Lectionary Texts: Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 1:68-79; Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6
Life can be rough at times. You know you’ve had a bad day when:
You see a "60 Minutes" news team waiting in your office.
Your birthday cake collapses from the weight of the candles
You wake up and discover your waterbed broke and then realize that you don’t have a water bed.
Your income tax check bounces.
Your twin brother or sister forgets your birthday
The bird singing outside your window is a buzzard.
Mr. Grinch video
In a "Peanuts" cartoon strip, good old Charlie Brown says to Linus, "Life is just too much for me. I’ve been confused from the day I was born. I think the whole trouble is that we’re thrown into life too fast. We’re not really prepared." Linus asks, "What did you want . . . a chance to warm up first?"
The Advent season is supposed to be our chance to warm up. The word Advent means to await – we await the coming of the King, Jesus Christ. Some of us will spend precious time preparing our homes this season of the year but it’s time to prepare our hearts for the birth of the Christ child....
1 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) Luke 2:1-2
“Do you hear what I hear?” I think I hear in the story of the first Christmas some sounds that aren’t just cuddly and cozy. Reread vv. 1-2. You know what Mary, Joseph, and everyone else who came from Bethlehem were going home to do? They weren’t going to visit family or to hit their high school reunion. This was a government-dictated homecoming and they were all going there to pay taxes. “The census was to ascertain the income, property, and wealth of the inhabitants for purposes of taxation.”
For Mary and Joseph, this decree meant a 90-mile trip to pay taxes. A 90-mile trek with a woman 9 months pregnant. Did you hear the sound of the first Christmas? I would imagine the travelers Mary and Joseph walked alongside or came across on their journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem may have been less than thrilled about making such a long trip so the government could take their piece of these people’s pies.
Just imagine having to walk or ride a donkey for three days to get to the line at the license bureau. I’d be thinking, “We’d better pack a lunch!” Have you been to the license bureau lately? If you want to go to a place where you’re guaranteed to see scowls and come across unhappy people, just go there.
Think about your wonderful experiences going to register or pay taxes for your vehicle, and now think what it would be like if, instead of the entire population having to go at different times of the year, everyone who has been from Newark had to come back from wherever they’ve gone, in anticipation of going to the same office all at the same time to take turns paying taxes. Would that put you in a festive mood or what? Do you hear what I hear? 
1. Reaction: There’s a whole lot of complaining going on!
I think as I listen to the sounds of the first Christmas, one of the sounds I hear is the sound of complaining. My guess would be if we were to bring in any person who works at a major retail store—let’s put them in the customer service area—one of the sounds they think of when it comes to Christmas is the sound of complaining.
You hear it too, don’t you? The sound of complaining. Complaining about prices and credit cards, crowds and less-than-perfect families. Complaints about year-end accounting and other such things. I don’t imagine the sounds of this Christmas will be entirely different than the sounds of the first one. One of the sounds of Christmas is the sound of complaints.
"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Newton’s Third Law
Someone once said, “You and I are not responsible for someone else’s action but we are responsible for our reactions.”
How do you handle things when they go in the wrong direction? What is your reaction?
Just this past few weeks, I have tried to deal with my own father regarding a series of mini-strokes. I have taken him to a couple of different doctors and tried to coordinate other visits to specialists. His actions toward the whole thing have been to not take it serious, to downplay the whole thing or to conveniently leave out all the details when talking to the doctors. All of that might be somewhat normal but all I know is that my reaction to his actions have been less than desirable.
I have been impatient. I have been annoyed. I have been silent and frustrated. I have been less than disciplined about showing my annoyance. It has brought out the worst in me. Do you hear what I hear? What do you hear? What are you saying these days? How are you dealing with the people around you? Have you been mean, angry, obnoxious or bitter?
Life is not going to be fair so we might as well get over it and figure out how to live peaceably with people. (Even the ones who drive you nuts) Christmas and Advent is a good time to focus on yourself and your attitudes and your reactions.
