The Birth of Jesus

The Birth of Jesus is the first of four sermons on Jesus, the others being The Life of Jesus, The Death of Jesus, and The Resurrection of Jesus (all of which is part of a larger preaching scheme known as The Last Thing on My Mind.    In every direction today there is trouble. The Middle East is dangerous. Hundreds of thousands of people are crowding our southern border desperately seeking their own Promise Land.  In our country, a candidate for president is talking about a state seceding from the Union. The whole election year dynamic is troublesome, a harbinger of division and even violence. The divide between the rich and poor is depressing. Elon Musk was rebuked by a state judge in Delaware for agreeing to compensation of $55 billion. While out in Oregon, the state assembly has passed a law outlawing sleeping on the street in effect criminalizing poverty.  Controversy and division have erupted in our own neighborhood over the plans to open a community center just two blocks from our church. On top of this, many of us struggle with personal and family issues. One person said to me this week, “My life situation is so precarious.” I feel like that sometimes. There are many among us who are just one event away from catastrophe, from crisis, from desperation: an accident, a layoff, or an illness and our resources would be too thin to survive. Into this world of ours, Jesus is born. Into our anger and anxiety, Jesus comes with his life of comfort and courage. Into our struggle, Jesus steps with a word of assurance: “Come, follow me, and live into the rule of God, the kingdom of God.” We gather today, not as Baptists or Catholics, not as young or old, not as Democrats or Republicans, not even as citizens and immigrants, but as followers of Jesus of Nazareth, as disciples of Christ the Lord, and as converts who have been called to serve, who have been anointed with the spirit of the almighty, and who have been promised what one prophet called, “a future and a hope.” Into our confusion and our weakness, Jesus comes. He comes as the one born of the Spirit, by the Spirit, and with the Spirit. He comes to us today, the strong One for the weak, the calm One for the conflicted, the kind One for the critic, the forgiving One for the fallen. We gather today to communion with this One, Jesus the Risen Lord. I. We focus today on the birth of Jesus. We want to know how the birth of that Man is good news for us today. We want to feel the joy and hope that others have felt from the birth of Jesus. The earliest written report of the birth of Jesus is not the familiar gospel stories; it is the brief summary penned by Paul the Apostle to the people of Galatia. That was a region in what we call today Turkey. There were small pockets of Jesus people scattered throughout Galatia. As was his custom, Paul wrote them a letter, one to be read, copied, a passed around. In that letter, he presents Jesus Christ as the God’s plan for the ages and as God’s plan for us. He describes it this way: “When the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law (or born into religion), to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship (as children). Because you are God’s children, God sent the Spirit of his Son (Jesus) into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out ‘Abba, Father.” You are no longer a slave, but you are God’s child. Since you are God’s child, Gad has made you (like Jesus) an heir” (4:4-7). Let me shorten and clarify it this way: At the right time, God sent Jesus, born of a woman, born into religious rules, to rescue us from religious rules, that we might be the children of God. Because of that, God gave us the Spirit that was in Jesus. Here is the point of this: Jesus was born of a woman, just like you. Jesus was a baby, a little boy, then a man, who came into the world just like you: in the belly of a woman, between the legs of a woman, crying and kicking into this world of oxygen and opportunity. We know the longer, more familiar stories of Matthew and Luke, of prophecies and premotions, of dreams and deprivations, of angels and animals, of stars and star gazers, of singing for joy and living with hope. These stories we know; we just celebrated them. But the basic truth is this: Jesus was born of a woman just like you; Jesus was a person just like you; Jesus was a human, just like you, with equal amounts of opportunity and opposition, of possibility and problems, of a future full of both glory and shame. Long before Jesus was made into a god by the theologians and musicians, Jesus was a man, born of a woman. II. The Gospel of Matthew describes the birth of Jesus like this: “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit…. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Joseph … do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus….’” (1:18-21). What has drawn the most attention is this conception without a father. Mary, the people concluded, was a virgin. I don’t contest that. Mary the Virgin looms large in Christian history and imagination, especially among Roman Catholics. It never played much of a role in what I was taught or even in what I believe. It is not the supposed absence of a man but the presence of a spirit that captures my attention. Twice in this short text, Matthew says the birth of Jesus was a Spirit thing. The Spirit of God was present in and for Jesus from the very beginning: before, during, and after his birth. Later, the gospel tells us the Spirit was present at his dedication in the temple, at his baptism in the river, during his temptation in the wilderness, and throughout his life of teaching and healing. Jesus was full of the Spirit of God. Jesus was born as a person, a human being, but he was born filled with the Spirit of God. One of the later creeds of the church describes Jesus as fully god, fully man.  