The Nativity of Our Lord Christmas Eve: December 24, 2006.Isaiah 9:2-7 Psalm 96 Titus 2:11-14 Luke 2:1-14 (15-20) First Reading The Christmas Gospel from Luke is just as striking for what is not there as for what is there. Most of us think we know this story from Sunday school Sunday school, institution for instruction in religion and morals, usually conducted in churches as part of the church organization but sometimes maintained by other religious or philanthropic bodies. In England during the 18th cent. lessons and Christmas pageants Christmas pageant may refer to:
cattle trough which served as crib for Christ. [N.T.: Luke 2:7] See : Nativity but no stable), or a motel (the inn likely meant something completely different). Our world and our culture have domesticated do·mes·ti·cate tr.v. do·mes·ti·cat·ed, do·mes·ti·cat·ing, do·mes·ti·cates 1. To cause to feel comfortable at home; make domestic. 2. To adopt or make fit for domestic use or life. 3. a. both this text and our Christmas celebrations. There are also some surprises in what is there. First, the historical backdrop does more than place the birth of Jesus in time. The mention of Augustus provides a sharp contrast in the identity of the one whom the angels call Savior, Messiah, and Lord. The titles "savior" and "lord" were commonly applied to Augustus, who was the first of the Roman emperors
This is a list of the Roman Emperors with the dates they ruled, or claimed to rule, all or part of the Roman Empire, until the final demise of the Western Empire in 476 or to the death of to be given divine status. The "Divine Augustus" was indeed the highest lord in a culture where one's overlord o·ver·lord n. 1. A lord having power or supremacy over other lords. 2. One in a position of supremacy or domination over others. o was the key to one's ultimate fortune in life. (1) For the child that is born to be given those titles was to say something about his status in that society. For the same child to be born in the animal enclosure of a Bethlehem peasant house is a direct challenge to everything that status represented in the ancient honor/shame society. Second, as opposed to the myth of the commercial inn turning Mary and Joseph away (how horrible), we actually have something different in Luke's story. The word here translated as "inn" ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII ASCII or American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a set of codes used to represent letters, numbers, a few symbols, and control characters. Originally designed for teletype operations, it has found wide application in computers. ]) appears only one other place in Luke, and that is as the "upper room" where the last supper Last Supper, in the New Testament, meal taken by Jesus and his disciples on the eve of the passion. Jesus broke bread and passed a cup of wine among the disciples, identifying himself with the bread and the wine and linking the meal to his impending death on the is celebrated. It was customary in ancient society to provide hospitality to travelers in general but especially to those who had family connection in the area, which Joseph certainly did. Because there were a good many travelers, and because Mary's delivery of Jesus would have made her (and anyone who came in contact with her) ritually unclean for seven days, the guest room, or upper room, would not have been a fitting place for her to deliver. It was common in ancient houses for the family to live inside with the animals. A manger would have separated the two areas. It was here, typically, that a place would be made, apart from the others in the house for privacy and ritual purity concerns, for the midwife to come and deliver the baby. Thus, in a Bethlehem crowded with out-of-town guests, Mary and Joseph were likely in a home, and a private place was provided, as would be the custom, for the birth to take place. (2) However, the contrast of a "lowly" place underscores the themes in Luke's Gospel of a God who is in the business of abolishing the patronage system altogether and replacing it with the gracious one who willingly and lovingly gives himself to the creation by entering it. Room is made for God to enter, but the room that is made and the way God enters help us to understand what God is up to in the incarnation. God will not be a new "patron" the way that Augustus is ruler. God will not support or participate in a system in which the rich are supported by those of lower status. God views the peasant house not as a shameful place to be avoided but as a fitting entry point into humanity. The patronage tax, the purpose for the enrollment and the journey of Jesus' parents, in fact becomes the occasion for the announcement of its downfall. This is underscored by the announcement of the birth to the shepherds in the field. Likely hired hands out with the flocks, these are folks close to the bottom of the social ladder. This "royal" birth is not announced in Jerusalem among courtiers of kings and provincial governors. It comes to a group, likely uncouth and unbathed, dazzled daz·zle v. daz·zled, daz·zling, daz·zles v.tr. 1. To dim the vision of, especially to blind with intense light. 