December 4, 2005

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The Boy Jesus

Luke 2:39-52

            A new trend is literally turning a longstanding Christmas tradition on its head.  Hammacher Schlemmer, a retail company based in New York, is offering a unique yuletide decoration: the Upside-Down Christmas Tree.  The tree is seven feet tall and pre-lit with over 800 commercial grade lights, and it can be yours for the low price of just $599.95.  Why would anyone want a tree like that?  Well, according to their website, “The inverted shape makes it easier to see ornaments, which hang away from the dense needles,” while “allowing more room for the accumulation of presents underneath.”  Now other retailers are offering the upside-down holiday tree — places like ChristmasTreeForMe.com (which has already sold out of its stock), and Target.  Target put out a statement similar to Hammacher Schlemmer.  They said the trees “leave more room on the floor for gifts.”  Only in America!  I think it is the perfect symbol for our post-Christian culture: an upside-down tree making room for more presents. 

            Everyone has become very disturbed that there seems to be an unspoken ban on saying the word “Christmas.”  More and more signs are saying “Happy Holidays,” rather than “Merry Christmas.”  How rude and crude of Christians to interject their religion in this celebration of our Winter Solstice!  The Christmas tree has been renamed as a “holiday” tree in many of the stores and other public displays.  But I remember when I was young, and my Dad worked with mostly Jewish men.  He told us they put up all the usual decorations for this time of year in their home, but they called their tree a Hanukkah tree.  They took the holiday of a religious leader they didn’t believe in and used it as an opportunity to exchange gifts like everyone else.  Actually, I think it’s great that the stores and other secular places have stopped using the word Christmas.  We used to complain that Christmas was being taken over and had become a secular holiday.  We groused that the retailers were just using Christmas to make money.  Well, now they are finally being honest and admitting it.  Let the world have their holiday trees and holiday sales, and let the people of God reclaim Christmas and celebrate the entrance of Christ into the world.  We have said for years that Christ is no longer in Christmas, and now it is out in the open.  Let them have their secular and empty holiday, and we will keep our Christmas full of Christ.  Let it be a distinctive Christian holy day for those who follow Christ. 

            Christmas is a day of magic and mystery, because God became a man and walked among us.  John says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).  The only problem was that it did not seem so glorious at the time.  Except for the shepherds and Mary and Joseph it seemed bathed in the mundane.  One more baby.  One more mouth to feed.  One squalid stall.  One crying newborn.  Cute, yes, but mysterious?  No.  God came in this marvelous disguise of a very ordinary human child.  He had to be nursed or he would die.  His diaper had to be changed.  He had to be wrapped in cloths to keep him warm.  There was no halo or extraterrestrial glow about him.  His mother probably became overwhelmed at times trying to meet his needs and having him still fuss.  As he grew he probably frightened and frustrated her in some of the things he did.  He played and got hurt.  He got dirty.  We know there was sibling rivalry because the Bible tells us that for a long time his brothers did not believe in him, and for a time they claimed he was crazy (John 7:5, Mark 3:21) — the same thing my siblings have at times said about me.  He was a very normal child in almost every way

            Eight days after he was born, he was circumcised.  Then thirty-three days after his circumcision, which was the period for the mother’s purification according to Jewish law, Jesus’ parents took him to the temple in Jerusalem to dedicate him.  The sacrifice the parents offered was two doves, instead of a lamb, because they were poor.  The poverty of his own family was part of what made Jesus identify with the poor.  But when they came to dedicate Jesus, there were two extraordinary people were in the temple.  One was a man named Simeon, and another was a woman named Anna.  Both were righteous people who spent much time in prayer within the temple area.  It had been revealed to Simeon that he would not die before he saw the Lord’s Messiah.  When he saw the infant Jesus in his mother’s arms, he took the baby and lifted his voice to heaven saying, “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.  For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”  Then the Scripture says, “The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him” (Luke 2:29-33). 