But for me it is better, truer to say that Jesus was born full of the Spirit and lived full of the Spirit. The earliest creed makes no mention of the divinity of Jesus. What is known as the Apostles’ Creed says simply, “I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only son, our Lord, conceived by the holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, died, and was buried.” Why is this important? Some think Jesus was born with supernatural powers that explain his devout life, his courageous ministry, his surrender to crucifixion, and his glorious resurrection. Some think Jesus was a little god, knowing all and being all, squeezed into the belly of a woman, pushed out into the world with all powers, and all knowledge, and all gifts. Some think Jesus was “god in a bod” walking around deciding when to use his super powers, like Superman or Flash or Wonder Woman. Jesus was a man, born of a woman, full of the Spirit of God.  He was tempted in every way like we are, tried in every way like we are, struggling in every way like we do. He was full of the Spirit of God, and this fullness gave him discernment, strength, and compassion. This fullness gave him insight, and faith, and love for all people.  This fullness of Spirit gave him courage, and joy, and hope.  This fullness of Spirit allowed him to receive the shunned, denounce the pious, and redeem the fallen. This fullness of Spirit empowered him to heal the sick and raise the dead. This fullness of Spirit made him a winsome person, with a compelling message, and a powerful story. This fullness of Spirit enabled Jesus to fulfill his mission and complete his journey. This fullness of Spirit inspired him to say to one criminal, ‘Today you will be with me in paradise,” to say to all those around him “It is finished,” and to say to God the Almighty, “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” In Jesus, the holy Spirit collaborated with the human Spirit to do the will of God on earth and in heaven. III. Here is the good news, the gospel of God, the word for you and me today: the Spirit of God that filled the man Jesus of Nazareth is in you as well. Let me quote and paraphrase for you again the word from the letter to the Galatians, “Because you are children of God, God sent the Spirit of Jesus into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out “Abba, father, mother, God.” Because of that, you are not a slave to religion but an heir to all things, like Jesus.” I began this message today with a survey of troubling trends in our world. The future is uncertain; the present is unstable; the danger is genuine. But consider the world of Jesus. He lived and died a member of small, marginalized ethnic and religious group. He lived in an empire. He had no rights, no vote, no representative anywhere. Everybody was what today we call poor. He was born in an animal stable. Shortly after, he and his parents became refugees, fleeing for their lives. He once said, “I have nowhere to lay my head.” He was arrested on false charges and convicted by the imperial court. He was killed as a common criminal and buried in a borrowed grave. And you think you have it rough! Jesus lived in obscurity. For 30 years, we know nothing about him. Except John Prine knows.  He wrote a song called, “The Missing Years.” It describes the travels of Jesus to Spain and Italy, his marriage and divorce, and his return to Jerusalem. Who knows? We don’t, but this we know: in a time when the average life expectancy was 40 years, Jesus waited until he was 30 to get going with his life. He was three fourths of the way through life before he understood himself, his life, and his mission. You think Jesus was the undercover God, hiding in plain sight, waiting for just the right time to spring on everybody his eternal deity?  I don’t think so! Jesus was growing in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men. Which means this: Jesus was growing just like we grow. Jesus was learning just like we learn. Jesus was discerning just like we discern. He had to struggle with success and failure, with strengths and weaknesses, with right and wrong.  Jesus learned obedience, the Bible says. It took him 30 years. How long has it taken you? Life expectancy today is closer to 80. Which means that if you are baptized into your fullness of life and mission at age 60, you will be right where Jesus was! We like to hurry people into baptism, don’t we? We want to baptize people before they leave home, before they enter high school, even before they transition to the bottle.  Let’s baptize the kids before they know enough to say no! Jesus was three quarters through life before he walked from Galilee down to the Jordan, before he was stirred by the preaching and teaching of John, before he felt the Spirit of God whispering to him, “Now. It is time. You are ready. The world is ready. Go. Go in the fullness of my Spirit.” This is the way forward for you, for me, for us, and for them. I want to be full of the same spirit that birthed and blessed Jesus. I want that Spirit of God to make me loving and strong, hopeful and wise, joyful and courageous. I want that Spirit to carry me through the hard times. I want that Spirit to fill me to the brim. I have roadblocks on my way to being the person God wants me to be. We all have barriers: some physical, some emotional, some intellectual or social. We have to wrestle with limitations, and temptation, with successes and failures, with opportunities lost and found, with misunderstandings here and there and in between. We want the same spirit that Jesus had, and we want to be as open to that Spirit as he was. Fill us, Lord, with your spirit that we might be the people you want us be.