Let Jesus Show
By Griff Martin
On Luke 2:-21
For the Beloveds of First Austin: a baptist community of faith
On Christmas Eve
December 24. 2018
Luke
2:1-21:
In
those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be
registered. This was the first registration and was taken while
Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be
registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee
to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from
the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary,
to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they
were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she
gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him
in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
In
that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their
flock by night.Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of
the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel
said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great
joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of
David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign
for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a
manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly
host, praising God and saying,
“Glory
to God in the highest heaven,
and
on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
When
the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one
another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place,
which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and
found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they
saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who
heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary
treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.The shepherds
returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it
had been told them.
After
eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called
Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb
The
Homily:
Incarnate
and Resurrected God, we ask that you once again take the Word and transform it
into a living and breathing new reality we can all together experience. Make us
aware of your presence here in this space and in these words God for if we are
present to you then nothing else will matter, but if we are not aware of your
presence, then nothing else will matter. In the name of the Creator, the Christ
and the Comforter. Amen.
Tonight
we sit in holy anticipation with a gentle service that feels a bit like home
for us, like a favorite novel or movie that we know by heart and yet we keep
coming back because it gives us comfort. Tonight is familiar in the best of
ways. It’s cozy a bit of a reunion of sorts with those we might not have seen
in some time coming home. We have Scripture text that feel nostalgic and carols
that warm our hearts. A night with heavenly peace, where all is merry and
bright, all is calm and all is right. Which is great, it’s exactly what we
want.
But
the problem is the story we celebrate tonight is nothing like that.
I
remembered this fact when I re-read the text to begin working on tonight’s
homily. And I read this text in a very different place, in the lowest of low
places. I read this text sitting on the floor of a very crowded airport in the
middle of the most god forsaken of states, Florida. I apologize if you like
Florida, I am sorry for that.
Let me
help you set the scene…. Fort Lauderdale Florida, home of those who cruise for
vacation, thus a very popular airport that has not yet built enough seats in
its terminal and it was there the Martin family was stranded for 5 hours
without chairs, really without much of anything. The terminal had two
restaurants: a sandwich shop that cost an arm and a leg and a meatball shop,
which we refused because it was a meat ball shop in the middle of an airport
terminal in Fort Lauderdale.
We
found a place we could bunker while all those who should have been so relaxed
and joyous from their cruises walked past in state that was anything but relaxed
and joyous. We sat there for 5 hours, with sunburned kids who had stayed up way
too late the night before dancing at a wedding. We sat there and we listened to
the Mayor of Fort Lauderdale , Dean Trantalis continually welcome us to his
city in a voice that assured me that even he did not really like Fort
Lauderdale and on a loop where this welcome played approximately every 5
minutes, which sounds bad, but we were actually thankful for it because
otherwise they were playing what had to be Kenny G’s holiday album. And again I
apologize if you like Kenny G- I assume you are the same people who like
Florida, I am sorry for that too.
And
there we sat with our flight home leaving later and later and knowing that we
had 2 flights between us and home, knowing that we were going nowhere fast,
wanting so bad to be home but with so many miles from here to there, to
home.
And
you read the Christmas story different in that place. You don’t identify with
Mary or Joseph or the angels.
Of
course many of us know that place as well, wanting to be home but so many miles
to go…. Wanting more and getting nowhere fast… family dsynfuction that seems to
grow by the hour and get messier and somehow deeper all the time, your dream
running further and further into the distance that it almost seems a mirage, a
medical diagnosis that has suddenly defined you in a way you never wanted to be
defined, a job that feels like it’s going nowhere or a job search that feels
like it’s going nowhere, a marriage that feels far away from happily ever
after, a grief that seems to grow stronger each day no matter how hard you try
to get things back to a new normal, anxiety and worry that have paralyzed you,
or just living in a world that feels nothing like the world you thought
possible.
So far
from home.
We all
have our own stuck in the airport situations… Wanting so badly to be miles away
from where we are, closer to home, tired of waiting, tired of the current
reality around, hoping for more but also knowing we are not going anywhere fast.
It’s
the beauty of Ram Dass when he summed up the human condition by stating: “We
are all just walking each other home.”
And
when I read the Christmas story this year, I found myself there. I saw the
manager, I saw Mary, I saw Jospeh and I saw the star but they all seemed so far
away, so distant. I read the Christmas story and I found myself miles away.
And
the good news is that there is a place for those who find themselves miles away
from the Christmas story, actually the good news is in the Christmas story
according to Luke those far away get more verses than anyone else, they get the
most attention.
We
find ourselves on a dark night, out in the cold with a campfire going and a
bunch of sheep and shepherds around you. Now these shepherds don’t look like
they do in pageants, boys wearing their fathers robes and scared to make a
wrong move. These guys are a bit more lowly and displaced, perhaps even
wonderfully unruly. They are often considered unclean and it’s not work anyone
grew up wanting to do, in fact it should be noted that shepherds were so
despised they were not even allowed to testify in court, which makes them a
funny group to be selected to be witnesses to this truth they are about to
experience. These are men who have had hard lives and this is where it took
them, a job outside the city far away from home, out in the dark and in the
cold. They too are far from home, probably dreaming of what might have been or
what could be, longing for more.
