Scripture: Luke 2:1-7; Luke 2:6-7; Isaiah 9:6 Series: 2020
Preaching on the nativity in Luke 2:1-7, the sermon dwells on Jesus arriving as a helpless newborn, a ‘bundle of need,’ and on Mary and Joseph going to the land of their family yet finding no one to take them in. Against the Christmas impulse to seek the best and to project self-sufficiency, it argues that God enters the world in vulnerability and that we are closest to God precisely when we admit our needs rather than pretending we have it all together. It closes by inviting hearers to stop hiding their need and to rest in being already forgiven and loved, since unto us a child has come.
Illustrations: family-christmas-dishes, christmas-shopping-list, home-depot-trips, newborn-bundle-of-need, no-yelp-no-best-obgyn, manger-food-trough, effortless-perfection
December 24
Luke 2:1-7
One of the most universal things about Christmas is that there is a lot of food. Even if you don’t have a lot of guests, even if Christmas is not a large event this year for you, there are foods around Christmas that are special (Family Christmas Dishes)
Your family may have a special dish with a special recipe. (Shopping list, Do I really need macadamian nuts?, Do I really need cranberries?) (Home Projects, Home Depot Trips) Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of a child. If you have ever been around newborn infant, you have seen someone in great need. A newborn needs his mother. There is a deep need. There is little alternative. As well, a newborn baby is probably one of the most unproductive persons out there. Newborn babies never do a good job. They never clean the kitchen when you ask them. They are always making messes. They never wake up on time. They never go to bed on time. They are up all hours of the night. They wake everyone else up. Newborns are these bundles of need. And this is the way God enters the world. As a bundle of need.
There was a call for a census and everyone was going to go to the home of their family, and so Joseph, who was betrothed to Mary, took Mary, who was pregnant, from Nazareth down to Bethlehem. They took the road south to the City of David. They were going to the land of their family but they have no family there, at the moment. This is one of the ironies rarely lifted up at Christmas. The whole point of Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem is that that is the land of his birth, the land of his family, but they have no family there. Nobody gives them a room. Nobody gives them a room. They are going to the land of their family but their family is not there. Maybe they thought someone would just let them in? Maybe they thought people would see the need and respond. People did not. Mary and Joseph were in need. They needed a place to stay. They found a roof. They weren’t looking for anything special. For most of us, though, when we look for things, we look for something special. When shopping for Christmas presents, you want to get people you love something special, something thoughtful. If you want to try a new dish for Christmas, you check a cookbook, you check some cooking websites, “what is the best chocolate pie? What is the best cranberry relish?” Now, many of you have family recipes that are seen as the best, that are passed down. But if you are trying to cook something new, you don’t look for the most average dish. “What is the most average way to cook green beens?” You don’t need a recipe for that. Open a can. Heat it up. Serve. Instead, we look for the best, for the great. Mary and Joseph weren’t looking for the best place to stay. They weren’t checking Yelp. They just needed a place to stop. They weren’t looking for the best hospital. They weren’t looking for the best OB/GYN. They were looking for a place to stop. And then, Luke says, Luke 2:6-7. Two verses. He is not born. Mary gives birth. Children don’t just arrive, the mother bears them. After nursing, she lays him where she can. She lays him in a manger, a manger, the french word To eat. It is a food trough. The child promised by the angel is set down in a place for animal feed. Christmas is not about a place, though, but a person. The child is the news. The child is the one who brings the light. This bundle wrapped in torn-cloth and laying in a food trough; probably not very clean. This is God-with-us. This is the one who will save us. This dirty, wet, bundle of need. This child of need will fulfill all our needs and wipe all the tears from our eyes. This child will make us whole. Will defeat death. And yet, we must remember that in our need, we are closer to God. It is counterintuitive. Most examples of strength are people without needs. The strongest, the richest, the most powerful. Effortless perfection. Yet this pursuit of needlessness gets us away from reality and gets us away from God.
When we admit our needs, we are closer to God. When we tell ourselves we have no needs. When we tell ourselves we are fine. When we tell ourselves life is fine, we are separating ourselves from God and other people in our life. You don’t have to live a lie. You don’t have to put on a show. When you don’t have it all together you are closer to God. Let me say that again. When you don’t have it all together, you are closer to God. We see this at Christmas. Mary and Jospeh didn’t have it all together or they would have had a place to stay. Jesus didn’t have it all together because he was an infant, infant’s don’t have it all together. God humbled himself to the point of coming as a child, as a breakable child. Offering himself to us in a way that could have been broken but he was not. And that is a miracle. And every child is a miracle. Every life is a miracle. Your life this day is a miracle and you don’t have to live just for yourself or just for your family. In fact, you can’t. You can’t be everyone. You can’t do everything. You don’t have to. God has opened up to you this day a life of love. We cannot rest until we find our rest in God. God is here. Rest this day in the fact that you are loved. Rest this day in the fact that you don’t have to hide your need. You are already forgiven. You are already loved. For unto us a child has come.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.