Christmas Eve – Cycle B
Luke 2:1-20
The REST of the Story
It was late in the
afternoon of Christmas Eve day. A small boy sat waiting at the curb for a taxi
to come and pick him up. He was all alone, and just a little afraid. His mother
had sent him outside and told him to wait for the taxi to come. When it
arrived, she said, “Just get in and the taxi driver will know what to do. I’ve made all the arrangements and prepared
everything ahead of you.”
She had given him
money for the fare. “Don’t be afraid,” she had said. But he WAS afraid. He had
no idea where the taxi was taking him or when – or even if – he was coming
back.
All he knew was
that his mother had ALWAYS taken good care of him and that she would never
cause him harm. He trusted her completely, so he waited, anxious, yes, but
confident that wherever the taxi took him, all would be well.
Now, wouldn’t you
like to know where the boy was going and what would happen when he got
there? Of course you would! But there isn’t any more TO that story – just
a boy waiting and trusting with cab fare in his hand and a mother at home who
loves him. He is about to embark on a
journey of faith and the rest of the story is yet to be written.
It’s like all of
our stories here tonight. Something has
brought all of us here together at this time and in this place. The life circumstances that have brought each
of us here are different, but all of our life stories and all our faith
journeys are intersecting here and now because God, by the power of the Holy
Spirit, had something to do with the fact that we are here together.
In a little while,
we will leave here and each of us has an idea of what we’re going to do the
rest of the night. But we don’t know FOR
SURE what God has in store for us in this world. We never do.
Like the boy sitting on the curb with cab fare in his hand, all we can
do is trust in a God who loves us and gives us what we need to get by.
And how do we know
we can trust this God who has brought us here?
We know because we believe the stories.
That’s a lot of why we’re here tonight.
Because we like to hear the story again that we heard in the gospel and
that we sing in all the old familiar carols. We actually NEED to hear the
story. It’s the story of God’s
relationship with God’s people, which God has revealed to us in His Word. And the part we got to hear tonight – well,
it’s one of the best parts.
It starts right out
with Mary and Joseph on a journey of their own – a real journey to
"Do not be
afraid, Mary,” the angel had said to her, for you have found favor with God.”
Talk about stepping into the unknown, Mary must have had a million questions,
but she said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me
according to your word."
Mary had no idea
how things would turn out for her, but she trusted in the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob – the God she had learned about in stories and knew in her heart. So she said, “Yes.”
Joseph, too, had
been visited by an angel, a story we know from Matthew’s gospel. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to
take Mary as your wife,” the angel told him in a dream, “For the child
conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to
name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." And Joseph,
too, trusted and obeyed.
And so
here they were in
Then the story cuts
to the shepherds out on the hillside doing what shepherds do, watching their
flocks by night. Just an ordinary day
for some very ordinary people – shepherds – not the cream of the crop in that
society. And suddenly, something very extraordinary happened!
An angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory
of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel
said to them, "Do not be afraid.” (It
seems like angels are always telling people not to be afraid.) “for see—I am bringing you good news of
great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of
The angel told them
where to find this Messiah and then, as if to reinforce the unbelievable
message, a multitude of angels filled the sky, singing praises to God. Then, the shepherds embarked on a faith
journey – off to town they went to see what the angels had told them about.
What
a gift their visit must have been to Mary and Joseph. Don’t you think they must have been
wondering if it was all true? Would the
Son of God really be born in a stable with no place to sleep but a feed
trough? But God sent the shepherds to
affirm the truth of what had happened.
And in doing so, the shepherds were also affirmed in their faith and
went off praising God for what they had heard and seen!
On that night, Mary
and Joseph didn’t know what would happen next to them or their new Baby
Jesus. All they had to go on was God’s
Word that had been revealed to them in the Scriptures and by angels from God. In spite of the humble and unlikely
surroundings, they believed that something amazing had happened – God had
entered the world in the flesh, in a tiny, helpless baby.
By this story we
know that God is not far off in some heaven out of reach. The God of the universe who created
everything is a personal God who loves us and wants to have a relationship with
us. God enters the world he created in
the everyday, ordinary moments and comes to everyday, ordinary people – to a
simple Jewish girl in a small, obscure town – to lowly shepherds out on a
hillside. And to people like you and like me.
And when those who
are called by God say, “yes,” God’s power is manifest in them as God uses them
in extraordinary ways.
Tonight, we know a
lot more about how the story of Mary and Joseph and Jesus turned out. We know that Jesus grew up and died for our
sins and rose again so that all who believe in him can receive eternal
life. Our belief in that story, or
perhaps someone else’s belief in that story, or perhaps our DESIRE to believe
that story has brought us here tonight.
We live by faith in
a world that is hostile to faith, so we come to hear the stories – to hear
God’s Word – to be reminded of God’s promise to love us and forgive us and give
us all we need to get by and to welcome us home when our journey ends.
We come for our sins
to be forgiven and our spirits to be nourished by receiving the Body of Christ
in bread and wine as Jesus commanded – not fully understanding the mystery, but
believing the Word and saying “yes.”
And
soon we will leave, not knowing exactly what God has in store for us next. Our stories are still unfolding. But, having heard again, this wonderful part
of the long story of how God has been at work in the world all along, may you
go out with your faith renewed and your fears diminished, trusting that the God
who sends you, also goes with you, and has big plans for you. And, like Mary and Joseph and the shepherds, when
you hear God’s call, may you always say, “yes!”