1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,880 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:12,880 and reward our strength and our redeemer. Amen. 3 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:24,500 Well I bet Santa Claus wasn't the only one who spent the month of December making a list 4 00:00:24,500 --> 00:00:31,120 and checking it twice. I'm sure your children have checked their Christmas lists more than 5 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:38,120 once or twice this year. If yours are anything like mine then they probably revised about 6 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:45,160 five times by now. I really hope Santa Claus got the right list. Make for an interesting 7 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:52,000 warning. The adults in the room have been busy making lists to all the people they need 8 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:59,000 to remember to buy gifts for. Mom, dad, brother, sister, grandma, grandpa, dog, cat, hamster, 9 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:05,760 in-law, neighbor, co-worker, teachers, their angel tree kid. Who am I forgetting? 10 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:12,760 In the days leading up to the first Christmas and the Nativity of our Lord, Emperor Augustus 11 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:18,960 wants to make a list of his own. Jesus' parents along with the whole world, the scripture 12 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:25,960 says, are instructed by the emperor to make sure their name is on a census list. The emperor 13 00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:31,280 wants to count the whole world so that he knows how many people he can tax to fund a 14 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:38,280 growing military budget. This registration was taking place when Mary is very pregnant, 15 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:43,720 probably her third trimester. And unfortunately the Roman Empire doesn't take a doctor's 16 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:50,280 note for pregnant or nursing women. So despite the inconvenience, Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem, 17 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:56,200 to the city of David, where the prophesied Messiah is to be born. So think about that. 18 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:03,200 So even as this census is inconvenient for Mary and Joseph, even as it is evidence of 19 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:09,320 an oppressive Roman government, God still manages to use it for his own purposes to 20 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:15,800 accomplish salvation on earth. The census gets Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, the birthplace 21 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:21,400 of the much anticipated Messiah. This move emphasizes the Judeo-Christian belief that 22 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:27,920 there is nothing, there is nothing outside of God's reach. God is sovereign. God can 23 00:02:27,920 --> 00:02:34,920 turn our biggest messes into something beyond our wildest dreams, a truth that is fully 24 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:41,280 revealed and completed in Jesus. As the story of Jesus' birth moves forward, we learn that 25 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:46,080 there are things outside the reach of even the Roman Empire. There are things in this 26 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:53,080 world that even the mightiest can't control. Jesus is born outside the reach of the census 27 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:59,760 workers. He isn't born in a hospital. He doesn't receive a birth certificate. Jesus, the Son 28 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:06,240 of Man, the Son of God, doesn't appear on any official list. Now for us, that should 29 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:12,120 tell us that even the worst kind of evil in this world is finite and temporary and can 30 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:17,960 only extend so far. It will come to an end no matter how horrific. Whereas there isn't 31 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:24,960 any part of this world where God's love cannot reach and redeem. The announcement of Jesus' 32 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:30,840 birth is made by a heavenly host. The Greek actually says a heavenly army. And this army 33 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:36,480 isn't armed with a sword or a spear, but with the good news of a Savior. The news of 34 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:43,480 a Savior that promises to bring peace to a war-torn planet. Not by the threat of military 35 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:50,400 force, but by the promise of love. The news of the Savior is presented to a group of shepherds 36 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:55,760 whose job it is to count sheep and hopefully not fall asleep. Like the Savior of the world, 37 00:03:55,760 --> 00:04:02,520 they too are undocumented, unregistered. They too are outside the reach of the empire. God 38 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:09,080 enters this world on the outskirts of town when nobody's looking. Likewise, that's how 39 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:14,120 God often enters our own lives, isn't it? In the shadows, in the places we least expect 40 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:20,440 to find God. God in Christ, however, does not intend to remain in the shadows. Eventually, 41 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:24,360 Christ the King will take his place on his heavenly throne, where he will reign over 42 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:29,640 all the earth forever and ever. And now the church celebrates this Christ the King on 43 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:35,280 the last Sunday of the church year, which is Thanksgiving, so don't worry. We have almost 44 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:40,320 a year. We have almost a year to learn and accept this newborn King as the ruler and 45 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:45,080 the Savior of our lives. We have almost a year to experience this Christ through the 46 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:50,880 Word and sacrament as administered through the church. Now keeping this in mind, it makes 47 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:57,280 sense to celebrate Christmas on the heels of the winter solstice. Christmas in the northern 48 00:04:57,280 --> 00:05:02,800 hemisphere, after all, coincides with the gradual return of light to the world. Believe 49 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:07,960 it or not, the days are actually starting to get longer again, all the way until mid-June. 50 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:12,680 Now imagine how disorienting it would be if you woke up tomorrow, and it wasn't Christmas 51 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:20,160 Day, but June 21st. One, you might think about it this way. You're at a movie theater, it's 52 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:26,000 the middle of the day, and you come out and the sun is shining brightly. It'll blind you, 53 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:30,600 right? When you've been sitting in the darkness for so long and you come out to light, it 54 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:36,280 will blind you. As attested to in the Old Testament, no one can see the face of God 55 00:05:36,280 --> 00:05:42,600 and live. God's truth is too powerful to absorb all at once. Before His death, Jesus says 56 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:47,480 to His disciples, there are certain things you still can't bear to hear, but I'm going 57 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:51,360 to send you the Holy Spirit and He's going to guide you into all truth. You are going 58 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:57,240 to grow into the truth. So unless you're like St. Paul, most of us don't meet God when we 59 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:02,980 are blinded by the risen Lord on the road to Emmaus. For most of us, our relationship 60 00:06:02,980 --> 00:06:08,760 with God and the truth that God is revealing starts in a manger in the little town of Bethlehem. 