Christmas is Love and Wrath - A Sermon for Christmas Eve Sunday December 24 2023

Gospel: Luke 2:1-14 [15-20]

God’s greatest gift comes as a baby in a manger. Angels announce the “good news of great joy” and proclaim God’s blessing of peace.

1In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3All went to their own towns to be registered. 4Joseph 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. 5He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7And 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.

  8In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

 14“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

  and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

VIDEO - Coming to Find Us - https://www.theworkofthepeople.com/coming-to-find-us

It was supposed to be a normal Friday.

There were concerns and anxieties

like most families have,

but TGIF!

My young family was planning to have

a fun night with pizza and movies,

but the unthinkable happened.

My son,

who was just over one year old

locked himself in our bathroom.

But he didn’t lock the lock,

he shut the bathroom door,

leaving both parents in the hallway,

and he proceeded to play with the drawers,

and he opened that drawer.

Bang. Bang - Bang.

The door would only open

an eighth of an inch

and slammed into the open drawer.

There was no budging it.

My infant son was trapped inside the bathroom.

With all that was happening in our lives at the time,

I was not thinking straight,

but my wife and I talked through what to do.

And then we heard the cries.

The cries turned to wailing.

Our son was afraid,

trapped,

and desperate.

I ran downstairs

and pulled the power saw out of the basement.

I ran back upstairs.

I called to my son and told him to back up;

not sure if he heard me or not,

and I turned that power saw on

and started tearing through that door.

Thankfully it was a cheap door

and the saw easily made its hole.

I looked inside;

I saw the fear and tears in my infant son’s eyes,

and in a moment of great love for my son,

and a moment of great wrath

for that door that stood between us,

I ripped that door apart,

tearing a hole large enough

to reach down,

grab my poor little boy,

and carry him out to safety.

I confess to you all,

like many people,

I struggle with scripture passages

that talk about God’s wrath.

I hear about stories of war

and pillage

and violence

and abuse

particularly in the Old Testament

that are attributed to God

and I believe

“That’s not God!”

God is love

- but sometimes - sometimes -

wrath can be a loving response

to what is happening.

So, maybe God is wrathful.

When Israel was enslaved in Egypt,

God responded with love and wrath,

working in a powerful way

to free God’s people.

When Jesus entered the temple in Jerusalem

and saw God’s faithful people

being abused by an oppressive

religious-economic system,

Jesus responded with love and wrath

and turned the tables of the money changers

and drove out animals and offenders.

2000 years ago,

the people of Israel

had been oppressed by Rome

for long enough.

God’s people had lived through oppression

at the hands of many other empires previously.

Like any corrupt government,

the Emperor Augustus wanted to fill his pockets:

so he called a census;

not so the government could learn

who lives where,

and what the population is,

rather the census was enforced

so the corrupt government

could increase its tax base.

But this census

will not simply cost the people more in taxes.

The burden would be great

upon the poorest of the people

as they were forced to travel

to their ancestral home towns.

This was no mere road trip

to visit family at Christmas for a couple days;

this would mean uprooting your family

and your whole lives

to resettle in the ancestral town,

all to line the emperor’s pockets.

Enter the holy family

- God’s tools of love and wrath -

to give us a new way forward.

God had had enough of the various barriers

that would get in between God and God’s people:

Like a locked door between me and my child,

So did God see barriers of greed and oppression

sin and selfishness,

destruction, violence and death,

barriers of economic injustice,

poverty and illness,

race, religion and gender,

barriers of hopelessness and fear

and God said enough!

and in great love and in wrath,

God broke down every barrier,

God tore open the heavens,

and ripped through the divide

between us and God

and God shows up in a baby,

born in poverty,

raised as a refugee,

worshipped by the lowliest of shepherds

and the wealthy foreigners

who brought extravagant gifts.

This same infant is the Messiah

promised to Israel,

their longing fulfilled,

but not in the way of violence

and political power,

coercion and oppression,

but in great love for God’s people - all people.

This baby King lying in the straw,

is the same Jesus who is

living water for those who thirst,

the Good Shepherd of the sheep,

the same Jesus who once and for all

made sacrifice for all our sins,

the same Jesus who intercedes for us,

the same Jesus who offers us

forgiveness and new life

freely and abundantly.

Nothing will stop God from being with God’s people,

Nothing will stop God from saving God’s people

- so still today,

God’s work breaks down any barrier

that gets in-between you and God.

So this Christmas,

May you be surrounded by the peace of God

that surpasses all understanding.

May your eyes be opened

to see God tearing apart every barrier

that gets in between you and God,

and May you see the Christ-child

born in you once again.

Thanks be to God. Amen.