It’s a true story--no matter how much like a fairy tale it may sound. A totally unsuspecting man literally stumbled upon what was, and still is today the world’s largest diamond--all 3,106 carats of it--about 1-1/3 lbs. It happened at the Premier Mine #2, near Pretoria, South Africa, in 1905.
Due to the immense value of this enormous diamond, the authorities in charge of its transportation were posed with a huge security problem. How could they get it to their company headquarters in England? They solved their dilemma in an interesting way. Detectives from London were placed on a steamboat that was rumored to carry the expensive stone. The detectives placed a parcel in the Captain’s safe and guarded the safe throughout the entire journey.
However this was a diversionary tactic. The stone on that ship was a fake, meant to attract those who might be interested in stealing it. The actual diamond was sent to England in an ordinary plain cardboard box via parcel post, albeit registered.
One hundred and five stones were cut from this one diamond, known as the Cullinan diamond. Two of the largest stones which it produced were the 530-carat stone known as the Great Star of Africa and the 317-carat Cullinan II, both of which are a part of the British crown jewels. (1)
If you shopped for jewelry this season, you know how expensive even one carat is. Just imagine a stone with 3,106 carats. Invaluable! And yet it was shipped by parcel post in a plain cardboard box. What a beautiful analogy for what happened more than 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem of Judea. The King of Kings born in a lowly stable, lying in a manger, a trough where animals fed.
And who were the first to pay him homage? According to Luke’s Gospel, it was a group of lowly shepherds. Matthew tells of magi bringing Christ gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We include the magi in our nativity scenes, but they came later, when the holy family was finally in a house. The first visitors were the shepherds. What’s so extraordinary about that?
It’s easy to romanticize shepherding. King David was a shepherd. And we love Psalm 23 which speaks of God as a shepherd, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want . . .” The truth is, however, that shepherds were a despised class of people. Their work made it impossible for them to abide by the ceremonial laws, particularly those concerned with personal hygiene. They were generally unclean, unkempt men who brought with them the odors we associate with animals. They, of course, had no reliable access to means of bathing. Even worse, it was popular for shepherds to be regarded as thieves. They were considered unreliable and were not allowed to give evidence in court.
Yet there they were, attending the birth of the newborn King of Kings. You know the story. They had been guarding their flock on a nearby hillside. Suddenly, “an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’
“Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’”
There lay the babe in the manger . . . sharing his birthplace with animals from the field, and the shepherds . . . and his humble parents, unable to find refuge in a nearby inn. Christ did not come into our world amidst wealth and power; nor was he wrapped in fine linen and placed in a gold cradle. Like an exquisitely expensive diamond shipped in a plain cardboard box, Christ came into the world not to reign with power, but to bring into the world a kingdom of love, peace and good news--good news to the poor, the hurting, the lost, the lonely, the grieving and the dying.
What are we to make of this, the most beautiful story ever told? What are we to take away with us as we leave this place to return to our homes on this Christmas Eve?
First of all, Christmas Eve reminds us of God’s love for the unlovely. We so glamorize the Christmas story, but there was nothing glamorous about giving birth in a stable filled with animals. There was nothing glamorous about shepherds. And, of course, that is the point of the story. God loves the unlovely.
John Jacob Niles, the famous folk song authority, tells about a time many years ago when a small group of traveling evangelists came and set up their tents on the courthouse square in his town. They hung their wash on the Confederate monument. They began to preach on the courthouse square until the county commissioner decided that it was inappropriate and required them to pack up and leave. But before they left, a thin, pale girl, the daughter of an itinerate evangelist, got up and sang a song that John Jacob Niles had never heard before. “I wonder as I wander out under the sky, why Jesus our Savior did come forth to die for poor, lonely people like you and like I. I wonder as I wander out under the sky.”
Since he was a collector of folk songs, Niles went to her and said, “Where did you hear that song?”
She said, “I don’t remember. I don’t know where I learned it.”
He said, “Is there more to it?”
She said, “No, I only know this one verse.”
So John Jacob Niles took that song, elaborated on it, and published it. (2) Since then, that beautiful carol has blessed many hearts. In its simplicity, it illustrates the feelings all of us surely have at Christmas, but especially the poor, the lonely, the hurting, the grieving.
But you say, Pastor how can you say that? Don’t you know that Christmas is even harder for the poor, the grieving, the depressed? Yes, I understand that. It’s difficult if your resources are limited to see Christmas celebrated by the affluent and ostentatious. It’s difficult when you are lonely or hurting or grieving or depressed to see the smiles of those who have loving families, friends who care for them, good health and all the benefits of the good life. Unless, of course, the real message of Christmas lives in your heart.
