The Best Gifts Come in Small Packages / Matthew 1:18-25
Advent 4, Year A; Downsville Baptist Church; 23 Dec. 2001
A little boy and girl were singing their favorite Christmas carol in church the Sunday before Christmas. The boy concluded "Silent Night" with the words, "Sleep in heavenly beans." "No," his sister corrected, "not beans, peas." Wally was a 7th grade student who was bigger than any of the other students in his Sunday school class. His mother had been an alcoholic when he was born, & as a result, Wally just did not have all the mental capabilities that the rest of his classmates had. But somehow he managed to get by. Christmas time came & his class decided to put on a Christmas pageant. Since he was the biggest, Wally was selected to be the innkeeper. After all, the innkeeper is kind of a villain in the Christmas drama. So they coached Wally to be just as mean as he possibly could be. Well, the night came for the Christmas play. And in it, Mary & Joseph came to Bethlehem, went to the Inn & knocked on its door. Wally opened the door & said, "What do you want?" just as mean & gruff as he could possibly be. Joseph said, "We need a room. We need a place to stay tonight." "Well, you’ll have to stay someplace else," said Wally, "because there’s no room here. There’s no room in the Inn." Joseph said, "But my wife’’s expecting a baby just any time now. Isn’’t there someplace where we can stay, where we are protected from the cold & where she can deliver her child?" "No," said Wally, "There’’s no room here." Then suddenly there was a silence on the stage. It was one of those embarrassing moments when you know that someone has forgotten the lines. From behind the curtains you could hear the prompter saying, "Begone. Begone." Wally was supposed to speak, but for some reason he had choked up & forgotten to say "Begone." Finally, after he had been coached for several long seconds, Wally managed to say, "Begone." Mary & Joseph sadly turned to leave. But just as they did, Wally said, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You can have my room." The director of the play was ready to pull out her hair because she knew that the whole Christmas pageant had been ruined. But had it? Maybe Wally, better than anybody else communicated the real spirit of Christmas. "You can have my room."
Perhaps children understand Christmas more purely than the rest of us. Oh to be sure, they tend to focus on Santa Claus and presents more than the rest of us; but they are the ones who are capable of standing genuinely in awe of the fact that God became a baby. I don’t think we adults would have fit in too well at the stable when Jesus was being born. We think we understand the significance of the event, and we would likely try to convince the shepherds to join us in singing “Joy to the World.” We would ask Joseph and Mary if it would be okay if we led everyone present in a word of prayer. Grownups can tend to ruin the most majestic of moments with words, even if they be reverent words. However, put one of our children in the midst of that stable on the first Christmas and they might behave like any of us should. They would be silently shocked. God was being born, and what can you say about that? Absolutely nothing. Instead you are just amazed and somehow thankful and silent tears might flow down your cheeks as a testimony that you are witnessing the birth of grace. It’s hard enough to explain the idea of God being with us. It is impossible to explain God with us as a little baby boy named Jesus. And so you don’t try to explain it—you just experience it.
The miracle of birth is an amazing thing. Many of you here have experienced giving birth first hand. Perhaps some of you fathers were present in the delivery room when your child was born. I wonder if Joseph had to learn any of the same lessons I learned during that experience. First, I discovered that a woman giving birth is always right and that you need to apologize a lot. Second, you need to have breath mints. The last thing your wife wants during this process is a husband with bad breath. Third, don’t say you understand what she’s going through—you don’t. Fourth, don’t wear rings on your fingers. The ring will be imbedded into your other fingers. In all seriousness though, don’t forget that moment in which you first lay eyes upon that beautiful new life. In your mind, you’ve known for nine months that a little life was growing. But your heart doesn’t catch up with your mind until that moment you see a new person that will always be a part of who you are. Now I’m guessing that none of us in this room would claim our children to be the Messiah, no matter how wonderful we think they are. We’ve seen them throw too many temper tantrums, smart off to us too many times, and outright disobey us to think there is anything divine about them. However, something beautiful and mysterious happens when we first see that wonderful baby boy or girl that reminds us that God is with us.
How much more was this experienced by Joseph and Mary? Months before Jesus is born, Joseph is told in a dream that the baby that Mary carries is conceived by the Holy Spirit. His name will be Jesus, the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew name Joshua, meaning “savior” or “deliverer.” However, the angel speaking to Joseph in his dream tells him of another significant name this child will bear, the name Emmanuel. “Emm” meaning with, “anu” meaning us, and “el” meaning God. This baby will be the “with us God.” In Tom Brokaw’s book The Greatest Generation, a story is told of Mary Wilson, presently of Dallas, Texas. You would never know by looking at this modest woman that she was the recipient of the Silver Star and she bore the nickname “The Angel of Anzio.” You will recall that when the Allies got bogged down in the boot of Italy during World War II, they attempted a daring breakout by launching an amphibious landing on the Anzio Beach. Unfortunately, the Allies got pinned down at the landing site and came dangerously close to being driven back into the ocean. It looked like another Dunkirk was in the making. Mary Wilson was the head of the fifty-one army nurses who went ashore at Anzio. Things got so bad that bullets zipped through her tent as she assisted the surgeon in surgery. When the situation continued to deteriorate arrangements were made to get all of the nurses out. But Mary Wilson would have none of it. She refused to leave at the gravest hour. As she related her story years later, she said: “How could I possibly leave them? I was a part of them.” Through his Son, Jesus Christ, God is posing the same question and answer to each of us: “How could I possibly leave you? I am a part of you.”
