Love
came down at Christmas #4 Messiah love
12/21/14 Reinbeck UMC
I suppose you have most of your
Christmas shopping done? I’m getting there. But let me ask you a question? Do
you kind of struggle to find just the right gift? In our culture where most of
us have most of what we need, what do you do? Do you find yourself combing the
on-line catalogs? Walking up and down the aisles looking for inspiration? Or do
you just give up on the perfect gift and get the gift equivalent of a fruitcake?
Now, you may think I am a fruitcake for
asking this question, but what
are you giving Jesus on his birthday?
Christmas is, after all, not your birthday or my birthday… it is Jesus’
birthday. So what are you getting Jesus for his birthday? What do you get the
king of kings? What do you get the creator of all that is? What do you get
Jesus for his birthday, and how do you wrap it- I mean does he have thumbs to
untie the bow? I’m just kidding about that, but my question is dead serious. What
are you getting Jesus for his birthday?
Let’s see what Jesus might want.
Our Matthew 25 passage starts out “When the son of man comes in his
glory.” Now son of man is a strange phrase. On the one hand, everyone
is a “son of man,” and the term is a general designation for all of humanity. But
that is not the way it is used here, is it? “When the son of man comes in his glory.” Obviously refers
to something quite different, or someone quite different. Jesus probably
borrowed the title from Daniel chapter 7
Daniel writes;
and behold, with the clouds of
heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
Certainly, Daniel is referring to an
eschatological messiah. One who would come at the end of the age to rule over
the new heaven and new earth. Clearly, without saying it right aloud, Jesus is
thinking of himself as the Son of Man in this sense, as the messiah.
Now messiah is also an interesting term.
It is loaded with all kinds of different expectations. In Jesus’ day, most
people expected the messiah to come and set them free from the oppression of
the Roman Empire. They expected that he would drive the Romans, and their tax
collectors, and their army from the land and reestablish the Davidic dynasty. David
was promised that there would be no end to his kingdom and that the house of
David would always rule over the kingdom.
Although the Sadducees seem to have
little expectation of the messiah, to one degree or another the Pharisees, the
Essenes, the Saccari, and the Zealots expected that someone if not literally,
at least figuratively, would ride in on a white horse to save the day, and
rescue them from the Romans. He would be sent by God to usher in a new era in
which all humankind would worship the true God, warfare would be banished from
the earth, and peace would reign supreme.
So here comes Jesus, not on a horse, but
on a donkey- both on his way to be born and on his way to die. Not with a sword,
but with healing. Not with an army, but with a rag tag band of fisherman and
odd balls. Not talking of a kingdom greater than the Roman Empire, but of a
kingdom of peace and love. Not waging war, but teaching love. What kind of a
messiah was this?
I’ll tell you Jesus was a messiah that
didn’t fit any of the expectations.
The Jews really thought that they would
be freed from centuries of suffering under foreign occupation.
Let’s be clear. That was not Jesus plan.
He was a completely different kind of messiah. He brought a completely
different kind of love down to earth.
From his very first sermon, Jesus tipped
his hand that he was not about that kind of work.
He stood up in Nazareth and read from
the 61st chapter of Isaiah, which we read today.
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
We don’t know if Jesus used the whole text in his teaching but Isaiah 61
continues talking about
·
Comforting those who mourn
·
Generous strangers caring for flocks and
crops
·
Loving justice rather than robbery and wrongdoing.
·
Sowing seeds of righteousness and praise.
Nothing
about Rome. Nothing about the occupying force. Nothing about political
solutions.
Hmm, good news, bind up, proclaim
liberty, release, jubilee, comfort, generosity, justice, righteousness… sounds
good, it just isn’t what they expected. They expected power to come down. Instead,
love came down at Christmas.
Then add on to that the Matthew text.
I
was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to
drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me
clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited
me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you
hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when
was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you
clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And
the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the
least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.
Hmm, there we go again… good news, bind
up, proclaim liberty, release, jubilee, comfort, generosity, justice,
righteousness, feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked,
caring for the sick and dying, visiting the prisoner. Not at all what the
people expected… but that is the kind of Messiah they got. That is the kind of messiah
love that came down at Christmas.
