It is easy to get so caught up in the sentimentality and nostalgia of Christmas that we neglect the true reason we celebrate. We receive Christmas cards portraying a cute infant Jesus lying in a manger filled with straw. The Baby Jesus is pictured in the center with Mary and Joseph on one side, the shepherds and Magi on the other. We know this scene: animals are in the background, in the distance angels can be seen hovering, as a star shines brightly overhead. However, there is more to Advent and Christmas than celebrating the birth of a baby. Babies make no demands on anyone other than their parents or those caring for them. While we may enjoy holding babies, the moment they start fussing we quickly hand them back to their mother or father.
If we forever view Jesus as an infant we miss out on much of his life and teachings. The Lord Jesus stands before us calling us to follow him. Jesus demands we become intentional in our interactions with other people. We are to pay attention to people often forgotten or overlooked in our communities and world, just as Jesus did. If we volunteer at homeless shelters or donate money to support local charities, we show that we care about all people just as Jesus taught us. It’s easier to simply view Jesus as a cute little baby who makes no demands on our lives.
Karen recalls the year her parents retired and moved to Florida. Her parents decided to stop exchanging Christmas gifts and instead give donations to charities, “using the money they would have spent on each other,” she explains her parents gave, “dog food for the Humane Society, canned goods to a homeless shelter, toys to Toys for Tots.”
The family welcomed this new gift strategy. Karen says her mother would buy dolls on sale throughout the year. “Then a few weeks before Christmas she’d assemble kits with a doll, at least five new outfits, accessories… and donate them to a worthy organization.” Karen and her family joined the project.
Even though Karen’s mother died a few years ago, her project lives on “as our family stockpiles dolls and outfits for next Christmas. I smile,” Karen reflects, “remembering Mom’s delight in her dolls and her pleasure in giving joy to others.”[1]
The apostle Paul knew firsthand the demands Jesus makes on all who follow him. Paul was writing to the church at Rome, a church he had not yet visited. In the opening verses, wanting to make a good impression, Paul identifies himself as “a servant of Jesus Christ.” Paul was clear about his position: a servant serves the master. He was a humble servant of the Lord Jesus. He was “called to be an apostle,” through his conversion experience on the Damascus Road where he met the Lord Jesus. It was then that he was, “set apart for the gospel of God.” From that moment on Paul would spend the rest of his life laboring for the Lord Jesus. More than that, Paul was willing to give up his entire life, everything he had labored for up to that moment, to put himself to use for Jesus. Because of that powerful experience Paul completely surrendered to his Lord. We are called to follow Jesus just as Paul was called.
Paul in his opening words to the Romans makes the case that Jesus was the long-awaited messiah. The Old Testament prophets foretold of the coming of God’s messiah hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus. Isaiah told of God giving a sign for all the people, “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). For centuries the people held certain expectations of what the messiah would be like and what he would accomplish. In truth, Jesus did not exactly fit many of these preconceived notions, but was nonetheless the long-awaited messiah.
Jesus was a descendant of King David, Paul states, “according to the flesh.” People were looking for a messiah from the royal house of David. Joseph was a direct descendant of David. In this morning’s gospel reading (Matthew 1:18-25), Joseph is charged with the responsibility of naming the baby Jesus. Joseph would raise Jesus as any parent would. Jesus was no ordinary baby. Jesus was God in the flesh. That is what incarnation means — God became one of us in Jesus!
During his life Jesus experienced everything that we do, the full range of emotions from grief and despair, to joy and triumph. We are able to closely identify with Jesus knowing that through his life he experienced the same ups and downs that we do. Jesus knows just what we are going through. Jesus is the “Son of God” both divine and human.
While some might have had questions whether or not Jesus was the messiah, Paul states that all doubts were erased by the resurrection. Jesus was “declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead.” Here we are just days from Christmas and we are reminded of Easter and the resurrection. These two events should not and cannot be separated. The incarnation, the birth of Jesus, and how God raised him to new life define the essence of our faith.
It is through God’s amazing grace that we are included among the children of God. It is through Jesus that “we have received grace.” God’s grace is freely given and is not something that we ever earn or even deserve. Elsewhere Paul makes the astonishing claim that we are saved through grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
Paul was writing with the hope of convincing the people of the reality of the gospel message that he experienced at his conversion. Without question, Jesus is the long-awaited messiah foretold by the prophets. Jesus taught, healed the sick, and won followers. Evil put Jesus to death but God raised him to new life on Easter. This is the foundation of our faith and is cause for celebration. Paul was convinced beyond a shadow of doubt that all this was true. And Paul wanted his readers, and all of us, to believe the same about Jesus Christ.
There were problems within the early church that Paul patiently addressed time and time again. One problem that continued to surface was accepting people who were not of Jewish descent. Much of Paul’s writings covered this subject. God’s grace includes all people, “including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” The ethnic makeup of the Roman church included Gentiles, but because of their faith in Jesus Christ, Paul labels them as “saints.” “To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints,” the apostle wrote. They were saints, loved by God.
Cimeri was traveling home for Christmas, from California to Arkansas by bus, taking her two young sons to see their grandfather. Life was difficult; she was broke. The reason she was headed home was that her father had wired her enough money for bus fare and food for the four-day journey. Cimeri was afraid to tell him how bad things were and that she wanted to move back home with him for a few months until she could get back on her feet.
Two hours from Kansas City, at four o’clock in the morning, the bus lurched to a stop jolting everyone awake. The bus had broken down. By the time they got to the station they had already missed the connecting bus for Arkansas. The next bus would leave in twelve hours. Cimeri called her father in tears, “We’re not going to make it in time for Christmas Eve,” she said. Checking her purse she had only ten dollars — not enough for a real meal. What was she going to do?
A tall man dressed in overalls and a Santa cap was walking around the bus station handing out things to people. “Look kids,” she exclaimed, “it’s Santa Claus.” The man stopped in front of them. “Merry Christmas” he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. “I can’t accept this,” Cimeri gasped, waving his hand away. “Are these your boys?” he asked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two more $100 bills.
With tears in her eyes she told the stranger how badly she needed the money but there was no way she could accept it. The man bent down and told her he knew exactly what it felt like to be down on your luck. He reached into his pocket once more and pulled out an additional two hundred dollars. “Take it” he said gently. She broke down and told him how they had no money, how the bus broken down, and that they would not reach their destination for Christmas Eve. The man promised that she would be home that night; he arranged a limousine to take her and her sons home. This was a moment of grace and through this stranger’s kindness she did make it home for Christmas. And in the process her faith in Jesus Christ was restored.[2]
Christmas Day will soon be here. We have been preparing for that day through these four weeks of Advent. We have spent these days preparing our hearts and minds to receive Jesus Christ, God’s gift to us. These weeks of Advent we have been changed and transformed as we reflect on our faith in light of the scriptures we have examined. It is with humble obedience that we approach the manger. From that cute little baby who grew up to be our Lord we can experience life in its fullness. It is from that manger that we are called to a lifetime of discipleship. We follow Jesus, doing what he would want us to do. When we do that we experience the grace and peace that come from “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
On Christmas Day we will be spiritually ready to receive Jesus once again into our lives. We will be prepared to enter into the joy of the coming year, ready to claim the grace that comes to us in Jesus. Amen.
1. Karen M. Leet, “Christmas in June,” Guideposts, June 2008, p. 19.
2. Cimeri Miller, “Along Came Santa,” Guideposts, December 2007, pp. 22-24.