December 28, 1949

We have come the to the turning point of the century. Many of you can look back to the turn of the century. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that we are just about to bid goodbye to the most exciting era of all history. The whole face of the globe has been changed. We have moved from the horse and buggy day, to the Atomic Age in one generation. In fact, if those of you who lived at the turn of the century were to be suddenly catapulted back to the year 1900, you would be completely lost.

But now we look forward to the second half of this century_, and as we see its possi­bilities, we cannot help but see that we are in for an even more exciting era. At the beginning of this century, Albert Einstein set forth his law of Relativity, which set the stage for Nuclear Physics, and the splitting of the atom, releasing to us the vast possibilities of Atomic Energy. Next February, Albert Einstein will release to the world the first printed copy of His New Theory of Gravity, which will no doubt have an even more important influence on our scientific advance, than his first discovery.

We can only guess now, but the signs all point to an age of advance just ahead, that will move beyond even our most fantastic pipe dreams. Who knows, but that some of us may be around long enough to take to take a trip to Mars or one of our other planets.

Sunday we will hold our Mid-Winter Communion. This will be a good day for the Church to face up to the New Responsibilities and Challenges that this new era will bring to us as Christians. The New Year is always a good time for retrospection and rededication. This year we will be able to look beyond the past year to the past half century. Wherein, we have we failed to be true ambassadors for Christ in this momentous Era, through which we have passed. What have we accomplished for Christ and the King­dom of God during this same Era?

We will see many tragic mistakes that we as Christians and as a church have made in the past 50 years. However, this is not time for weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Indeed, the mistakes of the past should make us walk in humility, seeking God’s forgiveness. God has led us through these years, and he has done great things for us, where we should be glad.

Let us make this Sunday, the first day of a great new era, and a great day for rededication in our lives. May the elements for the Sacrament, become the sign and seal for our new dedication to Christ, so that we may give to the new age the moral and spiritual backbone that only the Christian Gospel and the Church can give.

Pentecost was really a very disjointed and disorganized event. Here were these followers of Jesus who were holed-up in an upper room for fifty days, fearing for their lives. They were at the mercy of the crowd who called for the crucifixion of Jesus. Suddenly a mighty wind roared through the house where they were hiding. Tongues of fire began to spread around the room and light on everyone in the room. To add to the confusion, everyone began to speak in different languages that they had not been conversant in before.

The room could not contain them any longer. They rushed fearlessly out into the street. Just imagine what the Jerusalem crowd thought as they were all running around like living torches, with the living flame of God bursting out of their heads. Each one was trying out his or her new language on the crowd. The wind of God was blowing them around. To the crowd, it looked like a drunken orgy.

However, this was no drunken orgy. This was the exhilarating reactions of the people of God, to their birthing as the people of God “in the world”. Today we say they were born of the Spirit. No longer were they dependent upon the physical presence of the Christ in their midst. The Spirit of the Risen Christ had settled upon each one of them. He was in them, on them and around them. They were now the embodiment of Christ in the world.

This event was the undoing of the havoc wrought when the Tower of Babel was being built. At Babel, God came and confused their language by giving each person a different language. They could no longer communicate with each other. Communication broke down. They could no longer work together and could not talk with each other.

At Pentecost, each person had a new language, however the language was one someone in the crowd understood. So, the people in crowd were all amazed. They said to one another: “How is it that we now we hear the good news proclaimed in our own tongue.”

This was the real resurrection morning for the early church. They were now possessed by the Spirit of the Risen Christ. Those who had been living in despair were now empowered by the Resurrection power to be God’s resurrection people in the world.

The strange thing is there is nothing in the record to indicate that they sang any hymns or psalms. In fact, apart from a fragment of a hymn from the ancient church that appears in Philippians Chapter 2, there is no record of the hymns of the early church anywhere or no mention of them singing. However, I cannot help but believe that the early church did sing and that being good Jews they used the Psalms as their Hymn Books.

In his book The Feast of Fools, Harvey Cox tells how singing and celebration have always been a part of the life of oppressed people. It is through celebration that we can bear the pain of oppression. 

Pentecost was certainly a great celebrative event of an oppressed people. I cannot help but feel that singing was a vital part of their celebration.

Hymn – I Had a Dream One Day

I dreamed of a day when swords will be beat into plowshares, 
When cannons and guns will be melted down,
And out of the metal we’ll build for mankind 
A bridge that will span every ocean.

I dreamed of a world where all men will call others “brother”. 
Where borders and walls will be broken down.
And out of the milieu will come a new world 
With love bridging ‘cross every chasm.

I dreamed of a time when Christ will be Lord of all people. 
When rituals and creeds will be set aside,
And out of the jumble we’ll hear once again 
The Spirit of God speaking to us.

Words by Arthur Schwabe
Music by Eleanor Schwabe

Did I choose a controversial topic for a talk? Today’s message is about Luke 16:1-15, the Dishonest Steward.

The Story

1. He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. 2 And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ 3 And the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do, so that people may receive me into their houses when I am put out of the stewardship.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

The story itself is about a steward who was a rascal. He was likely a slave and probably in charge of his master’s estate. In Palestine, there were many absolute landlords. Apparently, the steward was guilty of embezzlement. However, the debtors were also rascals. The debtors were tenant farmers or sharecroppers, who owed rent and a proportion of their crops to the landlord. The steward, who lost his job, gets a brilliant idea. He will falsify the entries in the master’s book, so that debtors are indebted with far less then they owed.  This has two effects. One, the debtors are grateful to the steward. Two, the debtors are also involved, so the steward’s misdemeanor can be used for future blackmail. The master too was of a rascal. He admires the shrewdness and astuteness of the servant and commends his prudence. 

From the difficulty of the story, Luke addresses several lessons. 

Lesson 1 (Verse 8)

8 The master commended the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. 

The master commended the dishonest steward, because “for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” What if the children of God were as eager and ingenious to carry out God’s plan for the future Kingdom as the children of the world were to get ahead to attain money and comfort? 

If God’s people would give as much time to things that concern the soul, as they do to things that pertain to their business, things in our world could be quite different. Our Christianity would become real and effective. If we were to spend as much time and effort doing God’s work, as we do in the worldly endeavors, the world would be a different and better place. 

Lesson 2 (Verse 9)

9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations.

This lesson is more difficult. The lesson is that material possessions should be used to cement friendships, which is where the real permanent values of life lie. There are two ways to do this. 

For eternity, Rabbis had a saying: “The rich help the poor in this world, and the poor help the rich in the world to come.” Saint Ambrose commented on the rich who build bigger barns: “The bosoms of the poor, the houses of the widows, and the mouths of children are the barns that last forever.” It is a Jewish belief that charity given to the poor would stand to a person’s credit in the world to come. 

A person’s true wealth is not be what he or she kept, but what he or she give away and how the giving affects the world. A person can use wealth to make things easier for herself and himself, or the wealth can be used to further good causes. My friend Bob Pamplin, a local Christian person and a person of wealth, who has given away 15% of his wealth in the last 20 years to help local colleges. The lesson is that possessions and wealth in themselves is not sinful, but that there are great responsibilities of wealth to be used in God’s stewardship. 

