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12.13.09

3rd Sunday in Advent

IT’S NOT YOUR TURN YET

ISAIAH 9:2, 6-7; LUKE 2:1-7

• A Silent, Holy Night
• The Unobtrusive Advent
• One of the amazing things about the story of the birth of Jesus Christ is its simplicity
• If ever there was an opportunity for God to enact God’s plan of salvation with majestic flourish, it was at Jesus’ birth
• However, God chose instead to slip into the world quietly, almost unnoticed
• The story of Jesus’ birth as recorded in Luke is one of humility and simplicity
• Yet, there were angels in the heavens, but the appearance of those angels was limited to a small group of lowly shepherds
• Yet, there was an unusual star in the sky, but that star was only noticed by a few astrologers from a far away land
• Only those very few were tuned into the in-breaking of God into the world
• The rest of the world lay sleeping when the Savior was born
• Contrast the birth of Jesus with the birth of his cousin, John the Baptist, a few months earlier
• John’s birth was announced in the capital, at the temple in the center of the Jewish nation
• But Jesus arrives in rural anonymity
• John is the child of a priest and his righteous wife; Jesus is born to average Jewish peasants
• The only ones who seemed to notice was the angels of heaven and those to whom they chose to announce it
• The rest of the world slept, not caring enough to make room for the coming of the long-awaited Messiah
• Preoccupation
• It’s not so much that they really didn’t care about the coming of the Messiah, it’s just that they were too busy to notice
• For centuries, they held onto the hope of the birth of a Savior, and the longer the delay of his coming, the lower their expectations were that he would ever come at all
• Hope is a good thing, for sure, but there is also the need to attend to the details of daily living
• Who has time to hope when life is pressing in around you?
• And right now, at this moment in time, the most pressing thing was the Roman census
• It’s not that they didn’t have time for God, it just wasn’t God’s turn yet
• There were other things of greater importance that needed to be tended to first
• The little village of Bethlehem was exploding with people that night, all there to register for the census
• They were weary from days of travel, and the village was so full there was barely room to move
• Most of them who were there just wanted to register and get back home
• Satisfying the demands of their Roman oppressors was all that any of them could think about
• None of them needed trouble from the Roman authorities
• It was Rome’s turn now—God would have to wait
• The In-breaking of God
• Enter Mary & Joseph
• This was the situation into which Mary and Joseph came, and apparently there were among the last to arrive
• In this village crowded with preoccupied people, they found no place to stay
• By the time they arrived, the inn was full
• Again, notice the simplicity of Luke’s detail: “She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.”
• There’s no details of a grumpy old innkeeper slamming the door in their face, nor of a kindly innkeeper leading them to his stable and attending to their needs
• Those details are fabrications we have added to the story
• Luke simply says, “There was no room for them in the inn.”
• These are simple words, yet they are very profound
• They speak volumes about the preoccupation of the people gathered in that tiny village that night, and even more about the preoccupation of the world into which Jesus came
• There were other things—more important things—to attend to
• It’s as if the entire world was saying, “God, there’s no room for you right now.  It’s not your turn yet.  You’ll have to wait.”
• Mary and Joseph were preoccupied as well that night, but their preoccupation was of a different sort from the rest of those gathered in the little village of Bethlehem
• Certainly, they, too, where there to register for the census, but that wasn’t the first thing on their minds
• They were preoccupied with the birth of their son, and making room for him was the  fist thing on their minds
• How frantically they must have searched for a place to stay so Mary could give birth until they happened upon a stable
• It was not the best of accommodations, but at least it was shelter
• Unlike the rest of the people in Bethlehem that night, Mary and Joseph knew what was about to happen
• They knew that their son was God’s Son, and with the birth of that child, God would come into the world to save God’s people from their sin
• They had no way of knowing what lay ahead for their son, but they knew he was the Child of God, the fulfillment of all the ancient prophecies
• Above all else, they had to make room for Jesus
• That was their first priority—the census would have to wait
• The Promise Fulfilled
• How their minds must have been flooded with the prophecies onto which they and their ancestors hung their hope for such a long time, especially the prophecy of Isaiah 9
• These words were spoken to a people lost in the darkness of exile as a result of their disobedience to God
• Yet, despite their sin, God spoke to them a word of hope and forgiveness
• The light of God’s love and grace would shine on them through the birth of a child
• That child would rule the earth, establishing it with justice and righteousness and creating peace forever
• And the majesty of this child is reflected in the names that will be given to him: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace
• Does not a child such as this deserve a place in the life of the world?
• Can we not make room for him rather than say to him, “It’s not your turn yet”?
• Making Room
• During the Monday Morning Prayer Fellowship a week ago, one of our members shared with me her struggles to make room for God in her life
• Before leaving the house that morning, she knew that she and I would be the only ones at Prayer Fellowship that day
• As she thought about that, she admitted that it would have been easy for her to stay home, and she was considering that when she heard a voice say to her, “So what?”
• “So what if you’re the only one there?  Where two or three are gathered, there am I.”
• She recognized that “So what?” as the voice of God—and so she came
• That particular day, we reflected upon our uncomfortableness with silence and how difficult it is to make room for God in our life
• We’re uncomfortable with silence because we’re afraid to hear what God might say to us in that silence—what God might reveal to us; what God might ask us to do
• We talked about how we preoccupy ourselves with other things—often things that are trivial and unimportant—because we’re afraid to open ourselves up before God
• It was in the context of this conversation that she said to me, “If I would have stayed home this morning, I would have been saying to God, ‘It’s not your turn yet.’”
• The simple story Luke tells of the birth of Jesus Christ speaks volumes to us about how crowded our lives really are
• Had we been in Bethlehem on that first Christmas night, we, too, would have been too preoccupied to notice the earth-shattering event of the coming of God into the world
• But we don’t live on that side of Jesus’ birth, we live on this side of it
• Like Mary and Joseph, we know what Christmas is all about, and yet still we say, “It’s not your turn yet, God.  There’s no room in my world for you right now.”
• In our celebration of Christmas, we say that every time we allow presents and parties and decorations to occupy more of our time, attention and energy than focusing on the gift God gave to us in the birth of God’s Son
• The inn of our heart is crowded with worry and anxiety about trivial matters, so that there is no room for Christ to really dwell within us
• But it’s not only at Christmas that we edge God out
• We have difficulty making room for God on the other days as well
• It’s sad to think about how often we say to God, “It’s not your turn yet.”
• We edge God out when we allow our calendar to dictate our daily activity because we pack our schedules with more activity than we can possibly do
• We have no room for God when we cease to marvel at the beauty of a sunset, the crispness of the snow, the intricate beauty of a flower, and the marvels of nature around us
• We say “It’s not your turn yet, God,” when our actions and attitudes don’t reflect the life and teachings of Jesus Christ
• When we treat others with contempt
• When we demand our own way
• When we ignore the needs of the poor, the sick, and the oppressed
• We edge God out when we allow ourselves to be consumed with worry and anxiety, with fear and frustration rather than to trust in God’s grace, mercy and love
• There is no room at the inn when we avoid silence and refuse God an opportunity to speak to us
• Christmas is all about making room for God, about allowing Christ to be born within us
• If we can make room for God at Christmas, then we can make room for him the rest of the year as well
• Christmas declares to us that it is God’s turn
• On our own, we have made a mess of things
• Try as we might, we haven’t been able to save ourselves
• It’s God’s turn now
• Into the middle of a world destroyed by sin, God came in the form of a child
• Wrapped in the flesh of a baby, God offers new life to the world
• Can you not make room for him?
• How long will you say, “It’s not your turn yet’?