Something to do with love

Sermon for 21st Dec (Psalm 89:1·8; Luke 1:39·56)

A very religious couple was touring the Holy land during the Christmas season and decided it would be very meaningful to them to spend Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, the birth place of Jesus. Arriving there, they searched high and low for a room, but none was available at any price. Finally, they pulled up in front of the Sheraton·Bethlehem and the husband got out of the car, telling his wife: "Stay here, sweetie. let me see if I can do something for us." He approached the desk and the clerk told him there were no rooms. "Sorry, Sir. It's Christmas Eve, our busiest time." No matter how much the man offered to pay, the clerk said he had nothing. Finally, the man told the clerk, "I bet if I told you my name was Joseph, that the woman waiting in the car was called Mary, and that she had a newborn infant, you'd find us a room." 'Well," stammered the clerk, "1_1 suppose so." "Okay," said the man. "I guarantee you, they're not coming tonight, so we'll take their room."

The story is told of William Phelps who taught English literature at Yale back in the early 1900s. Once, as he was marking an examination paper just before Christmas, Phelps found a near·blank answer sheet on which a student had scribbled, "Only God knows the answer to this question. Merry Christmas." Phelps returned the paper with this note: "God gets an A. You get an F. Happy New Year."

The same might be said about Jesus coming to earth as a human being? A great mystery. And the answer has something to do with love.

In fact, it's full of mysteries, how does a woman conceive without a man, or IVF treatment (not available then), how does she survive the shame of being pregnant before marriage, and worse the danger of that having nothing to do with Joseph - adultery and stoning! Yet the greater mystery is why God should come to earth at all. This is God, from the beginning, before the earth, before the Milky Way, the universe, the Big Bang, before time itself. This was God, creator of Mary, Joseph, Israel, the Romans, the human race, every living thing and the planet they walk on, even the Big Bang itself. This is God who gives life to the seed in Mary's womb, to Mary and to every living thing. This is God who lives in glory as the community of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and yet one. This is God who lives in unimaginable glory with armies of angels worshipping him. Why come here? Why become human? Why to this obscure little country, to a tiny town, to a girl barely a woman and a jobbing carpenter, in a grotty animal pen, to be worshipped by the lowest in society and by strangers not accepted by the religious institutions. Why give up so much, for what must have seemed so little, for some so great. It's a mystery, but it has something to do with love.

And why do we give up our time, our comfort places, sometimes even our reputations, to get up to worship each Sunday, to serve him in the week, to stand up for others, in fact do anything that common sense tells us it would be easier, more comfortable, more secure, not to do. It's a mystery, but it has something to do with love.