Lesson 3 (Verses 10-12)

10 “He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 

A person’s way of fulfilling a small task is the best proof of fitness or unfitness to be entrusted with a larger task. No person will be advanced to the higher position, until they are proven to be capable and trusted in the lower position. Jesus advances and extends the principle to eternity. Stewardship means that, on earth, the things of which you are in charge are not yours. The things you have in this world are only lent to you, and you are a steward of these things. You cannot take them with you when you die. On the other hand, in heaven, you will be given what is really yours and essentially yours. What you get depends on what you do in this world and how you exercise your stewardship. 

Lesson 4 (Verse 13)

13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

No person can serve two masters, that is, no servant can serve two masters. One master takes up all his time. The servant belongs every day and every moment of his life to his master. Nowadays people can carry two jobs, because one job allows for leisure time. However, serving God is not a part time job. There is no leisure time. God is the most exclusive of all masters. We either take him totally and all together, or not at all. 

I ask, “Are the children of the world really wiser than the children of the light?” It seems that big industry has oiled the wheels of progress, but often at the expense of the world. We see the Nestle Corporation, for example, with a worldwide promotion of baby formulas that is promoted at the expense of the children and the mothers of the world. 

Lesson 5

What about heaven? Are we being prepared to be human here so we can begin to be humans and truly human in heaven? There are two kinds of travelers in the world: those who are bored and unprepared, and those who are excited to be here. The dream of heaven is where each of us begins with the degree of humanity that we acquired here on earth. The saints shine with the light of God, while others are often disappointed with their acquisitions here on earth. How this is so true for humanity. Although I believe we all grow, what a shame to have to start in kindergarten, when we all could have started at the graduate level.

The right use of wealth is to gift our money. The tragedy of Western humanity is that everything has a price tag. Money is power to be exercised, and it should be exercised responsibly for the good humankind.

The highest reward is using our skills for the good of humankind, such as doctors and nurses having the satisfaction of saving a life. However, we find ourselves between the world of Skinner and the Christian heaven. It is too bad that the satisfaction for doing good for others is not enough that we also need exorbitant monetary remuneration. 

Perhaps someday in our time we will learn to be human loving humans, who can bring back the balance of the abuse of power and inequality. There is such a great chasm between the rich and the poor, between the haves and the have nots, between the hungry and the too well fed, and between those who live in mansions and those in and the tar paper shacks of the world. Someday perhaps we will be able to see our world through the loving human eyes of a Christ and that will make all the difference. 

Our Christianity will only become real and effective, when we spend as much time and effort on our soul as we do in worldly endeavors. 

Today we celebrate the triumphant resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Across the land, the words of the 1st century echoes joyously: “Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!” This morning as the light began to break across the eastern Sky in the in our Easter morning service, we sang: “Christ the Lord is risen today. Hallelujah.” Somehow or other this cry, this shout of joy, this hymn seems to lighten the darkness of the whole world. 

Why is the resurrection of Christ the touchstone of the Christian faith? Why did Paul exclaim in 1 Corinthians 15: “If Christ had not risen, then all our preaching is in vain and we are still in our sins!” To understand the question and its answer, we must go back to find the key that unlocks the door to the Apostolic preaching. The central sermons of the early apostles are found in Matthew, mark, Luke and Acts.

The preaching centers first in a narration of the death of Jesus, a narration we heard so vividly portrayed by the choir on Good Friday. In the cross, we see the martyrdom of the righteous servant of God. The whole story becomes the drama of a dialogue between three cunning and cruel leaders who call upon the people to demand his death. The people cry out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” When the weakened hand of justice, represented by Pilate, tries to save the victim and appease the people, thee people reject him in every attempt saying “Vah! Vah!” 

Christ cries out and to heaven, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do!” God answers with thunder, lightning and earthquake. An Angel comes down to strengthen the man on the cross. We become identified in that dialogue both with the multitude crying, “Vah! Crucify him!” and with the Christ strengthened for the day. 

When the choir was practicing “Seven Last Words,” they were so caught up in the words of the crucifier that one of the members of the choir exclaimed almost in horror, “It sounds as though we are not on his side.” How closely we in life become identified with those who crucified Christ. As our associate pastor so clearly made the point Friday: “Our indifference is more cruel and crucifying, than the hate and hostility of his crucifixion.” 

The death of Jesus was depicted as a catastrophic event for Jesus. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The murderers stand as guilty people, as we in sin, we too identify with them, we too crucify Christ either by indifference or by direct and hostile acts of sin. Then, the 
Apostles proclaimed the resurrection as God’s mighty answer to the murderous action. Peter proclaimed to the Jews at Pentecost, “You nailed Jesus on the cross and did away with him. But God raised him from the dead.” The resurrection is God’s answer to the horrible crime committed against his chosen one. 

The answer is as magnificent as Psalm 2 seems to describe it.

Why do nations rage
and the people’s plot in vain? 
the Kings of the earth set themselves 
in the rulers take counsel together 

against the Lord and against his anointed 
saying 
Let us burst their bonds apart 
and castaway their cords from us 

He who sits in the heavens laughs 
the Lord holds him in derision 
Then he will speak to them in his wrath 
and terrify them in his furies and 
As for me I have set my King
on Zion my holy hill.

I will tell the decree: 
the Lord said to me you are my Son 
today I’ve begotten you 
Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage 
and the ends of the earth your possession 
You shall break them with a rod of iron 
and dash them in pieces like a potters vessel 

In the resurrection, God seems to crush his opponents. The risen Christ will rise against his crucifiers, to accuse and condemn them. What chance will Pontius Pilate or Caiaphas have now? Christ has risen to accuse them before God. 

This Jesus whom you drove to death, whom you crucified with your evil, guilt ridden hands hath God raised up. Here suddenly the surprise comes in the New Testament preaching. 

Instead of the following this logical line: “You killed Jesus. God raised him. Therefore, you have no chance. You cannot get away with it. You will be crushed under his heel.” Instead, the early church proclaims, “God has raised this Jesus whom you crucified up, raised up not to accuse you, but to open up the way to your forgiveness and repentance. How can God save the sinner by the resurrection of Christ? This is the big question before us. 

I would like to answer it with an analogy. On Wednesday, May 21, 1924, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two well-bred men of respectable Chicago families murdered a boy named Bobby Franks. Many months before, they planned this “perfect crime.” Bobby Franks the victim was chosen at random. They carried out this awful plan. It was not a perfect crime. They were found out. All Chicago clamored for their death. No judge would dare give them anything but death. They hired Clarence Darrow. Darrow persuades them to confess the crime. Now the jury is dismissed. They have thrown themselves on the mercy of the court. On judge’s shoulders falls the decision. 

Do you see the analogy? The advocate says confess your sins and throw yourself on the mercy of the court. Plead for your life. This is a biblical repentance. Confess your sins so yourself on the mercy of the court. But, suppose suddenly a witness had been produced in the court who would say, “I have seen Bobby Franks alive, since the murder.” And, another witness after says, “I have seen him too.” 

You see what would happen. The judge would not have to close his law books yet. For the time being, he would have to say this is the end of the law as we have received, created, respected and followed it. Since Bobby Franks is alive, the corpus of your delicti, Mr. Leopold and Loeb, no longer exists. As with his death, so his return to life is your Salvation and restoration of your life. Tell these two men, who for all practical purposes were already condemned to death, now have a new life now that Bobby Franks is alive today. 

