Sermons

“Unwrapping the Christmas Story”

Isaiah 9:2-7 – Rev. Rebecca Littlejohn

Vista La Mesa Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), La Mesa, California – December 25, 2016

For our message today, we will be exploring the symbolic meaning of the different figures of the nativity scene, as the children unwrap each one.

Angel ~ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people. (Luke 2:10)

Did you know that there are actually three times that angels appear in the Christmas story? The verse we just heard is from when they appeared out in the country to the shepherds, but angels also appeared to Mary and to Joseph, two separate times, to explain to them what was going on. Do you know what the angels said every time they appeared? “Do not be afraid.” Every time. Do you think that’s because angels are just kind of scary? Or is it because we tend to get afraid whenever something is happening that we don’t understand at first? At any rate, it seems like the first message of Christmas is that God is telling us over and over not to be afraid. That’s a pretty good place to start, since sometimes the world is a scary place.

Joseph ~ Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. (Luke 2:4-5)

Joseph is an interesting case, because he’s kind of Jesus’ father, but really, he’s more like his step-father. But he stepped up from the very beginning to be there for Jesus as a dad. The thing we can learn from Joseph is to humble and obedient to God, even when the things God wants us to do might be embarrassing or hard.

Mary ~ Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38a)

What do you think this Mary looks like she’s doing? Look at her arms and her posture. Doesn’t she looked kind of amazed? She’s had a long journey, and I bet she isn’t going to get much sleep. But I think Mary can remind us to stay open to being amazed. Sometimes we let life become routine, and we start to take things for granted. How many of you wondered about whether the sun was going to come up today or not? But it did, didn’t it? A sunrise is a beautiful, amazing thing, and it happens every day. When we were pay attention to the lovely things God is doing in our lives, like making the sun come up every day, in a brand new way every morning, we can live with the kind of amazement this Mary is showing.

Donkey ~ Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9)

Now, that scripture isn’t actually from the Christmas story. There isn’t actually any mention of a donkey in the gospels that tell us about Jesus’ birth. But nativity scenes almost always have a donkey. Why do you think that is? It was a long way from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and Mary was really pregnant. I think we’re all just hoping that she had a donkey to ride, rather than having to walk the whole way. So what do you think this donkey can remind us of? It was a pretty good helper, wasn’t it? Maybe the donkey can remind us to help people who are in need, however we can.

Jesus ~ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7)

Do you remember the other name that Jesus sometimes has? It starts with an E. Emmanuel! Do you remember what Emmanuel means? We just sang a song about it during prayer time. God-with-us. This is the most important message of Christmas. The birth of Jesus – Emmanuel – reminds us that God is with us, always, everywhere, no matter what.

Shepherd ~ In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. (Luke 2:8)

Now, this nativity scene only has one shepherd, but we can probably assume there were more than that. What do you know about the shepherds? Do you think other people liked hanging out with them? Have you ever hung around with a bunch of sheep for a while before? Do you think it might make you a little stinky? I’m pretty sure those shepherds were pretty smelly. Plus, the people who lived in town kind of looked down on them, because they lived outside, away from civilization, doing who knows what, but probably nothing good. The shepherds in the Christmas story were the first people to receive the news about Jesus being born. Why do you think God would have sent them the message first? What does that tell us about who God’s love is for? It’s for everyone, isn’t it? And most especially the people that other people might look down on or make fun of.

Camel ~ A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord. (Isaiah 60:6)

This scripture isn’t from the Christmas story either, exactly. Some people consider the book of Isaiah to be almost like another gospel though, because so much of what it talks about seems to apply to Jesus. But we often have camels in nativity scenes, don’t we? And do you know why? Whose camels are they? Did you hear some other words in that scripture that sounded like they came from the Christmas story? These camels that Isaiah was writing about were coming along with gold and frankincense. That’s how camels got connected to the wise men. Plus, if the wise men came all that way, it would have been really nice if they had a ride. The camels are also a good reminder for us, like the donkey, about being good helpers.

Wise Man 1 ~ In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, wise from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born King of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising and have come to pay him homage.” (Matthew 2:1-2)

So where did these kings come from? “The East,” it says. We don’t know exactly what that means, but we know it’s from somewhere other than Galilee or Judea, where Jesus was from. And that means it’s like that the wise men were a different religion and a different ethnicity than Jesus. The first people God told about Jesus were shepherds. Now the second group of people coming to welcome Jesus were people from a foreign country. What do you think that means? A lot of us have a tendency to think we should just hang out with people who are like us, don’t we? But that’s not the message God is sending us with the Christmas story. Remember that first message? “Do not be afraid.” Well, here with the wise men, that message is even more specific. God is saying, “Do not be afraid to connect with people who are different from you.” That’s a pretty important thing for us to remember, now that we live in world where different kinds of people are all mixed together.

Wise Man 2 ~ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. (Matthew 2:9)

This verse reminds us of another thing about these wise men. It’s right in the name, actually – they were wise. The wise men had traveled really far to come see Jesus, but not without doing their homework first. They had been studying the scriptures and watching the stars, to learn everything they could. They are a reminder for us that we will be able to welcome Jesus into our world better if we do our homework too – that is, if we study scripture and learn everything we can about what God is doing in our world.

Wise Man 3 ~ Then opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11)

This is the last one! And it brings us right back to where we started. What did the wise men bring to the Baby Jesus? They brought him presents, didn’t they? Did you hear what those presents were? Gold and frankincense and myrrh. Those don’t sound like very good gifts for a baby, do they? But each one had symbolic meaning. The gold was a sign that Jesus is a King. The frankincense was a sign that Jesus is divine. And the myrrh was a sign that Jesus would be a sacrificial Savior. And for all we know, they brought some things that were more useful in the moment too. Or something that was just fun. We continue the tradition those kings started by imitating their thoughtfulness and generosity when we give presents to other people at Christmas time. This morning, I’ve had you open a bunch of presents that you don’t get to keep. But because of the generosity of someone in this church, you each get to have a present that you can take home too. (Each child picks out a stuffed animal.)