I have to admit, it isn’t exactly the
kind of Christmas we celebrate either. Where are the gifts, the excessive
spending, the excessive eating, and the compulsive running around to make sure
everyone is happy?
On the other hand, it doesn’t sound like
it has much to do with the baby in the manger either. And that is exactly my
point.
Our celebration of Jesus birth has
become so materialized that we miss the point.
Even in the church our celebration of
Christmas has become so romanticized with a friendly donkey, a warm stable,
clean hay, talking animals, shepherds that don’t smell, and wise men who fall
in love with the child that we almost miss the point.
We almost miss that Jesus came into an
occupied territory. He was conceived in an unwed teenager. He was almost a
child in a single parent family. The family was traveling because they were
forced to pay exorbitant taxes. They had nowhere to stay and had to resort to
borrowing a stinking animal stall. There is no way to clean up the animal stall
it is what it is, dirty hay and all. The shepherds were the lowest of the low. The
wise men were Zoroastrianist priests following their horoscopes.
Herod slaughtered the babies in
Bethlehem trying to get rid of Jesus. The family fled to Egypt as refugees
until it all blew over. Jesus did not meet the messianic expectations of any of
the Jewish groups of his day. He consorted with gentiles, women, and tax
collectors. He healed lepers, bleeding women and raised dead bodies- all of
which made him unclean. He was not at all what they expected. The love that
came down at Christmas was not the love that anyone in Jesus day… or frankly in
our day expected… but it is exactly what we needed.
The Love that came down at Christmas was
·
For a world filled with bad news every
hour of every day --there is good news
·
For a world broken and divided,
screaming at one another across minefields --there is the binding up of the
broken.
·
To a world imprisoned by our own
technology, greed, bureaucracy, and workaholism-- there is liberty,
·
To a people who feel trapped in
addictions and disease, or dead end jobs, or unhappy families-- there is release,
·
To a people oppressed, in debt, worried,
and alone-- there is the promise of jubilee.
·
To families filled with pain and
hopelessness-- there is comfort.
·
To a greedy and stingy people-- there is
the model of generosity.
·
To a world filled with police shootings,
angry mobs, terrorists, beheadings, death rows, the lack of mental health care,
the fear of tax collectors--- there is justice,
·
To a world where everyone does their own
thing-- there is a call to God’s righteousness,
·
For a hungry world --feeding.
·
For a world where families are sometimes
strangers to each other, and we teach our children that almost every one we
meet is dangerous --There is hospitality.
·
To a world that stands naked, not just
for want of clothes, but also for want to morals and values-- there is help.
·
In a world of ICU, HMO, ACA, CPR, EEG, and
every other acronym that dehumanizes the sick and dying-- there is care and
compassion.
·
In a world where people sit in prison
for their faith, because they spoke out against the wrong leaders, because they
didn’t have enough money for a good lawyer, because they got wrapped up with
the wrong crowd-- there is hope for justice and mercy.
That is the love that came down at
Christmas. That is the love of the messiah. That is the love that we are called
to live out.
OOPS-- DID I OVERSTEP MY BOUNDS?
I’ll say it again- That is the love that
we are called to live out.
And if you want to give Jesus a birthday
present this year just go live that love.
Don’t worry about where to go shopping-
he has put it in your heart.
Don’t worry about getting the right
size, you can never love too much.
Don’t worry about how you will wrap it; it
will burst through the tape.
Don’t worry about putting his name on
the tag- he’ll know it’s for him.
Don’t worry about keeping it a secret
until Christmas day… any day is a good day to give Jesus a present by loving
someone.
There are a hundred ways you could show
God’s love in an unexpected and wonderful way this week. That is the only
appropriate response to the love that came down at Christmas.
Go-
·
Smile
·
Reconcile
·
Heal
·
Love your family
·
Be generous
·
Speak up for what is right
·
Think of others first
·
Eat a little less and give a little more
·
Trust
·
Take a stand
·
Visit
·
Pray
·
Donate
·
Share
·
Feed
·
Breathe
In
other words, LOVE with the kind of love that came down at Christmas.
AMEN
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