And
there we find them on this holy night which for them started off as just an
ordinary night. It was not silent night, it was another night of bleating sheep
and shepherd noises (I will let you imagine that) around a campfire. It was an
ordinary night which just means that they had not yet noticed the holy, it’s
how we live most of our lives, thinking things are just ordinary because we
have failed to see the sacred and holy that is always present.
And
there they sit, here we sit.
And
then the heavens part open and they see it- light in the darkness- and they
hear it, they hear a song they have never heard but more than a song they did
not even know how bad they wanted to hear. They heard it and found their hearts
on fire.
A song
that declares: “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great
joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of
David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign
for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a
manger.Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those
whom he favors!”
And
then they run. Which is exactly what happens in the Gospels when someone is
confronted with the Truth and Love and Grace of Jesus Christ. They take off
running. It happens with the Woman at the Well, the Lepers on the Border and
those who go to the tomb early that resurrection morning. They run.
Because
that is what happens when you get good news. You don’t try to understand it,
you don’t question it, you don’t examine it a million times and take it to
committee, you know all the good baptist things… there is time for all that
later…. Right now you run because this truth makes you move and all you can
think about is how do I get closer to that.
You
tremble in your sandals and then you take off in a sprint of glory and
praise.
You
encounter the truest thing you have ever found and your body can’t contain it
so off you go…. You run to get closer to it, to experience it. Because God’s
love is suddenly the only need you have and you can’t stop until you receive
it.
One
of my favorite stories Frederick Buechner tells is about a Christmas pageant:
Think of your typical church Christmas pageant with children playing all the
roles. Mary and Jospeh begin, then the inn keeper, then the shepherds, then the
angels and finally the wiseman. And it wraps up in a glorious and wonderful
song, Glory to God in the Highest.
And
that is exactly as the pageant was going until one of the angels missed his
mark which caused the angel behind him not to have the direct line of sight to
Jesus that she really wanted. And this girl wanted to see the babe, the small
girl electrified the entire church by crying out in a voice shrill with
irritation and frustration and enormous sadness at having her view blocked,
‘Let Jesus show!’
After
the little girl cried out, “Let Jesus show, There was a lot of the service
still to go, but my pastor said that one of the best things he ever did in his
life was to end everything precisely there. ‘Let Jesus show!’ the child cried
out, and while the congregation was still sitting in stunned silence, he
pronounced the benediction, and everybody filed out of the church with those
unforgettable words ringing in their ears.”
“Let
Jesus show!”
First
Austin that is the message of Christmas let Jesus show.
And
that means a lot of things.
It means
that is the prayer of our hearts, our demand for God… Let Jesus show. Let Jesus
come and find me in this present darkness, save me in my waiting, let me see
you, let me feel you….I am going to rush and run so that I can be in the
presence of your Love and light and nothing is going to stop me until I get
there because I have heard the angels sing and I know the truth they sang and I
will stop at nothing until I experience it.
It’s
the faith that we tend to give to the Youth Summer Camp experience or the
revival movement…. But it belongs to us as well. Love is joy and love is
ecstasy and love does not always make sense and it’s all you desire to
experience and feel and that might mean in your prayers this week praying “God
we heard the truth of the angels and we need that too… God let Jesus show… we
want to see Jesus.”
And
once we have directed that prayer at God we better expect God to direct it
right back at us…. First Austin, let Jesus show.
Your
run to find Jesus and then you you run to tell others so that they to can get
close and experience it. The shepherds see and tell, our job is the same.
Because good news must be experienced and shared, it’s the rhythm of action and
contemplation, being and doing.
The
shepherds run to find Jesus and once they find him they run to tell the world
because nothing will ever be the same. It’s not silent night, holy night
it’s whooping and hollering, it’s out of breath joy.
And
then notice the angelic choir disappears because God has trusted the shepherds
with this new. God has trusted us with this news. The incarnation means that us
people, flesh and blood, have very important work to do, the work of
salvation.
For
Christmas has begun, it’s our job now to finish the race.
First
Austin, hear the news again this night…. This is why we are gathered here:
“Firs
Austin, Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for
all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a
Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you:
you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.Glory to
God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
It’s
the message tonight, to cry out from our places of waiting to God to let Jesus
show, and then to run to see and then to go and actually do the work of letting
Jesus show.
First
Austin take hope…. There is truth and God is good and Love is real and peace
can be present because Jesus Christ is born. And that is the truest truth I
know, maybe at this point the only truth I know. Hear it again: God is good and
Love is real and peace can be present because Jesus Christ is born, so let
Jesus show.
Go run
to see and don’t stop running until you get there, the spot where you can fully
embrace all of God’s love. And then soak it in so you can go and be that love
to the world. God has trusted us with this news. To experience, to draw
close and then to go and be.
First
Austin, it’s our turn to run, to get as close as we can and then to take off
and make the world new, to bring peace and love and grace, because that is what
this night is truly about.
Finding
our way home.
Running
to God so we can then run to the world. This is our work, no more and no less.
Amen and Amen.
*artwork: La Nativita, Painting by Jean-Marie Pirot (Arcabas), arcabas.com
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