Do you see the analogy? Christ was alive. The men’s corpus delicti had disappeared. The crucifier’s and the condemned sinners could now go free. But, this is not all. The resurrected Christ becomes the sinner’s advocate. He goes before the judgment bar of God and proclaims to the judge, behold my hands and my feet. I am he who was crucified. Behold the nail prints. I am alive. Death has no more sway. The murderers, my murderers, the sinners can go free. 

This is the story I have to tell you this morning. Christ is alive again. Murderers, there is forgiveness for you. Adulterers, there is forgiveness for you. Liars, there is forgiveness for you. Unfaithful one, there is forgiveness for you. Parent who has failed a child, there is forgiveness for you.

For, if we all have all been reconciled to God by his death, much more, very much more shall we be saved by his life. 

That is why John Baillie could say: The resurrection did not correct the awful mistake of the Cross, but it fulfilled the purpose of the cross. 

Dateline Monday, March 13th, 1978 
Reed Springs, Missouri 

After praying and chanting for two hours over the freezer that held his mother’s body, evangelist Daniel Rogers admitted Sunday that he had failed to raise his mother from the dead. Many of the congregation wept, moaned, prayed and sang gospel songs as they waited. When he emerged, the evangelist said: “We have tried everything Jesus told us to do, and we don’t know what is wrong. When asked why he tried he said: “Jesus commanded us to preach the gospel, heal the sick and raise the dead.”

I could not help but ask: “What would have been accomplished if the praying had been effective if his 80-year old mother had been raised?” At best she would have lived a few more years, perhaps, and her body wracked with disease and aging would only go through the trauma of dying all over again. 

This to me has no real relation to the Easter story. Indeed, his resurrection was different from the raising of Lazarus, and all the other repeated resurrections, for at least in the witness of the early church. The last thing they could ever imagine was that their Lord would ever die again. As the Apostle Paul would declare in perhaps the first written witness to the resurrection: “He removed the death-dealing sting from death, and now all Christians can shout triumphantly, Death where is thy sting? Grave where is the victory?”

The Easter message most certainly speaks to us as humans, who live all our lives in the expectation of our own death. As I mentioned last week, this Holy Week has had some trauma and special memories for me, as this is the first Easter when I am without my mother. Today as I think of the passing of my mother, I have become aware that because Christ has risen, we have hope beyond death. I have a deeper faith today that my mother is alive with God and with the church triumphant, and my faith reaches to the reality of life beyond the grave has never before. 

In his book, “The Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth,” Willie Marxey tells of the death of Heinrich Rentorff and how he asked his wife to quietly listen to what he had to say. “These last nights I had been thinking over and testing everything we can know and everything we have been told will happen to us when we die. And I am certain of one thing: I shall be safe!”

But this is not really the main thrust of the resurrection. This is a kind of serendipity bonus. The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is a here-now resurrection. In our Thursday morning class, we have been studying the gospels, comparatively. When we looked at the resurrection story, it was most exciting to see how the gospel writers each had a different message to proclaim. Matthew sees Jesus coming into a world where religious men had built a cage for God and themselves. They had crowded into the cage, with the hope of seducing God to crawl into the cage with them. 

In fact, they built a temple, which was a super-cage where they could keep God, for all their very own. In fact, they thought they had him caged and Holy of Holies. Once a year on the day of atonement, the high priest would go into the cage and talk with God, the God they had incarcerated. They kept themselves in the cage with pacts and laws that squeezed the spontaneity out of the religion. 

When Jesus began to preach and to teach, they tried to get him into the cage, too. They tried to tease him into being the great Messiah who would throw the Romans out and make them the “in people” in the world. When they saw they could not get him into the cage, they decided they had to kill him. Jesus knew when he went to Jerusalem that he was signing his own death warrant. 

He also knew that if the new community of faith was to be born, he must go to Jerusalem and break the cage open and let religious men out. He did not leave anything to chance. He went right to the Super cage, the temple, to board the lion in his own den. He took a weapon and broke up the perennially crooked Bazaar. Then, he began preaching inflammatory sermons against the leaders of Jerusalem. He made it so hot for them they could not avoid confrontation. 

So, they did what they had to do. They crucified him, then they put him in his ultimate cage, the cage of all cages, the tomb. Matthew even has his temple guard guarding the cage, when the miracle of resurrection took place. There are four very symbolic things that happened during that last week.  

First, at the moment of crucifixion, there is an earthquake and the veil of the temple is torn from top to bottom. That tear began at the top, to show it was God’s doing. God was really breaking out of his cage. God takes away this separation. He is back on the street with his people.

The second big event is resurrection. In resurrection, God blows the lid off the tomb, the cage in which Christ is incarcerated, and Christ is set free to be with the people. 

The third thrilling event told by Matthew is that there were other people raised from the dead at the same time as Jesus. These are symbolically, the resurrection community, the community of the son of the human one, the community of freedom. Add that resurrection day, the community of true humanity is born. Humankind is set free by resurrection to be human. 

Finally, in Matthew, the risen Christ takes the new community, the resurrection community, to a mountain in Galilee. This is the ultimate exodus from Jerusalem, the super-cage. On the mountain in Galilee, Jesus commissions his resurrection people to go into all the world and make disciples of all the people. The cage is broken once-and-for all. All the world can hear the good news of resurrection.  

So, once-and-for all humankind is set free by resurrection to be human. Paul can exclaim: If one be in Christ, he-she is a new creation, the old has passed away, and behold all has become new. 

The gospel writer Luke tells us the story in a different way. Two disciples are going away from Jerusalem in total disillusionment. Their Lord’s been crucified. To make it worse, the grave was found empty on the day after the Sabbath. As they walk and talk, a stranger falls in step with them. For a while he remained silent. Then, he asked questions that seemed to show astounding ignorance. Finally, he begins to show an astonishing knowledge of everything, so much so that when they come to their house, they invite him in. 

Then he takes the bread and blesses it and breaks it. Suddenly, they recognized him in the breaking of the bread. Jesus is sacramentally present with them. They to go back to Jerusalem to tell the good news to all the rest. 

John the gospel writer tells that Jesus appeared by the lake where the disciples are fishing. Christ calls them as he did before, from their nets. He restores Peter at the meal, a sort of sacramental restoration. Then, he suggests Peter too will be crucified. In other words, The Church is now his body. He is Resurrected in the church. They now will be the resurrection people in the world. 

Now, what does the Easter story have to say to us? Perhaps, first-of-all, it has a personal message to all of us who are caught in the cage. The cage is the place where we are dead ended, where crucifixions take place. Perhaps we’re all encased in this casket of life that has become sheer boredom. The resurrected Christ wants to come into our lives and blow the lid of our tomb and set us free to be resurrection people. 

Martin Luther King exemplified this king of freedom in his last speech in Memphis the night before he was shot. He said 

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

He was now a resurrection person. No cage could hold him any longer. No grave had any fear for him. Symbolically, the day after his burial, his followers led the poor people’s March on Washington. And in the grass and mud on the front of the Capital, they built their city of tarpaper houses and tents. And they invited the world to join them in what they called Resurrection City. 

Many people laughed. There was dissension in the group, and it looked like a fiasco. But with the television cameras trained on them, they did spell out to the world that they were resurrection people, and no crucifixion by an assassin’s bullet what could kill their dream. They were shouting out to the world for all to hear, there was hope in the ghettos of the world, for Christ is alive—our Martin is alive—and his dreams—Christ’s dreams for the world—can never be thwarted. 