This is the third Christmas in a row that will mean more to me than any other Christmas. I know that Christmas is celebrated by all those who are surrounded by loving families because Christmas gives a chance to spend time with those we care about the most. Although this is an important part of the meaning of Christmas, it is not the most important part. I witnessed a television commercial this week that featured the National Football League announcers for FoxSports: James Brown, Howie Long, Terry Bradshaw. They reminded us of the need to be thankful for what we have during this Christmas season because there are so many others who find themselves homeless, depressed, alone, and in poverty in this holiday season. Christmas is especially hard for those individuals because all around them they see a happiness and a togetherness of which they are not a part. However, for all the lonely and hurting, I will suggest the meaning of Christmas might be appreciated by you better than anyone else. For those who are surrounded by loved ones, for those who feel loved, for those who do not feel abandoned or alone, Christmas is special because it reminds you that God has not abandoned you either, that God is the God who is with us. However, for those of us who are haunted by loneliness at Christmas, for those of us who have felt the pain of abandonment, Christmas is also especially meaningful. The birth of the baby Jesus reminds us that we are not all alone despite how coldly this world might treat us or how much pain we might endure whether intentionally or unintentionally at the hands of others.
One of the great ironies of the incarnation is that it was intended to show us that God was with us, and the way we responded was to say that we are not with God. John’s gospel declares that the light of the world that gives light unto every man was coming into the world but the world did not know him. God came to earth to announce to us that he is with us, and only a handful of fishermen, tax collectors, prostitutes, and political dissidents realized it. In Jesus, God proclaims I am with you; but with the cross we proclaimed back our ignorance of God’s presence. But God’s grace is so amazing that though we crucified it, grace was resurrected three days later triumphantly declaring Immanuel, God is with us, whether we choose to rejoice in this truth or reject it in ignorance and rebellion. During this Christmas season might we all pray for one another that we not miss the gospel all wrapped up in swaddling clothes in a manger in Bethlehem. May we pray for one another that we all embrace the good news of joy, peace, hope, and love, the good news that God is with us, that God never has nor will he ever abandon us. Blinded as we may be by tragedy, deafened as we may be loneliness, numbed as we may be heartache, let us not forget that the promise of Emmanuel has been fulfilled. God has not forgotten us. God has not grown indifferent toward us. God has not turned against us. God has not abandoned us. God is with us. God has bound his grace to each of us through Jesus Christ and God will lead us or carry us or whatever else is necessary to our promised home of victorious grace.
Corrie Ten Boom—Often I have heard people say, "How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic, and look at the lovely weather!’" Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister, Betsie, to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp. I remember one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us. "No, Corrie," said Betsie, "He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word: ’For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him.’" Corrie concludes, "There is an ocean of God’s love available--there is plenty for everyone. May God grant you never to doubt that victorious love--whatever the circumstances."
Christmas reminds us just how very good God is. As children we were told that the best gifts come in small packages. We rarely believed it. Then as we grow older we begin to realize that the old adage often rings true. Could ever ring more true than at Christmas? God has decided to send his Savior into our world, and God knew that no Savior would be sufficient save God himself. And so does God come as a military warrior from the West? No. Does God come as a Roman emperor with the governmental power to change the world? No. Does God come as a larger than life movie star whose influence no one would ignore? No. Does God come as some supernatural creature from the heavens that demands we bow down and worship him or suffer his wrath? No. God comes in a small package; and if we take the time to unwrap it, there we will discover the greatest gift ever given humankind. God comes as a baby born to a lower class Jewish carpenter and his new teenage bride. God is not born in the best hospital under the care of the best doctor. There are no television cameras present, and Dan Rather will not interrupt our regularly scheduled programming with a special report. God is born in a feed trough with an audience of cattle and confused shepherds. The Mormon tabernacle choir is not present to sing “Joy to the World,” nor is Billy Graham waiting just up the road to offer a mesmerizing sermon to draw all who will listen to the altar for repentance. However, for those who are astute enough to sense the presence of God, there does exist a choir of angels that sing more beautifully than human ears can comprehend, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to those whom God favors.” Brothers and sisters, this Christmas season give thanks that God favors you. Your best gift has arrived, and he’s in a very small package—a helpless little baby named Jesus who will grow into the man who shows us all the greatest truth of grace—Certainly God is with us.
