When Love Comes To Town.

Sermon for Fourth Sunday of Advent, Dec. 22 2013

Preached by Rev. James Murray at Dominion-Chalmers United Church.

The town gossips must have had a field day. Everything that could be wrong had gone terribly wrong.

Everyone knew that Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph. The carpenter didn't have much money, but he could make an honest day's pay. Then Mary admitted she was pregnant. And Joseph wasn't the father. Since they were publicly engaged, he couldn't just break up with her. Lawyers had to be involved. He had to formally divorce her. That would be a public disgrace. Many would not believe Joseph's claim that he was not the father of the child. He would be considered to be not trustworthy. It would be bad for business. It would ruin his chances of getting another woman to consider marrying him. For Mary, the divorce was much more than a public disgrace. For Mary, the divorce was a death sentence. The moment the divorce was announced she would be branded as an adulterer. If she was able to run away fast enough she might be able to live. But it wouldn't be much of a life. She would probably end up a prostitute. If she wasn't fast enough, she would be taken out back and stoned to death. If the baby managed to be born, it wouldn't be much of a life for him either. The child would be declared illegitimate. He wouldn't be allowed to enter the temple or the synagogue. Illegitimate children were not considered to be part of the family of God. He wouldn't be allowed to marry anyone respectable. He would never be able to inherit any part of his parent's estate. He would be a lonely outsider all of his days.

Thankfully, this is not how the story turned out. Joseph was visited by an angel who told him of God's plan. Joseph must have looked like a real fool when he decided to take Mary as his wife. The fact he did not sleep with her until after the child had been born was a public admission that things were not quite right in this relationship.

So why would Joseph endure public humiliation and a wife who was pregnant with someone else's child? Love. When love comes to town, everything changes. When love comes to town, the scandal of Jesus' birth is turned upside down. All of a sudden the sinful woman is revered as God's faithful servant. The foolish husband is the bold man who is the protector of God's dream. And the child who was illegitimate in the eyes of the law is suddenly revealed to be the Son of God. When love comes to town, everything changes.

We don't talk much about the scandal of Jesus' birth, but it is there for all to see. We don't talk much about the scandal because we don't know what to make of it. It is a difficult story to understand. As a result, we don't tell this version of the birth of Jesus too often. Luke's version of the scandal is not as harsh. We try to whitewash the scandal. We have turned the birth of this scandalous child into a Hallmark moment of pious devotion. As a result, the birth of Jesus has lost its saving significance for most people. The scandal of Jesus' birth gives us a glimpse of what God is hoping to do in the life of Jesus. God is planning on shaking things up. When love comes to town, everything changes.

Back in the year 1220 Saint Frances of Assissi staged the first ever manger scene as part of his Christmas Eve service. He had live animals as part of his creche. In those days, all the images of Jesus' birth portrayed the Holy Family as wealthy nobility. The images of the day pictured Jesus, Mary and Joseph as wearing expensive clothing and golden crowns. The message of those popular images was that Jesus is an earthly king the people are to bow down to. On that Christmas Eve, Frances used an actual feed trough for the altar to celebrate the Christmas communion. He wanted to remind people of the scandalous conditions Jesus was born in. He wanted them to experience first hand the Christmas message that Jesus has been born into our imperfect, messy, world. Jesus has been born into our scandal-filled lives in order to bring God's salvation to us. When love comes to our town, everything changes.

Over the past decade, the media has been chiming in on the 'war on Christmas'. Since not everyone is religious, and since there are many different religious festivals this time of year, some people are choosing to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” as a way of being more inclusive. As a result, some people are offended and feel their right to celebrate Christmas is being threatened. Now there is a backlash against the religious celebration of Christmas. But we have to remember that the media loves a controversy. The media make money from controversy so they do their best to keep things stirred up, instead of helping us understand what each other is saying. They have nothing to gain if we all learn to get along. My best understanding of the objections most people have, is that their problem isn't with Christmas. Their problem is with the message we Christians are attaching to our celebration. What they are hearing us saying is “You all need to bow down and worship the birth of our king, because we think that's the only reason anyone should be celebrating at this time of year.” People get defensive when they hear someone ordering them to bow down to someone else's king. If our message is one of control and power, then people will resist.

So what is our message at Christmas? Jesus did not come to raise an army. Jesus did not lay claim to the throne of Israel. Jesus was not born wearing a crown of gold. Jesus did not demand his followers to bow down before him. Jesus was not born in socially acceptable circumstances. Jesus is born in the midst of a terrible scandal. Jesus is born in humiliating circumstances. Jesus does share our imperfect human condition. The word of God has become a real person who has moved into our neighbourhood. Jesus comes to us, as we are, to lift us up. It is such a humble act of love, which inspires us to celebrate Christmas. It is such a radical gift of grace which changes us, frees us, and saves us. When love comes to town, everything changes. Amen.