Make Room in your Heart for Christ

Luke 2:1–7 NIV

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

George Bailey, in the movie 'It's A Wonderful Life' is having the worst possible Christmas of his life. Even though it seems to him as though everyone else in Bedford Falls has an ideal life and everyone else catches all the right breaks to get ahead, George finds himself on one particular Christmas Eve wishing he had never been born. On the one hand, 'It's A Wonderful Life' remains a popular Christmas movie after all these years because it finishes with a happy ending in which everyone comes together in love and shares Christmas Spirit together. On the other hand, a movie like this remains because there is something there that still resonates with those who see it. We watch 'It's A Wonderful Life' and there is something there to which we can relate. It speaks into our human condition, and tugs at our emotions, in a ways that make sense because we see something of our own lives in the characters of a good movie. After all, that's what good stories do. They draw us into the narrative in ways that connect with our own world. George Bailey was let down. And let's face it; we've been there too.

What's your favorite Christmas movie, or Christmas TV special? No matter what it is, there's a very good chance that the same kind of storyline exists. Christmas is built up to be this wonderful and glorious event in exactly the way everything is supposed to go. But then it something happens that turns all of those expectations upside-down.

In Charles Dickens' classic story, 'A Christmas Carol' Bob Cratchet's young son, Tiny Tim, is sick and dying. And it seems as though Bob's harsh boss, Ebenezer Scrooge, doesn't care one bit if Tim lives or dies. Here's the thing. We all know Scrooges in this world. We all know people who have the power and the means to do so much good in this world for other people, but they don't. In fact, all they seem to care about is themselves. We connect with the story. And somewhere inside there is a part of us that really wants to hold out hope that those completely self-centered misers in this world would experience a miraculous turnaround just as Ebenezer Scrooge did. We latch onto the story because we want to hope that life as we know it always comes up with a happy ending. That's what we hope for. But life doesn't always turn out that way.

Kevin McAlister is banished to the attic for an accident that wasn't his fault. Kevin is so angry and so annoyed with his family that he wishes they would all be gone so that he can have a life of peace and quiet to himself. And as his family and relatives wake up the next morning and rush to catch their flight to Europe to celebrate Christmas, nobody notices that little Kevin has been left home alone for Christmas. He gets his wish for peace and quiet. But then quickly realizes that it's really hard for a seven-year-old to live alone--especially when robbers keep trying to break into the house.

The peace that Kevin really wants is to be reunited with his family--but in a way in which they all get along and live in peace. Of course, in the end of the movie 'Home Alone' Kevin gets his wish. A funny story. But also heart-warming because we all want the same thing. We all want to gather with the ones we love in relationships of peace without any fighting or tension. But life doesn't always turn out that way.

Clark Griswald is set and determined to have the happiest family Christmas ever. He wants the perfect family Christmas tree. He wants the perfect holiday display of lights on his house. He wants the perfect Christmas dinner. If you've seen National Lampoons 'Christmas Vacation' you know that absolutely everything that can possibly go wrong for Clark Griswald happens. In the end a police SWAT team crashes into his house because on Christmas Eve his bumbling brother goes and breaks into the home of Clark's boss and kidnaps him.

And again, the movie concludes with a happy ending when the boss forgives the Griswalds, and restores Clark's Christmas bonus. A fun movie. But seriously. Can any one of us ever imagine that if we were to break into our boss' home and kidnap them, that our boss would somehow not press charges, not fire us, and--in fact--reward us with a bonus??? We latch onto the story like this because we want to believe that our stories of dashed expectations will somehow end in happiness and joy too. But life doesn't always turn out that way.

Buddy the elf doesn't really belong at the North Pole. So he goes searching for his real father in New York City, only to find that his father wants nothing to do with him. Buddy lives in a world in which he believes everyone should be filled with love for one another. But he finds the harsh reality that such altruistic love does not exist.