2. by the light of a sky torn open. It gives them hope and a new future to live into. The announcement of what God is up to could not be plainer: "To you is born this day, in the city of David City of David, in the Bible, epithet of Bethlehem, the birthplace of David, and of Jerusalem, his capital. a [new] Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord." And all the angels join in the song. Pastoral Reflection It is interesting how much easier it is to get to the heart of the message of Christmas when I reflect on these lessons and write in May rather than at the end of December. Our culture throws so much at us during Christmas. I, for one, do not trust the culture to be the bearer of the meaning of this event for our people. That's why I took the opposite view of folks who were "boycotting" stores who would not say "Merry Christmas" in the advertisements last year. I felt that it was a good thing to disconnect commercial interests and Christmas. I felt that the overall message that God's coming into the world is a grand excuse for consumer excess hurts rather than helps the celebration of Christmas in our culture. Many people did not want to hear what I had to say. Many pastors tell me that they struggle with Christmas sermons. I sometimes struggle as well, trying to say something new or fresh, trying to find something new in the text to share. Then I remember it is not about me. It is about God doing something simple and profound. It is a story that deserves to be told, told well, told simply, and its significance will shine through. In contrast to the flash and dash of the commercial Christmas, it is better perhaps to help people be in the story. Can we be the simple folk who need hope and future to be renewed? The spiritual hunger that is evident in our culture's search for meaning today tells me we can! Can we hear how God's coming into our world alters the course of human history? Can we see how the incarnation and the crucifixion crucifixion, hanging on a cross, in ancient times a method of capital punishment. It was practiced widely in the Middle East but not by the Greeks. The Romans, who may have borrowed it from Carthage, reserved it for slaves and despised malefactors. are linked? Can we find a way to understand that God's commitment to enter our life is also a commitment to enter our death? Can we make plain that Christmas is linked surely to the cross of Good Friday Good Friday, anniversary of Jesus' death on the cross. According to the Gospels, Jesus was put to death on the Friday before Easter Day. Since the early church Good Friday has been observed by fasting and penance. or it means almost nothing? Perhaps the most extraordinary thing that happens in the Christmas cycle happens a week after this sermon and text. New Year's Day New Year's Day, among ancient peoples the first day of the year frequently corresponded to the vernal or autumnal equinox, or to the summer or winter solstice. In the Middle Ages it was celebrated among Christians usually on Mar. 25. is a non-Sunday of the Church Year that is celebrated as "The Name of Jesus." When God takes on a human face and a name, something extraordinary happens. One of the deepest taboos of Ancient Israel is broken. God's name, Yahweh, is so holy it is not spoken. God's image is protected by commandment com·mand·ment n. 1. A command; an edict. 2. Bible One of the Ten Commandments. commandment Noun a divine command, esp. . Yet when God takes on a human face, and a human name, God is inviting us to a different relationship altogether. God is still totally other, but now totally with us as well. Christmas changes the fundamental way God relates to us and thus the way we relate to God. For those congregations that also have worship on Christmas Day, this might provide a theme for preaching the followup on the Christmas Eve texts, whether continuing the reading from Luke or taking up the reading from John's Gospel. There is more than enough divine mystery to go around. LLB LLB abbr. Latin Legum Baccalaureus (Bachelor of Laws) LLB Bachelor of Laws [Latin Legum Baccalaureus] Noun 1. 1. For more about the patronage system of ancient Rome Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. , see the article on the subject in Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh's Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels Synoptic Gospels (sĭnŏp`tĭk) [Gr. synopsis=view together], the first three Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), considered as a unit. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992). 2. Malina and Rohrbaugh, Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, 296-97. |
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