Crowded Streets

Intro

God, the giver. What's more beautiful than receiving gifts? Especially when those gifts are unexpected.

"God is the premier gift-giver" (C. R. Swindell).

No one can surprise us like God, as the Lord surprises us through His blessings and gifts: He can bless our finances, heal our bodies, provide for our families.

James reminds us:

James 1:17 NIV

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

In short, God knows how to give gifts! Yet, God's greatest gift was giving us Jesus, a child, true God, true man.

Paul, contemplating God's Gift to humanity, describes Him like this:

2 Corinthians 9:15 NIV

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Sermon's outline. Regarding this wonderful gift that is Christ, Luke gives us all the necessary information:

Time: during the reign of Caesar Augustus;

Place: Bethlehem in Judea.

Protagonists: the village of Bethlehem and couple, Joseph and Mary.

Regarding the arrival of this divine Gift, I would like to consider two attitudes that emerge from the verses just read:

The Bethlehem's carelessness

The couple's dedication

N.1 - The Bethlehem’s Carelessness

Carelessness. The Alpha and the Omega, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the Branch was about to arrive in Bethlehem, but the city was careless, distracted, and totally absent.

To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult every year.

E. B. White

The reasons for this disinterest in the Messiah's arrival can be easily identified:

1A. An aggravated city (Luke 2:1). The Emperor had called for a census (every 14 years).

The census meant two things:

counting the people;

paying taxes to Rome.

This commitment to the census, this responsibility, had made the city indifferent to God's Gift.

Application. Christmas has become a time when we are overwhelmed by so many commitments! All these responsibilities weigh us down: like Bethlehem, we too risk missing out on God's Gift.

1B. An absorbed city (Luke 2:7). So many people had filled the small town of Bethlehem: everyone was focused, concentrated on the census.

Bethlehem was a truly busy city! Busy despite God's Gift.

Application. Christmas not only brings so many commitments and responsibilities, but lately, Christmas has kept us very busy. We're so wrapped up in so many events that it makes God seem like an intruder on our calendar.

This is the picture of Bethlehem: a city crushed by the weight of responsibilities, a city strangled by a multitude of commitments.

N.2 - The Couple’s Dedication

Dedication. In contrast to the chaos in which Bethlehem was experiencing, this biblical passage highlights the dedication of Joseph and Mary.

This couple is not absorbed in the commitment of the census, nor are they as busy as the thousands of pilgrims traveling in those days.

Both Joseph and Mary are completely, utterly focused in the mission entrusted to them by God: to receive His Son Jesus.

There is one aspect that makes their dedication exemplary:

2A. Their acceptance (Luke 2:5). About 10 months earlier, both Joseph and Mary, like any couple, had a desire to fulfill their plans, to realize their plans.

But God disrupted their plans. Instead of rebelling, instead of complaining against the divine plan, we see this couple marching forward in fulfilling the mission entrusted to them by God.

Application. One of the problems we can experience, especially during the Christmas season, is living our own plan, rather than accepting God's plan.

We are so caught up in having our life back that we forget that Christmas is, first and foremost, about giving our lives to the plan God has established for us.

Joseph and Mary remind us to submit to God's will for us, to make it our own, to embrace it in our arms, as Mary did with that child in the manger.

May each Christmas, as it comes, find us more and more like Him, who as at this time became a little child for our sake—more simple-minded, more humble, more holy, more affectionate, more resigned, more happy, more full of God.

Saint John Henry Newman