Why Did He Come?

Sermon-Christmas Eve Dec. 24, 2010
Lord Jesu!. Oh, make your word a swift word, passing from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the life. Oh Lord, hearken, and do so for your blessed Son’s sake, in whose sweet name we pray. — George Herbert, 1593-1633
Lord Jesu! Teach thou me, that I may teach them: Sanctify and enable all my powers; that in their full strength they may deliver thy message reverently , readily, faithfully, and fruitfully. Oh, make thy word a swift word, passing from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the life and conversation: that as the rain returns not empty, so neither may they word, but accomplish that for which it is given. Oh Lord, hear, Oh Lord, forgive! Oh Lord, hearken, and do so for thy blessed Son’s sake, in whose sweet name we pray. — George Herbert, 1593-1633
Fred Craddock, one of my favorite preachers, “tells the story of a preacher who loved to preach on big subjects and large issues every Sunday. From time to time some of his parishioners would complain of his big sermon topics and say they wanted something that helped them closer to home, helped them to get through the week but the pastor said they needed to learn to think beyond their petty concerns. So one week the pastor had to go to a denominational meeting in a large city and got one of his church members to go with him. When they reached the city, the pastor asked his church member to find a map so they could make their way to the meeting place. The church member reached over in the back seat and pulled up a globe of the world.”
So here is a sermon about petty concerns that is closer to home.
In central and west Africa there is the country of Cameroon. They have a traditional Christmas carol that they sing where the choir repeatedly asks, "Why did he come?"
"Why did he come?"
A few days ago there was an interview on National Public Radio with Mark Goldsmith. Six years ago he got involved with a not-for-profit program that encourages New York civic leaders to volunteer in city schools. He told them to put him in a tough school. He thought they would put him in east New York or South Bronx, really tough areas. Instead they asked him if he would go to jail. He was a 68 year old New York retired cosmetics executive. So they sent him to Rikers Island, the jail complex where most New York lawbreakers are sent. So many teenagers are incarcerated there that New York operates a public school there. 60% of those released from Rikers return. Again and again and again. “Goldsmith found out he had more in common with the inmates than he expected. He himself had once been a poor student and a college dropout. He knew what it was like to be an aimless young man with no clue how to get by.” It didn’t matter that he was old, Caucasian, and a businessman. The young men in jail had never ever met a successful human being in their lives. Goldsmith said, “They do not know a single person who can help them when they get out - not one.” So Goldsmith started an organization called “Getting Out and Staying Out”. Over the last 6 years they have placed 1500 young men in jobs. It is hard to imagine a 74 year old retired white cosmetics executive having anything in common with a 17 year old Latino gangbanger. And yet. Can you imagine how hard it is for these two to find anything in common, much less to learn from each other?
But Marc Goldsmith knew what it was to be one of these young men, aimless, clueless, with no hope, and never having known anyone who had achieved ANYTHING. And so he went there.
“Why did he come?”
Every year at Christmas I ring bells for the Salvation Army in front of Walmart for a 2 hour shift. I talk to folks, I see people I know, and a lot of people come up and thank me and bless me for what I am doing. But the best ones, every year, are the people who come up to the bucket and stuff in a wad of cash and say to me, “last year Salvation Army saved me.”
“Why did he come?”
The Christmas story makes no sense, none at all-which is why, I suppose, that we try to make a terrible, desperate story so beautiful and sweet. It is why, I suppose, why we tell the story of Santa Claus, a man who flies through the air in a reindeer drawn sleigh once a year carrying gifts for every child in the world. I guess we figure if we tell one fantastic story, why not tell another.
Mary was an unmarried teen age girl in a 3rd world country 2000 years ago. And she claimed that her child was the Son of God. It makes no sense (except that we’ve all known parents who believed their child was God). She was forced to travel about 70 miles on a donkey when she was 9 months pregnant. There was no hospital, no house, no designated space for a child to be born. So her child was birthed in a barn. 40% of all children in that era died before they were one, and this child looked like a good candidate. Can you imagine anyone farther away from who you are, your experience, than a child born to an unwed mother in 1st century Israel? Can you picture anyone you can relate to less than Jesus than us?
"Why did he come?"
One of my favorite stories was the one told by the character Leo on The West Wing several years ago. A man falls into a very deep hole and cannot get out. He yells and yells but no one hears him. Finally his best friend comes along and jumps down into the hole with him. “WHY DID YOU DO THAT?” yells the first man at his friend! Now we’re both stuck down here!” The friend says, “Yeah, I know, but I’ve been in this hole myself, and I know the way out.”
The Christmas story is an extraordinary one, that God would come as one of us into the world. That God would come as an infant in a barn in Bethlehem-a town of about 100 adults, in a 3rd world country, in the first century. That the same power that created the universe would come as the most powerless being there is. It makes no sense.
"Why did he come?"
The essence of hope, is when someone who is like me, can show me another possible future-I may not take it. It may take me a long time to understand it. It may make no sense to me, and I may not trust it, but someone like me showing me the way out, gives me hope. The Christmas story is about God coming as one of us, and showing us another way. It is unbelievable. But my experience with hope is that it is always hard to believe at the time.
Why did Jesus come? Because we needed him. Because we needed to believe that there was a purpose to our lives. Because we needed to believe that there was a loving God that cared about each of us. Why did Jesus come? He came to show us the way out.