Christmas Eve Year A December 24, 2013
Luther Memorial Church Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie Guengerich Hutson
Isaiah 9: 2-7 + Psalm 96 + Titus 2: 11-14 + Luke 2: 1-20
Gracious God, we have prayed for you to come among us and we have waited for you in the darkness. Shine the light of your love into every corner of our hearts and of this world, that it might overcome the darkness. Grant us the grace to see you, not only in the manger, but in the face of both stranger and friend. Amen.
Last year, on this night, someone I had never met before asked me this question as we were leaving worship: “Pastor” he said “Why do we say that the angels sang on Christmas when that’s not what is in the Bible?” Now I have to admit, I was kind of surprised by the question. Not only that, I wasn’t entirely sure of the answer. So, I had to do a little bit of research. But because I didn’t know him, I couldn’t get back to him with my findings. I’ve waited a full three hundred sixty five days with the hope that he might be worshipping with us again tonight! So here goes.
Kind Sir, you are right. Nowhere in the Bible do the angels sing on this night. They say: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Apparently they speak this as a group. And one angel tells the shepherds what angels usually say when they appear to people: “Don’t be afraid.”
So, Kind Sir, if you are here I would have to say, in answer to your question, that this is just one of those things that has come from our collective imagination as we piece together the story of Jesus’ birth.
There are other pieces of this story that are like this as well: For example, Do you remember what the innkeeper said to Mary and Joseph? Trick question! There is no innkeeper in the birth narrative! But entire Christmas pageants have been written around the character of the innkeeper and sometimes we even invent a wife for him!
And how did Mary and Joseph get to Bethlehem? Now, remember, I’ve already asked you one trick question. How many pictures have you seen of Mary riding a donkey, with Joseph walking beside her? But again, we have nothing in Scripture that speaks to this, although it would make sense that, being great with child, she would ride an animal on this journey.
Next question: How many magi came bearing gifts to Jesus? Again, we don’t know. The traditional answer is three and almost all nativity sets come with three. We are told that they brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrhh, but this could have been two magi or it could have been eleven.
By the way, did you know that magi were people who studied the stars, which is why they saw the star in the east?
Ok, here’s another one. (This is sort of like Christmas Eve Jeopardy – I’ll take Magi for $400, Alex). Where was Jesus when the Magi arrived?
If you answered in a house somewhere in Egypt, you are right! Joseph and Mary had taken him and fled from Bethlehem because Herod was hoping to kill him. But that’s another story and if you want to hear more about it, join us this Sunday morning.
This revisionist telling of the birth of the Christ child has been around for awhile. Recently I found this telling of the Christmas story that attempted to incorporate all of the myths and misunderstandings that have surrounded the celebration:
Once upon a time, a decree went out from Caesar in August that everyone should be taxed so that the deficit would not get too big.
Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem. Mary rode on a donkey named Rudolph, who was embarrassed to be seen carrying an unwed mother. He blushed so at the thought that his nose glowed red.
Upon arriving at Bethlehem, they could not find a place to stay. (It was, after all, the Christmas season, and the press of tourists was crushing.) As they knocked at the door of the last inn in town, the innkeeper pushed back the shutter and threw up the sash.
His figure appeared so nimble and quick
They knew in a moment his name must be Nick.
“Nick,” said Joe, “we need a place to stay.”
“Joe,” said Nick, “there just ain’t no way.”
“But we have Visa and Jerusalem Express!”
“Joe,” said Nick, “there’s no way unless
You’re willing to stay in a donkey stable,
And from the looks of the Mrs.,
I’m not sure she’s able.
“Nick, you’re a saint,” Joseph said,
“The hay will make a dandy bed.”
Rudolph, however, was not filled with glee —
“Uh uh, that loose woman ain’t staying with me!”
Mary responded pleadingly,
“Do this good deed, Rudolph, and you’ll see
You’ll probably go down in history.”
Rudolph relented and all slept in the stable:
A baby was born and Joseph was able
To fashion a crib from manger and straw,
And all watched the baby with wonder and awe.
Meanwhile in a field nearby, seven dwarfs who were shepherds were startled to hear a group of angels singing Handel’s Messiah. At the end of the concert they were told to stand up (that, by the way, has become a tradition, even to this day) and to go to Bethlehem. So off they marched to the beat of their friend, the little drummer boy. When they arrived at the stable, they met Joseph, Mary, the child and a fat little man made famous in song, Round John Virgin.
So, Kind Sir, if you are here with us on this holy night, I concede the point to you. Angels did not, in fact, sing on that night, according to Scripture. And there was no innkeeper or donkey or drummer boys or even friendly beasts.
And then I would add, respectfully, sir: So. What? No, really, what does it matter whether angels sang or spoke? What does it matter whether Mary got to Bethlehem by Donkey or if she walked?
I think that we add all of these things, Kind Sir, and dear friends, because the story itself is so remarkable that we can’t imagine that it doesn’t need additional details. That God would come to us, that the holy One, Creator of all that exists and all that evolves, would come to dwell with us…would take on flesh and come in human form and likeness. Well, it’s just hard to imagine. And so we surround the story with lots of extra details in an attempt to try to explain it, to try to manage it, to try, somehow, to make the unimaginable understandable. That God, would come and suffer and die for us….how can this be?
And what will it mean for us? What does it mean for us and for this world, that is so often in so much turmoil, so much pain, so much confusion and chaos….what does this simple story mean for us today?
It means that we have hope. It means that God has transformed the world and our lives into places where light overcomes the darkness. It means that when tragedies come with greater frequency than we can keep up with, we do not despair. For God is with us. It means that despite the ways the rich get rich off the backs of the poor, that because of the birth of this baby, the lowly have been raised up and the rich have been sent away empty.
It means that in times of suffering and pain we are never alone, for this child, this baby, will bear the weight of all human suffering, including our own.
It means that in times of great joy and great delight, our voices are joined with those who have rejoiced throughout the ages, an entire communion of saints, whose lives are forever linked to ours through this one tiny, child, there in a feeding trough.
It means, that a culture that claims it does not believe devotes an entire season, and a lengthening one at that, to celebrating this child’s birth. Because I believe that somewhere deep down, the desires in us as we give and receive gifts are connected to the desires that those uncounted magi had as they followed that star, bearing their gifts.
Finally, kind Sir, and beloved community, it means that this child born on this night has come for the sake of each one of us. If there were no one but us, just one of us, God would still have come, to live among us, to bear our sorrows, to delight in us and rejoice with us, and to call us beloved children, sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, born on this night.
And that, even if the angels did not do it, is news worth singing from the heavens!
Thanks be to God. Amen.