So, this is the resurrection day for us. Behind me is a white shroud on a cross that says, “Cross, the crucifixion has been undone by resurrection.” From this setting, Christ calls you and me to follow him out of our tombs and out of cages. He takes us to the mountaintop as in the days of old and he says: “You are my resurrection people. Go out into the world and proclaim resurrection hope in the ghettos of our cities, where there is hunger and there are naked and imprisoned people. 

Christ is risen, he is alive. We can be alive today. Come breathe in the fresh air of the resurrection life, and may we be set free to be resurrection people in the world. 

I have a Palm Sunday memory I shall cherish to my dying day. When I was a child of about eight, a little girl of about my age died in the little French Catholic town of Orleans about 20 miles from our house. As she was being buried, so it was reported, those who stood by the graveside felt a miracle power emanating from the casket of little Maria. People who are suffering from various maladies felt themselves suddenly healed. The aged in the crowd felt their tired old body suddenly renewed. 

Soon the news spread to the surrounding area. It hit Ottawa papers the day before Palm Sunday. Out of curiosity, our family decided to go see for ourselves early on Palm Sunday, planning to get back in plenty of time to go to church. We made the trip in our old Maxwell touring car. It was a beautiful morning with the trees in full blossom. 

As we arrived at the Cemetery, the grave was not hard to spot. It was surrounded by the lame, the sick and those weak with age and their families. Some knelt and some kissed the gravestone. Others were just milling around. Even these would genuflect every now and then.

We arrived at the moment just when the traditional Palm Sunday procession was coming headed for the large spired church in the center of the town. By the time the procession reached the Cemetery, we too were standing by the grave. At the head of the procession, the Christ figure rode bumpily on his little donkey. He was a young French youth with black wavy hair, dressed in a Royal purple robe, with a neat beard grown for the occasion. 

Behind him marched the town folk, young and old, waving their palm branches and shouting in French, “Hosanna, Hosanna bless it is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” 

As they passed the Cemetery, the parish priest who had the donkey by the bridle suddenly stopped the procession. The Christ figure dismounted, walked over to the grave and stood in reverence for a moment with head bowed. Then, he raised his hand and made the sign of the cross. The crowd shouted, “Hosanna, bless it is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” And, as he mounted and rode away, some of the lame threw away their crotches and tried to walk. Some of the sick believed they had felt the miracle power. Some even ran out and threw their coats down in the path of the donkey. I do not remember feeling any miracle power, but the story and the drama of the Palm Sunday was imprinted in the mind of one eight-year old, so that he has never forgotten it. For him, there is a magic and a mystery in the story that must be experienced to be understood. 

This year as I reread the Palm Sunday story, my heartbeat rises, and that 8 year old boy’s memory is relived once again with all its magic and power. During my mature years now, details have been filled into the story, and new insights have enriched it. But. I can never lose the magic and the miracle of that Palm Sunday experience of so many years ago.

This year, we have been doing a comparative study of the gospel narratives of Matthew, Mark and Luke. It is interesting to compare the three narratives. Each has its own unique additions and innovations for the story. This morning, I will focus on the story according to Matthew. Matthew begins with the mother of the disciples James and John kneeling at the feet of Jesus to make her request. Jesus asks, “What do you want?” 

“Command that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your Kingdom.”

Jesus seems to turn to the sons to make his reply (indeed Mark has the two sons make the request in the first place). “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the Cup that I am to drink?” 

They said to him, “We are able!” 

He answered, “you will drink my Cup – but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by my father!”

The other disciples, who heard this, were indignant at the effrontery of this request made by two of their number. 

Jesus then turned and talked to the disciples about the power of structures. It seems to be the nature of society that there are Lords and rulers who rule – and there are peons and slaves who serve among the people. There are always those who have to be number one, with the cost being slavery, impoverishment and servitude for others.

Then he says, “It is not to be so among you. Whoever is great among you must be your servant – and whoever is first among you must be your slave. Even as the true human being came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

In all the gospels, this is followed by the healing of the Blind Bartimaeus. But Matthew has one notable addition to this story. Behold, there are two blind men sitting by the roadside when Jesus passed. They cried out, “Have mercy on us son of David.” The crowd tried to shut them up, but they would not be silenced. They cried once more, “Have mercy on us Son of David!” Jesus stopped and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said to him, “Lord let our eyes be opened!” Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they saw again and followed him. 

Was this a parable? Is that why Matthew has two men? Who were the blind men, James and John? Did they really need to see again? Did they need to see to know what the Kingdom was all about? 

Then Jesus sent two disciples to find a donkey and a colt. Who did he send? Was it perhaps the two had just received their sight? You must send someone who could see? The donkey was the animal that Kings employed in their Coronation. (Ironically, Jesus would be crowned king at his Crucifixion.)

Jesus was seated on the pack animal, also, to symbolize in the servanthood of the human being, the true human one who took our weaknesses and carried our disease. He is welcomed by a “very large” crowd, the only time Matthew uses the term, “very large.” They honor him by casting branches in the way and acknowledging him Jubilee as the son of David.

The goal of Jesus is to enter the temple. Without hesitation, once in the temple, he begins to drive out those who are selling and buying, not as an act of cleansing, but of judgment. This action is also a rejection of the typology of David. Instead of expelling the blind and the lame and the old, whom David hated and would not let in the temple, Jesus permits the blind and the lame to appear in the temple, and he heals him. In the temple, the blind see in the lame walk. The die of the Messiah is cast. He is the servant Lord. At that moment ,the children cry out: “Hosanna to the son of David!”

The Scribes and the Pharisees are indignant. He is supposed to silence the children, but he refused. Jesus said to them, have you never read, “Out Of the mouths of the babes and sucklings thou hast brought perfect praise.”

Then, he came to the fig tree and found no fruit. He cursed the fig tree and it withered and died. The fig tree like the temple, did not produce the fruit it was supposed to produce. Temple too stood under his judgment. 

The story all fits together. Two brothers wanting the choice seats in the Kingdom stand blind and rebuked. Temple Lords exercise authority, enslaving the people. These all stand under the judgment of the human one, who came not to be ministered to but to minister.

Now we must look at the Palm Sunday story in the light of our own history. If Jesus were to begin his Palm Sunday march today, where would he begin? To which city would Jesus march? Which temple would he go to to begin his judgment?  

Perhaps, we are the people of all the peoples of the world who feel we have the right to sit on the right hand and the left. Perhaps he would March into Washington DC, for the corruption of the last few years and speak of a nation who seeks to be number one, drunk with power, running its crooked carnival show with its Watergates and its Koreagates. He would point the finger at the President, who ran on the ticket to cut the waste of defense spending, and a year later talks of more-and-more defense spending, for he must be Lord and Number One in armaments. 

At this point in my preparation our Assistant Pastor, Leo, stuck his head in my study. I asked him, “Where do you think Christ would March to on Palm Sunday if he came to our country?” He said, “Probably right down 139th Street and stop at our church on the corner of Mill Street.” 

Do we come into our church to be ministered to? Is this the place where we are in the “In Group” at the right hand and the left hand?

