The little Lord
Jesus lays down his sweet head.
The stars in the
bright sky look down where he lay,
The little Lord
Jesus asleep on the hay.
Isn’t it lovely? Nice cute little baby, warm soft nativity scene, peace and quiet, takes me back to a Christmas eve in England one year. Dad came home from work and it was dark outside and snowing heavily. But inside the central heating was on, mum had dinner ready, and we kids couldn’t wait for the morrow. It was idyllic, picture postcard stuff.
Well every year we all look forward
to celebrating the birth of the Christ child. The story is retold and retold in
soft colours, quiet carols playing in the background, and the smell of roast
dinner wafting through our houses (unless it’s a stinking hot Australian summer’s
day in which case it’ll be the smell of cold chicken, salad and beer). And it’s
good to celebrate the coming of our Lord; it’s right and proper for us to do
so.
But it does occur to me that our traditional
view of Christmas has become rather domesticated, fuelled by relentless
commercialism and the festive mood of the holiday season. Now while there’s
nothing wrong with the mood of a festive holiday season, I think the
traditional view of Christmas has long lost sight of how it actually was 2000
years ago, and the significance of it in terms of who God is, what he has done,
and how we are to respond. So I want to pick up the thought that Christmas could
be less a holiday for us Christians and more a holyday. And it’s a holyday that
should not be taken lightly.
On the one hand, Christmas is a
time for refreshment, restoration and re-creation, but on the other hand, for
me it is just as solemn an occasion as Good Friday and Easter, the other
principle Christian time of observance. Why? Because without Christmas there
would have been no Good Friday, and without Good Friday there could have been
no Easter, and without Easter there is no hope of eternal life for any of us.
So I want to suggest to you this morning another aspect of Christmas to think
about. My thoughts come from two points: Psalm 97, and something Mr Tumnus said
to Lucy in the Narnia stories of C.S. Lewis.
The original Christmas night and
the months afterwards could not have been more difficult for the holy family
with Mary heavily pregnant riding on a mule all the way from Nazareth to
Bethlehem, which was a three-day journey. Now ladies, can you imagine being nearly
nine months pregnant bouncing up and down on a mule along hot and dusty roads
for three days? And when you finally arrive in town every where’s booked out! Plus,
for the first-time mother there’s the risk of unknown complications with no
medical assistance on hand, except perhaps a few helping hands from older women
who may have been nearby at the time. Mary could not have had an easy time, and
she would have been a tough young lady to have coped with it. The infant Jesus didn’t
have an easy time either, because two years later Herod heard someone had been
born to take over his kingdom, and he wasn’t about to let that go unchallenged.
On many a Christmas morning we get
the story of three wise men visiting the baby with expensive gifts, but how
often do we get the story of how Herod set about killing all baby boys under two
years old in his attempts to get rid of the rival king because those three wise
men had told him why they’d come visiting. (Not very politically astute of them
to inform the Roman puppet king that you’ve come to worship his replacement).
And so the holy family had to flee for their lives into Egypt, and only after
Herod died was it was safe for them to return. Thus Jesus was born under
difficult circumstances into a hostile world.
Now, back to where my two main points
of thought have come from: Psalm 97 is the appointed psalm for Christmas
morning this year. It starts off “The
Lord is king! Let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad.” And
rightly so, the Lord is indeed king, born to us this day. But the next four
verses remind us that the baby king’s reign is not going to be a nice soft
cuddly one. What does it say?
Clouds and thick darkness are all around
him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Fire goes out before him, and consumes his
adversaries on every side.
His lightnings light up the world; the earth
sees and trembles.
Baby Jesus didn’t stay baby Jesus.
He grew up to die for sin in our place so that the world he was born into might
be reconciled with God. God in Christ substituting himself to face judgement
where man ought to, because man has substituted himself for God where man ought
not to. That is the essence of sin. And it’s a very merciful and loving God who
provided the Christ, born into our world on Christmas eve, to face for us what
we could never face on our own, that is, the right and just judgment of sin. And
as such, clouds and thick darkness were all around him. Righteousness and
justice are indeed the foundation of his throne. Fire does go out before him,
and will consume his adversaries on every side. And at the end of time when he
returns to our world, his lightnings will very much light up the world and the
earth see and tremble. Nothing tame about it. That’s why for the Christian, Christmas
is a holyday to be taken soberly and seriously.
We’ve largely turned the night when
the Christ child came into our world into Christmas for kids and the family
gathering dreaming of a white Christmas; very domesticated. Now don’t get me
wrong here, I’m not against involving children participating in re-enactments
of the nativity, or families re-uniting at end of year festive seasons. It’s
good that we teach children what happened on the original night of Christmas
eve; it’s good that families renew ties at least once a year. But what I am
suggesting here is that we be mindful of the temptation of actually wanting to
tame the Lion of Judah through this domestication of Christmas (understand
Christ is also known as the Lion of the tribe of Judah).
For those of you who don’t know the
Narnia stories, Aslan is God the lion of Narnia, just as in real life God come
to our world as Christ the Lion of Judah. So Lewis is telling his readers the
lion of Narnia (let the reader understand Lion of Judah) is not a tame one who
can be domesticated. That’s something Lucy had to learn, and so must we.
Born into a difficult and hostile
world, and it’s still a difficult and hostile world, but Christ Jesus our king
was born to give us hope, and that hope is our eternal life with God. It’s not
hope as in, with any luck it might happen. It’s hope as in, we know we have
eternal life because of Christmas eve - and Easter morning - and that eternal
life is guaranteed for all who believe in the name of the Lord. Hope therefore
is what we know awaits us at the end of time. That’s why Christmas is a season
of hope, it’s a hope of the guarantee, not of the possible maybes.
And there’s one other point about
hope: Christmas is often said to about peace on earth, goodwill to all. But
those who leave their Christmas at the foot of a nativity scene usually want
peace on earth on their own terms. In other words, they want a tame and inert Lion
of Judah, and do not want to face up to who he really is. His righteousness and
justice and peace for our world resides in himself and not in us; it is not on
our terms. For if it was, our world would be eternally lost. As it is, when we do
finally see the guaranteed goal of our hope, we will see righteousness and
justice and peace for our world manifested in perfection, something a tame lion
of Judah could never bring about.
By all means celebrate the birth of
our Lord this morning in whatever way you do. Enjoy family, friends,
fellowship, gift giving and receiving, food, drink and re-creation. But as the
party begins to wind down and you return to your homes and your quiet times,
remember both sides of the Christmas coin: Away in a manager no crib for a bed,
the little Lord Jesus lays down his sweet head, hark the herald angels sing,
glory to the new born king; but on the flip side, Aslan is not a tame lion.
So can I encourage you all this
year to look at Christmas with a fresh perspective. For many, Christmas is a
holiday, and we all need holidays and times of refreshment and restoration. But
for the Christian, Christmas is also a holyday. For me, it’s becoming an
opportunity for rest and re-creation almost in a sacramental sense, especially
on Christmas eve. I’ve long since chucked out the Kmart tinsel and plastic
tree. Instead, my home is decorated with the fragrance of real frankincense and
real myrrh standing next to a cross of real gold, and I have three candles
burning in glass holders for God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the light
come into the world.
Don’t leave Christmas at the foot
of the crib with infant holy and lowly; Christmas leads to the foot of a sin
bearing cross with saviour suffering and dying in our place. And because of
that, there is no way in heaven or on earth the Lion of Judah could possibly be
a tame one.
