Merry Christmas!
This year in Advent
I’ve been noticing contrasts.
Tomorrow’s gospel,
the prologue to John’s gospel,
is about the contrasts between light and dark.
The light shines in the darkness
and the darkness does not overcome it.
This Advent, though,
I’ve noticed the contrasts between
Shimmering commercial Christmas spirit out there
and the waiting of Advent in here.
I observed the contrast between
the prophets’ call to repentance
and the Netflix movie Christmas Chronicles’
saying humans invented Christmas
to remind us of how good we can be.
On Sunday we heard Mary’s song,
which happens a bit before tonight’s passage.
Mary contrasts the way things were
to the way they are
now that Jesus is coming into the world.
She sings that God has cast down the mighty
and sent the rich away, empty.
No sooner had John the Baptizer been born,
his father Zechariah gotten his speech back,
does one of the mighty – Emperor Augustus –
issue a decree that everyone should be counted.
Haven’t the mighty been cast down?
In the already-not yet of the Christian life
yes and…
the powers and principalities of this world
haven’t been totally done away with.
So Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem
back to the city of Joseph’s origin,
back to the city of David.
While they’re there,
Jesus is ready to be born.
It’s time!
And there’s no room in the inn.
So they make due,
doing what humans have always done —
doing whatever it takes
to keep their baby alive.
My children are five and two and a half —
almost three he’ll quickly tell you —
so it’s been a while
since they were newborns.
A few weeks ago
during a meltdown in the car,
I thought
“Holding a baby would fix me.”
I got to Zoom with three babies
the next day.
Close enough!
I’ve gotten to hold one since.
I was fixed, too,
that night
when my kids got some food in them
and we nestled in
for some Steven Universe
before bed.
I love my kids with all my heart,
and there’s an unmatched tenderness and vulnerability
that comes with being a baby.
Dependent.
Defenseless.
And a contrast.
“A decree went out from Emperor Augustus.”
The most powerful person
in the Western world,
the Lord of all creation
in his own mind
and most of his subjects.
“to you is born this day
in the city of David
a Savior,
who is the Messiah,
the Lord.”
At Christmas we celebrate
that the Almighty God
the true Lord of all creation
chose to take on our flesh.
God didn’t trick Mary
like Zeus tricking one of his victims.
God chose Mary,
she said yes,
and God was born.
Jesus didn’t posses
Caesar
and just start ruling
with an iron rod and fist.
God was born
fully God and fully human
wrapped up in a swaddle,
laid in a manger,
and named Jesus.
We’re here tonight
to celebrate that this night unto us
is born in the city of David
a savior,
the Lord.
I just keep thinking about the contrasts.
Jesus
Word of the Father
through whom all things were made
now in flesh appearing
swaddled tight.
That’s so far
from ensuring we have
“the most lethal fighting force in the world.”
“Good news of great joy
for all the people:
to you is born this day
in the city of David a Savior,
who is the Messiah,
the Lord.”
A little baby bundle
not even able to consciously smile,
but knowing that hunger doesn’t feel good.
That’s a giant step from
“the largest mass deportation program
in history.”
Even as a decree from the emperor comes down,
the emperor has been defeated.
The mighty have been cast down,
and the rich have been sent away,
empty.
The contrasts between God’s choice
of being born
as a real, helpless, human baby
couldn’t be starker
than the options we had on our ballots last month.
Isaiah tells us
more about the good news
that the angels share with the shepherds.
“For the yoke of their burden,
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors
and all the garments rolled in blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.”
God has won the victory
and made our flesh holy
by living among us.
Not because of anything we’ve done
or anything we could do
but because the creator who molded us
and breathed air into our lungs
loves us.
We turn away,
and our love fails,
God’s love remains steadfast.
God has won the victory
by coming to us not to be served
but to serve
and in so doing
showing us the way of salvation.
That’s the biggest contrast
on my mind tonight.
If given the choice,
I don’t think any of us
would choose to do it
the way God has.
Using power to bend others to our wills
is the much easier path.
Especially if you don’t care
about collateral damage
and can make it happen
by pure, brute force.
Yet our omnipotent God
comes to us as Jesus.
Not to force us
but to love us.
Not to demand of us
but to invite us.
Not using might to make right
but making right
through love, vulnerability, and service.
Not defeating the powers of the world with force
but triumphing over them
with love and sacrifice.
This is the baby
Jesus
whose birth we celebrate tonight.
“For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Amen.