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Christmas Eve 2009 Lesson: Isaiah 52:7-10
December 24, 2009 Psalm 98
The Rev. Karen Evans Epistle: Hebrews 1:1-4
St. James’ Church, Marietta Holy Gospel: Luke John 1:1-14
I speak to you in the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
As many of you know, I was raised in New York, just outside New York City. It was a great place to be raised. I went to the Young People’s Concerts at the New York Philharmonic. I went to the Museum of Modern Art for Art Days, when they closed down the lobby except for us kids, and we all painted and tried our hands at sculpture. I took ballet classes from a former ballerina, and figure skating from an Olympic coach.
Bill and I met at school in Washington, D.C. At various points I worked for the Departments of Defense and Education. I did research at the Library of Congress and the World Bank. And we attended numerous receptions at embassies and international organizations.
With that background, you can imagine how I felt when Bill took a job in Alpena, Michigan, with additional responsibilities in Rogers City and Harrisville. Alpena is five hours north of Detroit. There was one nursery school in town, and once a year a cultural program would come up from Detroit. Harrisville was small enough that one of Bill’s older parishioners could drive down the center of the road without its being a problem. I have to say, when we moved back South, I gave thanks for sidewalks, pollution and the lack of trees.
I tell you all of this because there was an interesting line in one of the commentaries about Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the big city – the New York or Washington of Israel in the first century. Bethlehem was, and still is, a small town away from the centers of power – the Alpena, if you will. If you ask anyone in Washington or New York where to find the leader of the Free World, they will tell you Washington or New York – not Alpena, Michigan. If you asked anyone at the time of Jesus’ birth, in spite of the prophecies to the contrary, where the Messiah would be born, they would most likely say Jerusalem, not Bethlehem.
That is not the only surprise in the Gospel we have heard tonight. Where would you expect to find the Son of God? The most likely answer would be in a palace; after all, he was to be a king. Instead, we find him in a cave or a stable, in that very small town. He was laid in a manger because there was no room for them, even at the inn.
Then there was the birth announcement. When a king or emperor was born it was customary to send military heralds throughout the kingdom/empire to announce the birth. There was no official announcement of this birth throughout the Roman Empire. In fact, there is no mention of Jesus in Roman documents at all.
But then everything changes. Instead of being about contrasts, Luke moves from the world as we know it to the world of God. There was an announcement – the message of angels He may have been born in a small town and laid in a makeshift cradle – but the whole army of the messengers of God announced his birth.
The message was then given to an unexpected group of people, given to poor and marginalized shepherds in the fields watching their sheep by night. Shepherds were the outcast, dirty, irreligious, uneducated, and unwelcome folk who filled a necessary role, but were not appreciated or accepted by anyone.
God’s message to them was clear. There was a Savior born who would bridge the gap between those miserable shepherds and God. They may have been rejected by everybody else, but they have not been rejected by God. In fact, God has come among the people of the world most especially to reconcile those who are the farthest away, like the shepherds.
And that gift was not limited to just those shepherds. The message of the angels was Peace on Earth and goodwill to all. God is well pleased with humanity in spite of the sin and death that separate us from God. After all, we are God’s creation and made in God’s image.
God Incarnate was born as any human being is born, sharing and knowing the human experience. God Incarnate was born in a small town and a temporary shelter so that no one would be excluded from God’s grace because they were too poor, or homeless, or without power and influence. God Incarnate was born in such a way that the contrasts of his life and those of the kings of the earth in the end show the power of God and God’s love for all humanity – including you and me.
May you, each and all, be blessed this Christmas with peace and good will from God. Amen.
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