December 24, 2024
• Rev. Rob Fuquay
St. Luke’s UMC
December 24, 2024
Christmas Eve
On the Way to Bethlehem
The Manger: Place of Humility
Luke 2:1-20
There is something about spending the season of Advent waiting on a baby to arrive that deepens the meaning of the season. Our oldest daughter Julie and her husband, Christian, have been expecting their second child who was due at the beginning of the month. My wife, Susan, sang in the Christmas concert way back on Dec. 6 and 7. She figured she wouldn’t be able to participate, because when the baby came she would fly out to Denver to help them, but alas, no baby. Susan went ahead and made reservations to fly out the next Wednesday, because surely by then…but no baby yet. So she took care of Geronimo, our grandson, so Julie could nap and Christian could go to work, day after day after day, but no baby yet. Then, last Tuesday, as I was walking into a worship service here at the church, the call came and we celebrate (pic) the arrival of a new granddaughter, Genieve Grace Delise, born exactly one week ago tonight.
We spent Advent with eager longing, anticipation, and waiting. That’s what Advent is all about, waiting on a baby. Advent is kind of a helpless season. You realize you are not in control. Babies come on their terms. All you can do is wait. It’s a long journey to Bethlehem but once you get there, it’s worth the wait.
God comes as a baby.
We’ve spent Advent making our way to Bethlehem. We’ve used a book I wrote that came out this year, On the Way to Bethlehem. It looks at the places in the Christmas story and think s about the way those places shaped the people in the story. We’ve learned about and traveled from Rome to Jerusalem to Nazareth and finally this past Sunday, Bethlehem.
But tonight we reach our destination. It’s not just Bethlehem but a specific location in the village. An area perhaps no bigger than a few square feet. The place where Jesus was placed after his birth: A manger. Three times in the Christmas story the manger is mentioned. “(Mary) gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger.” (Luke 2:7) The angel announced to the shepherds, “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”(2:12) And when the shepherds find the family it says they “found Mary and Joseph and the baby, who was lying in a manger.”(2:16) It seems very important to Luke for us to know that the first place to surround Jesus once he left his mother’s womb was a manger.
In that time most stables where animals were kept were attached to homes. Because there was no guest room available, someone allowed Joseph and Mary to spend the night in their stable. If there was hay or straw on the floor, they were probably grateful to at least have that. And, of course, wouldn’t you know it, that would be the time the baby would arrive, because babies come when they choose.
Right after Jesus was born, they wrapped him in whatever spare material they had, and laid him in the manger, the feeding trough for animals. Most mangers in first century Palestine were cut out of rocks like you see in this picture. Food for animals like straw would be placed there. (remove pic) That is our destination. That is what we have been making our way to.
The meaning of the word Advent means to come to. At a service two weeks ago, our new bishop here in Indiana, Tracy Smith Malone, pointed out that normally we think of Advent as our coming to Bethlehem. Our journey to the place where Jesus was born. But more accurately Advent is about God’s coming to us. It isn’t so much about our journey to God. It is first and foremost about God’s journey to us.
That is why our manger is in the middle of the congregation tonight. And you’ll notice it is not a stone manger. We needed one we could carry! It is in the center aisle representing that this night means that before we go looking for God, God has already been looking for us. God comes to us.
When I was in Boy Scouts we were taught that if we ever get lost in the woods, stay still. The temptation is to panic and just start walking or running, but we’re better off to stay still. Because if you are lost, chances are someone is looking for you. And you have a better chance of being found if you stay still and wait.
Tonight means that God is looking for you.
So let’s think for a moment about the power of that idea, especially as it relates to the place where Jesus came into the world. We depict the stable and manger as a tender place, with clean straw and light streaming down. But in fact it was a filthy place. It was an inappropriate place for any child to be born, especially the Savior of the world. It was a place that is meant to offend us and makes us say, “Surely not!”
Where would such a place be today? Maybe an abandoned house in downtown Indianapolis where a homeless couple has been evicted and gone to find shelter. There’s no heat or water. Yet that is where the Savior would come today. Surely not!
Maybe it is at a shelter near the border of our country where an immigrant family is fleeing violence and desperately trying to find a better life, and there the time comes for a child to be born. Surely not!
I have a pastor friend who has been in the Holy Land the last several weeks on a cultural visit. He has been in the company of Palestinian Christian pastors. This is a picture (*baby Jesus in the stones) of the outside of the Redeemer Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem where Rev. Munther Isaac is the pastor. In his Christmas Eve sermon last year he pondered:
“If Jesus were born today he would be born under the rubble of Gaza. When we rely on power, might and weapons, Jesus is born under the rubble…When we justify, rationalize, and theologize the bombing of children, Jesus is under the rubble. This is his manger. He is at home with the marginalized, the suffering, the oppressed, the displaced. This is his manger.”
Surely not! If we are offended in any way by any of these suggestions, we may be nearer the manger than we realized. Our “certainly nots” are God’s “probably-sos.”
And this doesn’t just apply to the Ukraines and Gazas and Juarezes of our world. Christ came to enter the mangers of our hearts; in the places of darkness and pain and need we experience. This is our reason for hope tonight. For those whose lives were so formed in atmospheres of hate and prejudice that such words and behaviors have become their own, there Christ wants to be born? Surely not!
For those whose heartaches in life have been so deep and unbearable it has made them at times want to curse God, there Christ wants to be born? Surely not!
