Luke 2:1-7
Christmas Through the Eyes of … Bethlehem
Can you believe
it? FOUR
MORE DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS!!! Yikes!
Any of you still have shopping
to do? Any haven’t started yet? I have
to admit – I still have quite a bit to do … part of the fun, though.
This morning we
are attempting to look at Christmas through the eyes of Bethlehem. They certainly didn’t have many of the
challenges we have today. No last minute
shopping … no tree to trim… no stockings to hang … no Christmas parties to
attend. … no caroling around the piano … none of it.
So … what was it
like for them back then? I am going to
ask you to do something that is really risky … for me … I am going to ask you
to close your eyes (please don’t fall asleep) and let me take you back to Bethlehem
…
Bethlehem
is a grubby little village … about six miles SW of Jerusalem and about 70 miles
from Nazareth.
Your town has been
turned upside down with this census thing.
Half the town has left to go be “registered” in the home of their birth,
the rest (and that includes you) are trying to deal with all those who call Bethlehem
their ancestral home.
And there are a
lot of them. It is known as the city of David
because it was here that David's great grandmother, Ruth, met David's future
great grandfather, Boaz.
It was here that
David's father, Jesse, was born. It was here that David was a shepherd who kept
watch over his flocks by night, and later was anointed king by Samuel the
prophet. And it was here that it was foretold that the Messiah was to be born.
Tonight the city
is filled with lots of people and unless you are a merchant or an
Innkeeper…they are just in your way and ruining your day.
You’re probably a
little agitated … tired … or maybe excited to see relatives who’ve come back
after a long absence.
You certainly
aren’t expecting a miraculous event that evening. God had ceased performing miracles hundreds
of years ago. No reason tonight would be
any different … or would it???
What do you
hear? Do you hear the choirs of angels
singing or simply the sounds of barnyard animals shifting around? Do you see
the star in the sky that night or simply two poor and very frightened kids and
the little baby that basked in its light?
Do you understand
the hushed silence of the divine presence, or simply the chill of a cold east
wind? Do you understand the message of Emmanuel, God with us, or is the cosmic
implications of this evening passing you by?
You may open your
eyes now…
I am convinced
that had any two of us been there that night in Bethlehem
it is quite possible that we could have heard and seen two entirely different
scenes. Why? Because I believe all of life has the potential to be this way.
The truth is that
God never presents himself in a manner in which we are forced to believe. We
are always left with an option, for that is God's way. That’s way we are called
to faith, not knowledge. Thus, one
person can say “Its a miracle, while another says “It’s coincidence."
Certainly very few
people in Bethlehem saw and heard
and understood what took place that night. I can just imagine the choirs of
angels singing being drowned out by the haggling and trading going on in the
local bazaar.
There was a
bright star in the sky, but the only ones apparently to pay any attention to it
were pagan astrologers from the East. And I’d bet that if anyone did see Mary
and Joseph on that most fateful night, they were too preoccupied with their own
problems to offer any assistance. We certainly don’t read of anyone coming to
their aid.
In one of the All in the Family episodes that aired a
number of years ago Edith and Archie are attending Edith's high school class
reunion. Edith encounters an old classmate by the name of Buck who, unlike his
earlier days. had now become excessively obese.
Edith and Buck
have a delightful conversation about old times and the things that they did
together, but remarkably Edith doesn't seem to notice how extremely heavy Buck
has become.
Later, when Edith
and Archie and talking, she says in her whiny voices "Archie, ain't Buck a
beautiful person."
Archie looks at
her with a disgusted expression and says: "Your a pip, Edith. You know
that. You and I look at the same guy and you see a beautiful person and I see a
blimp.
Edith gets a
puzzled expression on her face and says something unknowingly profound,
"Yeah, ain't it too bad."
You see, what we
see and what we hear in life most often depends not upon the events, but rather
who we are as people. It’s not what is out there, but what is inside of us.
How many of you
have seen Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol?”
I’ll bet I’ve seen it a dozen times.
I even played the part of Bob Cratchit in high school. Anyway, there is one scene that has always
fascinated me. Christmas Past has just paid a very discomforting visit to
Ebenezer Scrooge. Clearly the old miser is shaken by the entire ordeal. But
when he awakes from his sleep, does he take the message to heart?
No, he simply
dismisses it by saying: “Bah, humbug! It wasn’t real. Just a bit of last
night’s undigested beef.”
A vision to be
taken to heart or simple indigestion? You tell me?
Oh, you say, had I
been there at Bethlehem that night
I would have seen. I would have understood. Would you? There is one way of
knowing:
Ask yourself what
you saw this Christmas Season. When you watched the 6:30 p.m. news did you see chaos and strife, or did you
see sheep without a Shepherd?
When you went out
to do your shopping did you see only hordes of people in the stores or did you
notice the worried expressions on some of their faces? Worried because they are
facing this Christmas without employment and they don't know how they are going
to make ends meet.
And then ask
yourself what you heard this Advent season? Did you hear only the blasts of
music and carols, or did you hear the silent sighs of the lonely and the
bereaved who may be dreading Christmas because it only accentuates their
loneliness?
And in the midst
of the sounds of honking horns and people arguing over parking places, did you
hear the feint sound of laughter that will be coming from the Hispanic
fellowship we support because you furnished toys for poor children?
You see, so often
what we see and what we hear is not dependent upon the event, but upon
ourselves. If you did in fact hear the cry from the lonely, the laughter of
poor children, if you saw the sheep without a shepherd, then you might just
have seen the events that took place in Bethlehem
that night.
Unfortunately,
most of us aren’t quite there yet. But
don’t despair, you probably would have been with the 99% who were present but
who saw or heard nothing out of the ordinary on that night of all night.
Perhaps one of our
carols words it best: No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin,
where meek souls shall receive him still, the dear Christ child enters in.
Let me close with
a true story … Phillip Brooks was one of America's
greatest preachers of the 19th Century. He was often referred to as
"The Prince of the Pulpit."
In 1865 Phillip
Brooks made a pilgrimage to Palestine.
On Christmas Eve he rode on horseback from Jerusalem
to Bethlehem and visited the usual
sights in the village. Then he went east to the traditional Field of the Shepherds.
As darkness fell,
he stood for a while by the cave where the shepherds saw the angels and the glory
of God. He then went to a worship service in what is now known as the Church of the Nativity, which was built
in AD 326, and there he worshipped from ten at night until three in the
morning. He said it was one of the greatest experiences in all of his life.
Three years later
in 1868, he was searching for a new Christmas carol for his children to sing in
their Sunday School Christmas program. And he wrote the words to what would
become one of our best loved Christmas carols.
He gave a copy of
his text to his organist and Sunday School Superintendent, Lewis Redner, and
asked him to compose a simple melody that children could easily sing. Redner
struggled with this for several days.
Finally, on the
evening before the program was to be given, he said he awakened in the middle
of the night and sat down and wrote the music and the melody. He said until he
died, he knew it was a gift from heaven.
We now know that
song as "O Little Town of Bethlehem." That song perfectly captures
the beauty of Christmas.
O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see
thee lie;
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the
silent stars go by;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth the
everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years are met
in thee tonight.
Then we all know
the last stanza:
Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in
us today!
We hear the Christmas angels, the great glad
tidings tell;
Come to us, abide with us, our Lord
Immanuel!
My hope this day
is that we strive to see beyond just the trappings of Christmas and open
ourselves to the greatest gift of all … the gift of God’s love. The gift of God incarnate. The gift of Jesus Christ who came to show us
a better way.
And may we have
eyes to see, ears to hear, minds to understand, and hearts to truly feel God’s
invitation to each of us.
AMEN!
