A New Hope, a long time ago ...
It is a period of civil war… (there is more detail finishing with)
Princess Leia races home aboard her
starship, custodian of the stolen plans
that can save her people and restore
freedom to the galaxy....
Strangely this new franchise was entitled “Star Wars Episode 4 - a new hope”. You see it was starting in the middle of the story. Episodes 5&6 followed - then later we got the prequels - episodes 1-3.
Today’s gospel starts in the middle of the story - it is a story of a new hope but we need to go back to an earlier part of the story to understand the context and significance. The prophet Isaiah takes us there. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” a glorious piece of poetry culminating in the hope of a child to be born. 2 chapters earlier Isaiah had spoken of the name of this child “Immanuel” God with us. In the 8th chapter Isaiah writes of the invasion of the Assyrians and the great suffering of the people “they will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will thrust into thick darkness”. It is to these people, these suffering people that this passage first spoke. People who lived over 2500 years ago. This hope of a new king, a different king - one with the “throne-names” implying wisdom, strength, caring and peace, this hoped for one would change their current experience of oppression, darkness and hopelessness to one of hope, peace, justice and mercy. Imagine the impact on those who first heard this message so many centuries ago.
This prophecy was not only for those who first heard it, it has spoken to many generations since. The NT writers constantly reapply old prophecies to Jesus. Here we have oppressed, occupied Israel - desperate for hope. As I read the opening line from Isaiah “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined.” I tried to imagine a world into which Christ had not been born - a dark dark world indeed. A modern carol by Graham Kendrick is titled “Nothing will ever be the same again”
“So many centuries of watching and waiting
But when the moment came well nobody saw
Traders and travellers hurried by
And life went on just like before
Just like before
In all the clamour just a new baby crying
One more poor family shut out in the cold
Nothing unusual sad to say
Hasn't it always been this way?
But nothing will ever be the same again
This night has changed everything
Nothing will ever be the same again
Since the night he came”
Luke’s story so very familiar to us - with so much detail but missing so much. There is an ordinary tale surrounded either side by extraordinary stories that hint this is something more - there are tales of angelic messengers and prophetic utterances before this story of the birth of Jesus. Then this ordinary story of a woman giving birth (these days there are 250 children born every minute); followed by another mysterious tale involving angelic messengers and some illiterate field hands. We conflate the stories in our nativity scenes, our Christmas cards and our carols. In this account there is no star over the stable, no angel hovering over it or sitting on the roof, there’s a feeding trough but no mention of the presence of animals.
Nothing would ever be the same again - this baby was “the new hope” but the first to hear about it were shepherds in the fields and the sign to look for - the child’s bed was a feed-trough.
How did the shepherds find the stable - what was extraordinary about the sign? I wonder how many doors they knocked on in Bethlehem that night before they found the one with the newborn baby in a manger. Women give birth all the time - sometimes in sparkling clean hospitals, sometimes in a field, many times in their homes this was just another baby wasn’t it? Probably not the first or last to be laid in a feed-trough.
The circumstances didn’t make it unique - it was who Jesus was that made it unique, God come among us in a way that was unique, God coming among us in a new way, taking on our flesh, coming among us a vulnerable child, born in poverty, a refugee. God had always been among us - from the first pages of the Bible where God strolled in the garden with the first humans but this is “next level”
The circumstances - they challenge our ideas of what was important - this messenger of peace was in complete contrast to the Emperor who declared he brought peace but imposed it by force. From the beginning this is a kingdom like no other.
The circumstances - they challenge our ideas of what is sacred - the incarnation, God become human, God born to an ordinary girl living in poverty - it makes the ordinary sacred, it makes all things sacred.
The story - it challenges our ideas about love - incarnation surely models for us the way to walk in someone else’s shoes - it’s not about reciprocity - it’s about unconditional loving and giving.
Nothing would ever be the same again …
nothing would ever be the same again for Mary and Joseph - now parents
nothing would ever be the same again for the shepherds - receivers of angelic visitation and a message and mission from God
nothing would ever be the same again for the world.
How many times have you heard it said “Christmas is really for the children”? Perhaps you have said it yourself? Really? - this story which changed our world “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” the hope for peace, the message of joy - that is only for children??? Not for the rest of us??? “Christmas is for families” is another popular saying - so nothing here for those with no families???
Nothing will ever be the same again …
When we say Christmas is really only for the children we betray everything it is.
It happened “a long long time ago” but not in a galaxy far away, it was right here in the mud and mess of our world. The birth of this child brought light and new hope to this world and nothing has ever been the same again.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined.”
Thank goodness, thank God we live in a world where the light of Christ shines.
Christmas this celebration of the birth of Christ - it’s for all the world including all of us here. We all need the message of hope the light which Christ brings to the world. In 2020 a year which has felt so dark for so many we need hope - God is present in the simple stories of life, present to ordinary folk. God coming amongst us in this new way was the ultimate way of communicating with us - God brings a message of hope, peace, joy and love.
I wish you a joyous and holy Christmas as we reflect together on this new hope that changed the world - Nothing will ever be the same again. Rejoice!
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