For those whose sin has dragged them down to levels of perversity that make them hopeless about their own lives; there Christ wants to be born? Surely not!
For those who have been so wrongly treated because of their skin color, or ethnic identity, or sexual orientation that they despise the Church, the Bible, and the God who seems to have authorized such treatment; there Christ wants to be born? Surely not!
This is what it means when the Bible says, he was laid in a manger. God comes to the places in our lives and our world that are the ungodliest.
The goal is not to offend but to give hope. For this is where hope is found, in the manger. This tiny bit of real estate tells us all we need to know about why Christ came. We don’t have Christmas because we’re doing pretty well on our own, and once a year we need a pleasant escape from the things not going so well. No! We need much more! We need a God who is capable of meeting us in life’s hardest places, for only a God who is born in a manger can do something about the mangers of our world and our lives.
The old Children’s show "Sesame Street" probably described Christmas best. They had a skit of the old fairy tale where the beautiful princess kisses an ugly frog and the frog becomes a handsome prince. In the Sesame Street version, however, the princess kissed the frog, whereupon she turned into a frog too!
Now that’s the truth of Christmas! God is willing to meet us in our lowest to which we reply with hearty praise and say, “What difference does that make???” So what if God becomes a frog like us! We need better than that! We need a God who makes us like Him. We need a God who can change our frogginess. We need a God who with a snap of the finger can improve our world and get things better.
But God doesn’t do that, and the reason is God knows if He worked that way we would probably spend most of our lives simply trying to get away from things; wanting God to get us out of what ever bad situation we’re in; change the things about us we don’t like; change other people. We would all probably spend most of our spiritual time pleading with God to help us escape.
And God didn’t come to get us out of this world, God came to transform this world, to meet us in this world, to help us make this world a better place. That is why God was born in a manger, because God is willing to meet us in our lowest, our darkest, our most sin-filled realities and help us change this world and make it better. This is the hope of Christmas, to believe that God does not give up on our world even when we do.
The manger doesn’t leave us comfortable. It couldn’t have been a comfortable place for Mary and Joseph. They’ve come all this way from Nazareth to register for a census. And of all times that’s when the baby decides to come, when they have no place to stay, and their only lodging is a filthy animal stall. As far as we know Mary and Jospeh have not had one heavenly visit since they were first called to take this assignment. No angelic pat on the back along the way to say, “You’re doing great. You’re right where I want you. Keep going!” Don’t you think they would have had reason to feel discouraged that night? They have allowed their lives to be upended to bring the child into the world and now the only place to lay him is a nasty manger??
And that’s when the shepherds show up! Oh, you gotta love those shepherds. They are very key to the story. Shepherds lived on the underside of social life. Adam Hamilton points out that in that time there was a derogatory term, Am ha-Arez, which means “people of the land.” It mocked those who were not educated and respected. Shepherds were considered Am ha-Arez.
Yet when God chose people to be the first witnesses of the Christ-child God invited shepherds, the Am ha-Arez. And think of the important role they played. When they found the family it says, “they made known what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them…”(2:17-18) Who were the “all?” It says “All who heard it.” It was just Mary and Joseph there. Maybe it included the sheep who perhaps responded, “Inn-ttt-resting.” But the key witnesses seem to be Mary and Joseph. No wonder it says Mary treasured these things in her heart. The shepherds were God’s confirmation to Mary and Joseph.
I don’t know why God works this way, I just know God does. Why couldn’t God have sent a couple angels to hover over the stable and give Mary and Joseph a thumbs up? I don’t know. God sent shepherds to be their confirmation. I can’t explain it, but its not the first time I’ve seen it. God makes of us shepherds. People God uses to be God’s confirmation of hope to others. God uses us not because we are great enough or smart enough or esteemed enough. God uses us because we are willing to be Am ha-Arez, just ordinary people, but people humble enough to be used.
This past Saturday, while 125 families shopped at our Angel Tree store, we also served 90 families through our diaper distribution. This was the largest single day number yet. We have been doing this ministry for a couple of years now as part of our effort to reduce infant mortality and improve maternal health. This year we have given away 125,000diapers to families in very vulnerable places. Each time they are open volunteers hear many different languages and experiences varieties of cultures as people receive hope. We meet them in their mangers.
But they meet them in ours too. Two sisters from Haiti lived through the earthquake there in 2010. They come every month and bring with them an infectious joy. They say over and over again, “God bless you,” and insist on hugging every volunteer. They made a special connection with one particular volunteer when they learned she had been to their country, Haiti. One of the women put her hands around the face of this volunteer and said, “My friend, you are my friend,” and the volunteer was moved to tears. Life hasn’t been the easiest in recent months for Haitian refugees, but these people come to our Hub for Hope, at first feeling embarrassed reluctant, but leave feeling safe and loved and accepted. And at the same time give confirmations to the volunteers that they are doing God’s work. God is with them.
So many of our volunteers, whether they serve at our Hub for Hope, or provide meals at Fletcher Place, or any number of other sites where we serve, they say, “I get more out of it than I give. I find God there.”
Indeed. Because God is found in the manger.
And maybe some of us need to know that tonight because we are carrying a manger inside of us. Our life feels like a mess and what we need to do is quit running. Quit trying to find our way out of the woods. What we need to do is just be still and realize God came for us. Just humbly open up our life to Him and say “God enter this manger of mine, please.”
And for others tonight, your life perhaps doesn’t feel like a manger…