Perhaps there would be much celebrating. He would see the hungry coming to be fed­­­, the naked to be clothed, the sick to be healed and the weak to be empowered. It may be that your life and mine would be the fig tree, where Jesus comes to pick the fruits of the Kingdom? Would he find the self-giving love of the servant? Which donkey are you and I riding on? The Coronation donkey that leads to the self-aggrandizement, bigger houses, more things and creature comforts, and our own little church with such nice people. 

Or, are we riding the lowly pack animal, which is carrying us into our servanthood and into the Kingdom of our Christ? Can we say with him: “The Spirit Of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind and to set at Liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

As we walk into our city will the little children shout, “Hosanna blessed is she-he who comes in the name of the Lord. My mother, the woman who scrubbed our floors, filled are cupboards, dressed our children, and took us all to church and sat with us in the same Pew. “Hosanna, blessed is she who comes in the name of the Lord.”

The deep shadows of the night were slowly disintegrating. The quiet mystical glow of early morning seemed to hang heavy upon the garden, the soft fragrance of blooming olive trees and dogwood —the quiet, deep shadows of the overhanging myrtle trees—the moist and muffled dropping of the heavy dew—and the deep shadows of the three women as they quietly melted their grey garments into the dusky dawn—all this blended into mystical and eerie symphony that seemed to anticipate little in either its mood or its melody of the great events that were to follow that morning.

The three women each carried a tankard of rich alabaster ointment with which they planned to anoint the body of their beloved Master. This was a customary ritual. The fragrance of the ointment would dissipate the stench of decaying flesh that hovered over the tomb, and make the place more pleasant for the many mourners who would come to pay their respects to their dead leader that day. The women were both sad and perplexed. They were disillusioned and disheartened, because the one they dearly loved had been crucified—and now he was in the cold tomb at the end of the path. They were perplexed because a giant stone that had been rolled against the door of the tomb, and a Roman seal had been placed upon it. Who would dare break the seal and role back the stone, so they could perform their ritual of anointing.

There was no hope in their hearts that morning. They expected to find a sealed tomb at the end of the path. In that tomb, their love and their dreams were buried. They were relieved as they came to the tomb to fins the stone rolled away. At least, this burden was lifted from their drooping shoulders. Then, they were shocked into a state of petrifying disbelief and despair. Someone had been cruel enough to torment them even more by stealing the body and hiding it from his sorrowing followers. How cruel could they be.

There was only one thing to do. Two of the women ran to get some of the disciples. They must search all over until they could find the hiding place. The grief for Mary Magdalene was more than she could bear. She threw herself on the ground at the door of the tomb and began to sob convulsively. Finally, her supply of tears and strength were both exhausted. She could cry no more. She lay perfectly still upon the cold ground, with her head resting upon her forearm. It seemed as though all life had gone out of her.

She suddenly became aware of a soft footfall near her. This must be the gardener doing his early morning work. He did not look up. She soon became aware that he was standing beside her and looking at her. In deep anguish she suddenly cried out, “Oh, sir, if you have carried him away, please tell me where you have put him, and I will take him away.” 

“Mary.” 

Just then the sun burst through the early morning fog in all its splendor. She looked up into the face of the one who called her, and the light of recognition drove away the shadows of anguish and bereavement. It was he.

“Master.”

Oh, there were some who said that he was not really dead, when they took him down from the cross. He had just swooned from the loss of blood. When they laid him on the cold slab, he revived, and came out of the tomb and they thought that he had risen from the dead.

But, Leslie Weatherhead seems to settle this matter when he says:

Could a person suffering from five terrible wounds, all of them involving serious loss of blood, lie in a cold grave for thirty six hours, and then awaking from a coma, push away a heavy stone rolled in front of the entrance of the tomb, and not just stagger out of the tomb entrance, but remove the grave clothes, secure other clothing, evade the guards and persuade his followers that he had conquered death? He would be an invalid needing weeks of care.

This is too fantastic to even give it another thought.

But someone has said: “Perhaps the Romans or the Jews stole the body of Jesus out of the tomb.” But, have you ever thought of this. Seven weeks after this event of Crucifixion, his disciples stirred the whole of Judea with their preaching of the Resurrection. Those who had put him to death were themselves with bewildered and alarmed. How could they put a stop to this preaching? It would have been easy, if they had stolen the body away. If on the day of Pentecost, the Jews or Romans had brought the decaying body of Jesus in before the crowd when Peter was preaching the Resurrection, he would have been stopped in his tracks, and laughed off the podium, but they never produced that body.

But you say, perhaps the Disciples stole the body away, and fabricated the story of the resurrection to deceive the people. Could it be that these men could preach with such dynamic fervor, that in one day, 5000 were converted, and yet know that the Gospel they preached was based on a lie? Ten of those eleven men died as martyrs for the gospel they preached and the Christ they served. The eleventh one died in exile on Patmos for the same reason.

Do you believe for one moment, that they would have stuck to their story in the face of death if they knew it was a lie?

No — something happened on that first Easter morning that transformed that fearful, discouraged, and forlorn group of disillusioned followers into the most fanatically dedicated and dynamic fighting force in all history. All the evil forces of mankind and Hell had combined to destroy their Lord on that First Good Friday on Golgotha’s Hellish hill. However, they knew on that first Easter morning Victory was assured. Christ was risen. Hell was vanquished. Evil men had lost the battle. Sin had been done a death blow. And the vilest enemy of all — death —death that stalks the road of every man dragging him to the grave — this Monster had been defanged and defeated and done to death — and the cold tomb no longer held its horrors. “For He is Risen!? He is Risen!” Come see the place where the Lord lay! The testimony of the empty tomb could not be refuted.

Nor were they afraid that it would be. They went to the very streets of the Jerusalem that Crucified him to proclaim the message, first. Peter stood up before that multitude. There were those there who a few short weeks before on a dark Thursday night had cried:

“Crucify Him, Crucify him! Give us Barabbas.” There were shifty-eyed priests there who had plotted his death and sprung the trap. However, Peter stood up boldly and without fear of refutation, and he proclaimed with daring bravery and courage:

This man who was put in your power by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. You nailed him up and murdered him, but God would not let the bitter pains of death touch him. He raised him to life again….Christ was not deserted in death and his body was never destroyed. Christ was the man ^Jesus, whom God raised up — a fact of which all of us are are eyewitnesses! He has been raised to the right hand of God. He has received from the Father and poured out upon us the promised Holy Spirit — that is what you now see and hear. Now therefore the whole nation of Israel must know beyond the shadow of a doubt that this ^JesuS, whom you have crucified, God has declared to be both Lord and Christ.

What did this mean to the early church? It transformed these people into a dynamic band of preachers who proclaimed the gospel with such power, that the blind were made to see, the lame were made to walk, the insane were brought to their senses — even the dead were brought to life — but more than that, they preached with such persuasion, that in one generation, there was a dedicated community of Christians in every city, village and hamlet throughout the whole of the then-known world.

More than that, they became foolhardy for the gospel. When they were imprisoned, they sang hymns through the night, until the confused jailers let them go. When they were beaten, they ministered in love to each other and to the very ones that laid on the lash. They loved as the master had loved. But above all, death had no fears for them — the tomb no terrors. They were thrown to the lions — they walked the Appian Way to be beheaded — they were crucified in shame like the master. But they gladly went to their death with singing — for they believed that Christ had conquered death and made it the door into fullness of life.

