“God’s
Holy Interruption”
Six year old, Kyle Seaman, stood up in the front of the church last Sunday
night at our Christmas pageant and spoke the words of a prophet. His words were so amazing that at first I
almost missed the significance of what he said.
This little man stood in front a room full of people and proclaimed the
message of Christmas with the words, “Christmas is not about presents. It’s about Jesus in your heart.” These are astounding, prophetic, evangelistic
words from one who is God’s own. Kyle is
absolutely right. Christmas is about
Jesus, and therefore it is about God.
Tonight we
gather together to celebrate, to rejoice, and to give thanks to
God for the gift of God’s own self in the person of Jesus Christ. This is what Christmas is all about. It’s not about a birthday, Christmas music,
or candle lighting. It’s not even about
angels or shepherds or a miraculous birth.
Christmas is about God’s holy interruption, when God the promise maker
becoming God the promise keeper in this act of salvation for the world, not
just for the church, but for all people.
Christmas is about God’s holy interruption and direct intervention in
the affairs of people, when God radically broke through the boundaries of space
and time to be with people and for people in the midst of life, in the real
world in which people live.
The event
that took place 2000 years ago in a small town of Bethlehem did not happen in a
vacuum, but in the real world with real emperors and kings who ruled with iron
fists and military might; in a real world where an unmarried, pregnant teenager
could not find a comfortable place to have her child; in a real world where the
only place to lay a baby was in the filth and scum of a feeding trough, in a
real world with real people who longed for the day when the Messiah would come
to bring deliverance and redemption.
God’s holy interruption came in the midst of political tension and
turmoil, in the midst of emperors and kings, in the midst of suffering and
brokenness, even in the midst of all that is filthy, to bring hope to the
hopeless, peace to the fearful, joy to the joyless, and love to the world. This is what Christmas is all about. It’s about God coming in human flesh in Jesus
Christ to be one of us with us in the midst of our hopes and fears, joys and
sorrows. In the birth of Jesus Christ,
God has done the unexpected.
In a world
that has gone astray with wars and terror alerts, in a world where people get
caught up in the mundane of life, embattled by the toils, tribulations, and
sorrows of the human condition, narrowly focused on the realities of the
present, the good news of God’s holy interruption in Jesus is like a light that
shines in the darkness, the radiant light that knows no bounds, the radiant
light of glory of the God who brings reconciliation, freedom, redemption, and
eternal life. We need to hear this story
to remind us not to become a people numbed and indifferent about the presence
and action of God in our lives.
Christmas is more than just about the past, it is about the future. It is more than just about a particular event, it is about the ongoing work of the God who is above
all, through all, and in all. It is
about the ongoing work of the God who is the living Lord of every time and of
every place, about the ongoing salvific work of the
God who has come not just for the righteous, but the unrighteous, not just for
the saints, but for sinners too; you and me, the people sitting around you, and
even the people who don’t yet have Jesus in their heart.
Just think
about the first people to whom God came that night long ago. The shepherds were living predictable lives,
unmoved, unchanged, and unconcerned about anything but themselves and their
sheep. But when God interrupted their
lives, and they encountered the presence of the Lord in that baby, they left
rejoicing having been touched by God, and proclaimed to the world the good news
they had seen and heard. Even Mary was
left to ponder in her heart what she had heard about this baby she held in her
arms. Their story is our story, the
story of interruption, the story of an encounter that can only lead us to go
away from here tonight rejoicing and pondering the good news we too have heard
and seen.
We are here
precisely for this reason, because in some way known only to us, and maybe even
unknown to us, God has interrupted our life in a profound way that has changed
our life forever. We come here not just
out of tradition or habit, or whether we are only here twice a year or every
week, we come because there is something in this event that grabs hold of us
and draws us away from the routines of our life, and fills us with hope, peace,
joy, and love that we can find in no other.
In God’s holy
interruption, God has grabbed our attention and we too want to see and hear the
glorious good news of great joy. We too
want to see the heavenly hosts singing glory to God in the highest. We too want to see the baby in the
manger. We are here tonight, because
this is where we are supposed to be, because this is where God wants us to
be.
Maybe you are
one who has lived everyday of your life in faith and obedience. Maybe you are one who slips in and out of
belief and commitment depending on the circumstances of your life. Maybe you are one who has yet to fully embody
Christ’s lordship in your life. This is
what Christmas is all about, when God broke into our lives and came to us in
the person of Jesus so that we may never be afraid again, so that we may never
be alone again, so that we may never be the same people we were before, so that
we may know the love God has for us and the relationship God desires with
us.
Brothers and
sisters, on this holy night of Christmas Eve, the same God who came to be with
us in the person of Jesus Christ, is the same living God who is with us even
now, and the living Lord invites us to his table, to remember not only his
birth, but his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension to glory, and
most of all, his promise that he is not yet done. The living Lord born to us that night long
ago invites us to come and taste and see for ourselves the good news of great
joy. He invites us to come and be
interrupted and encountered and touched by God, so that we may leave here
tonight ready to tell the world that we too have seen the Savior, Messiah,
Christ the Lord. Amen.