The Right Child
Sermon
Hope Beneath the Surface
Cycle A First Lesson Sermons for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany
Object:
"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver" (Proverbs 25:11). John, the gospel writer, puts it this way: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ..."
These verses of scripture speak of the power and beauty in rightly-chosen words, and therefore speak of these incomparable words from the ninth chapter of Isaiah, the text for this Holy evening, Christmas Eve.
Isaiah tried again and again to express the stubborn hope and dream of shalom, peace, which is at the heart of God. "A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse ..." (Isaiah 11:1-2). "... and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks" (Isaiah 2: 2, 4).
Ah, just words they are. Just words. Yet, we read, "In the beginning was the Word ... and nothing that came into being came into being without the Word."
Listen to these words. Listen to these words:
The people who walked in darkness have seen
a great light; those who lived in a land
of deep darkness, on them light has shined ...
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;
And the authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace for the
throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it with justice and
with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
These are just words, but they are words that have a divine power within them that calls forth that of which they speak. The fact that this kingdom is still so far from our sight diminishes not a whit the truth and the power of this prophetic symphony bequeathed to us by Isaiah.
Some of you are surely familiar with the marvelous musical by O. Henry titled, The Gift of the Magi. What a story. In their desperate desire to give a gift to each other on Christmas he sells his watch to buy her a gold hair piece for her lovely, long hair, and she sells her hair to buy him a chain for his gold watch.
One of the highlights of the musical is the song he sings to her when he arrives home and finds her missing her long locks of hair. He sings "Your hair is gone." You simply have to hear it and see it to appreciate it, but the song consists of the rapid repetition of those four words: "Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone." The point is made. The shock is fully communicated.
Someone should write a song using as the text this sixth verse of the ninth chapter of Isaiah. "A child is born. A child is born. A child is born. A child is born. A child is born. A child is born. A child is born. A child is born. A child is born."
Only two chapters earlier, in chapter 7, we read of the sign given to Ahaz, the terrified king. Though he refused to ask for a sign, the Lord gave him one. "Behold a young woman will conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us."
And a child was surely born, then, in Isaiah's day, a child who revealed God's presence to the fearful faithless people in that day. If a child had not been born then, the prophecy would not have made enough of an impact to even be remembered. They would have been only words. Yes, a child was born in Isaiah's day.
But, in the grand way in which God is consistently revealed as personal, a Son was born again, centuries later; only this time it was the Messiah, and Isaiah's words were there in the Jewish scripture like a verbal cradle to receive the Lord Jesus, a symphony of words for a manger: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
The powers of darkness are immense today, as they surely were then, on that night of nights when, if the truth were told, there was no hush when the baby was pushed out by Mary's last strength. The garish laughter and the drunken din of the mob probably drowned out the first cries of that Holy Child who, some 30 years later, would be serenaded on Golgotha by similar sounds.
And in the midst of the world's darkness it is up to each one of us to choose the authority by which we will live in the midst of that darkness. It is up to each one of us to give over our wills to the lord of our choosing. And it can either be a lord who entices and thrills us for this life only, or it can be the King of kings and Lord of lords. Isaiah writes that this child born for peace would have authority on his shoulders. Indeed, he says, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do the work.
It is not up to us to bring in the kingdom, but it is up to us to decide in which kingdom we will invest our lives.
Sister Joan Chittister writes that the ancients tell the story of a great-hearted soul who ran through the city streets crying, "Power, greed, and corruption. Power, greed, and corruption." For a time, at least, the attention of the people was riveted on this single-minded, openhearted person for whom all of life had become focused in one great question. But then everyone went back to work, only slightly hearing, some annoyed. Still, however, the cries continued.
One day a child stepped in front of the wailing figure on a cold and stormy night. "Elder," the child said, "don't you realize that no one is listening to you?" "Of course I do, my child," the Elder answered. "Then why do you shout?" the child insisted, incredulous. "If nothing is changing, your efforts are useless." "Ah, dear child, these efforts are never useless. You see, I do not shout only in order to change them. I shout so that they cannot change me" (Context, January 1, 1988).
To which child have we chosen to give our allegiance? The child of Mary and Joseph? The Prince of Peace? The one mocked by the crowd? Or the handsome child of this world, easy going, well liked, and at home in the power and materialism which is the matrix of our life today? It's important on this Holy Night that in our wandering about from hostel to hostel we pick the right child.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." "For unto us a child is born, unto us, a son is given."
