Don’t Return the Light
Luke 2:1-14 December 26, 2004
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
Is 9:2
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
CCI: The Light that God has caused to shine in our lives is a gift we must not return, rather it is time to reflect that light so that others who live in the shadows may experience hope.
Intro: Returning gifts. . .
Chalita and her habit. She wanted only what she wanted. For some, the returning and exchanging is just plain fun. It has become a tradition almost as deeply ingrained as giving gifts at Christmas. And often there is no harm done. If you exchange a pair of shoes for a different size, no one is offended. If you exchange several shirts and get a coat, there is rarely anyone offended. However, if you try to return the oil painting your wife had made from your wedding picture, and exchange it for fishing tackle, that would be a bad idea.
Our God is the great gift giver, he has given us countless gifts, the prophet in Lamenations writes
The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Thy faithfulness.
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
God’s gifts to us are without measure, but we often choose to return even these. We live like we are self made people as if we do not need one another or anything else. Unlike the unnamed man who entered a homeless shelter yesterday and distributed over 300 $100 bills because he understood where they were in life, many of us turn our eyes away from those in need around us because we choose to believe what we have, we have because we are special.
We return God’s faithfulness and exchange it for our ingenuity. We return God’s compassion to exchange it for our endurance. And God continues to be faithful and to shower us with compassion. God’s faithfulness invites us to stop trying to exchange it, and to enjoy the gifts he gives us. In the passage we read this morning there are several gifts that God invites us to simply receive. They are gifts that we must not return.
I. The first is the gift of a baby born as an outcast
Verse 7 says,”She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Perhaps a better translation of the end of that verse is “there was no place for him in their town.” Mary and Joseph came to this town just outside Jerusalem from a backwoods village that was the butt of ethnic jokes of the day. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” It may be that instead of a “No-Vacancy” sign, they were simply not welcomed because of their accent and dress. The Baby Jesus was born an outcast who no one wanted in their home. The people of Bethlehem would have exchanged him for a member of the royal family in an instant, and as a result, most of them missed God’s greatest gift.
Today, we encounter outcasts all the time. Men and women, teens and children who have been rejected by parents and partners and peers. These are people the world has rejected because of their appearance, or their race, or their intelligence or their unique abilities. And yet these people are gifts of God. Recently, I met a young man who wants people to look at him below the surface. His dog collar, black baggy clothing and blue hair beg to be noticed while declaring a message of keep your distance. He has been rejected by classmates and by the parents of friends. He has been rejected by teachers and school administrators. However, as Sheryl and I have talked with him, we have come to know one of the nicest and most interesting young men we have ever met. He is one of God’s gifts who would often be sent to the barn to spend the night because there is no place for him.
Henri Nouwen was a prolific writer and teacher. He taught psychology at Harvard and Yale and wrote over 40 books on everything from art to the feminist movement to theology and daily devotions. He was in constant demand as a speaker and workshop leader. However, after decades of teaching at the world’s most prestigious institutions, Nouwen moved into Daybreak, a L’Arche community dedicated to accepting people with sever disabilities. There at Daybreakwork, Nouwen cared for Adam Arnett, a man who could not dress himself, feed himself, get out of bed or communicate with words, or expression. For 11 years, until his death, this scholar poured his life into Adam and found Adam to be his friend, his teacher and his guide. This outcast had been returned many times, Adam had been exchanged for people who could speak clearly and care for themselves, however, when Henri Nouwen opened the gift, his life was transformed.
Are there outcasts around you that you have tried to return for something more comfortable? These men and women and teens and children are are precious gifts of God simply waiting to be discovered. If you try to exchange the gift of the outcast, you will miss some of God’s greatest blessings. Just as the residents of Bethlehem did. I invite you to not return the gift of the outcast person.
II. The second gift we find in this passage is the gift of the News of a savior. The shepherds on the Hillside were busy men. They were responsible for leading their sheep to find what little grass there was in the surrounding countryside. They were responsible for leading the sheep to places of water, there were responsible for the health of the sheep, they were responsible for protecting the sheep. The shepherds did not have time to follow the news, but when they received news of the birth of the Savior, they took it to heart and their lives were changed. The news of the Savior is a gift of God that we dare not return.
Often in our busyness we feel we don’t have time to hear and learn what God is doing in our world. However, the news of the Savior will transform your life. We live in a society that purports to be built on Christian values, however what we see around us is selfishness, greed, hatred, prejudice and violence. We often spend so much time being anxious about the situation around us, that we do not take the time to hear the news of God’s salvation.
This week, I received a letter from the DeRolfs in Yokohama with this news: “A teacher I have worked with for many years lost her husband to cancer last year. He was Christian but she is not. After his death, she asked me to teach her the Bible. We have been meeting once a week to study the book of John. She has many questions about the Christian faith and each week after she leaves our class, she has a good feeling and as she looks up at the sky she notices the beauty of life. She told me today that even though she didn’t plan to become a Christian, little by little she is accepting the Christian beliefs and believe what is written in the Bible. We have (also) received the wonderful news that one of our students studying in Canada this year has accepted Christ as his savior. . . The following is the email I received from him yesterday. “I have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior. I have decided to follow Jesus. I finally became a Christian. Thank you very much for praying for me over past few weeks. I greatly appreciate it. I'm going to get baptized in this month.”
This is the news of Salvation. When we return this news and exchange it for news of anxiety, we will be discouraged. If all we choose to listen to is news of war and earthquake and death and destruction, we will miss the message of salvation and transformation that God is doing all around us. I invite you to not return the news of God’s salvation.
III. And the third gift we must not return is the gift of light that has beamed into our darkness. The prophet wrote, “The people who walked in Darkness have seen a great light.” However, the Gospel of John tells us that those who received the gift of light returned it for darkness. “this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil.” They exchanged the light of God for the Darkness they were accustomed to. Why did they do it? Because “everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”
God’s gift is the opportunity to come out of the darkness and enter a world of light. A number of years ago, our family vacationed at Mammoth Cave in Southern Kentucky. On one of the tours the guide brought us into the grand ballroom, a huge cavern within the system and then he counted back from 5 and turned out the lights in the cave. The darkness was complete. There were no reflections, there were no flashlights, there were not even any tourists taking pictures of the darkness with their flash cameras. As we stood there in the darkness, suddenly we heard a small child begin to whimper. She was afraid the darkness. It was so thick you could feel it. Then after a few moments, the guide turned on a small light on his helmet. That light pierced the darkness and that little light in that huge cavern gave hope to the child and her crying stopped.
Light shining in darkness is our source of hope.
Jesus is that light, don’t exchange it for more darkness, instead, make the light reflect through your life to those around you who are in darkness. Last week I heard a commercial for a diamond retailer who boasted that his diamonds were so pure 98% of the light reflected off his diamonds. As followers of Jesus, the gift of God’s light has beamed into our hearts and we are called to reflect that light. But what God desires is not 50% reflection, or even 98% reflection. God longs for us to reflect his light 100% into the world around us.
On Friday, at the candle light service the light from the Christ Candle moved around the church until the glow of that light filled the worship space. Here is the amazing thing, even thought that flame had been shared with the whole congregation, it was still blazing the same. It’s light had only expanded. As you share the light of Christ with others, know that it will never run out.
While you may return some gifts this afternoon, I urge to vow today to cherish the gift of the outcast baby, to rejoice in the gift of the news of a savior, and to share the gift of the light of Christ.
Let us pray.