            But God was not through.  A prophetess named Anna was also there.  The Scripture says, “She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.  Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”  Then the Word says, “When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.  And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him” (Luke 2:37-40).  He was a very normal child, yet God was confirming that he had a very special purpose, as he had told them earlier in the dreams they had before Jesus’ birth. 

            Then there was that unusual incident with a star when he was somewhere between six and twenty months old.  Wise men, or Magi (Persian philosophers and astrologers), came searching for him and causing a stir in Jerusalem with their talk of a new king.  As a result of their visit with King Herod, and disclosing to him that a new King of Israel had been born, Herod ordered all the children in the area two-years-old and younger to be killed.  What is interesting is that Jewish tradition says that in the Old Testament, just before Moses’ birth, the Egyptian astrologers predicted that the one who would deliver the Hebrews out of Egypt was about to be born.  They told Pharaoh of the coming deliverer, and that is why he ordered the slaughter of the male Hebrew children by drowning for the next nine months.  The similarity between the two deliverers was not lost on the people, or on Jesus’ parents. 

            But other than these incidents early in his life, Jesus’ childhood was probably very normal.  I am sure he was a fun and fascinating child.  I’m sure he was full of energy, and with his bright mind could always keep things interesting.  We know very little of these days, and some early spurious writings which have survived tried to fill in the gaps and make Jesus’ childhood supernatural.  For instance, The Infancy Gospel of Thomas has the following story: “This little child Jesus when he was five years old was playing at the ford of a brook: and he gathered together the waters that flowed there into pools, and made them straightway clean, and commanded them by his word alone.  And having made soft clay, he fashioned thereof twelve sparrows. . . .  Jesus clapped his hands together and cried out to the sparrows and said to them: Go! and the sparrows took their flight and went away chirping.”  It makes for a great story, except it isn’t true.  Jesus was not into tricks, he was into miracles that affected people’s lives, and he was very much a normal boy. 

            He even gave his parents problems.  We read in the Scripture this morning about one big problem he caused them when he was twelve-years-old.  His family, all his relatives and many friends had traveled together from Nazareth to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover at the temple — a trip of about 65 miles by foot over rugged, hilly terrain.  The way was filled with criminals and thieves who were looking for unsuspecting travelers.  But this marked another important passage in the life of Jesus.  Being twelve-years-old, it was his Bar-Mitzvah, with other boys his age he became a “son of the covenant.”  It was the rite of passage into manhood, and he chose to spend his time in the temple talking to those who were biblical scholars.  However, these scholars, after hearing him, were “amazed at his understanding and his answers” (Luke 2:47).  When his parents were leaving, they assumed he was among their relatives as they began the sixty-five mile hike back to Nazareth. But he wasn’t among the Passover pilgrims, he was absorbed in talking about the Scriptures.  It took his parents three days to find him, and now they would have to walk back to Nazareth without the safety of their group.  But when they safely returned, the Bible says, “Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.  But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.  And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:51-52). 

            Why the mystery of the incarnation, the coming of God in the flesh, and what does it mean for us today?  Why did the glorious God take on such an ordinary human disguise?  Many things come to mind, but there a few that I would like to lift up today.  The first is: God’s strength is in his apparent weakness.  By becoming human God became vulnerable.  People could hurt him psychologically and physically.  He cried over Jerusalem, and bled real blood from very real wounds.  He was rejected for a time by his own family.  Other friends and relatives rejected him and wanted to kill him by throwing him over the cliff at the edge of his home town (Luke 4:29).  There was growing hatred toward him during his ministry.  People tried to stone him.  Eventually, they beat him nearly to death and then crucified him.  He appeared so helpless on the cross, paralyzed by spikes and pain.  But we now know he was never more powerful.  Paul wrote: “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength” (1 Corinthians 1:24-25). 

            God had to come in disguise for many reasons.  One is that if he had not he would have blinded us with his glory.  The other is that he had to come in a form that we could recognize and relate to.  Also, we had to know that he understood us and shared in our humanity.  The Bible says, “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17). 