It's the right One. It's the right child.
These verses of scripture speak of the power and beauty in rightly-chosen words, and therefore speak of these incomparable words from the ninth chapter of Isaiah, the text for this Holy evening, Christmas Eve.
Isaiah tried again and again to express the stubborn hope and dream of shalom, peace, which is at the heart of God. "A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse ..." (Isaiah 11:1-2). "... and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks" (Isaiah 2: 2, 4).
Ah, just words they are. Just words. Yet, we read, "In the beginning was the Word ... and nothing that came into being came into being without the Word."
Listen to these words. Listen to these words:
The people who walked in darkness have seen
a great light; those who lived in a land
of deep darkness, on them light has shined ...
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;
And the authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace for the
throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it with justice and
with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
These are just words, but they are words that have a divine power within them that calls forth that of which they speak. The fact that this kingdom is still so far from our sight diminishes not a whit the truth and the power of this prophetic symphony bequeathed to us by Isaiah.
Some of you are surely familiar with the marvelous musical by O. Henry titled, The Gift of the Magi. What a story. In their desperate desire to give a gift to each other on Christmas he sells his watch to buy her a gold hair piece for her lovely, long hair, and she sells her hair to buy him a chain for his gold watch.
One of the highlights of the musical is the song he sings to her when he arrives home and finds her missing her long locks of hair. He sings "Your hair is gone." You simply have to hear it and see it to appreciate it, but the song consists of the rapid repetition of those four words: "Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone. Your hair is gone." The point is made. The shock is fully communicated.
Someone should write a song using as the text this sixth verse of the ninth chapter of Isaiah. "A child is born. A child is born. A child is born. A child is born. A child is born. A child is born. A child is born. A child is born. A child is born."
Only two chapters earlier, in chapter 7, we read of the sign given to Ahaz, the terrified king. Though he refused to ask for a sign, the Lord gave him one. "Behold a young woman will conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us."
And a child was surely born, then, in Isaiah's day, a child who revealed God's presence to the fearful faithless people in that day. If a child had not been born then, the prophecy would not have made enough of an impact to even be remembered. They would have been only words. Yes, a child was born in Isaiah's day.
But, in the grand way in which God is consistently revealed as personal, a Son was born again, centuries later; only this time it was the Messiah, and Isaiah's words were there in the Jewish scripture like a verbal cradle to receive the Lord Jesus, a symphony of words for a manger: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
The powers of darkness are immense today, as they surely were then, on that night of nights when, if the truth were told, there was no hush when the baby was pushed out by Mary's last strength. The garish laughter and the drunken din of the mob probably drowned out the first cries of that Holy Child who, some 30 years later, would be serenaded on Golgotha by similar sounds.
And in the midst of the world's darkness it is up to each one of us to choose the authority by which we will live in the midst of that darkness. It is up to each one of us to give over our wills to the lord of our choosing. And it can either be a lord who entices and thrills us for this life only, or it can be the King of kings and Lord of lords. Isaiah writes that this child born for peace would have authority on his shoulders. Indeed, he says, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do the work.
It is not up to us to bring in the kingdom, but it is up to us to decide in which kingdom we will invest our lives.
Sister Joan Chittister writes that the ancients tell the story of a great-hearted soul who ran through the city streets crying, "Power, greed, and corruption. Power, greed, and corruption." For a time, at least, the attention of the people was riveted on this single-minded, openhearted person for whom all of life had become focused in one great question. But then everyone went back to work, only slightly hearing, some annoyed. Still, however, the cries continued.
One day a child stepped in front of the wailing figure on a cold and stormy night. "Elder," the child said, "don't you realize that no one is listening to you?" "Of course I do, my child," the Elder answered. "Then why do you shout?" the child insisted, incredulous. "If nothing is changing, your efforts are useless." "Ah, dear child, these efforts are never useless. You see, I do not shout only in order to change them. I shout so that they cannot change me" (Context, January 1, 1988).
To which child have we chosen to give our allegiance? The child of Mary and Joseph? The Prince of Peace? The one mocked by the crowd? Or the handsome child of this world, easy going, well liked, and at home in the power and materialism which is the matrix of our life today? It's important on this Holy Night that in our wandering about from hostel to hostel we pick the right child.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." "For unto us a child is born, unto us, a son is given."
It's the right One. It's the right child.