C. S. Lewis, wrote these words in his writing entitled “The Weight of Glory”, “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship. . . . It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.”
3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant.
6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them. Luke 2:3-7 
2. Rejection hurts: Rejected or rejecting?
Do you hear what I hear? Another sound I hear ringing from this story of the first Christmas is the sound of rejection. “Very sorry, no room.” No room for Jesus.
Unfortunately, the sound of rejection is still being heard at Christmas 2,000 years later. Just about every Christmas we hear stories on the news about where Nativity scenes are and are not allowed. We hear about Christmas songs that are actually about Christ being banned. Over and over again, it’s the sound of rejection. “Very sorry, no room.” It’s as if our culture has re-written and renamed the songs of this season “Away With the Manger,” and “Be Silent about the Night.”
Hearing the sound of rejection in the story is not to cast the innkeeper as a horrible person. He may have been a wonderful guy who felt terrible about the situation and would have loved to ask someone else to give up their room. What kind of guy he was really doesn’t matter because the end result was the same. The sound that came from that inn was the sound of rejection. There was no room for Jesus.
It’s unfortunate that the sound of rejection was heard at the inn. It’s unfortunate that the sound of rejection is still heard in Christmas parades and public arenas. But it’s tragic that, “Very sorry, no room,” is the sound Jesus hears coming from people like us.
When we gather with our families for giving gifts without ever mentioning the Savior or His story, He hears it all over again: “Very sorry, no room.”
When we refuse to give Jesus any space in our charity and giving, He hears it all over again: “Very sorry, no room.” When Jesus wants to be included in our plans for the future, our dating decisions and life choices, He hears it all over again: “Very sorry, no room.”
When Jesus is not allowed to enter the decisions we make about how we spend our time and use our talents, and we refuse to let Him have a say in our schedules, He hears it all over again: “Very sorry, no room.”
When He stands at the door of our heart wanting to come in, forgive our sin, lead our lives in such a way that every area of our life is affected by Him, and we reject His invitation, He hears it all over again: “Very sorry, no room.”
You see on this second Sunday of December we are pausing to remember that Jesus came for one purpose. He came to bring salvation to all of us. He came to bring us peace in a world that is filled with war and strife.
All of us have felt rejection at one time or another. Some of you feel rejected by society. Some of you feel rejected by your family, your boss or maybe even your church. We all have our moments of rejection.
Let me ask you, Are you rejected or rejecting? What I mean by that is are you rejecting the One that could help you when all else is failing. When the rest of your world seems collapsed or collapsing there is One who came to bring peace to this world by way of our hearts. You have to believe in Jesus to the point that you don’t doubt and you stand strong.
8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. 
3. Rejoice for Peace has come
Do you hear what I hear? Finally some good news! Not everyone in this sacred story complained or rejected. We also hear the sound of rejoicing by the shepherds. They sought and found the Savior after being sought and found by messengers from the Savior. I think the pattern here holds true today. They pursued Jesus after finding out Jesus was already pursuing them. It’s part of the message of Christmas. Long before any of us ever pursued or sought after God, God was seeking after us. If you don’t know Him as your Savior, He’s seeking you, coming to your door, to your heart, waiting to see if He’ll be welcomed.
I think it’s awesome the first ones invited to see the Savior weren’t kings or diplomats or the most influential people God could find. They were people like us. Ordinary, working-class, run-of-the-mill kinds of people. “They belong in the story . . . because they belong on Luke’s guest list for the kingdom of God.”2
Rejoicing—it’s the sound we hear from the shepherds. It’s the sound at Christmas time, and the rest of the year too, that comes from people who have found Jesus, the Savior.
I guess the sounds of the first Christmas weren’t all that different from the sounds of last Christmas, or this one. Sounds of reaction, rejecting, and rejoicing. I’m hoping there will be a lot more rejoicing than reacting, or rejecting. What’s it going to be for you? The angels said the joy, the good news was to be for all people, a Savior for you (vs. 10-11). That includes you—if you’ll make room for Him.