            The apostle Paul was struggling with a problem in his life, something he called his “thorn in the flesh.”  And as he prayed, he heard the Lord Jesus speak to him and say, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).  Jesus Christ lived out that truth in his own life, and he calls us to do the same.  What looks like weakness is strength when it is lived out in a life totally submitted to God.  The power of Jesus was displayed when his appalling death became the atoning sacrifice for the whole world.  Jesus’ friends and disciples were crushed beneath a load of despair and depression as they witnessed his death.  Little did they know that he had never been stronger, and that evil had just been dealt a death blow.  If there had been no death there would have been no resurrection.  That is where his power was.  In talking of the power of God, the Bible says, “That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything” (Ephesians 1:19-22). 

            The second thing that the incarnation helps us to know is: Jesus understands the human condition.  How would we know God cared if he had not come as a man?  How would we know that he understood what it is like to live in a human body?  How would we know that he understood how difficult life can be, and to feel the pressure of emotion and passion?  But because he was built and wired just like us, we understand that he understands the human condition.  The Bible says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin.  Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16).  Jesus is that part of God that can never forget what it is like to be human.  Be sure that these were real temptations that pulled at Jesus just as they pull at you.  If he could not have in some way said “yes” to those temptations they were not real temptations.  The Bible says, “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).  So when you confess your sins to God you can be sure he understands. 

            The third thing that the incarnation helps us to know is: God’s desire is to be with us.  How easy it would have been for God to remain aloof and distance himself from human pain and suffering.  Actually, if God is the God of love we say he is, it would not have been easy at all.  If he truly loves his creation he could not have stayed away.  I am impressed by the number of times in Scripture where I read of Jesus wanting to be with people and people to be with him.  He said to the thief on the cross: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).  As Jesus prayed in the garden, he prayed for his disciples saying, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (John 17:24).  When he chose his disciples, the Word says, “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.  He appointed twelve — designating them apostles — that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach” (Mark 3:13-14).  Here is God becoming a man, that he might be with us.

             Lee Eclov, relates a story from Mark Twain’s novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.  He writes, “The story tells the adventures of an ordinary man (the Connecticut Yankee) from the 19th century, who is transported back to the medieval world of King Arthur.  At one point he convinces King Arthur to dress like a peasant and take a journey through his kingdom.  The results are generally laughable as the king, completely oblivious to life in the trenches, tries to carry on with all the pomp of the court while those around him simply think he is crazy.  But there is a touching chapter titled ‘The Smallpox Hut’ describing how the king and his companion happen upon a beggar’s hovel.  The husband lies dead, and the wife tries to warn them away: ‘For the fear of God, who visits with misery and death such as be harmless, tarry not here, but fly! This place is under his curse.’  The king replies, ‘Let me come in and help you — you are sick and in trouble.’  The woman asks the king to go into the loft and check on their child.  ‘It was a desperate place for him to be in, and might cost him his life,’ observes the Yankee, ‘but it was no use to argue with him.’  The king disappears up a ladder looking for the girl.  ‘There was a slight noise from the direction of the dim corner where the ladder was.  It was the king descending.  I could see that he was bearing something in one arm, and assisting himself with the other.  He came forward into the light; upon his breast lay a slender girl of 15.  She was but half conscious; she was dying of smallpox.  Here was heroism at its last and loftiest possibility, its utmost summit; this was challenging death in the open field unarmed, with all the odds against the challenger, no reward set upon the contest, and no admiring world in silks and cloth-of-gold to gaze and applaud; and yet the king’s bearing was as serenely brave as it had always been in those cheaper contests where knight meets knight in equal fight and clothed in protecting steel.  He was great now; sublimely great.  The rude statues of his ancestors in his palace should have an addition — I would see to that; and it would not be a mailed king killing a giant or a dragon, like the rest.  It would be a king in commoner’s garb bearing death in his arms.’” 

            God’s desire is to be with us, and he laid aside his royal robes and supernal crown in spite of the terrible cost of “bearing death in his arms.” 

Rodney J. Buchanan

December 4, 2005