Christmas Eve 2007

                                                                        Isaiah 9:2-7

                                                                        Luke 2:1-20

WHAT CHILD IS THIS?

What child is this, who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping?  So begins stanza one of the beautiful carol “What Child Is This?”  Each Christmas Eve we are invited to come to the manger and ponder this question.  Luke’s beloved account of the Christmas story     gives us a place to begin.  How do each of the characters in this story respond to the question “What child is this?”

The Emperor Augustus would not have been aware of the birth of Jesus.  Augustus was recognized   as the most powerful human being in the civilized world.  He lived in splendor in Rome, the capital of the empire.  He would have had no reason to be concerned about the lowly birth of the son of a poor Jewish carpenter and a young teenage mother in a stable in a small village in a minor colony.

The innkeeper was kind enough to give Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary a place to sleep.  We can imagine him dropping by the stable and smiling at the newborn Jesus lying in a manger.  But he would not have viewed Jesus as the Messiah, the Savior of the world.  To the innkeeper Jesus would have been another common ordinary Jewish boy.

Who would have imagined that God would choose to reveal the full identity of Jesus first to shepherds?  Shepherds tended to be looked down upon by members of the religious community, because shepherds were not able to participate in all the rituals and ceremonies.  They were simple rugged men of the field.  Caring for their sheep consumed most of their time.

The shepherds themselves were obviously surprised by the good news of the birth of the Messiah.  When the angel appears to them, they are terrified.  It was one thing to thwart the attack of a wild animal on their sheep.  But being face to face with an angel of the Lord—that was an entirely new experience.  The angel assures them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”  Then the angel tells them what to look for: “This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

Overwhelmed with joy and excitement.  they leave their sheep behind—something a shepherd never did—and head for Bethlehem.  They may have been simple men of the fields, but they knew that God was up to something special, and they wanted to see this newborn child for themselves.

To the common observer Jesus still looked like an ordinary baby boy.  These shepherds, however, were filled with good news of great joy.  They did not view newborn Jesus through ordinary eyes, but through the eyes of faith.  They saw a child through whom God was transforming the whole world.

Excited about having beheld the Christ child, the shepherds do precisely what the people of God are called to do.  They tell everyone they encounter what has been told them about this child.  Luke tells us that all who heard them were astonished.  Astonishment is a common reaction in the Gospel of Luke, but it does not necessarily lead to faith.  Raymond Brown compares this group of hearers to those in the parable of the sower who “hear the word, receive it with joy, but have no root.” [1]  They are like eager onlookers, who get a charge out of unexpected events, but resist decisive changes in their lives.

During a Christmas Eve candlelight service           Mary’s response to the Christ child seems especially fitting.  Luke tells us that Mary “treasured all these words   and pondered them in her heart.”  To ponder means to consider something deeply and thoroughly, to meditate on it.  Who better than the mother of the Christ child to ponder his identity and the significance of his birth?  Mary teaches us    to treasure the good news of Jesus’ birth          and to ponder what God has done and continues to do through him.  Mary marvels that God is working through a lowly handmaiden such as her.  She marvels at what God is doing through the lowly birth of Jesus.  God is bringing down the mighty from their thrones and lifting up the lowly.

In pondering the question “What child is this?”  we may wonder whom we most identify with in the Christmas story.  A Roman Emperor is not someone we relate to.  Unlike the shepherds and the astonished hearers on that first Christmas, we are not hearing the good news of the birth of the Christ child for the first time.  Perhaps mothers can identify with Mary and her tender feelings toward her newborn son.  Fathers may identify with Joseph, although nothing is said in the gospel of Luke about his reaction to Jesus.  But unlike Mary and Joseph none of us were there for the birth.

Our situation is most like that of the evangelist Luke.  Like Luke we were not eyewitnesses of the birth of Jesus.  We are dependent, as he was, on what has been handed down to us.  Nonetheless, we can ponder who the Christ child is with the eyes of faith.  Even the eyewitnesses could not perceive the true identity of the Christ child without the eyes of faith.

Luke believes that Jesus fulfills the words of the prophet Isaiah: “For a child is born for us; a son given to us; authority shall rest upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer explains that Isaiah speaks “of the birth of a child, not the revolutionary deed of a strongman, or the breathtaking discovery of a sage, or the pious deed of a saint.  It truly goes beyond anything our minds can grasp: The birth of a child is to bring about the great transformation of all things, is to bring salvation and redemption to all of humanity . . .As if to shame the most powerful human efforts and achievements, a child is placed in the center of world history.” [2]

One of the most horrible events of 2007 was the shootings at Virginia Tech.  Last week Virginia Tech set aside a wing of Norris Hall,      where most of the shootings occurred, as a place for peace studies.  No more regular classes will ever be held there.  It is a way for the Virginia Tech community        to reclaim this space desecrated by horrible violence.

A number of families have been advocating to build a “Garden of Forgiveness” at Ground Zero in New York, where the World Trade Towers once stood.  This is another effort to reclaim space desecrated by violence.

In Tacoma whenever a murder occurs leaders of the faith communities gather at the site to remember the victims and to reclaim the site for the community.

Placing a child—the Prince of Peace—in the center of world history is God’s surprising way of reclaiming a lost and sinful world.

On this Christmas Eve we are invited to ponder once more the significance of the fact that God has placed a child in the center of world history.  We stake our lives on that fact.  We believe this child was sent to bear the very authority of God.  But he was sent to rule in a very distinctive way--not by lording it over or dominating people but by serving and bringing peace.

The Christmas story teaches us to look for the Christ child in the most unexpected places with the most unexpected people.  Hans Christian Anderson tells the story      of a poor woodcutter who lived in a small cottage on the edge of a forest.  He and his wife had two children, a girl named Mary and a boy named Valentine.  One winter evening they heard a gentle tap on the window and a voice called out, “Oh, let me in, I pray!   I am a poor child, with nothing to eat, and no home to go to, and I shall die of cold and hunger.”  Mary and Valentine jumped up, opened the door, and said, “Come in, poor little child!   We have not much to give you, but whatever we have we will share with you.”  The child eagerly warmed himself by the fire, ate the food they set before him, and then fell asleep quickly in the bed they provided.  Mary and Valentine slept on the floor near the hearth.

In the middle of the night Mary woke up and then shook her brother awake.  “Listen, Valentine,” she whispered.  They both heard a chorus of children’s voices: Oh holy Child, we greet thee!  Bringing Sweet strains of harp to aid our singing.  Thou, holy Child, in peace art sleeping, While we our watch without are keeping.  Blest be the house wherein thou liest, Happiest on earth, to heaven the nighest.”

“It’s him—in our bedroom,” said Mary, “the Christ Child is with us.” [3]

On this Christmas Eve continue to ponder who the Christ child is and where he may be found.  Be sure to look for him in the most unexpected places with the most unexpected people.  Be assured he is very, very near.

In Jesus’ name, AMEN.