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Much as I love Christmas with all its trimmings, sometimes it can be hard to find the Incarnation amongst all the tinsel. Christmas is more and more about looking forward to a party and less and less about a religious festival. This year I have done my Christmas shopping to songs with words such as ‘Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away.’ Not exactly in the spirit of Christmas!!
In the frenetic activity which invades Advent, and interferes with our spiritual preparation for Christmas, there is a feeling that all must be done by 25th December, it almost seems as if the world will end on that day and so all must be in good order. This year, with the credit crunch it appears that we must spend, spend, spend, for tomorrow we will run out of money and have to survive on whatever we bought in the run up to Christmas. The enforced jollity makes many feel inadequate and lonely, with the sense that they are spoiling everyone else’s enjoyment by being a ‘party pooper’. Even when that first Christmas is allowed to enter into the celebrations it is very much concentrating on ‘a baby’, perhaps a ‘designer baby’ (which he is of course, but not quite in the designer style of the 21st Century!). This baby just happens to be in a manger, but there appears to be no recognition of just who that baby was and why he came to earth. The carols can be rather detached from reality too: ‘But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes!’ I wonder if that’s how Mary remembers it?! On a medical level I would be very worried about a baby that never cried; on a theological one, how does this make Jesus fully human? In reality these words were probably written down by Victorians to enforce the idea that ‘children should be seen and not heard’ and to help them behave in Sunday School!
So what do today’s readings have to tell us about the Incarnation? One thing is certain, in contrast to our preparation for the secular Christmas, the Incarnation was predicted over hundreds of years throughout the Old Testament and each year we are encouraged to use Advent as a time to carefully get ourselves ready to receive the Christ Child anew. It is not meant to be a short and frantic rush to prepare for Christmas Day only to be forgotten a couple of days later. We are to prepare carefully and dwell on it in our hearts, just like Mary.
The Old Testament reading starts in the middle of Isaiah chapter 60 and I think it is helpful to look at the opening verses before exploring what the reading can tell us today. No doubt some of you will remember that we read this on the 3rd Sunday in Advent! For those who cannot quite remember what it said here is a reminder:
“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;”
These words were addressed to exiles who had recently returned to their homeland, to find it in ruins. It was to reassure them that a new age was about to dawn. And so it is for us. This sets the scene for the reading that we heard where the Jews are told that they will be clothed by God in garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness. These can be compared to the dress for bride and bridegroom and symbolise a new start, new opportunities within new relationships. Within this new environment the Lord will cause righteousness and peace to spring up before all nations. Stirring stuff! Finally Israel, and by implication those who listen to the Lord, will be called by a new name and are very precious to Him. As we learn to love Him as He loves us, we will want to please Him and this will encourage us to persevere.
When the Nativity story is so familiar to us it is difficult to look at today’s gospel reading without some preconceptions. We all remember the carols and see the pictures depicting the shepherds on the hilltops, caring for their sheep, when suddenly a host of angels appears to them with startling news of a Saviour born in nearby Bethlehem. We need to try to step back from those images and look at it afresh.
During Advent I have been reading a book called ‘The First Christmas’ and subtitled ‘What the Gospels Really Teach about Jesus’ Birth’. This looks at the theology behind the Gospel narratives, taking into account those for whom Matthew and Luke (the only two Gospel writers to write about the Nativity) were writing. It helped me to look behind the familiar story and to see layers of meaning that have passed me by in previous years.
For instance, what is the significance of the shepherds being called to Bethlehem? The shepherds were persona non grata to the orthodox society of the day. They were quite unable to keep the details of the ceremonial law because they couldn’t observe all the meticulous hand washings and rules and regulations. Their flocks made constant demands on them and so they were marginalized. Certainly not the sort of people who would be expected to be amongst the first to meet the Messiah. But then as we know Christ’s Kingdom was not in any way the sort of Kingdom the Jews were looking for and Jesus started as he continued, mixing with unsuitable people and showing them God’s love. Even as a tiny baby, unable to speak, he was able to make an impact on a down-trodden group of people.
But maybe it wasn’t only because the shepherds were considered to be outside polite society that they were called to witness the birth of the Messiah. A thousand years before Israel had had a king who had started life in obscurity working as a shepherd. In fact he was so obscure that when Samuel went to Bethlehem to meet with Jesse and advise him which of his sons would become King of Israel after Saul, Jesse didn’t even consider his youngest son, David. Samuel was puzzled that each of Jesse’s sons came before him and yet was rejected by God as the future King. In desperation Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the sons that you have?” It was only then that Jesse mentioned David who was out in the fields watching the sheep. An inauspicious start for the greatest King of Israel. Then, as now, memories were short and once David became King his humble beginnings were no doubt forgotten by all but a handful.
However all good Jews knew that the Messiah who was to come would be a descendant from King David and both the genealogies, in Luke and Matthew make mention of him. In addition Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father, when he regained his speech prophesied that God had sent a mighty Saviour from the royal line of his servant David.
However Jesus was so different from the Messiah that was expected that even with the clues I have mentioned for most the birth of that special baby in Bethlehem passed by unnoticed.
They expected a general...
and were given a child.
They expected a coronation...
and were given a star.
They expected victory...
They were given love.
(Richard Fanolio)
Of course the shepherds came, but who was going to take any notice of them. The Magi, mentioned only in Matthew’s Gospel, were foreigners and when they had visited the baby they went home avoiding Jerusalem and Herod. But Mary and Joseph, Zechariah and Elizabeth knew and as Jesus grew into a child and then an adult, they were watching and waiting.
So what does all this have to say to us? We who know who that baby born at Bethlehem is have a responsibility to tell others. More than that we must be careful not to make assumptions, to judge just who is ‘suitable’ for God’s Kingdom. The Bible is full of stories reminding us that God’s way is very different from ours.
The authors of ‘The First Christmas’ make this comment:
If we identify with the shepherds, we will dream of and seek a different kingdom, one more under the lordship of God as known in Jesus, revealed to the shepherds on a starry night as Messiah, Lord and Saviour.
Do we accept that or are we among those who hear the story of Jesus, but aren’t sure what to make of what we hear? Do we understand the Nativity Story? Do we learn its lessons, or do we mix and match, keeping only the bits that we like? Part of our celebration of the Incarnation should be to ponder again the mystery of God coming to us as a helpless baby. Take time to think about how amazing that is. As the Graham Kendrick song The Servant King puts it:
From heaven you came, helpless babe,
Entered our world, your glory veiled;
Not to be served but to serve,
And give Your life That we might live.
This is our God, the servant king;
He calls us now to follow Him, to bring our lives
As a daily offering of worship to the Servant King.
Not all the carols have got it wrong: during Communion we will be singing ‘What child is this’ by William Chatterton Dix. These words also remind us of who Jesus is and why he came. I urge you to reflect on these as part of your celebration of the Eucharist. They can help us remember why we commemorate the Last Supper each week.
Ultimately the Incarnation is about restoring a broken relationship with God: learning to love the God that loved us so much that he was prepared to be born as a human baby and die for humanity to repair that relationship for eternity.
As today’s Collect puts it so powerfully:
Almighty God,
who wonderfully created us in your own image
and yet more wonderfully restored us
through your Son Jesus Christ:
grant that, as he came to share in our humanity,
so we may share the life of his divinity.