Christmas
Night: Hebrews 1:1-12 and John 1:1-14
Almost
always, when I prepare a sermon, I look to engage with one or more of the
readings we have just heard. But tonight, Christmas Night, is a little bit
different, from other nights, other days. We have heard the readings, the
opening lines from the Letter to the Hebrews and from the Gospel
According to John, for their own sake, their beauty of form, as the writers
of old reflected on the beauty of Jesus, come into the world. In the dark days
of a Winter of Discontent, beauty matters, and most of all the beauty of Jesus.
I
do want to draw your attention to the way the writer of Hebrews speaks of when
God brings the firstborn into the world, not as a prophet, passing through, but
as the rightful possessor of a throne that is for ever and ever, over and
beyond the heavens and the earth the Lord founded. I want to draw your
attention to the way in which John takes us back to the very beginning, to the
creation of the world, and to the one through whom it was created coming to it,
coming into it, coming to his people. But then I want to set those readings not
quite aside and focus on a different part of the Christmas story. I want to
read to you another verse, just one verse, from the Gospel according to Luke:
And
she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid
him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Luke
2:7
There
was no place for them in the inn.
The
(Greek) word for place is topos, from where we get the word topography.
A place, or region, or terrain, with its own unique features. Within the
biblical imagination, a topos is the place assigned by God to every
living creature. The great oceans, with their mountains thrusting islands above
the surface of the waves, and their deep, dark canyons, the playground of
migrating whales and turtles, and giant squid. The vast, flat grasslands, home
to herds of bison and zebra, wildebeest, and gazelle. The rainforests, for
tigers and tree frogs, lemurs, and little elephants. The mountains, for lynx
and yak and snow leopards. The tundra, for the Arctic fox and Artic hare; and
the polar ice caps for polar bears and penguins. We hear, in the first chapter
of Genesis, how God made each topos and brought forth the
firstborn of every form of life. We hear the echo of that momentous Word in the
first chapter of John, and again in the first chapter of Hebrews.
And
when Mary brought forth her firstborn son, there was no place for them in the
inn.
The
word translated ‘inn’ does not refer to a commercial inn, but to a room in any
home in the time and place when Jesus was born. Families lived in one shared
common room, with their animals corralled at one end at night, perhaps a little
cow, or donkey, or a small family of goats, the animals’ body heat keeping the
humans warm until the sun returned. The night-manger was a bowl, a feeding
trough, carved from a stone slab. But any home had room to offer hospitality to
a stranger passing through on their journey, in need of a bed for the night. It
was said that some had entertained prophets, or even angels, in this way. The
prophets through whom God spoke, the angels called to worship the Son, there in
our reading from Hebrews. The ‘inn’ might be a second room, or as simple
as a curtain that could be pulled across the far end of the common room,
offering some privacy, rolled up like a cloak during the day. It could be a
hut, or even a canopy on poles, up on the flat roof, accessed by steps on the
outside of the house. A canopy that wears out, like clothing, and gets changed,
replaced. But when Mary brought forth her firstborn son, there was no place for
them in the inn.
There
was no place assigned for them by God in the space set aside for travellers
passing through for just one night. The place God assigned for Mary and her son
was in the house of David, the shepherd and songwriter, renowned general,
sometime outlaw, king. The topos was a kingdom (that threatened Herod).
A throne for ever and ever.
Jesus
is not the guest, passing through. But perhaps you are. Perhaps you are here
because you happen to be visiting family, for a night or two. Perhaps your
journey through life doesn’t bring you to the door of a church that often.
Whatever has led you here today, and whether the path has been joyful or
sorrowful, easy, or arduous, we’re glad you came, you are welcome. There is
always room for travellers, in need of rest, of hospitality, before you journey
on, whatever the road, whatever the destination. Whether you return this way on
a frequent basis, or this will be the only time. There is a place for you in
the inn. We welcome you, aware that you might be a prophet or an angel, sent by
God.
Or
perhaps you are lost and afraid and need to be found, by the shepherd-king? Or
angry or sad or depressed and in need of a song to give voice to your emotions,
a gift from the songwriter-king? Perhaps you are fighting inner demons and need
a brother-in-arms who can give you the breakthrough, a renowned general-king
who can slay your giants? Then again, could it be that you find yourself
disillusioned and searching for a true cause, in the company of the outlaw-king?
Perhaps you are wondering, could this babe in a manger really be a king? Could
he really be my king? Perhaps it is not a place in the inn that you come
looking for, but a place nearer the night-manger, in the heart of the family. A
place with the mother and her son. If so, there is a place for you here, too.
Many
years later, this Jesus gathered with his closest friends to eat the Passover
meal in such an ‘inn,’ the upper room of a home in Jerusalem. That night, he
was betrayed, arrested, tried, and in the morning taken out to die on a cross.
His mother took her son, wrapped him once again in strips of linen, and laid
him down on a stone slab to sleep, the sleep of death. But on the morning of
the third day, he rose again, and reigns, exalted, over every terrain where
life finds its place. All this, we celebrate, moments from now, friends and
strangers welcome at the family table. Happy Christmas! God is with us. Alpha
and Omega, the beginning, and the end, who was in the beginning and shall be
beyond the end. Let all creation rejoice! Let all God’s angels worship him! Happy
Christmas! Amen!
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