A sermon on Luke 2:1-20
This past spring
the creator of Humans of New York traveled to Turkey to speak with Syrian refugees.
To capture the most ordinary moments of life for refugees, in the aftermath of
war, in the shadow of terror. I
encourage you to check out these posts, I will post a link on the Calvary
Facebook page. He wanted to share the lives of ordinary people just like us,
who are faced with extraordinary challenges.
Most moving for me was a series of posts from a young girl named Aya.
Aya talked about school and her dog—named George—and what it was like to flee
for her life first from Iraq then Syria into Turkey. This is as close as a glimpse to the lives of
refugees that many of us will ever see, and in these moments, we learn
extraordinary things about humanity. We
learn that we are more similar than we are different, that refugees are our
siblings instead of our adversaries, and that even the Son of God was a
refugee.
What if Mary and Joseph’s time in
Bethlehem had been captured by Humans of New York? Their story is more similar
to one of Syrian refugees than residents of New York City. I imagine a picture
of a woman nursing her newborn son, sitting amongst straw and animals. Saying, “I never really wanted it to happen
here. I wish I could have stayed home in Nazareth. But it is census time, and
we didn’t have a choice. We were told to go. I guess I hoped the birth would
happen at home. But here we are. We are refugees in this place, waiting to be
counted for tax purposes for the empire.”
Joseph is standing in awe, as new
parents often are. He says, “He isn’t my child, you know. I had a lot of shame
about this in the beginning. Mary came to me one day and said that she was
pregnant by the Spirit of God. I
couldn’t believe it. I didn’t believe it, until the angel told me. Then to think we had to travel all the way
over here. Our lives really are not our own.”
Mary, holding the infant Jesus,
“Meet Immanuel. His name means ‘God is
with us.’”
Powerful words. Earth shattering
words. The most ordinary human things are extraordinary when God shows up. What does it mean that God was born into this
world to refugee parents in a strange land? To a pregnant unwed teenage mother?
In a shed with animals?
It means God shows up in some
pretty unlikely places.
In Luke’s Gospel account of the
birth of Jesus, we hear about some angels making an appearance to shepherds
keeping watch over their sheep in the fields at night. It was probably
impossible to ignore an incandescent angel in a dark field at night, and we
hear that the shepherds were terrified.
The angel says, “Do not be afraid! Because—see—The Greek word for see in
this text translates to “Behold!” or “Go see for yourselves!” (It is an imperative, compelling them to go
see what the birth of this baby was all about.) I am
bringing you news of great joy for ALL people.
It is significant
that the angels would deliver this message to shepherds. Shepherds would not
have been among the social elite of the day.
They were likely to have been young boys, maybe 10 or 12 years old. They
lived in the fields with their sheep, so they probably didn’t smell all that
great, and they only had each other for company. They lived on the outskirts of town or in the
wilderness with their sheep and had minimal contact with the “respectable”
people.
By appearing to
the shepherds, this multitude of angels would have made it clear that this good
news is for EVERYONE. The angels didn’t
appear in a shopkeeper’s home or to a priest or even the innkeeper. This is
like angels appearing at the Cedar-Riverside interchange to those gathered
there flying signs requesting spare change, instead of showing up inside a
church.
The angels compel
the shepherds to go “Check it out!” and explained
how to find this new infant. After the
angels disappeared, the shepherds turned to one another and said, “Let’s go to
Bethlehem and see this crazy new thing that has taken place, which the angels
of the Lord told us about. So they practically run into town to see for
themselves.
They meet the new
parents and the infant Christ. They relay excitedly what had been told them by
the angels. We hear that Mary “treasured”
these words in her heart, because they confirmed what she knew already from her
own experience with the angel.
But
this not just good news for several millennia ago. Angels appearing to the least
likely audience, shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night, and
compelling them to “Go and See!” is something that echoes through the ages. God coming into the world as a human child is
very good news and something to behold. This is the incarnation, the putting on
of flesh, and it did not just happen once. God lives incarnate in every single
human being.
What would it look
like if we heard the message of the angels tonight for ourselves?
“Do not be afraid; for go and see—I am bringing you good news of great
joy for ALL the people: to you is born this day in the city of Minneapolis a
Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
Christmas is the
gift from God, of God’s very self, for all of us. That the world might know God’s
love, in us and through us.
This good news compels us to share
it!
Go see for yourselves where Jesus
is to be seen!
Go reflect Christ’s love and light into
all the places of the world that so desperately need it.
This is the good news of the
incarnation.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
No comments:
Post a Comment