11/30/58

Scripture: Luke 1: 5-17.

Great preparations go into planning for a great guest! If it be a queen from Europe, the red carpeting is rolled out everywhere she goes! Busy, loving preparations go into planning for the arrival of relatives and friends at holiday time. Now we come to that time of year which we call “Advent.” It is the time of preparation for the coming of the Messiah; the Savior. Not that he comes in just the same way each year! For he is with us at all times in every year! And yet, he does come afresh in the imagination of devoted people each year. And perchance he comes anew to some in this season.

As we have read this morning, responsively, the words of Isaiah, we are reminded of some of the high expectations of the Hebrew people. Some of us hear those words best in the musical setting of Handel’s “The Messiah,” beginning “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.” [Isaiah 40: 1-11].

We have also this morning re-read the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth and the fulfilling of their hope for a son, who was to become John the Baptist, forerunner and proclaimer of Jesus the Christ. The Lord’s mother, Mary, spent about 3 months with Elizabeth while the two of them looked forward, each, to the birth of a child. These things, and others, we recall in our reading and remembrance at the beginning of Advent.

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Now suppose that Advent had not begun in the way we have learned to think of it. Suppose that it had occurred some other time in history. Arland Fiske speculates on this in an interesting manner, writing a kind of apocryphal tale of Advent, something like this:

The Almighty planned to send the Messiah to earth much earlier than 1958 years ago. In order to deliver his people from their bondage, he made arrangements to send the Messiah about 2,245 years ago. The temple authorities knew that the Messiah was coming. And a proper reception was planned.

When the day came, the High Priest was ready to greet the Messiah, and the people turned out in throngs for the occasion. They stood on tiptoes to catch a glimpse of him! There was not much time allotted for handshaking or interviews; they whisked him away as quickly as possible to the High Priest’s residence. There he was served food and drink in proper style. He being their first visitor from heaven, they wanted of course to make a favorable impression.

There was not much chance for the heavenly visitor to see the countryside. All tours were planned on a close schedule; local committees were well organized and ready; and they must not be disappointed or kept waiting. But it was a wonderful trip!

They made apologies for the condition of the Temple. It was considerably less splendid than they would have liked. They said to him, “You should have seen the one that Solomon built. You would really have been impressed with that!”

The Messiah interrupted several times with questions, and with attempts to discuss spiritual matters with the priests and scribes present. He even suggested better ways of doing their work. But he didn’t get very far, since they always agreed with him, and then moved on to the next item.

One of the scribes had been an exchange student at Athens, and had spent some time at Ephesus while abroad. He asked the Messiah whether or not he had heard anything about the “Logos” theory, and would he care to make any comments. The Messiah replied, “Not at this time.” It could have been interesting, but just then one of the young priests, just out of seminary, broke in with a question about liturgy. The Messiah said he felt a headache coming on, and asked to be taken to his quarters.

Meanwhile, the Almighty had been watching from the throne, and was not satisfied that the Messiah’s mission was going as planned. So, at midnight, the angel Gabriel was sent with a message which read, “Return home at once --- must plan new strategy.” Quietly, and sorrowfully, the Messiah slipped outside to where the celestial chariot was waiting. And he vowed: “Next time, I’ll come as a pauper, and not as a prince. There will be no advance notices sent and no reception committees organized. They never would have crucified me.”

When local authorities found the guest suite empty the next morning, and only the note from the Throne lying on the table where the Messiah had left it when he hurried out in the night, they were, of course, surprised. But they were not exactly disappointed. In fact, they went back to breathing more easily again. After all, the pressure of entertaining had been quite a strain, and they could not but be glad it was over, so they could get back to more normal pursuits.

This was 2,245 years ago, in what we would now call 287 BC. It was during the reign of the Ptolemies of Egypt, who were rather generous rulers, so long as no one gave them any trouble.

At the next meeting of the Temple Trustees, the High Priest was present. He prefaced his remarks by saying, “Gentlemen, we had a close call.”

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So goes the fanciful tale suggested by Mr. Fiske, who may have had in mind the supposition that the Almighty has had to plan varying strategies to deal with the people He has created. There had been an earlier time when He very nearly repented Himself of creating man at all! For He had nearly wiped the perverse mess off the face of that little globe called “earth” when He sent a flood to destroy everybody, and everything, except one family, and two of each kind of other creature. But that had not cured man of his evil and perversity. And now one’s fancy pictures this attempt of the Almighty to send the Messiah that the people thought they wanted (though perhaps on their own terms.) And it had not turned out so well. It would be necessary to wait a while and try again.

Now let us turn from this bit of imaginative reverie, and remind ourselves of the kind of Messiah whom the Almighty did send. In the first place, there were no proclamations, nor posters, nor advance notices; no organized welcoming committees; no guides or steering committees. This time, about 1958 years ago, the Christ came only to those who were willing and ready to receive him.

In fact, if one were part of the normal population, one could hardly be expected to recognize him. He might as well have been a pauper for all the notice one could take of his arrival. He was, first, born a baby, under the most unimpressive circumstances. The family had no particular standing. The husband was a carpenter, which, of course, is all right in its place. But that is hardly the place to look for a special prince! Where was the status? and the background?

The circumstances of the Messiah’s arrival were anything but impressive. It seems that Joseph had to take a trip away from his home and shop, going down to Bethlehem, where he had been born. And he had to take his young wife along. She was in what sometimes has been called “a delicate condition.” But that made no difference. The emperor had ordered a census to be taken so that he would have a more intelligent basis for a new tax program. And the imperial order was that everyone was to go to the city or place of his birth to register.