You may know the story of the woman whose husband had just died. Somehow it didn’t seem fitting to put up Christmas decorations. Nevertheless, she decided to put up just one--a nativity scene. She said, “I didn’t put it up because my husband died, but because Jesus was born.” There’s a woman of faith. It is because people are in need, because people are hurting, because people are grieving that they have found hope in the babe of Bethlehem.
For what the babe of Bethlehem says to us more loudly than anything else is that God has become one of us. God walked where we walk. God sympathizes with our situation.
Years ago, during one of the “welcome home” ceremonies for Desert Storm troops, veteran film star Glenn Ford told a story of his involvement in the Vietnam conflict. He referred to a time when he and a number of combat units were struggling through the steamy swamps of South Vietnam under infrequent, but deadly enemy fire.
Since he had just arrived in the area the day before, many of the men did not know that a well-known film star was in their midst.
After several hours of sloshing through the wetlands, a young private recognized the actor who had made so many successful films. Seeing the stunned look on the private’s face, Ford assured the young man that, indeed, he was the same Glenn Ford from the movies. The private smiled a mile-wide grin and said, “Well, don’t that beat all! You’re just one of us, ain’t you?” (3)
And that’s how God came to us in Jesus, just as one of us. But why, why did he come? It was to show us a whole new way to live and to love.
Back in the 1970s there was a film called, The Poseidon Adventure. Perhaps some of you remember it. It was about a luxury ocean liner, the SS Poseidon that was completely overturned on New Year’s Day by a freak ocean wave. The film tells the story of people trying to escape before the ship sinks.
The bizarre thing about the SS Poseidon is that it lay in the water completely upside down. What was the top of the ship was now the bottom. The hull was on top of the water, and the deck was way down in the sea. Everything was upside down. Stairways were upside down, doors were upside down. Tables were upside down. The giant Christmas tree was upside down. It was a whole new world.
The people in the film had to respond to a world turned upside down and how to escape the sinking ship under such circumstances, (4)
We have a hard time accepting it, but Jesus came to turn the world of human values upside down. In a world that glorifies power and wealth, Jesus called the poor and powerless blessed and said that it is they who will inherit the Kingdom of God. In a world that says that the best way to deal with our enemies is to crush them, Jesus says the best way to deal with our enemies is to love them and make friends of them. In a world that tells us that the way to deal with people is to use them, abuse them and then move on, Jesus tells us that we are to honor all people, respect them, always be there when they need you. If we have difficulty with such values maybe it shows how far we are from the Kingdom of God.
Like an expensive diamond in a cardboard shipping container, Christ came to us to show us a world of love, peace and good will to all people.
The Daily Telegraph in London once reported a humorous true story about the famous Neiman-Marcus Department store. Neiman-Marcus is famous, of course, for the lavish gifts it makes available in the Christmas season. However, one year during the Christmas rush a hard-pressed employee accidentally gift-wrapped her lunch instead of a customer’s luxurious gift. By the time she discovered her mistake the parcel had been shipped and could not be retrieved.
Here’s the interesting part: “No one ever came forward,” the newspaper commented, “to complain that he, or she, had received a stale ham sandwich and a moldy orange for Christmas” from Neiman-Marcus, rather than some luxury item. Store officials are convinced that the recipient of the extraordinary gift decided that, coming from Neiman-Marcus, it had to be something wonderfully special. (5)
If you looked inside the stable of Bethlehem 2000 years ago, you would see nothing that looked to the unbelieving eye to be anything special. Some cattle, a donkey, some smelly shepherds and a young peasant couple with their newborn child. You might think, this is a quaint scene, but nothing of great significance. You would be so wrong. Why? Because there was a label on the outside cover, visible only to eyes of faith that reads, “Sent by God.” And because the babe comes from God, sensitive hearts have come to see this, the ultimate Christmas gift is something wonderfully special indeed. Go to your home this Christmas Eve and carry that very special gift with you in your heart.
1. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/worlds-largest-diamond-found. Cited by Mark Friesen, http://klcchurch.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/It-Was-There-All-the-Time-Sermon-7.20.14.pdf.
2. http://www.dabar.org/Homiletics/Celebrating/Illustrations.html.
3. Contributed. Source: Emphasis, date unknown.
4. Rev Ian Hayter, http://www.wadestreetchurch.com/urc/sermons/275The_Sermon_on_the_Mount_-_Beatitudes_-_Matt_5_1-12.pdf.
5. Peter Hay, The Book Of Business Anecdotes (New York, New York: Facts On File Publications, 1988), p. 99.