But what does the Easter message mean to us today. Perhaps, you have come into this sanctuary this morning discouraged and disheartened. You wonder if there is any use going on. Life seems to have lost its meaning and its joy for you. Could you be anymore forlorn than those disciples were this morning. 

“He is Risen! He is Risen!”

The risen Christ wants to fill your life with the same dynamic meaning and fulfillment as he gave to those first disciples.

You have been trying hard to make a go of things. Perhaps, family problems are weighing you down and you feel such a failure. You try to do right, and you keep doing wrong. Perhaps you feel chained to your job — because of its security — and yet you hate every moment of it — Perhaps you have committed some deep sin in your life and you are constantly plagued by the guilt of it — or by the wrong that you have done those around you.

Christ is risen —and in resurrection power he is waiting to enter your life and bring new meaning and power. He is able to deliver you from your weakness and your sin — he is able to forgive your guilt and cleanse you from it and more than that — the same power that burst the bars of death can burst the encircling and enslaving powers of evil in this world that have chained us — it can set us free — The risen Christ is waiting to do this for you.

Christ is risen! He was able to burst the bars of death, and tear the shrouds that bound him. Roll the stone away, and come forth triumphant even over death — he is able to tear these bars from your life and set you free, if you will let him. The eternal, risen Christ is sufficient for all our needs

It may be that during the last year you have looked down into a deep grave as they have lowered a loved one into its depths. Today, you have a deep sorrow, ^This morning Easter has a wonderful message for you. Your loved one is not in the Grave. The grave has lost its fangs — death has lost its sting—Christ is Risen—victorious in death—only the body goes to the tomb—the man in Christ goes to be with Him who is risen victorious!

Paul could say:

But the glorious fact is that Christ did rise from the dead: He has become the very first to rise of all who sleep, the sleep of death. As death entered the world through a man, so the rising from the dead come to us through a man! As members of a sinful race, all men die. As members of the Christ of God, all men shall be raised to life—Death is swallowed up in victory. For now where Oh Death is your power to hurt us? Now Oh Grave where is the victory you hoped to win? It is sin which gives death its power and it is the law which gives sin it strength: All thanks to God then who gives us the victory over these things through our Lord Jesus Christ!

For Christ is Risen and that means everything to us—shout it from the Housetops—proclaim it in the office—make it known in the classroom—tell it everywhere—this is our hope in life.

If you get a chance sometime, read John Masefield’s narrative poem: “The Everlasting Mercy”. It tells how Saul Kane, a boozing, boasting blackguard is confronted by a gentle Quaker, who wins him to a new life in Christ. ⁿe blunders out into the light the next morning to find everything looks so wonderfully different since Christ — the risen Christ came into his life. ^Ahis is what he says:

O glory of the lighted mindHow dead I’ve been, how dumb, how blind.

The station brook, to my new eyes,

Was babbling out of paradise,

The waters rushing from the rain 

Were singing Christ has risen again,

I thought all earthly creatures knelt 

From rapture of the joy I felt

The narrow station-walls brick ledge, 

The wild hop withering in the ledge 

The lights in huntsman’s upper storey, 

Were parts of an eternal glory*

“He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!”

I would like to take you to a visit to the Johan Barham Family in Beit Sahour, which is a little town outside of Bethlehem. Johan and his wife, Nadal, both come from a long line of Christians, who have lived in the Bethlehem area for over 800 years. Until 1967, their families lived in relative peace. They were able to come and go as they pleased. As devout Greek Orthodox Christians, they had their freedom to worship as they pleased.

Before 1967, Bethlehem and all of the West Bank of Palestine, was under Jordanian rule. Since most of the people living in the West Bank are Arabs, the Jordanians allowed them to live in freedom. During the Seven Day War of 1967, the whole area was conquered by Israel. The territory has been occupied by Israel ever since. As you know, the enmity between the Jews and the Arabs goes back to the time of Abraham. The Arabs have always felt the have lost out and been disenfranchised by the Hebrew people over this time. The Jews feel the Holy Land is their birth right and their land.

As the tension between the ruling Jews and the conquered Arabs in the West Bank has intensified, the Arabs have become more and more angry with their conquerors, whom they consider oppressors. It just happens that the great celebration for the Arab Christians living near and in Bethlehem is Christmas Eve, when they live out the festival of Christmas. The whole Christmas story is lived out by the Christian community on that night.

Since 1980, the Arab Christians have been forbidden to go to the Manger Square on Christmas Eve. They have been thrust into the role of a conquered people. They feel very much that the rulers in Jerusalem are their oppressors. They are waiting for a liberator to arise from Bethlehem to set them free. The Christmas story is very much a real story in the hearts and minds of the Christians in Beit Sahour and Bethlehem.

A few weeks ago, Jim Hornsby spoke to us about the Christians in Nicaragua. He told how Christian groups are springing up all over Central and South America. He spoke particularly about the Base Group in the Habitat Village, where he was building houses. Before they go to work each morning, they meet in a cell group for Bible study and prayer. For them, the Bible is a living book today. Now at Advent Season, they will be reading the Christmas story. They will be reading it as if it is happening in their time.

I can imagine what it would be like to sit in one of their sessions. They would be reading about Herod’s decree that every male child under two must be killed. So, he sends his soldier throughout Judea to kill these little children. One of the group members lights up and says, “That is just like the Contras coming through our towns and killing our children and our leaders. Last week, one of our church buses struck a mine and many children were injured or killed. Some of their legs were blown off. That is just like the Roman Soldiers going through Judea and killing the little children, when they were trying to kill the Christ child. Today, the Contras are trying to kill the Christ-spirit that has been moving through our land to liberate people from poverty and economic enslavement.” And so, the Christmas story comes alive in Nicaragua.

A few weeks ago, our friend Gary told me how he was at his wits end in his life, when he suddenly came to a point where he decided that he was at the end of his tether, and there was only one way out– to turn his life over to God. He said to God: “God, I have come to the end of my rope. I want to turn my life over to you. From here on out, I want you to call the tune.” On that day at the seashore, his heart became a manger, where the Christ child was born and the Christmas story was enacted all over again.

Today, I would like you to journey with into the skin of some the main actors in the Advent story– a story that begins with Annunciation to Mary. “I am Mary of Nazareth. I was born in the city of Nazareth, which was often called Nazareth of the Gentiles by the Jews of Jerusalem.” Because more than half of the people living in Nazareth where Gentiles, the Jews in Jerusalem thought the Jews of Nazareth were second-class, because they lived amongst the Gentiles. They could not help but be less worthy if they associated with Gentiles.

Mary said, “Being a woman of Nazareth, I was a second-class citizen among second-class citizens. In our world, women were to be seen and not heard. The men were the people of power. It was a lot of hard work to bear children and be at their husband’s beck and call. I was very uneasy for the life that was marked out for me.”

Mary said, “One night, I was lying awake and could not sleep. I was looking at my life and seeing my own enslavement. Suddenly, a light shone to me from Heaven–that startled me. I jumped out of my bed and fell prostate on the floor. I knew this was something from God. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to me and said to me not be be afraid, for I have found favor with God and behold you will conceive a baby in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall call him Jesus.”

I was astounded and I said to the angel, “How can this be since I do not have a husband?”

