The Nativity of Our Lord Christmas Eve: December 24, 2006

Isaiah 9:2-7

Psalm 96

Titus 2:11-14

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

First Reading

The Christmas Gospel from Luke is just as striking for what is not there as for what is there. Most of us think we know this story from Sunday school lessons and Christmas pageants past. But note that Luke does not include the following: a donkey for Mary to ride on, a stable (there is a manger but no stable), or a motel (the inn likely meant something completely different). Our world and our culture have domesticated both this text and our Christmas celebrations.

There are also some surprises in what is there. First, the historical backdrop does more than place the birth of Jesus in time. The mention of Augustus provides a sharp contrast in the identity of the one whom the angels call Savior, Messiah, and Lord. The titles "savior" and "lord" were commonly applied to Augustus, who was the first of the Roman emperors to be given divine status. The "Divine Augustus" was indeed the highest lord in a culture where one's overlord was the key to one's ultimate fortune in life. (1) For the child that is born to be given those titles was to say something about his status in that society. For the same child to be born in the animal enclosure of a Bethlehem peasant house is a direct challenge to everything that status represented in the ancient honor/shame society.

Second, as opposed to the myth of the commercial inn turning Mary and Joseph away (how horrible), we actually have something different in Luke's story. The word here translated as "inn" ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) appears only one other place in Luke, and that is as the "upper room" where the last supper is celebrated. It was customary in ancient society to provide hospitality to travelers in general but especially to those who had family connection in the area, which Joseph certainly did. Because there were a good many travelers, and because Mary's delivery of Jesus would have made her (and anyone who came in contact with her) ritually unclean for seven days, the guest room, or upper room, would not have been a fitting place for her to deliver. It was common in ancient houses for the family to live inside with the animals. A manger would have separated the two areas. It was here, typically, that a place would be made, apart from the others in the house for privacy and ritual purity concerns, for the midwife to come and deliver the baby. Thus, in a Bethlehem crowded with out-of-town guests, Mary and Joseph were likely in a home, and a private place was provided, as would be the custom, for the birth to take place. (2)

However, the contrast of a "lowly" place underscores the themes in Luke's Gospel of a God who is in the business of abolishing the patronage system altogether and replacing it with the gracious one who willingly and lovingly gives himself to the creation by entering it. Room is made for God to enter, but the room that is made and the way God enters help us to understand what God is up to in the incarnation. God will not be a new "patron" the way that Augustus is ruler. God will not support or participate in a system in which the rich are supported by those of lower status. God views the peasant house not as a shameful place to be avoided but as a fitting entry point into humanity. The patronage tax, the purpose for the enrollment and the journey of Jesus' parents, in fact becomes the occasion for the announcement of its downfall.

This is underscored by the announcement of the birth to the shepherds in the field. Likely hired hands out with the flocks, these are folks close to the bottom of the social ladder. This "royal" birth is not announced in Jerusalem among courtiers of kings and provincial governors. It comes to a group, likely uncouth and unbathed, dazzled by the light of a sky torn open. It gives them hope and a new future to live into. The announcement of what God is up to could not be plainer: "To you is born this day, in the city of David a [new] Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord." And all the angels join in the song.

Pastoral Reflection

It is interesting how much easier it is to get to the heart of the message of Christmas when I reflect on these lessons and write in May rather than at the end of December. Our culture throws so much at us during Christmas. I, for one, do not trust the culture to be the bearer of the meaning of this event for our people. That's why I took the opposite view of folks who were "boycotting" stores who would not say "Merry Christmas" in the advertisements last year. I felt that it was a good thing to disconnect commercial interests and Christmas. I felt that the overall message that God's coming into the world is a grand excuse for consumer excess hurts rather than helps the celebration of Christmas in our culture. Many people did not want to hear what I had to say.

Many pastors tell me that they struggle with Christmas sermons. I sometimes struggle as well, trying to say something new or fresh, trying to find something new in the text to share. Then I remember it is not about me. It is about God doing something simple and profound. It is a story that deserves to be told, told well, told simply, and its significance will shine through. In contrast to the flash and dash of the commercial Christmas, it is better perhaps to help people be in the story. Can we be the simple folk who need hope and future to be renewed? The spiritual hunger that is evident in our culture's search for meaning today tells me we can! Can we hear how God's coming into our world alters the course of human history? Can we see how the incarnation and the crucifixion are linked? Can we find a way to understand that God's commitment to enter our life is also a commitment to enter our death? Can we make plain that Christmas is linked surely to the cross of Good Friday or it means almost nothing?