Luke 2:22-40
Dec. 27, 2009 – First Sunday after Christmas
A column by Dave Bakke who writes for the State Journal Register caught my attention recently. He tells the story of Jay and Pat Landers and their son Ryan who was killed in an auto accident in April 2007. A program about organ donation was presented at Ryan's high school shortly before he died and he was inspired to sign up as an organ donor. As a result Ryan's organs and corneas were donated along with authorization for all tissue, bone, and vein recovery that could be done. "Overall," Jay Landers says, "Ryan has either saved or improved the lives of 49 people in 11 states" with one receiving both a kidney and pancreas from Ryan.
Nothing can ever completely take away the pain of losing a loved one. Yet this is a story of hope that shows how grief can be redeemed and turned into something positive so that in the end others are helped to live. It's not a huge story, but it is a good story, a moving story which reminds us of Jesus.
There are a lot of things like this, small acts of charity that are not big in and of themselves, but which do a lot of good helping others. We had 29 gift donations to the Angel tree this year. Donations to the Good Samaritan fund have assisted 11 families this year. Kids Place packed 160 shoe boxes of supplies for Operation Christmas Child this fall and the Williamsville High School conducted its annual food drive. The United Methodist Women donated $455 in gift cards to the youth of Cunningham Home in Urbana. They also delivered special gifts to homebound members. Some churches and youth groups often go caroling in nursing homes and for homebound members at Christmas. And special gifts are often made to community ministries like Kumler and Asbury, Central Illinois Foodbank, Goodwill, Contact ministries as well as special church offerings. And on it goes.
None of these acts of charity are big in and of themselves. Even if you added them all together they would not come close to solving all the problems of the world. But this doesn't mean they are not worth doing. We should do even more.
Charity is a good thing. And this has been a mark of Christianity from the very beginning. Christians have not only talked about heaven they have helped people here on earth with spiritual and physical needs. In a world that was cold and callous in many ways at the time Jesus was born he embodied compassion and this became contagious as followers adopted this as a basic discipline, something they consistently did over the long term and not just once in awhile.
Christmas is about a small gift that was commonplace and simple, the birth of a child. Despite the bright lights and shopping sprees of Christmas as we know it, the holy birth long ago was observed by very few people. Ninety-nine point nine-nine percent of the world never knew it about it. But over the generations the story has grown much bigger.
It's an amazing story when you consider that at the time Jesus was born Caesar Augustus was the most powerful ruler on earth. His kingdom covered most of Europe, the Holy Land to Egypt and Africa, from Spain to Asia. His armies were invincible. The wealth of the nations flowed his way. His power was so great that people worshiped him as the "Savior" and even called him "Savior of the world." Yet God didn't visit the great city of Rome where the Emperor sat on his throne with the news of salvation.
At the same time Herod was the Roman puppet King over Israel. His throne was in Jerusalem, the capital. It was also the place where the Temple was located. Here the burnt offerings and the sin offerings were administered for the spiritual welfare of Israel. For Jews this was the most sacred place on earth. Yet, God doesn't visit this great city or its Temple either.
Instead God sends an angel to a young woman who lives in a small, non-descript town called Nazareth. She is completely unknown, humble and poor with no connections to power and status. She doesn't even have a husband and may have been only a teenager to boot.
What a mystery then that people like Mary, Joseph, some shepherds and foreigners from the east and places like Nazareth and Bethlehem would be the stage on which God's salvation is unveiled. But even though the stage is small and the participants so few, the salvation envisioned here will have a big impact. As Mary declares: 'the one to be born will scatter the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He will bring down the powerful from their thrones, and lift up the lowly; he will fill the hungry with good things, and send the rich away empty.'
I often wonder why God comes into our world as a tiny infant. Why didn't he come as a Rambo type guy instead? Or like an Albert Pujols who could hit home runs to feed the hungry, end poverty, reverse global warming, stop nuclear weapons, and get rid of the terrorists. This surely would have been a quicker way to straighten everything out. Why come as an infant then? Why rely on a little person born like us to fulfill the promise of salvation?
For God to come into this world as one of us though, surely says that this world and the life of flesh and blood are important to the One who created it. What we do here matters. The salvation envisioned by Mary is about shaking up this world in which we live and transforming it. It's about feeding the hungry and lifting up the poor and the lowly. It's about bringing down the unrighteous from their powerful thrones and sending the rich away empty. It's about establishing God's righteousness and justice throughout the earth. But none of this will happen by magic or the snap of the fingers.
Instead God chooses to use human beings as the instruments of salvation. Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and wise men are models for us then. They accepted their roles as part of God's salvation design. This is what God calls all of us to do. To use the roles in our lives to do God's will. To be carriers of God's salvation so that others can live. This is what Mary and Joseph did. They raised their son in accordance with the Jewish ways of the time so that he would grow in wisdom and stature and learn to do God's will like young Ryan Landers who died, but now is helping 49 other people to live.
Jesus is born like one of us. He will grow up like one of us. He will become a teacher and a preacher and then tragically be put to death. Yet, today he commands an army that outnumbers all the armies that have ever marched added together. Today we worship Jesus as "Savior of the world" while the names of Augustus and Herod and many others are remembered mostly in history books. Jesus died, but his love lives on helping millions more to live.
We live in a time when it is all too easy to become bitter and cynical. But just because we cannot solve all the problems at once doesn't mean that there is nothing we can do. Little acts of goodness show we can all do something rather than nothing. God didn't solve the whole problem of human sin and evil the day Jesus was born. Jesus doesn't solve it all by years of preaching and teaching nor even by his death on a cross. His death wins forgiveness. But his resurrection brings new life and the possibility of conquering sin and evil forever.
As God made his home in places like Bethlehem and Nazareth and began the work of salvation through young parents like Mary and Joseph, so God comes to make his home with us in our time and in our lives to bearers of salvation to others. Small does make a difference because the one we worship started out that way himself. Bethlehem is not only a place long ago. Bethlehem is the heart, mind and soul within every person where the love of Jesus is born.
Every year most feel relief, including preachers, when the busyness of Christmas is over. But in truth the work of Christmas never ends. God's people are still hungry, poor and afflicted. Jesus hasn't stopped shaking up our world with goodness, or filling our hearts with love or establishing the fruits of God's righteousness. God isn't finished with the "good news" yet. And so rest up, be filled with joy. But then after it's over, it's time to start preparing again. Every day can be Christmas for someone.