The angel said, “The Holy Spirit will come to you, the power of the Most High shall overshadow you, therefore your child will be born and called Holy, the son of the most high.”

Mary said, “Suddenly, my emptiness was gone. God had taken me from a nobody, and made me a somebody. No longer would I be Mary of Nazareth, half a citizen and half a person, put down by my people and a slave to my husband. Now I will be Mary of Bethlehem, the Mother of the Messiah.”

It was E. Stanley Jones who referred to Christ as the “Christ of Every Road.”I a real sense Mary can be call the “Mary of Every Road.” Mary stands out for much of the world as a Liberator. She is enshrined in many of the churches throughout the world as a symbol or liberated womanhood. She speaks to the world of women that enslavement is no longer their role. In Christ, women are made free to be human to be made free to God’s wondrous work in the world.

Mary becomes a model for every woman minister–many who have been set free in our generation to accept their high calling to Christ. Mary becomes the role model to every woman in the world who seeks a vocation–whether in the church or politics or business–whether she is to be called to be a mother–knowing the child can be a special person in this world.

Zachariah tells his story, “My name is Zachariah. I was a priest before God all my life. I served God faithfully in the Temple. I married a beautiful woman named Elizabeth. Our lives were rich and full except for one thing. We were childless. To be childless in our country was to be under a curse, because we could not bear children. We were now old and had stopped hoping.”

Zachariah said, “One the day it was my privilege to enter the Temple and light the incense–just as I lit the incense on the altar–the angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to me on the right side of the altar. I was deeply troubled and scared to death.”

But the angel said to me, “Do not be afraid for your prayer is answered, and your wife Elizabeth will bear a son and you will call him John. And, he is going to be the one who prepares the way for the Messiah.”

Zachariah said, “I was flabbergasted and I fearfully said to the angel, “How can this be, I am an old man and my wife is an old woman past the age of childbearing. How can we have a child?”

And the angel said, ” I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. And, this will be a sign to you. Behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until these things come to pass.”

Zachariah said, “Sure enough, when I ran from the Temple to tell Elizabeth with the exciting news, some of my friends were waiting at the door of the Temple. I was unable to say a word. I had to get a pencil and write the whole thing down. It was only after our son John was born that I was able to speak. Zachariah and Elizabeth became a wonderful symbol for rebirth in the days of Christmas.

There are many other wonderful stories of Christmas including the shepherds in the fields and the traveling Magi who all brought peace with the good news of the Christ child.

One of the most fascinating things about the our current interest in the life and meaning of Jesus for our times is that much of what is being written comes from the State of Israel and is being written by Jews. In fact, the output of these writings  is much higher than from so-called Christian country. It is very interesting what they’re saying about Jesus.

• May Nordav, cofounder withTheodore Herzl of the Zionist movement wrote: “Jesus is a soul of our soul as he is flesh of our flesh. Who then would want to exclude him from the Jewish people.”
• Martin Buber the Great Jewish philosopher and humanist wrote: “Jesus is our older brother who cannot fit into the usual human categories.”
• Shalom Ben-Chorin writes in his book: “Brother Jesus—the Nazarene from a Jewish Viewpoint—I feel his brotherly hand which grasps mine so that I can follow him.”
• David Flusser writes: “In Jesus we have a Jew talking to Jews: from him you can learn how to pray, fast, and love your neighbor You can learn the meaning of the Sabbath and find help understanding God’s kingdom and of judgment.”

However there is a dividing line between what Jews are writing about Jesus and Christians are writing. Shalom Ben-Chorin put it this way:  “The face of Jesus unites us, Jews and Christians—but faith in Jesus divides us.” The fact is people of the Christian faith say things about Jesus of Nazareth that Jews would never say. The dividing of the faith is perhaps best illustrated in a scripture of the morning where in Luke the angel Gabriel tells Mary: “You shall bear a son and he shall be great and shall be called the son of God.”

Whatever theology one derives from the birth stories in Matthew and Luke, they speak to the faith of the early Church that shows Jesus, in their eyes, as different from anyone who ever came before, including Moses, Joshua, Elisha, and David to name a few. However, angels did not announced their birth. Shepherds and wise men did not make a holy pilgrimage to their birthplace. Genealogies were not worked out for them. John the Baptist did not precede them to prepare the way. Go through the happenings one by one that are reported from his birth and through the events of his life, you will find the events and people are all unique to him.

In fact, the whole Gospel record is written by those who believe that Jesus on earth was different from all other humans. The Gospel writer John sums it up this way (John Chapter 20, Verse 30-31): “Now Jesus did many other things in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these acts are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ and the son of God, and in believing you may have life in his name.”

In spite of the criticism of the historic accuracy of the New Testament writers, the record of the life of Jesus is still far superior to any other religious founders and leaders. Most of the New Testament writers wrote in what would’ve been the normal lifespan of Jesus. Had Jesus lived out his natural life, he probably would have been living when Paul, Mark, Matthew and Luke wrote. This takes up three-fourths of the New Testament.

It is conceivable the whole New Testament was written by 70 AD. Bishop A. T. Robinson recently wrote a book to defend this thesis. He looked at Gautama Buddha and Confucius, both who lived 500 years before Christ. Nothing was written about them for 500 years after their life. Very little is known about the life of Mohammed from eye witnesses. He wrote the Koran, what we know about was written many years after he left. It takes libraries to contain the literature written in the first three centuries after Christ about the life of Jesus and the early Christian church.

It is true the early Christian writers were not concerned with history, as such. However, the story was the Medium for the Message, as John says: “I write these things and tell you about his mighty works that you might believe in him.” But, this does not take away from the veracity of the events he narrated. One further thing, historians begin at the beginning of the story of a life and try to work through subject’s history. The early church began at the other end of history. The Gospel writers lived with Jesus and experienced him personally. The followers came to believe in Jesus, because of the witness of Christ made by these writers. The early followers began with belief. Also, the Gospel writers wrote from beyond the crucifixion and resurrection. They were mediums interpreting the faith. They were speaking of what the acts of Jesus’s and the disciples meant to them.

When the Gospel writers said Jesus was sent by God, they were not saying there were two gods. They were saying instead that Jesus functioned as God, as he lived with them on earth. When they looked into the face of Jesus, they saw God. This was the God who from the beginning was known more fully than ever through the face of Jesus of Nazareth. This was the face that God chose for Jesus in this world, which was a real true and single face.

The Gospel writers said that since there is no other God than the one revealed in Jesus, Jesus is the universal witness to who God is. Yes, other humans encountered God apart from Christ—if it is the real god they encounter—but it is the reality found in the face of Jesus Christ they encounter. What happens with Jesus is therefore only from God. In the claim of Jesus, God’s claim is made known. The word of Jesus is God’s word. His will is God’s will. His action is God’s action made known in the world.

In Jesus of Nazareth, God calls humankind to the way. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father, but by me.” When you walk in the way of Christ, you are walking in God’s way. As the Council of Nicaea put it: “In Jesus, one true God is present—not as a second god—or demigod—but in the life of Jesus—he was really God in the present with us—in the flesh and blood—and in the sacraments of the Lord’s supper we bear witness to the presence of the living God, the body and life blood of Jesus of Nazareth.

