Text: Luke 2: 1-20
Message
After World War II, father and son were walking on the roads of New York. There were stars outside many homes. The Son asked “Dad why are there stars outside so many homes?” Father replied “Son, wherever there is star outside a home, it is a sign that the family has sacrificed their son for our nation. Their sons have lost lives in the war.” The son holding the father’s hand sees the sky between two homes and sees a bright star shining. He says “Dad on the window of heaven there is a star shining. Did God too sacrifice his Son”. Dear Friends Christmas harks about a love story that shows “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3: 16.
a) God has No room.
“ And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2: 7. The Inn did not have room so Mary laid her first born in a manger. The God who made heaven and Earth and all the galaxies, did not have room when he took the human form. That is the beauty of the story of Incarnation, the beauty of Christmas. I am reminded of a skit where a boy is given the role of the inn keeper in the story of Christmas. The teacher tells him that “You are an inn keeper. Joseph and Mary will knock at your inn. And you have to say in a stern voice. ‘Go from here. There is no room for you’”. The boy did his part very well during rehearsal. When the actual play started, the characters playing Joseph and Mary knocked at the inn, the boy yelled seeing them. “Go from here there is no room for you.” The girl who plays Mary acts as if she has a lot of pain. Joseph and mary start to go ahead. Seeing Mary’s pain the boy playing the Innkeeper’s character feels bad. As Joseph and mary went a little ahead, the innkeeper called them and said “Do not go, I will make some space for you. There is room here.” In our worldly calculations, our race to make a mark in our careers, to settle our lives we too don’t have room for Jesus in our hearts. This Christmas, we need to ask “Do we have room for Jesus in our hearts?”
b) Room in a Manger
Jesus the King of kings rested his head in a humble feeding trough for animals. Today the greeting cards and media have sanitized the manger. Most of the mangers look more like palaces than a humble stable. Near Kottarakara, Kerala the YMCA organized a Manger making competition where the best manger made by clubs, schools and churches will get the Prize. There were many entries where the mangers were musical, had disco light effects, had wonderful exteriors, had clean animals and all. So people had definite guesses of who would be the winner. When the result was announced the winners were a group of boys from a nearby slum. The manger was a very ordinary one. The judges replied saying “The award goes to these boys as their manger depicts the emptiness of the manger that we see in the Bible.” Jesus comes into the emptiness of our lives to lead us to wholeness. We live in times of huge emptiness, where we have jobs, salaries, big houses, great cars, but there is this huge emptiness in our lives. The manger symbolizes the emptiness in our lives. This Christmas let us remind ourselves that Jesus inhabits the emptiness of our lives to lead us to wholeness.
c) God Became Accessible in a Manger
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” ( Luke 2: 8-10).
I am sure in the city of Bethlehem there were Scholars, Pharisees, Scribes, Priests, High Priests, et al but the Angel appeared to Shepherds who lived outside the city. The shepherds were treated as thieves and no one liked them. They were outcastes. But the joy of Christmas was revealed to them. The beauty of this is that Jesus who had no room made room for those who had no room.And Angels told the Shepherds “And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” Luke 2: 12. Let us today contrast our churches with these mangers. Because it was a manger, baby Jesus was accessible to the shepherds. Is our Church accessible? Can people who are lost and have no hope encounter Jesus in our Churches?. There is a story where a black man goes to take membership in a white church. The pastor says “Pray to God and ask him if this is his will.” This was the pastor’s technique to avoid the black man from the white church. After 4 weeks the black man again meets the pastor. The pastor is not happy. He says “Did you pray to God? If yes how come you came here?” the black man replied “Yes I prayed to God. He told me, that ‘Even I am trying to enter into that Church for the last 20 years. I did not succeed, so I feel even you ill have no place in that White Church?’. The question we need to ask is where we build such huge churches, do we forget the humility of the manger?
During the House Dedication Ceremony of the Community Centre, Mar Thoma Syrian Church, Guwahati, the committee decided to invite the labours who helped us build the community centre. Ali, Noor and Rizwan came for the ceremony but stood outside the gate. During lunch time when I went to call them, I asked them “Why are you standing outside the gate?” Noor said “Itne Bade logon ke beech mai hum log kaise aaye?” (In midst of such big people how can people like us come?) In our display of splendor and fellowship many people do not feel the “Emmanuel: God with us” that we keep reiterating in our worship. This Christmas let us open the doors of our hearts that help us see the worth of the people for “Who they are” and not for “What they have”. If we become so, we cease to be a church and become a club. Let the manger remind us our mission.
d) “The First Missionaries of God”
“When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. (Luke 2: 17 and 18). The Shepherds became the first missionaries of the Love that was manifested in the manger. The Baby wrapped in the swaddling cloth lying in a Manger made it possible for the Shepherds to feel loved. The space filled their hearts with joy. It is not the power and brilliance of God that made them missionaries. Manger that became the Canopy of Love made them discern a God who loves. This love made them share this good news. This child in the swaddling clothes grew up to tell the leper, “God loves you.” He grew up to tell the prostitute that “God loves you”. He grew up to tell the Blind Bartimeus, “God loves you”. He grew up to tell the bent woman “You too are the daughter of Abraham.” “You too are Son of Abraham” he told the very short Zaccheus.
My predecessor at the Northeast, Rev David V Titus tried to open bank accounts for the Cycle Rickshaw wallahs in Guwahati. He tried to instill in them a necessity to save money. He at his own risk opened accounts for them. He faced threats from the mafia around for doing such work. He used to go to the railway station reservation counter to fill forms for the people who were illiterate. Recently a maid came to our parsonage saying that “I have worked here as a maid when Father David was there. Wo humara bahut khayal rakha. Wo sahi mai ek bhagwan ka admi tha” (He truly cared for us a lot. He truly was a man of God.) Titus Achen was successful in spreading the love of God not only in sermons but also in actions.
Rev Manoj Mathew, my batch mate coined Christmas in a beautiful way “Where the Infinite became the Infant”. When Jesus said "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”, He meant to relive the message of Christmas in our daily living. He asks us to step down from our lofty pedestals of human glory to the child like awe and wonder at the creation and the people that God has created. Christmas is when God humbled himself to be a human. Christmas is a call for humans to become Human Beings. Merry Christmas
Rev Merin Mathew
Mar Thoma Syrian Church
Guwahati
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