One of America’s greatest poets is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The year 1860 found Longfellow happy in his life, enjoying a widening recognition, and elated over the election of Abraham Lincoln which he believed signaled the triumph of freedom and redemption for the nation.
The following year the Civil War began. On July 9, 1861 Longfellow’s wife, Fanny, was near an open window sealing locks of her daughter’s hair, using hot sealing wax. Suddenly her dress caught fire and engulfed her with flames. Her husband, sleeping in the next room, was awaked by her screams. As he desperately tried to put out the fire and save his wife, he was severely burned on his face and hands.
Fanny died the next day. Longfellow’s severe burns would not even allow him to attend Fanny’s funeral. His white beard, which so identified with him, was one of the results of the tragedy – the burn scars on his face made shaving almost impossible. In his diary for Christmas day 1861 he wrote, “How inexpressibly sad are the holidays.”
In 1862 the toll of war dead began to mount and in his diary for that year Longfellow wrote of Christmas, “A merry Christmas say the children, but that is no more for me.”
In 1863 his son who had run away to join the Union army was severely wounded and returned home in December. There is no entry in Longfellow’s diary for that Christmas.
But on Christmas Day 1864 – at age 57 – Longfellow sat down to try to capture, if possible, the joy of the season. He began:
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.
As he came to the third stanza, he was stopped by the thought of the condition of his beloved country. The Battle of Gettysburg was not long past. Days looked dark, and he probably asked himself the question, “How can I write about peace on earth, good will to men in this war-torn country, where brother fights against brother and father against son?” But he kept writing – and what did he write?
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.
It seems as if he could have been writing for our kind of day. Then, as all of us should do, he turned his thoughts to the One who gives true and perfect peace, and continued writing:
Then peeled 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.”
And so there came into being that marvelous Christmas carol, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”
You know you and I live in a world that is tenuous at best. Besides all the issues at home in America we are living in a world that is being recognized as being on the brink of something. Just this week King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia spoke these words: "Our Arab region is besieged by a number of dangers, as if it was a powder keg waiting for a spark to explode," he told the rulers of the oil-rich monarchies gathered in Riyadh for a two-day meeting to the backdrop of mounting sectarian violence in neighboring Iraq. The Palestinians were reeling from "a hostile and ugly occupation" by Israel while the international community watched their "bloody tragedy like a spectator,"
Iraqis are killing each other, Iran is threatening Israel with hateful rhetoric and at the same time standing up to the rest of the world in pursuing Nuclear weaponry. I could go on and on listing the things that could be very discouraging and even fearful about our world today, but more important than anything around us is the condition of our faith.
Do you hear what I hear? Do you hear the sounds of hope? Do you hear the sounds of a Savior who came into this world to bring us salvation the first time but who is coming again to bring us into peace eternally?
A lecturer was giving a lecture to his students on stress management. He raised a glass of water and asked the audience, "How heavy do you think this glass of water is?" The students’ answers ranged from 20g to 500g.
"It does not matter on the absolute weight. It depends on how long you hold it.
If I hold it for a minute, it is OK.
If I hold it for an hour, I will have an ache in my right arm.
If I hold it for a day, you will have to call an ambulance.
It is the exact same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."
"If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, we will not be able to carry on, the burden becoming increasingly heavier."
"What you have to do is to put the glass down, rest for a while before holding it up again."
We have to put down the burdens periodically, so that we can be refreshed and are able to carry on.
So, before you return home from work this week, put the burdens of work down. Don’t carry them back home. You can pick them up tomorrow.
Whatever burdens you are having now on your shoulders, let it down for a moment if you can. Pick it up again later when you have rested...
Invitation
Benediction: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Craig Evans, Luke, New International Biblical Commentary (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1990), 35.
2 Fred B. Craddock, Luke, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990), 36.