On Christmas Eve, we hear Luke’s wondrous story set in Bethlehem. No doubt, the story is shaped by Luke’s beliefs about Jesus, but on Christmas Eve, I embrace the story as story, recognizing that every character, every circumstance, is there on purpose, to help us learn about God’s profound love.
Tonight we hear of a trip to
be counted in a census, the kind of time-consuming, awkward thing the Romans
would push the Judeans to do. We hear that all guest rooms in Bethlehem were
full, due to all those census visitors. We hear of an angel, backed by a heavenly
choir. We hear that the first bed of the Christ Child was not a cradle, but a
manger, an animal’s feeding-trough: there were no luxuries for this baby,
that’s not how God works in this world.
And then there are the
Shepherds: the beloved story of the Shepherds abiding in the fields, is a story
of farm labourers working the night shift, tending someone else’s flocks. Writing many years ago in the
African-American Lectionary, Pastor Daryl Ward shared “These shepherds were just regular low-wage working folks like today's
catering workers, chefs, childcare workers, correctional officers,
cosmetologists, firefighters, security guards, taxi drivers, truck drivers,
farmers, and secretaries” – the folks who work the second shift, the late shift
or the night shift. “There are many [of us]” he continues “who can relate to
doing manual labor at night. These manual laborers are the people to whom God
chose to reveal the Good News. This ‘Good News’ was not revealed to a king or
to a lord, or even to the religious leaders, but to manual laborers working
second shift in the fields outside of the small town of Bethlehem.”
Indeed, in Luke’s story there is not one king, not one landowner, not
one authorized religious leader. In Matthew’s
version there’s the Magi, but there’s nothing remotely fancy in Luke.
Luke gives us Joseph the builder; Mary, a young woman barely of marriable age; their
baby, born amongst the warmth and scent of animals; and night-shift shepherds
who put their lives on the line for someone else’s livestock, shepherds
appointed to be the first to hear about Jesus’ birth, the first to see the
newborn Messiah, the first to spread the good news.
In all of this, Luke makes
clear that the story of this beloved connection between God and humanity is not
based on wealth and ease. Quite the opposite, actually. This is a working-class family, and the birthing
room was, well, “rustic.” And what these people had in common – the builder,
the bride to be, the shepherds – is that God had specifically searched them out,
and each of them, eventually, gave a YES to God. Sometimes
our greatest ability is our availability, and that was true of the shepherds,
Mary and Joseph. All of the humans involved had their fears and misgivings
about what God had planned, yet they all found a YES when God came calling.
God continues to seek out
people who are willing to engage in the great, unfolding story of God’s love, and
God will often enter the scene when things are at their most chaotic. God’s promises are first and foremost to
those who are overlooked, those who are marginalized, those whose lives are shaped
by struggle. As we come to the threshold of a new year there will be times when
God comes sidling up beside you, asking if your life needs extra support,
inviting your participation in God’s great plan of love. Sometimes it will be a straight-up offer of
God’s comfort and guidance and other times, the call will be for you to share
God’s lovingkindness with others, and God’s approach may not just be to you
personally; it may be to us as a Church! God perceives both our needs and our
abilities to serve, and reaches out in love.
As we take to heart this
story of God’s great love for the world and all who dwell therein, a story which
continues to unfold through the love of Jesus, embodied and shared: may there
be in your home, your life, your faith community, a YES to the urgings and
support of our loving God. May this be
so this evening, this season, and as we move into the new year 2025. Amen.
Reference cited:
Ward, Daryl (Pastor, Omega Baptist Church, Dayton, OH) “Commentary on Luke 2: 15-20”, The African-American Lectionary,
December 22, 2013.
© 2024 Rev Greg Wooley,
Osoyoos-Oliver United Church Pastoral Charge.
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