Sermon Tone Analysis

*Christmas Through Mary's Eyes*

/Text:/ Luke 1:46–55

/Big Idea:/ Christian celebrations of Christmas are only set apart from the rest of the world when they focus on Jesus.

Introduction

·         /Illustration:/ Different cultures have celebrated the Winter Solstice (Dec.

21st) for thousands of years, and several Christmas traditions stem from those celebrations.

Christmas as a celebration is not inherently Christian.

·         We would probably recognize the celebrations of many ancient cultures around the end of December, even if Jesus hadn't been born yet.

-                      Illustration: Christmas was first celebrated as the birth of Jesus between A.D. 325 and 350.

·         There is nothing intrinsically wrong with these celebrations.

-                      Illustration: When the Puritans first came to America, they outlawed many of the holiday traditions we observe today.

·         Christmas means different things to different people.

/Transition:/ I wonder what would happen if you were to ask Mary, Jesus' mother, the question, "What does Christmas mean to you?"

 

Mary is central to the Christmas story.

·         /Illustration:/ Dr. Alexander Whyte said, "We must give Mary her promised due; we must not allow ourselves to obtain a grudge against the mother of our Lord because some have given her more than her due."

·         Mary had a strong faith and was well-grounded in the Scriptures.

·         /Luke 1:46–55/

/Transition: /I want to repeat three things Mary said about the birth of Jesus.

Mary knew that Jesus would be mighty (v.

49).

·         Mary knew that Jesus was God in the flesh.

Mary knew that Jesus would be holy (v.

49).

·         Saying that Jesus' /name /was holy was very significant in the Jewish culture.

·         Our world is craving for contact with something that is powerful and just.

Mary knew that Jesus would be merciful (v.

50).

·         If it wasn't for God's mercy, we would still view Christmas in the same way that the ancient cultures did.

Conclusion

·         Jesus is the core of Christmas for Christians.

-                      Illustration: If Mary were to see the way we celebrate Christmas today, she'd lament that we've missed both her son and the point of it all.

\\ *Christmas Through Mary's Eyes*

 

December 21st is the shortest day of the year.

On that day, something happens that makes human beings look out at the world—and particularly look at the sun, look at the light, the darkest day of the year—and say, "Now, that is as bad as it's going to get.

From now on, it's all down hill.

The 22nd will be brighter, the 23rd will be brighter, the 24th will be brighter, and on down through January will be brighter."

For thousands of years, regardless of their culture or regardless of how barbarian they may have been in other areas of their lives, people have always chosen some time just after December 21st to have an enormous party, where they celebrated the fact that the darkness was over.

And after that party, the light started to increase again, and they said, "From here on end, if we've made it up to this point, if we haven't died, if sickness hasn't taken us, if age hasn't taken us, if we've managed to get over this hump, there is a good chance we'll make it through the spring.

And we'll make it through the summer.

And we'll make it to the fall."

And so the world has celebrated that time of the year, we call it the solstice.

It's that time when, to the human eye, the sun appears to be standing still.

In the Roman Empire they celebrated it.

Emperor Aurelia declared in the year A.D. 274 that December 25th was going to be a special vacation or holiday to commemorate the birthday of the unconquered sun.

And you know how they had celebrated it?

Listen to some of this: they decorated evergreen trees, they exchanged gifts, they did a lot of feasting, they sang songs, they decorated their houses with greenery and with lights, and they were particularly kind to poor people.

Do you realize that if somebody from the Roman Empire were to be put down in the middle of Toronto tonight, he would feel almost completely at home?

He would say, "This is holiday time!

The people of Toronto are worshipping the unconquered sun! Let's eat! Let's drink!

Let's be merry!

Let's have a ball!"

And he'd feel right at home, the same kind of man that would have put a Christian in an amphitheatre and have him attacked by lions celebrated this time of the year exactly as you and I celebrate it.

I mean, with all the details correct.

Then, of course, the Germans, whom the Romans looked upon as Barbarians, kept coming south farther and farther and eventually sacked Rome.

Those Barbarians and the Norsemen, the Scandinavians, also appreciated December the 21st as a sort of turning point, and a few days after it they had a great big celebration.

They called it Yuletide.

And one of the things they did was to get a log—a Yule log, ever done that?—and burn it.

You know what for?

They burned it as on offering to their god of thunder and lightening.

His name was Thor.

Have you ever heard someone say, "Hey you Christians, you with your virgin birth and your miracles and your story of creation, don't you know that every nation in the world for thousands and thousands of years has had the same kind of mythology and folklore as you say is real in the Bible?"

In some ways, that's true.

If you'd have gone into the Roman Empire, or if you had visited the Germanic tribes when they were still Barbarians, or if you'd gone north into Scandinavia and met the Norsemen at this particular time of the year, you would look around at what they're doing you'd say: "Oh my goodness, I didn't think they'd ever heard of Christmas, but they're celebrating Christmas.

Hey look, they've got evergreen tress, they've got beautiful lights, they've got decorations and they're having a ball with each other.

They're caring for the poor; there is a lot of good will going around.

Man these Romans have really got it on!"

Christmas was first celebrated as the birthday of our Lord somewhere between A.D. 325 and 350.

It was a natural thing, when Christians were looking for a good time to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

It was very natural to look at what the Roman Empire was doing and what the Germans were doing and what the Scandinavians were doing and—at a time of the year when everybody was celebrating something— say, "Why don't we just choose that day to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ?"

Now at this point, I think some of my friends get a little bit carried away and illogical.

They say, "Look, if everything we do can be traced back to the Roman Empire, which was made up of heathens, or to the Germanic tribes, who were Barbarians, or to the Norsemen, who had some oddball ideas about their gods, and if we use Christmas trees and we use lights and have a big dinner, then Christmas is a heathen kind of an activity."

I don't really think so.

You see, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with evergreens.

God made them.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with lights.

God is light.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with singing.

God gave us voices.

I was behind the door when voices were given out, but most people got them.

And we can sing.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with gifts.

God gave his only begotten son.

There is nothing wrong with food.

God created us to be people who eat and, in our eating, we socialize.

There is nothing wrong with any of that.

But when the Puritans first came to the United States, some of them learned that all of these activities came from the Barbarians and the Roman Empire, long before Jesus was ever born.

So they said, "Okay, we're going to ban everything that is connected with that kind of celebration.

No more evergreen trees to celebrate with."

Do you know that for a while they actually banned mince pies?

That was an illegal thing.

You see, when the Puritans were here, they not only ran the church, they ran the country as well.

And mince pies were connected with Yule cakes.

And so it took quite a while before Canada and America began to again celebrate Christmas in some of the same ways that the Roman Empire and the Germanic barbarians had celebrated their solstice.

Now, say you ask one hundred people, "What is Christmas?"

They'd say, "Boy that's a dumb question, everybody knows what Christmas is."

I don't know if that's correct.

For instance I go up to one person and say, "What does Christmas mean as far as you're concerned?"

He might say, "Oh, Christmas, it's a warm, happy time.

We get the old Yule log out and we put it on the fireplace and we light it and the family gathers around and we get a bit of Yule time grog and we…oh, I love Christmas.

It's Yule time."

But if I go to somebody else and say, "As far as you're concerned, what is Christmas?"

She might say, "Well, at Christmas we really go out of our way to fix our house up.

We get a lot of cookies in and fruits and nuts, all that kind of thing.