Tell me three things you love about Christmas? Isn’t love great? Well today, my hope is, to introduce you to
the greatest love of all time!
Dec 24 2017 Readings:
Romans 16: 25-27, Luke 1: 26-38
One of the great theologians and renowned author of our
time, Karl Barth, was asked to be a guest lecturer at the University of Chicago
Divinity School. Dr. Barth being quite
elderly and not well sat quietly in a chair near the podium. The organizers, out of concern for Dr. Barth
health decided that rather than opening the floor to many questions, after his
speech, the Presider would ask one general question for all. The Presider turned to the renowned
theologian and asked, "Of all the theological insights you have ever had,
can you tell us which do you consider to be the greatest of them all? It seemed the perfect question for a man
who had written literally tens of thousands of pages of some of the most sophisticated
theology ever put into print. The
students waited in awe, what great insight would this theological giant offer
to them. Dr. Barth closed his tired
eyes, and he thought for a minute, and then he half smiled, opened his eyes,
and said to those young theology students, "The greatest theological
insight that I have ever had is this: "Jesus
loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so”
Karl is right folks, for the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the
greatest love story ever written! If it
weren't for Christmas we might never have known the intensity of the love that
God has for each and every one of us.
Mary and Joseph, far from home because of imperial rule, a
peasant very young mother giving birth in unsanitary substandard conditions... There was
no fanfare, no religious delegation and no royalty in attendance. The Lowly shepherds were the first to lay
eyes upon the miracle. Mary just gently
laid her newborn in that manger, amazed at the miracle of new birth, gauzing in
joyful celebration as they looked at his little face, just like every new parent does.
But this child would be different for He was to be the sign of God’s
true unconditional love for the world to see and to know personally. This love would be different because it would have no strings attached.
True love
accepts us for who we really are; there are no good conditions on this love. God chooses to love us precisely because we
are all His and because we are all subjected to our human nature, no one
escapes these truths. So then, let us
set aside the myth that we are loved only if we are good, for if that were
true, none would be loved. Let us also
set aside the myth that if we are bad we are not loved, for if that were true
none would be loved. How come the same? Because Jesus' unconditional love brakes all the rules of our human conditional love. Mary and Joseph had nothing to offer but
their obedience to a calling beyond themselves and that is precisely all we
have to offer, a calling beyond ourselves.
It is an invitation to trust and surrender our lives over to the care
and control of something greater than ourselves.
Jesus was to be the Son, the true Son of God so patiently
waited for, and now, to be born into our world.
This child would be the ONE, the one who was willing to finally embody
God’s unconditional love for all to see and experience personally. Not just some of the time, not when it was
convenient, but in every waking, breathing minute of every single day of your life. Don’t
you see, Christmas it is the birth of that love into your world, that is
what we are to celebrate folks. It’s not about being bad or good. It’s about a love so unconditional that its
power transcends good and bad, life and death. Who
would have ever guessed that this crossing of paths, this intersection of the
divine and the human, would take place in the remote village of within the Middle East ? That a child would be born into our world,
who would fill His life so much with the love of God, that in Him , thousands
upon thousands would be moved to make the incredible claim that they had
actually met their God in person. On Christmas night God would send out a
love letter of cosmic proportions.
Unfortunately for so many in our world this cosmic love story still
takes second place when compared to the love myth of the big guy in the red suite, Jolly Old Saint Nicklaus.
In fact it is Jesus who breaks that myth and shows us that God’s unconditional love is
not based on whether we are bad or good, nor does it demand perfection. This love offers a forgiveness that isn't
given away sparingly either, but recklessly and indiscriminately even to those who have hurt, abandoned or forsaken us. Unconditional really means unconditional, there are no
strings attached. All who are gathered here this morning fall within the embrace of that
love, and that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in
all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God found in Christ
Jesus. Romans 8:38. You see,
that is where the hope, peace joy and love of Christmas is to found folks.
For on that night and in that baby, the Divine and the
human miraculously cross paths. The
infant Jesus is our living, breathing sign of the immeasurable love that God
has had for all of us from the very
beginning. It is from this story that
our mystery and the magic of Christmas should come. For John 1 tells us that “Before the word was created, the word
already existed: He was with God and He was the same as God”
Christmas is the living promise that we are never ever
alone. Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end. No matter where
we are in life, no matter in what condition we find ourselves, no matter how
far we might stray, or how unfaithful we are, God in Christ, the supreme lover,
will pursue us in love for eternity!
Christmas for us should be our beacon of hope, a light that never stops
shining for you.
May
God in Christ bless each of you and those you love this Christmas.
No comments:
Post a Comment