It was with this kind of faith that the early Church looked back at the life of Jesus of Nazareth and said: “We behold his glory as the only begotten of the father.” Thus the Roman Centurion saw him die he exclaimed: “Truly this was the son of God.”  Thomas when he saw the risen Lord and was offered a chance to touch his wounds fell down in adoration and exclaimed: “My Lord and my God.”

I can illustrate this with personal experience. Once, I was crossing the old Siletz bridge at the Oregon coast at a very high tide and in a great storm. I saw the ocean nearly take to bridge away as I was crossing it. It suddenly dawned on me that I was only looking at a very small part of the ocean as it came into Siletz Bay. I thought how powerful, wild and untamed the ocean was. I had not seen all the ocean that day, but I saw the real ocean at work, and thereafter, I would know what the ocean was like.

This is what the early Church was telling us in the Gospel story. The life and love and work is in the power and face of Jesus of Nazareth. We have seen God as we see him in and in no other place.

So we come to the cradle-manger in Bethlehem. With the shepherds and wisemen we look into the face of a baby. Our faith tells us that this baby is different from any other baby born into the world. For in the life, work, word and the loving acts this one, God comes into focus for us as he does in no other way. We too kneel and worship him. Then, we go out into the world to do the loving acts in his name and tell the world about him.

In a sense we are more like the Centurion than the disciples. For we are more outsiders—unlike the disciples, we did not live with him for three years. We can only encounter the one true God in his life and ministry.  When we encounter him, we exclaim as the Roman outsider: “Truly this is the son of God!” And, we fall down and worship him.

I was recently reflecting on the stained glass window in our church, with the Madonna and Child. I was also thinking our my encounter with the Maori Christ in New Zealand.  I was also reflecting on Earl Stanley Jones’s book, “The Christ of Every Road” and his call for a renewal of the church mission to engage the world. I was, also, thinking of the role of Mary in Christ’s story, the great preoccupation with Mary and Christ in European Renaissance art.

The strange thing is that Mary plays such a small part in the New Testament story. Matthew transforms Mary into the Virgin mother of Israel—only Luke’s story of the nativity really centers on Mary. The Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, only mention her one other time in a reference to his mother and brothers, and Jesus seems to brush them off saying, “Who are my mother and my brothers? They who do the will of my Father, they are my mother and my brothers.” John has Mary appear to only twice, at the wedding of Cana and at the cross. None of the Gospel writers have her appear in the story of the resurrection. Paul’s only reference is in Galatians 3, “Born of Woman.”

Four centuries after the New Testament, Mary is almost forgotten. Then, there is a sudden interest in the church, and she dominates Medieval art. She is exalted theologically as a mother of God through the immaculate conception. She is a co-redemptress with Christ, as Titian portrays Mary in “The Assumption of the Virgin.” 

She has her enthronement with Christ through the assumption of the Virgin Mary. With this background, I would like to look at the story of Mary and the nativity.

First of all, there is an interesting contrast between the two women in Luke’s story—Mary and Elizabeth. Mary was a nobody and was betrothed to Joseph, who was regarded in the low estate. The writer Luke says, “In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Galilee to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph.” Elizabeth on the other hand was of the establishment, a wife of a priest who was from the line of Aaron. Mary was a country girl. Elizabeth was a sophisticated woman of Jerusalem. Mary had no past, while Elizabeth had a long past. Mary was not yet a woman, while Elizabeth was past becoming a woman. The key message is “all things are possible.” Mary is the beginning of the future, where out of “no past comes the future.” Mary and Elizabeth find each other. Elizabeth’s baby leaps for joy while still in her womb, because Mary’s baby is to be born to be the Liberator.

Mary sings her song of the great reversal in history. Luke puts Mary right in the center of God’s promise with Sarah, Miriam and Hannah. God’s liberating reversal comes about through a humble instrument—Mary the mother of the liberator. God cuts down the mighty and raises the low. Mary’s child liberates Mary. Mary becomes the second Miriam. She sings about what is to happen next—Jesus the liberator is on the way. The good news for anyone oppressed is that freedom is on its way, too. He will fill the hungry with good things. He will bring freedom and good news, which he addresses to the needs of the oppressed. The good news is the fulfillment of the longing heart. Mary is the symbol of the liberation of all women. Women now appear at the rebirth point in history, women like Sarah, Miriam, Hannah and Mary Magdalene.

Howard Thurman, the great black poet-theologian-preacher says that all the world reveres and remembers the Madonna and child, because with the birth of a baby, civilization is reborn and given a new future. The experience of motherhood is an expression of the creative and redemptive principle of new life. The stirring of a child in the womb is the perennial sign of renewal and an attack on bigotry, blindness, prejudice, greed and all the host of diseases that make human life a nightmare and a Holocaust. With the birth of a child anywhere, something new, fresh and whole is brought into the world—and the world is born-again. The experience of motherhood is an expression of the creative force. But, I feel even this is not the final word as to why the church has lifted the virgin higher and higher.

In Genesis, there is a verse, which is a vital message we overlook. “God created “Adam” humanity in his own image—male and female—he created “them”. The male-female humanity is a reflection of the image of God. Historically we have emphasized the male image of God—God the warrior and God the jock who moves through history bully people over like a halfback. However, listen to Isaiah, “As one of whom his mother conference, so will I comfort you says the Lord.” In the Gospel story, God singles out a young woman to bear his Messiah. In Luke’s account, she handles herself in such a beautiful way there is nothing about her you want to change. I’m sure the portrayal of Madonna and Child by the artist has been far too saccharine.

Hans King, a Catholic theologian, points out: “This grace-endowed maiden talks about the humiliation of the mighty and the exultation of the lowly, the satisfying of the hungry and the sending away of the rich empty, which is a radical revision of priorities.”

This does not change the fact that the new order announced with joy is the one where the:

• Peacemakers inherit the kingdom
• Merciful obtain mercy
• Mourners receive comfort
• Poor in spirit receives the kingdom
• Weak inherit the earth

Thou comest a little baby that makes a mother cry. The Madonna and Child speaks to all of us about a quality of life that we must embrace: gentleness, comfort, forgiveness and acceptance.

Last night I was reading in C.S. Lewis about the virgin birth. He says that the human father is merely an instrument, or a carrier, and often an unwilling carrier, and simply the last in a long line of carriers that stretch far beyond our ancestors into pre-human and pre-organic deserts of time to the creation of matter itself. But, that line has become so choked with hate and greed and  the darker qualities of humankind that through the virgin-born Christ—God dispensed with this long line. With his life-giving finger he touched a woman who created humankind anew. Life now has a new divine human point from which to begin again—he is a new creation. The whole soul of our universe quivered at this direct injection of essential life—direct, uncontaminated, and not drained through all the crowded history of nature.

In Christ, you and I can be born in anew. Our old history coded in our games, our old nature clouded with the darker qualities of hate and lust and greed—can be raised and renewed by forgiveness. We can be a new creation born anew of the spirit of a new humanity.

Today, this place can be the manger where the Christ is born anew in us. In this great miracle—a new being—a new human—charged with God—changing human history. This new human stands on the threshold of each of our lives with outstretched hands and says, “Come unto me.” I will draw you into a new beginning, a new history, and a new future. Paul could say: “If anyone is in Christ, he-she is a new creation—the old history—the old nature has passed away—and behold all is become new.” In Christ—the baby of Bethlehem—humanity is born-again—born anew.