Christmas Day

There was once a King who claimed he was the “Saviour of the World”, he boasted he ruled the entire world, and demanded all people acknowledge him as king and ruler.  Unknown to him a rival was born, who also claimed to be the “Saviour of the World”. Both are part of our Christmas story.

At the time of Jesus birth the Roman Empire was filled with discouraged, dispirited, confused, frightened and enslaved people.  This confusion, despair and fear was caused by many years of warfare, destruction, invasion and turmoil. These people had believed in their own Gods, but when they became conquered people their Gods were replaced by the Gods of Rome. The conquered people were made to work for the Romans and serve in the Roman Army. Severe penalties were inflicted on those who didn’t obey.  The only people who were exempt from serving in the army, and allowed to worship their God, were Jews, but they still had to pay the taxes imposed by Rome.

Ceasar Augustus was Emperor of Rome and to ensure all the conquered people knew that, and to be able to extract the most taxation out of them, he ordered a census of all people in the Roman Empire. We know from the records that Quirinius was Governor of Syria from about 8 BC when the first census took place, so we are fairly certain Jesus was born about 8 BC. Augustus was determined to rule his people through his brilliant politics, careful administration and his powerful army. In other words by controlling the people completely, body and mind. A fore runner of Orwells  prophetic book -1984.

While Augustus was carrying out his plans to control the people, and become the self proclaimed “Saviour of the World”, this other king was born, not in a magnificent palace with all the trappings of kingship, wealth and power, but in a manger at the back of a local inn in the City of Bethlehem where Mary had gone with Joseph to be registered under the census. The journey from Nazareth where Mary and Joseph lived, to Bethlehem, the ancestral home of the descendants of David was 80 miles, and it must have been a very uncomfortable and difficult journey for the heavily pregnant Mary, who was no more than a young teenager, with a man who really should not have continued with their engagement because of the shame of a baby born out of wedlock, but who both trusted God more than they trusted the likes of Caesar Augustus.

It is so easy to reflect on the world over the past 2000 years and think little has changed, men still seek power through wars, conquest and control, and are prepared to kill and maim people to get their own way.  Look at Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mugabe, all prepared to destroy people for their own gain. Then we have those who declare that God is dead or irrelevant to our modern lives, think we humans can control everything, can create everything, even human life in a test tube.  All done in the vain hope of our future life and for our salvation, we are told, by the likes of Dawkins. Man can do everything now so we don’t need God anymore. 

But Luke points us to a different message.  The Christ Child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in that manger is the Good News that God is alive and is our only hope of salvation. Our Saviour’s name is Christ not Caesar Augustus or any other political figure who acts as if they are God. This Saviour doesn’t have vast armies to control us, he doesn’t insist we worship him, he doesn’t force himself on people, on the contrary he gave himself for us on the Cross so we might be saved from our sins. Jesus is the most unlikely King you could imagine. This Saviour of the World brings hope and salvation through his blood shed for us on the Cross. God’s plan of salvation for all of us results in our redemption, frees us from the evil of this world, and depends entirely on God’s unquestioning love for all his children.

So on the one hand we have Caesar Augustus and all the little Caesars since then who’s offer of hope and salvation is a fraud, and on the other hand we have God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who offers true salvation, peace, joy, freedom, truth, love and life everlasting. We only remember Caesar Augustus from the history books, just like all the other demonic dictators, but today we celebrate the birthday of Jesus, just as people have for 2000 years, and his kingdom is growing all the time as people come to know his grace and love, until the whole world calls him Lord. That’s truly a kingdom worth having. But of course in times of trouble, conflict, world disorder, it is difficult for people to believe that the Christ child can turn the world around and offer us hope and salvation, and it can be easier to choose the easy option of the secular world, but the message of Christmas which tells us of God’s love in sending his Son for us can never be extinguished.

I recently came upon a poem I had long forgotten, written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a 19^th century American poet, who wrote the great poem “The song of Hiawatha.”  Longfellow knew much tragedy in his life, the death of his two wives and his only son seriously wounded in the American Civil War, which caused him to reflect on God at Christmas time, and the hatred humans can inflict on each other. It’s as relevant today as when it was written in 1863.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

 

And thought how, as the day had come

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

 

Till, ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

 

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

 

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stone of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

 

And in despair I bowed my head:

“There is no peace on earth,” I said:

“For hate is strong

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep

“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!

The wrong shall fail,

The right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men!”

A Blessed and Joyous Christmas to you all. Amen.