61 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:15,800 It starts with a baby. So in a very real way, this encounter with God in a manger is an 62 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:22,280 invitation to grow up with God. Our relationship with God doesn't start off with a full-fledged 63 00:06:22,280 --> 00:06:28,440 commitment to follow Him as our Lord and Savior, but it starts with a kind of a genuine curiosity, 64 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:33,440 that curiosity that led the shepherds to leave their flocks to go to that stable that first 65 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:39,040 Christmas night. Now as we grow up with God, we develop a relationship with God. And as 66 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:43,280 we develop a relationship with God, we grow to learn about what God hopes for and what 67 00:06:43,280 --> 00:06:48,280 God dreams. And the more we learn about God's hopes and dreams, the more we want to help 68 00:06:48,280 --> 00:06:53,360 God achieve these hopes and dreams. Now the clearest picture that I can think of about 69 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:59,360 God's hopes and dreams are captured best in Jesus' be attitudes. In the be attitudes, 70 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:05,240 Jesus makes a list. Jesus makes a list of those who are blessed in God's eyes. And on 71 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:11,120 this list, He counts those most of us would likely not call blessed, those who most of 72 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:17,120 our earthly censuses will call estimates, right? Through the listing of the be attitudes, 73 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:21,360 we learn that God wants to create space in this world for the weak and the vulnerable 74 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:27,800 forgotten to be loved and valued and celebrated. And when this happens, God says the kingdom 75 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:32,960 of heaven will be there. And this heavenly kingdom will threaten the existence of our 76 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:40,040 earthly kingdoms, not by the announcement of a military force, but by the announcement 77 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:44,800 of another more powerful force, the force of love. A love that is born in the face of 78 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:50,800 a child who has no home except a manger, a child who will make a home for us through 79 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:56,920 his own body that is broken for the sins of the world. Like Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, 80 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:02,360 Jesus is tiptoeing into the world and into our homes unnoticed and undetected by pretty 81 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:08,280 much everyone except those whom this world too easily forgets, the ones who will be first 82 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:13,040 in the kingdom of heaven. Now it's not that Jesus is hiding from the rest of us. It's 83 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:17,480 just that the rest of us have so much going on that we hardly notice His presence. We 84 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:22,440 have so much on our plates, so much on our to-do lists that when Jesus does show up, 85 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:28,600 we might not see Him. Now it would be tempting to start to make room for Jesus in your life 86 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:34,360 by starting to take things off your plate that don't fit. From a practical and theological 87 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:39,480 point of view, I'm not sure this is going to work. God is the one who initiates our 88 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:45,960 salvation, not us. Think about it like this instead. Imagine God hands you a baby tonight 89 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:51,680 and says, take care of this child, feed this child, clean this child, make sure this child 90 00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:56,400 is breathing, make sure this child is alive. I guarantee you the other things that you 91 00:08:56,400 --> 00:09:01,840 thought were important on your list will fall off, right? Your life will be radically reoriented 92 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:07,680 in a way that you could never have predicted or planned when God hands you a baby. Many 93 00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:11,920 are told that they will never get around to having children if they keep waiting to get 94 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:17,520 their life in order, their finances in order. Likewise, we will never get around to making 95 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:23,440 make Jesus fit into our lives if we keep on waiting for the stars to align. You're never 96 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:27,560 going to get done with the housework. You're never going to get done with all the projects. 97 00:09:27,560 --> 00:09:31,180 You're never going to have to stop going to the grocery store or the doctor or doing the 98 00:09:31,180 --> 00:09:35,200 laundry or spending time with family and friends. These things are always going to be on your 99 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:40,740 list. So it's simply not about making room for Jesus right beside the grocery store visit 100 00:09:40,740 --> 00:09:46,920 in the gym. It's about prioritizing Jesus so that everything on your list is ordered 101 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:51,400 by your relationship with him so that all of your life, all of your words, all of your 102 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:59,120 actions, all of your decisions are the result of knowing him. On Christmas, God is making 103 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:07,160 room for us to have a relationship with him by giving us the gift of himself as a baby. 104 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:13,520 Christ, the newborn King. There's no place low enough, off the beaten path far enough 105 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:18,760 where God can't find us and draw us to himself. The shepherds were the first to know. So 106 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:23,200 as you hear again or maybe for the first time the good news of salvation, I pray that you 107 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:28,640 may be moved with the same kind of curiosity that moved the shepherds to leave their flocks, 108 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:34,600 to leave their lists to the manger on that first Christmas night. I pray that this curiosity 109 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:38,560 gives you the grace to let go of some of the things that are preventing you from knowing 110 00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:43,880 God, from preventing you from knowing the God who wants to know, who so much wants to 111 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:51,000 know you, a God who prioritizes you. Unlike the emperors of this world, you are not just 112 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:57,280 another number or constituent to God. Isaiah says, God has called you by name, you are 113 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:03,920 mine. A truth extended to the whole world in Jesus. God wants to know you so that you 114 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:10,160 may become a part of God's force of love that is saving the world. A love born in Bethlehem, 115 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:37,520 a love born in Christ, the newborn King. Amen.