph and Matthew sitting around the make-shift cradle looking lovingly down on their little one.
That is the story given to us by the author of Luke in the New Testament.
However, scholars, like Marcus Borg, who wrote Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, and other “historical Jesus scholars” tell us the story of Jesus’ birth is a symbolic narrative. It is given to us by the Jesus followers of the late first century, more than seventy-five years after Jesus lived. We cannot know, they say, the real birth story of Jesus as a historical fact.
Do we know the birth story of a carpenter, a shepherd, or a brick layer in the first century? No.
Yet, we all know one, that all children born, are special. “For So the Children Come” our second reading this morning,
For so the children come
And so they have been coming.
Always in the same way they come…
Yet each night a child is born is a holy night,
Fathers and mothers—sitting beside their children’s cribs feel glory in the sight of a new life beginning.
…
Each night a child is born is a holy night—
A time for singing,
A time for wondering,
A time for worshipping.
It is true of all births, no matter where in this world a child is born. Even where poverty and injustice exist, women still have babies, and still they are precious, for a time. Even when the pain of reality presses upon the mother, she knows at the moment of birth that the possibilities for that child could…could be something different than she knows. Do you remember Elvis Presley’s song? It was, they say, his signature social justice song. Of course, some of you would have probably heard it on an “oldies” show or maybe even Delilah!
As the snow flies
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin'
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto
And his mama cries
'cause if there's one thing that she don't need
it's another hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto
[1969 lyrics by Mac Davis.]
One night, almost three thousand years ago, a child was born named Jeremiah.
Now the word of YHWH came to me and said:
“Before I formed you in the womb, I chose you,
Before you were born, I dedicated you.
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
And he was not too young.
And Jeremiah was a prophet to all the tribes of Israel and Judah. He warned them of their destruction if they failed to follow YHWH’s Law. In a time of mighty political and military maneuvering by Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon for control of the fertile lands around the Mediterranean, Jeremiah, was “dedicated” “anointed” by YHWH to speak the truth, to bring the message of tribal accountability and responsibility to YHWH.
One night, over two thousand years ago, a child was born and his parents named him Jesus.
We can look at the famous social, anthropological work of Sir James George Frazer in The New Golden Bough, and read about humankind’s relationship with the Divine from all times and places. Over the thousands of years of our story, there have only been a few “dedicated” “anointed” individuals who have actually changed the world. And by changing the world, I mean changing the beliefs—the core values—of a significant enough number of human beings—to radically change culture.
And one of them was baby Jesus. We know how small a baby is. We know how much it changes the lives of those who are responsible for her or his care. We know the demands such a tiny, little thing makes. And there is baby Jesus, dedicated, anointed, to bring the message of our personal accountability and responsibility to God.
And he was not too young.
That is the difference between Jesus and Jeremiah, between Jesus and Jehovah’s law. The baby Jesus brought us a God who was no longer only transcendent, who was no longer “only in Heaven.” Baby Jesus brought us a God who was here with us, immanent in our existence, within and without. He brought us a God who could know human suffering, human desires, disappointments, and happiness.
We look at him in the manger, all those things that the Christmas message brings for us: hope, peace, joy, and love. The baby has yet to crawl or take his first step, or question his mother about the Roman soldiers, or dare to speak to the priests in the Temple.
Yet he brings it all to us and he was not too young.
We cannot live through this Christmas season without recognizing the accountability and responsibility we have to a personal relationship with God. Not only with God, with each other, with our family, our friends, and our own selves. We cannot live through such a time and fail to recognize our accountability and responsibility to live, as well as we can, a life like Jesus lived, a life like he would want us to live. Elvis Presley may have only one socially-responsible song to his credit, but it is one of his best.
As the snow flies
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin'
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto
And his mama cries
'cause if there's one thing that she don't need
it's another hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto
People, don't you understand
the child needs a helping hand
or he'll grow to be an angry young man some day
Take a look at you and me,
are we too blind to see,
do we simply turn our heads
and look the other way
No, we are not too young to dedicate ourselves, to anoint ourselves, we are not too young.
First Reading
Jeremiah 1:4-7a from The Inclusive Bible
Now the word of YHWH came to me and said:
“Before I formed you in the womb, I chose you,
Before you were born, I dedicated you.
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
I said, “But Sovereign YHWH! I don’t know how to speak! I’m too young!”
But YHWH said, “Do not say, ‘I am too young’…”