I wonder what I would have heard if I would have been there that night. That first Christmas night. It is a question that haunts me every year. Would I have heard the choirs of angels singing or simply the sounds of barnyard animals shifting around? Would I have seen the star in the sky that night or simply a poor and frightened family expecting a kid? Wou1d I have understood the hushed silence of the divine presence, or simply the chill of a cold east wind? Would I have understood the message of Immanuel, God with us, or would the incredible implications of that evening have passed me by?

I am convinced that if two people had been there that night in Bethlehem, it is quite possible that they could have heard and seen two entirely different scenes. I believe this because all of life is this way. God never presents himself in revelation in a manner in which we are forced to believe. We are always left with the option to disregard the amazingness of God, for that is God's way. Thus, one person can say "It's a miracle," while another says "It's coincidence."

Certainly very few people in Palestine saw and heard and understood what took place that night. The choirs of angels singing were drowned out by the haggling and trading going on in the Bethlehem bazaar. There was a bright star in the sky but the only ones apparently to pay any attention to it later on were pagan astrologers from the East. If anyone did see Mary and Joseph on that most fateful night, they were too preoccupied with their own problems to offer any assistance.

In one of the All in the Family episodes that aired some years ago, Edith and Archie are attending Edith's high school class reunion. Edith encounters an old classmate by the name of Buck, who, unlike his earlier days, had now become excessively obese. Edith and Buck have a delightful conversation about old times and the things that they did together, but remarkably Edith doesn't seem to notice how extremely heavy Buck has become. Later, when Edith and Archie were talking, she says in her whiny voices "Archie, ain't Buck a beautiful person." Archie looks at her with a disgusted expression and says: "You're a pip, Edith. You know that? You and I look at the same guy and you see a beautiful person and I see a blimp!" Edith gets a puzzled expression on her face and says something unknowingly profound, "Yeah, ain't it too bad!"

You see, what we see and what we hear in life depends not upon the events but rather who we are as people. It's not what is out there but how we are led to receive it inside our hearts.

Many of you have seen Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol this year again. There is one scene that has always fascinated me. The ghost of Christmas Past has just paid a very discomforting visit to Ebenezer Scrooge. Clearly the old miser is shaken by the entire ordeal. But when he awakes from his sleep, does he take the message to heart? No, he simply dismisses it by saying: "Bah, humbug! It wasn't real. Just a bit of last night's undigested beef." Was what happened at Bethlehem a vision to be taken to heart or simple indigestion? You tell me!

"Oh," you say, "had I been there at Bethlehem that night I would have seen. I would have understood." Would you have? There is one way of knowing… Ask yourself what you saw this Christmas season. When you watched the evening news did you see chaos and strife, or did you see sheep without a Shepherd? When you went out to do your shopping did you see only hordes of people in the stores or did you notice the worried expressions on some of their faces? Worried because they are facing this Christmas without employment and they don't know how they are going to make ends meet.

And ask yourself what you heard this Christmas. Did you hear only the blasts of music and carols, or did you hear the silent sighs of the lonely and the bereaved who may be dreading Christmas because it accentuates their loneliness? And in the midst of the sounds of honking horns and people arguing over parking places, did you hear the feint sound of laughter that will be coming from downtown because you furnished toys for poor children?

You see, so often what we see and what we hear doesn't depend upon the event but upon ourselves. If you did in fact hear the cry from the lonely, the laughter of poor children, if you saw the sheep without a shepherd, then you just might have seen the events that took place in Bethlehem that night. But how many of us really perfectly have that spiritual focus at every moment during every Christmas? If you lacked that spiritual seeing and hearing then you probably would have been with the 99% who were present but who saw or heard nothing out of the ordinary. And we would be reminded that we are with the 100% of people who aren't perfect.

In the end, perhaps one of our carols words it best: "No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin, Where meek souls shall receive him still, the dear Christ child enters in."

This is what is so important about the Christmas message. Whether or not you got something spiritual out of Christmas this year doesn't depend on whether you shed tears thinking about your Savior or not. It doesn't depend on whether you went and helped out the poor and needy. It depends on Christ, who came to this world in order to enter your heart.

You see, after being born, and staying alive by fleeing to Egypt for a while, the Christ child grew up. He lived his life here as one of us, but He lived it perfectly. And then He willingly went to the cross to pay our debt and make things right between God and us. Christ forgave us for all the times we have failed to see Him, hear Him, and do what He wants us to do. He isn't holding anything against you, no matter how much you have failed to revere Him, even at Christmas.

Christ entered our hearts and souls and changed them. And now He makes us want to be different. In His Word, He helps us see and hear what we need to see and hear at Christmas time. He helps us see and hear Him. And when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes and ears, we see love. So now, we are moved to thank Him for that love. We are moved to love those who need loving. We are moved to help those who need help. We are moved to give to those who don't have. We are moved to be Christ-like and love others just as Christ loves us. That is the way to celebrate Christmas - the coming of Christ into this world. That is the way to be sure that you saw what you needed to see at Bethlehem this Christmas! Amen.

Back to the page
Back to the Pastor's Messages page