A misfit reindeer is born with a glowing red nose. And so all his hopes and dreams of being on Santa's team seem as though they will never happen. And Rudolph leaves because he thinks nobody loves him.

A nasty Grinch thinks that if he takes away all the Christmas belongings from all Whos down in Whoville that this will somehow show that Christmas can be ruined by taking away the stuff. Because the Grinch believes that nobody really has love for one another.

The Henderson children always beat up on everybody else. So when they somehow get into the lead roles in the local church's Christmas pageant, it means the whole story will be ruined for the entire church.

All that Ralphie Parker wants for Christmas is a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle with a compass and this thing that tells time built right into the stock. But it looks as though the one thing he wants more than anything else is never going to happen because everyone knows he'll just shoot his eye out.

Pick your story. It doesn't matter, they're all the same. Life is messed up. Christmas comes along. And then miraculously everything turns out perfect for everyone. Lovely! Completely lovely! But life doesn't always turn out that way.

There's one more.

A baby born to unwed parents in a barn. A family that must flee their home country for their lives and live as political refugees in a foreign land. A family which eventually settles back in a boring little village of Nazareth, and a boy who eventually grows up to be rejected by all those who live in his hometown. A Baby born who would, one day, be rejected by all the top authorities and sentenced to death. He dedicated himself to loving those who weren't supposed to be loved, and he was killed for it.

Yet. Into this dark world of sin and brokenness Jesus comes and shines a light.

Jesus comes and enters into this world of darkness in which there seems to be no hope, no peace, only momentary collapsing joy, and a love that seems to be built on conditions and fragile compromises. Jesus comes into this world and sparks new light and new life.

Jesus comes into this world and gives hope to the hopeless by extending grace to people who could never prove themselves worthy on their own.

Jesus comes into this world and brings peace by restoring a fractured relationship between God and the world that he loves so much.

Jesus comes into this world and ignites joy by providing the way that we could never make on our own, a way to live securely in his eternal rest.

Jesus comes into this world and extends love to people who think there is no reason that they could ever be loved by anyone.

The miracle of Christmas is not that Jesus appeared and ushered in an automatic fairy tale ending where everyone gets everything they ever wanted. I'm sorry to say that all those Christmas movies and TV specials are selling a lie. No. The real miracle of Christmas is that Jesus appeared and entered into our fractured and broken world. And into our dark world, Jesus shines a light that brings us the way to new life, a new life that is redeemed and restored.

Jesus is the true light of the world. His birth at Christmas brings hope, brings peace, brings joy, and brings love for ALL the world. Jesus shares hope with us. And we are called to share that same hope with others. Jesus shares his peace with us. And we are called to share that same peace with others. Jesus shares his joy with us. And we are called to share that same joy with others. Jesus shares his love with us. And we are called to share that same love with others.

Jesus shines his light upon us. And we are called to shine that same light—the light of Jesus—upon a dark world. This is the true gift of Christmas. That Jesus would freely give his light to shine within us.

Throughout this entire series of advent messages we have been considering all the ways in which we make room in our hearts. We make room for hope; we make room for peace; we make room for joy; and we make room for love. At Christmas we see the way God has provided all of these things into our world by giving Jesus. Make room in your heart for Jesus today.

It begins with the realization that Jesus makes room in his heart for you, just the way you are. At Christmas we celebrate that Jesus came into our broken world just the way it is. Jesus came to people in his culture who had been cast out by society, and Jesus approached them just the way they were. Jesus taught parables, like the son who took and squandered away every good gift from his father only to discover that his father has forgiven him and welcomes him back in his loving embrace. Jesus makes room in his heart for you, scarred and wounded as you might be. Christmas reminds us that God himself is here for you.

God makes room in his heart for you. And because of that, we now have hearts that are redeemed and restored. We have hearts of hope; we have hearts of love, we have hearts of peace, and we have hearts of joy. We have all of this right here and right now in this world. And we have all of this because because of Christ. You have a heart that have been given room for Christ because Christ has made room in his heart just for you.