When, after tedious and wearisome travel, Joseph and his wife arrived at Bethlehem, it was already dark. And the town was crowded with people who had no place to stay. The inn had, long since, been filled up. To make matters just about as bad as they could get, Mary’s time had arrived, and it was apparent that her baby was about to be born. In fact, the child might have arrived right there in the street, had it not been that a place was found in the barn back of the inn.

The innkeeper had at least been considerate enough to send the couple out there after telling them he could not give them a hotel room. But one does not know whether he, or any of his paying guests, ever knew how that couple came out with their overnight stay in a stable stall.

Someone said that 3 or 4 shepherds came in from some field outside of town, looking for a newborn baby; and that they stopped by that barn. (Wonder who looked after their sheep while they were away from the field). Well, you know how it is --- they were probably ignorant fellows, tired of staying out there all night with sheep. So long as they bothered no one, and there was no property damage to the neglected flocks, it was probably all right.

O yes, someone reported that 2 or 3 fellows from someplace in the east came into town looking for a “newborn king.” Queer chaps; foreign; astrologers maybe. Anyway, there was no king around here.

One queer thing occurred. And this was really bad! The district governor, Herod, (that beastly old tyrant!) heard something about some future king having been born in Bethlehem. And before the year was out, he sent a bunch of soldiers down, and they killed off all the boy babies in town, under a year of age! It was the most terrible thing that had happened in that place. It was as outrage! But what can one do when a country is ruled by ruthless outsiders? Maybe the time will come when they can be kicked out of the country! But that can hardly be hoped for until we have a good leader and an army of our own.

Wonder if that couple that had a baby born in the hotel barn were still around? If they were, their baby son was probably among those killed. But perhaps they had left by that time. After all, the registration was over, and the young mother should have been strong enough again to travel before that time.

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Is not this a far cry from the kind of welcome given to any arrival or visitor of importance?

One of the snares that we humans constantly set for ourselves is our own idea of what, or who, guides and moves us. In our minds, we picture God as we want Him to be. And thus we make of that image an idol, rather than looking for a deity to be worshipped and adored, received and obeyed.

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We think we have new ideas of power. We can use the building blocks of nature in ways our ancestors never dreamed of. We can split them and rearrange them while we worship the God of action! But, spiritually speaking, this does not differ essentially from the gods of power worshipped by the “best people” of two millenniums ago.

What kind of Messiah do we imagine? What kind of temples do we prepare for him? What kind of priesthood announces his coming?

Even though there are vast differences, there are also striking similarities between the expectations of Old Testament Israel and our modern day idolatry. They were to overcome their enemies and possess the earth. Abundance would be on every hand, and no one would be in need ---- that is, for the “right” people. Of course we have our own ideas of who are the “right people.” And the Soviets certainly have theirs!

The Messiah who did come arrived in circumstances that did not suggest power of the kind that we usually understand. Further, he was confronted with certain temptations which are produced by the power mind. These temptations are still terribly alive to us. (1) Bread could come from every stone -- the power of unlimited production. (2) Man should be able to defy the laws of nature, and by the miraculous, should be able to rule the world of nature. (3) A glorious kingdom of man could arise if man were willing to acknowledge a lie -- that God had nothing to do with man, nor man with God. [Matthew 4: 1-10].

Of course the Master did not fall for these temptations. And not all of Israel had fallen for them. And perhaps not all of us do today. But let us not be too sure, for the temptations are still terribly real. And oft times we meet them in such subtle encounter.

When the Messiah came to his own people, “his own received him not.” This is the tragic observation of one of the gospels. [John 1: 11]. And there is little reason to believe that all that is changed now, in the “enlightened” 20th century. It is hard to believe in Christ’s revelation of God.

1) “He is too common.” We know his folks --- they are just carpenters --- nothing extraordinary about them, said the people of Nazareth. What is so different between him and us?

2) “He is too usual.” Doesn’t power come in the unusual --- like lightening in storm clouds?

3) “He is too demanding.” He bids us leave property, friends, and family, if necessary, to follow him. We thought he would give us more possessions, not take away what we have!

4) “He doesn’t look or act like a God.” Why doesn’t he offer resistance and call on legions of angels to bring down destruction on his enemies? Is not God able to do all that He wills?

5) We can admire the man’s courage and sincerity and poverty. But he isn’t our idea of what God is like. How then, can he be the Messiah? We know what God is like --- this one does not appear to be in that image.

Do we not know all too well this line of reasoning?

The Christ is so revolutionary, in his revelation of God, that we must recognize that much of our idea of Him is a selection of idols. Neither the generation of Jesus, nor our generation, can easily understand the kind of God revealed by Christ.

God is love. This New Testament definition of God calls for the subordination of all our other ideas of Him. We may separate the units of nature; but instead of falling down to worship the power inherent in the process, we must learn that there is a greater force mentioned by Paul to the Romans when he said, “I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 8: 38-39].

If we can recognize the Messiah, and know God, we will have to set aside our notions of how God should act, and follow Christ to see how God does act.

The beauty of holiness in him can change our ideas of what is beautiful. The compulsions of duty can give place to the desire to follow him and learn of him. And character may become more enduring than mountains or seas.

Through his service and suffering and sacrifice, we may learn the winning of souls from the idols of man-manipulated power to the God of truth and righteousness.

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In the wilderness of modern life, and the desert of human longing, the race goes forth to prepare the way of the Lord.

In this season of preparation, it may, through His grace, be a time when the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. And all flesh may hear what the Lord has spoken.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, November 30, 1958.

Also at Wood County Infirmary, December 3, 1958.