Based on Luke 2:1-20
We all have seen nativity scenes sitting neatly near the
Christmas tree. Again providing this
serene and perfect image of Christmas. Yet, I don’t think we can envision Jesus’
first Christmas through such a squeaky clean view. After all, there were
animals all around him – have you ever been near farm animals? The air isn't
filled with fragrant aromas nor is quiet a feature; someone will always be
hemming and hawing or squawking right? That’s what farm animals do.
It seems to me we haven’t fully thought of the reality of
Christmas. It can’t be perfect,
because the Perfect One has yet to
take the stage. The truth of the matter Christmas
is lacking something…Millions upon millions of people know the dramas of life
but haven’t experienced the unfolding drama in the Christmas story. In commercializing Christmas the stage has
been narrowed, excluding the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized from
full participation in this amazing event.
People are denied access to privilege, prestige and power. Instead of
the doors of opportunity; of access; and/or of equality swinging wide open for
all; they are closing leaving many suffering in the silence of the night. Only
to dream of perfectly wrapped gifts with perfect bows in their center.
People all over the world are singing Christmas songs and
celebrating the day of Jesus birth without taking a closer look; perhaps we
need to reread it. In fact, the story of Jesus’ birth by present day standards
would never have been told because our society and culture doesn't value the
underclass and the poor. The main characters in the Christmas story aren't
perfectly wrapped people with perfect bows in their center:
• Mary
a poor lowly know nothing teenage girl
• Joseph
an insignificant blue collar carpenter
• The neighborhood of Jesus’ birth –
Bethlehem a small rural village,
pop. less than a 1,000 - home of poor folks
• Shepherds
were uneducated, considered unclean, dishonest,
lower-class persons
• Joseph
and Mary’s first apt was a room where the animals were kept
• The
Manger – Jesus’ first bed was a feeding trough used by the animals
What is God doing?
Doesn't God realize that such a watershed moment; in the history of the world, deserves an A-list cast? After all if Jesus is the King shouldn't his birth
have all the accoutrements of royalty?
Why does Mary a poor, an unknown teenager get the starring
role? Why does Joseph, a man without wealth or political clout become a King’s
surrogate father? Why Bethlehem, a remote village meaning House of Bread”? Why
are unclean men chosen to announce the birth of the Messiah, meaning Anointed
One? Why is a King’s first bed, an animal salivated trough? There’s no
perfection in this scene, there’s no hope, there’s no salvation in this story.
Or is there? Luke's gospel is conveying an overlooked
message of Jesus’ birth. Luke emphasizes the poor in this text, what does “poor” mean? Professor Miguel de La
Torre explains – “it does not just refer
to lack of financial resources but encompasses the inequality and injustice
that accompany the lack of access to opportunities that the dominant culture
takes for granted as a privileged right”.
Could it be in 2013 we still haven’t grasped the crux of the
Christmas story. Listen to the message the angel gives the shepherds vss.
10-11, “but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said, “I bring you
good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior – yes, the
Messiah, the Lord has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David”.
The angels pronounces the Good News of the Christmas story,
the promised hope; the Messiah’s birth brings salvation and great joy to all
people. In other words, the doors are wide open for all people especially those
whom the Church; the Privileged; the Powerful and those with Prestige wish to
keep out. God welcomes the poor, the uneducated, people from small villages, all
sexual orientations, the marginalized, the oppressed, all racial and ethnic
groups, women and men, the insignificant, all who the dominant culture dismisses. The Christmas story is one of inclusion. The
love of Jesus is open to all and will not be defined or contained by a
perfectly wrapped box. Jesus enters the scene reversing wrongs making them
right, restoring dignity to the hurting and helpless; pronouncing justice and
redefining love.
Love is not limited to the privilege. Love isn't limited to
the ones perceived as perfect and worthy. But the love offered by Christ and
his disciples will bring great joy to all people. If we are striving for
perfect, let it be perfect love, because perfect love casts out fear and enables
us to love like God loves – “For God
loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
The Christmas story isn't about a day or a season, but it is
about 365 day living; valuing the human worth of every person that God created;
it’s not about things – “Don’t store up
treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where
thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and
rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal”Matthew
6:19-21.
The birth of Jesus is about seeing the world through God’s
heart and sight; it’s about love, it’s about community and the sacred worth of
every human being. It’s about a world of Ubuntu which Kenyan Theologian John
Mbiti coined meaning “We are, therefore I am” – living in
the spirit of Ubuntu is to focus on community rather than individual
rights. That’s what the Christmas story
is – swinging every door open and pronouncing and extending the love of Christ to every human
being! Remember none of the characters in the Christmas story are perfect, none
of the conditions in the story are perfect but through the birth of “the Savior – yes, the Messiah – perfect love, will bring great joy to all people”.
Merry
Christmas!
Inspired By Love,
Marcus J. Singleton
Lead Pastor
Living Faith Community
Hoover, AL
Our Vision: “A diverse community of faith; inspired by the love of Jesus, committed to becoming and making disciples”.
My Christmas is daily as I display various versions of the nativity year round throughout my apartment. I am often frustrated by the commercialism of Christmas these days. Thank you so much for your message.
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