Isaiah 9:1-7
Christmas Eve: December 24, 2013
So
if I asked you what part of the story from Luke is the most incredible, what
would you say? That Jesus was born to Mary through the Holy Spirit? That one of the most famous persons of
history was born in a barn? The angel
and multitude of hosts filling the sky and singing praises to God? The fact that the shepherds somehow found
their way to Jesus in the manger?
These
things are all so amazing, and they make for a story that lives in all of our
hearts – having heard it since we were children.
But
the most incredible thing to me about this story is who wrote it and when.
Hindsight
is 20-20, right. If only I had known
then what I know now…” We all have those
stories. And it’s true for the author of
Luke as he writes his gospel, right?
Hindsight is 20-20. Luke, and all
the other authors of the New Testament, are on this side of Jesus’ death. They have the luxury the disciples didn’t –
they can look back and evaluate how Jesus did in his role as Messiah – savoir
of all people.
Luke’s
understanding of the Messiah is drawn from the prophet Isaiah. He refers to a passage in Isaiah that says
“Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him
Immanuel.” And then from our Isaiah
passage tonight, “a child has been born for us…and he is named…Prince of Peace…and
there shall be endless peace.” Endless
peace: that was the expectation of the
one called Immanuel… Messiah.
Jesus
was born into anything but peace on earth.
He lived in a ruthless time, characterized by leaders – both Jewish and
Roman – who stripped the Jewish people
of their lands and demanded taxes few could possibly pay. They killed, without thought and certainly
without trial, anyone they thought wasn’t loyal to the king. The people around Jesus when he was born were
under Roman occupation, and they were suffering: peace is not a word they would have chosen to
describe their lives.
Into
this, Luke tells us, the Prince of Peace is born. This is what Luke believed about Jesus. He believed Isaiah, he believed Jesus came to
bring this endless peace. But the author of Luke had hindsight. He knew not just of the birth story, but also
of Jesus’ death on a cross.
And
after Jesus died, Rome still occupied the Jewish nation and people; they lived
in poverty, indebted to the rulers; they
saw people try to rise up against the king only to be killed without remorse;
all they had was taken from them indiscriminately. Peace was not a word they would have chosen
to describe the world …not before Jesus was born, and not after he died.
Luke
knew this – he knew there was still not peace in his day. He was aware of the Roman occupation and its
ruthless leaders. And Luke, in his
gospel is particularly concerned for the poor and the oppressed – for the ones
suffering most because of powerful
dictators. He knows where their
suffering comes from, and he still believes Jesus brought endless peace into
this world.
Knowing
all this, in hindsight, isn’t it incredible that Luke and the other authors of
our scriptures hear this story of Jesus’ birth and still believe it’s true? Jesus didn’t establish an endless peace for
all.
We
live 2000 years later. There are still
versions of the Roman emperors and corrupt religious elite around us. There are wars, genocides, poverty,
discrimination, and that all needs to stop.
Jesus’ death before the world knew peace causes problems for all of
us. Why would we possibly believe the
Christmas story in light of Jesus’ dying before peace came to all?
Well,
why not? Why not believe Jesus came to
bring peace to earth. An endless
peace. What if we, like the authors of
our bible, set aside the fact that in a global sense peace is not here and
instead look at the incredible line of unbroken peace we see when we look at
the peacemakers across every time and place.
They are there –you know they are.
We have never been without them.
It’s why we can tell this story every year – because every year we can
point to countless peacemakers in our world.
Yes,
we have to tell it every year because it has not come in full – but, just like
Luke, we can boldly tell the story knowing Christ lives on in us. Because not only are we on this side of
Jesus’ death, we are on this side of the resurrection. And we have hope in the resurrection because
Jesus is brought back to life in the ongoing work of God in this world. He’s born again and again. Brought back to life not just every year, but
in every moment.
Every
Christmas our family draws names to see who we will give a gift to this year. The best part is, in addition to getting them
a small gift, we find a charity we think they would really like and give money
in their name.
Now,
spoiler alert…but only for my mom. I got
her name and I want to tell you about the charity I chose.
In
1964, a French man – whose name I will butcher – Jean Vanier, was introduced to
the plight of many institutionalized people with developmental disabilities. Vanier felt called to invite two
institutionalized men he had come to know to live with him, creating a new kind
of community. That experience led to a number of communities worldwide where
both people with disabilities and people without live in community together. These communities are called L’Arche. They live, eat, work, pray, and play
together.
Vanier
was moved by the some of the most vulnerable people in our midst, and his first
impulse was not to try and topple a government – or an institution for that
matter. That came later. His first
impulse was to invite two vulnerable people to live with him. That’s where he started. He now works to topple the systems and
institutions that crush people with disabilities, but that’s where he started –
“come live with me.”
Vanier
was awarded a peace prize not long ago, and in his speech he spoke about the
peace of Christ:
“Peace
comes not when we say or believe that each and every person in the vast human
family is precious and important, but when we begin to leave the security and
comfort of our own clan and group in order to meet and become friends with
those who are different and who belong to another clan, group, or culture.
He
continues, “Over the years L’Arche has been led by the beautiful, gentle and
tender hand of God. So many wonderful
men and women from different cultures, churches and religions, or without
religion, seeking new ways of peace, have come to share their lives with those
who are weak and fragile and have been transformed by them.
The
road of peace which we have learned in L’Arche is a very simple one. You see, we are not very austere or stressed,
struggling to be heroes. We eat
wonderfully, we drink merrily …we sing loudly and frequently out of tune, and
we dance wildly as we play as much as possible.
We pray with all our hearts but not long hours. We do put our trust in God who is watching
over us.
Finally
he says, “Jesus calls us to live a wonderful beatitude, the beatitude of eating
…with the poor, the lame, the disabled, and the blind; those who are on the
margins of society.”
Maybe
it’s that simple – and that hard. But
when we live this beatitude, the impact on our world is incredible. Maybe we have to know and love one of the
fragile ones to see it, but trust me, the impact is incredible. Maybe peace is right in front of us and all
we have to do to join the unbroken line of peace is to eat and live with those
on the margins of society. Every time we
do, I’ll bet if we stopped to listen we might just hear an angel and a
multitude of the heavenly host singing praises to God.
That
is where we find the peace Jesus brought – peace that continues from the day he
chose to be with the marginalized – peace that continues from when the prophets
chose to align themselves with the marginalized. Peace that continues from the time of
creation until now in the people throughout history who have chosen the peace
of Christ as their guiding star in the night sky.
It
endures – it will endure, because something about this story – of God coming in
a baby to live with the most marginalized people from the day he was born…the
story of the birth of the Prince of Peace – the whole story of his birth, life,
death and resurrection – something about this makes all the difference in the
world. “Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace…a peace that never ends.”
Amen.
