The Cost of Christmas
St. John's Day - December 27, 2009
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Please note: The following sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him. |
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It is Christmastime in the year 1534, and our friend Martin Luther wants his whole household to know good reasons for joy. So he sits down and writes this intimate and thoughtful carol which we have at LBW Hymn 51. Let's get it open and ready.
Why so many stanzas? It is not for the sake of annoying folks who like to sing only four stanzas. Rather, it is so that each member of the household will get an opportunity to sing a stanza or two; each person gets a chance to sing what is important about Christmastime.
And so Luther's little Christmas pageant for his own household gets underway. And we begin with the angel's announcement to the shepherds and to us: From heaven above to earth I come To bear Good News to every home Glad tidings of great joy I bring To all the world, and gladly sing.
To you this night is born a child Of Mary, chosen virgin mild; This new-born child of lowly birth Shall be the joy of all the earth.
So often the carols that we hear out in public may get a few of the facts said about the birth of Christ, and that is a good thing. But what is not so often heard are reasons why this birth is important.
So the announcing angels have more to do that simply say that there is a baby born this night; they need also to begin to let us know why the birth is significant. So the angels continue: This is the Christ, God's Son most high, Who hears your sad and bitter cry; He will himself your Savior be And from all sin will set you free.
Did you hear four titles given to Jesus to explain a bit more who he is? 1.Christ = Greek word to translate the Hebrew term Messiah, the one who is expected to come and save his people. 2. God's Son = a title sometimes claimed by Roman emperors, properly belongs to Jesus, not to them. 3. Most High = a title used of God in the Hebrew scriptures, now applied to Jesus. What a claim this is! 4. Savior = much more than a nice person or a great teacher, but one who accomplishes the true hope of Israel.
And what will this Christ, who is God's Son, Most High, and Savior do?
The blessing which the Father planned The Son holds in his infant hand, That in his kingdom, bright and fair, You may with us his glory share.
The shepherds need some clues about where to find this Good News. It it not necessarily in the first places one would think; it is not necessarily with the rich and famous. In this year we have been brusquely reminded just how frail and fallible those rich and famous persons may be. A standard human tendency is to look to a political leader, and recently we've heard the term “messiah” bandied about altogether too frequently.
So God reveals his nature in an odd, insignificant place, to drag our attention away from the idol who can fall just as quickly as he rose.
These are the signs which you will see To let you know that it is he: In manger bed in swaddling clothes The child whom all the world upholds.
Will the shepherds react to this, or will they call it a bad dream, and forget it all? They decide to go into town and find out if anyone else has heard the news. (6) How glad we'll be to find it so! Then with the shepherds let us go To see what God for us has done In sending us his own dear Son.
Luther once said that the essence of the Christian life is “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” And that is our job as well, and it begins this way: Look, look, dear friends, look over there! What lies within that manger bare. Who is that lovely little one? The baby Jesus, God's dear Son.
We have lots else to say also, but it begins here; and so we all react: Welcome to earth, O noble guest Through whom this sinful world is blest! You turned not from our needs away! How can our thanks such love repay? You hear how the hymn is more than a recital of the facts of the nativity, but is become also a reflection on what effect the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus has for us personally and as the whole body of Christ. What does Christmas cost that cannot be measured in dollars? It is the cost of a changed life; things can never again be the old self-centered way again. As we often say: Wow! What a wonder that God cares about me!, about us! When God catches hold of people, their lives are never the same again. We bear witness with our lives to the incarnation, the coming of Christ Jesus in Bethlehem and to us this day also. On the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Days of Christmas, we recognize three differing ways that this witness takes place: On 12/26, we remember St. Stephen, the first man who willingly gave his life for the faith. He was killed by the angry crowd. He was a witness in both will and deed.
12/28 is the day to remember the Holy Innocents, the children killed in Herod's rage against the Wise Men, an attempt to get rid of a new king who is a threat to his power. They gave their lives, but not willingly. They are martyrs (witnesses) in deed but not in will. Today we remember St. John, who, according to old stories was the only one of the apostles not killed for the faith, although he would have done so willingly if it had become necessary. He too is a witness, (a martyr in the wider sense) with a long life of faithful preaching and teaching.
Some scholars think that there may have been several persons who worked over the years under the name of “John”. If that opinion is right, it only reinforces our point, that we are called to faithfully bear witness as they do, passing on all they have heard and seen from the witnesses before them. In doing so we can get caught up in tooting our own horns that we can forget both what message it is that we toot, and also to whom it belongs.
So stanzas 9 and 10 of Luther's hymn are not about Luther, nor about us, but rather about the amazement that God cares for us: O Lord, you have created all! How did you come to be so small, To sweetly sleep in manger-bed Where lowing cattle lately fed?
Were earth a thousand times as fair And set with gold and jewels rare, Still such a cradle would not do To rock a prince so great as you.
Once a year or so, we publish a list of names in the Lion to acknowledge and thank those who have assisted in some way in worship-leadership: acolytes, ushers, servers, sacristans, choirs, flower deliverers, etc. We try to make the lists complete, but sometimes we accidentally omit a name. When it is noticed, we try to note it in subsequent publications. Most folks are understanding, but now and again a person gets annoyed. Then, very gently, we need to remind one another that what is most important is not our place on a list of names, but rather that we bore witness to Jesus by what we said and did. The job is more important than any list or recognition. That may be a painful little cost to our sense of self-importance, but it is the truth!
In the verses immediately preceding the passage we read as Gospel today, the risen Lord Jesus is charging Peter with his task: Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, Jesus says. Do you love me,? he asks of Peter 3x; Then do your job.
Peter turns around, sees John, and in what sounds like jealousy, asks Jesus, What about him? Jesus' reply in essence is: Do worry about others whom I call; you get at and do what I have sent you to do! Pride and place and position are not so important, but rather faithful witness in whatever skill and gift that each of us has received. How can we be pride-filled in ourselves when we know what Jesus has endured: For velvets soft and silken stuff You have but hay and straw so rough On which as king so rich and great To be enthroned in humble state.
In wonder and awe and humility all this should drive us to pray: O dearest Jesus, holy child, Prepare a bed soft, undefiled, A holy shrine, within my heart, That you and I need never part.
Witnesses one and all we are. ones who point to the incarnation, to God come in the flesh. And the first task in witness is right here together. Let everyone join saints and angels of every time and place and sing:
My heart for very joy now leaps, My voice no longer silence keeps; I too must join the angel throng To sing with joy his cradle song:
“Glory to God in highest heav'n, Who unto us his Son has giv'n” With angels sing in pious mirth: A glad new year to all the earth! Amen.
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